07/04/2009

Michael S. Van Leesten: ‘Justice bends’
Having grown up and lived in Providence all of my life, I have witnessed many injustices long forgotten. This is one that is a vivid memory. I write now to call attention to a letter I wrote over 25 years ago, about an injustice in our court system that can no longer be ignored.

Steven M. Costantino: No special deals for judges
Regarding the June 28 editorial “Nix this special deal”: It was never our intent that District Court judges be treated any differently under the pension changes than any of the other judges. What occurred was an error in the language in the budget, which was corrected with a trailer bill that passed both houses June 26 and was transmitted to the governor along with the budget.

Denny Moers: Shrunken Pell Awards
I was quite dismayed by Trinity Rep’s decision to eliminate local and regional recipients of the Pell Awards beginning in 2009. The reason stated by Trinity Rep was to “let the limelight shine on Pell.”

Richard E. Ralston: Why rush health-care legislation?
Why does Congress have to rush through a huge bill transforming health care and a seventh of the total economy? (“Act fast on health care, Obama,” Froma Harrop column, June 25) Are we afraid that some congressmen voting for it might actually read it first? That they might determine what it will cost before they pass it? Must they be pressured to vote for a bill that no one can understand, or read, or even lift? Right now?

Corrupt speech
The corruption of our state government was never more clearly thrown at us than in the recent decision of our Supreme Court to use the “speech in debate” clause of our constitution to shield legislators from violations of ethics such as engaging in conflicts of interest.

Myra K. Mercier: How do you catch addiction?
Another round of arguments for addiction as illness. If addiction is illness, why is there no 12-step program for cancer, multiple sclerosis, ALS, etc., and how in the world do you catch “addiction”?

Tom Kenney: Projo biased against union
There have been many columns, editorials and letters-to-the-editor on the subject of firefighters in general, and Providence firefighters in particular since the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Providence. These writings have been almost exclusively against the firefighters.

07/03/2009

Nancy Duska: Free speech did not cause this murder
I am writing in response to Rabbi Leslie Gutterman’s June 23 Commentary piece, “How violent speech can lead to murder.” How could an educated, religious man come to the conclusion that because many people have spoken truthfully about the late-term abortionist George Tiller that they were somehow responsible for his death?

Truman Taylor; Father of the expense accounts
There are those who regard a blank company expense-account form as an artist looks at an empty canvas — a blank space on which to create wonders.

James Lawson: ‘Doomsday provision’
As Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003 wrote: “The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed — where the government refuses to stand for re-election and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.”

Kevin E. Lynch: Ma’am, the general merited the respect
As a former military officer I was beside myself after hearing the exchange that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) had with Army Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh at a Senate hearing, after he had addressed her as “Ma’am”:

Fred Comella: Iranian yearnings
In every person’s heart lies the God-given yearning to be free. In Iran, years of tyrannical government have taken their toll on a confused and disenchanted people. Now, as they cry out for what is rightfully theirs, they are bludgeoned, beaten and shot down in the streets of their own country.

07/02/2009

Lilyanne Paolucci Werle: ‘You Goofed Index’
I really miss the delightful “weather illustrations” by the children in Rhode Island. I always looked forward to seeing the illustrations’ titles chosen by our young ones, the use of color, the exploration of feeling, the pride within every offering by children from pre-school to Grade 6. Although what has replaced these “smile-makers” on this weather page — the “running index,” the “astronomical data,” the “solunar tables,” the “asthma index,” “the UV index,” etc. — may be interesting and helpful to some people, your newsroom shouldn’t have taken news space away from expressions of joy and budding talent. That decision will place The Journal onto the “You Goofed Index.”

Catherine B. Wilhelm: Frightful insult
How dare Froma Harrop malign the medical profession, and gastroenterologists in particular, by her reckless description of endoscopy: “have an endoscope shoved down your throat with a risk of puncturing the upper GI tract” (“A Texas-size medical lesson,” Commentary, June 11).

Janet Coit: Bill’s passage a fine day for environment
Friday was a historic day for the environment. The U.S. House approved — for the first time ever — comprehensive legislation to reduce America’s greenhouse-gas emissions and address global climate change.

David DiSaia: The book on Buddy
I recently heard on the Buddy Cianci talk show that he will be coming out with a book shortly. I already read the New York Times bestseller The Prince of Providence, by Mike Stanton. I lived through the Buddy saga and followed his career from when he was first elected mayor of Providence at age 33 in 1974 to his ignominious exit as mayor after being convicted on federal charges of running City Hall as a criminal enterprise and his release from prison, on May 30, 2007.

07/01/2009

Fred H. Deusch: Let citizens vote on bills themselves
On the night of April 1, I watched some of the Rhode Island House in action. That their actions were disgraceful would be the understatement of the year. Rhode Island’s House has too many jackasses who see themselves as God’s gift to the state’s people that they are supposed to serve.

