Monday, February 13, 2012

Nation & World

High-Stakes Testing; Bear Market Facts; Playing By the Rules; Sleeping on the Job; Censorship on Campus; Goodwill Ambassador; True Public Servants; Expulsion and Rehab; Tax-Cut Tirade

Posted 5/6/01
Page 4 of 4

JERRY A. BOGGS

Livonia, Mich.

MOTHERHOOD HAS ALWAYS been an "all guts, no glory" occupation. To the devoted domestic artist who is skillfully sculpting an eternal masterpiece--money isn't the motivator. They're in it for love, not loot.

KAREN COLEMAN BROWN

Katy, Texas

Expulsion and rehab

SCHOOLS IN SAN DIEGO SEEM TO BE intent on expelling students for bringing cough drops, butter knives, and cap guns to school. Yet, I know of no school that has a zero-tolerance policy against bullying ["Betrayed by Their Silence?" March 19]. Many things high school students do to the less-popular students on campus would be grounds for termination or jail in the real world. In the meantime, stricter gun-control laws and blaming violent video games, TV, and music will not prevent a repeat of what happened at Columbine and Santana. More important, neither will teachers and school administrators who look the other way at students physically and mentally abusing other students. Any student who abuses another person should be expelled. Period.

KEVIN KEY

San Diego

BEING IN HIGH SCHOOL WAS NEVER easy, but it seems to me that it is growing increasingly harder. Every day my fellow students and I run the risk of being gunned down in our schools, an environment that should be safe. However, I don't feel it is necessary for the media to cover these shootings for days at a time. The troubled individuals who resort to such extreme measures need rehabilitation, not news coverage.

DAN BLIDNER

Shavertown, Pa.

Tax-cut tirade

DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN TAGGED AS "tax and spend." Are Republicans headed for a tag of "cut taxes and build deficits"? Mortimer Zuckerman's editorial ["A Bad Bet for the Future," March 12] should be required reading for all our senators and representatives.

ELISABETH S. DEWING

South Paris, Maine

OF THAT ENCHANTING REPUBLICAN "tax cut" it needs to be said: It's not a Bush; it's a plastic Christmas tree.

R. K. SMITH

Wilmington, N.C.

MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN CHARACTERizes the Bush administration's proposed tax cuts as a "giveaway" to the wealthy. How is it possible to give something to someone who has already earned it? Giveaways are gifts, bestowed, and have not been earned. The wealthy shoulder the burden of the highest tax rates and provide the vast majority of the costs of keeping the U.S. government supplied with the necessary money to operate. If there isn't a surplus of funds, it isn't because the wealthy didn't pony up. I agree that we should keep our fiscal house in order, but I don't agree that the bulk of it should come from 1 percent of the taxpayers.

HERBERT MCKINLEY

Johnstown, Ohio

BUSH'S TAX CUT IS VERY MUCH PREFerable to creating a feeding frenzy for the beltway's entrenched politicos, bureaucrats, and lobbyists by leaving a surplus of taxpayers' money on the table for new spending. If I