Obama’s timidity
Froma Harrop, in her June 21 column, “Obama succumbs to constituency politics,” correctly points out two troubling examples of timidity by the Obama administration — its refusal to participate in the recent mayors conference in Providence because it meant crossing a firefighter union’s picket line, and its refusal to consider medical-malpractice-damage award caps out of deference to trial lawyers.

Edna K. Duffy: Babbling Dennis
My husband and I are avid Boston Red Sox fans and look forward to all the games on TV, but Dennis Eckersly’s constant babbling of unimportant facts kills the joy of watching them. Don and Jerry are a “class act”! Hurry back, Jerry, we miss you.

Alek Bock: Firefighters underpaid to risk their lives
I find it disgusting, insulting and downright immature that people have the uncontrollable need to bash firefighters. It’s uncalled for, and it just shows how ignorant people can be. Many people perceive firefighters as “lazy people who eat, sleep and drive a big red truck,” but these people don’t ask for much and they literally die so other people can live.

Robert Gordon: Rise to anonymity
I’m puzzled by his latest media blitz in which philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein tells me, several times a week, that I must wonder what his family looks like.

06/30/2009

Aaron Britto: Check-cashing made easy
Legislation regarding cashing checks in Rhode Island has been flying under the radar for far too long. Currently, if a company wants to offer check-cashing services in this state, it must do so behind bulletproof glass or steel partitions. Few companies are able to attain check-cashing licenses under these restrictions, limiting us to a bank’s hours or a check-cashing facility’s fees.

Hank Adams: Medical-malpractice reform
A major cause of escalating health-care costs is that we have not put in place any significant tort reform. It is time for our judges nationally to minimize the out-of-control jury awards in many health-care-related cases.

Robert J. Murray: URI’s tennis courts
The coach’s “fix” for the tennis courts at URI (“Home-court disadvantage,” news, March 28) for $20,000 appears to be inadequate. That the cracking occurs every year should tell the big thinkers that fooling with the asphalt is not going to solve the problem. Part of the problem appears to be water under the courts that freezes and expands every winter, causing the asphalt to rise, but not uniformly. However, given the severity of the problem it seems reasonable for the big thinkers to hire someone with asphalt experience to view the site and offer his or her opinion as to the possible cause and effective remediation.

06/29/2009

Steven M. Costantino: No special deals for judges
Regarding the June 28 editorial “Nix this special deal”:

Janet Coit: A fine day for the environment
Friday was an historic day for the environment. The U.S. House approved — for the first time ever — comprehensive legislation to reduce America’s greenhouse-gas emissions and address global climate change.

Jane S. Nelson: Life in the R.I. funhouse
The June 10 Journal, about the firefighters and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the impact of unions, defaults on mortgages, and the on-going battle between Vincent Cianci and WPRO personalities, almost defies description, but you managed to capture all this somehow.

Rick Jackson: Firefighters no longer my heroes
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a firefighter. They were my heroes.

Stephen H. Stoner: Budgetary road to ruin
Thank you for printing the names and photos of the Rhode Island legislators who voted for the state budget. Voters need to take note and remove every one of these people from office in the next election (assuming, of course, that they are not the only candidates to choose from).

Paul Maziarz: Health care should be nonprofit
There is a simple solution to the health-care problem. Make all health-care facilities and insurers nonprofit.

Harold Burns: We need rich people here to pay for government
In his June 11 Commentary piece (“Rich owe millions more to R.I.”), state Rep. Scott Guthrie (D.-Coventry) argues that legislation to reduce the maximum state income tax rate by providing an alternate flat tax option has “allowed the richest Rhode Islanders to avoid paying their fair share.” It’s the “fair share” that really got me!

06/28/2009

Roger Bertrand: Evaporation
Our first encounter with stimulus was when the previous administration, with great fanfare, announced that almost everyone would receive a check for $300 or $600. And what happened? Virtually nothing! The value of the touted stimulus checks seems to have evaporated.

David A. Cohen: Developer Conley threatens port jobs
I hope Patrick T. Conley’s June 21 sour grapes letter to the editor (“Killing the waterfront”) relieves his frustration with his misguided attempts to gentrify a highly productive and environmentally responsible industrial neighborhood into a glitzy Disneyland of waterfront amusements.

Allison Casey: How to make Journal better
My name is Allison Casey and I recently finished the sixth grade at Wickford Middle School, in North Kingstown. My family receives The Journal every day via home delivery, and we all enjoy it. My dad reads the sports section. I always look at the comics (I even have a collection of some of my favorites). My mom always reads the letters to the editor. However, there is always room for improvement.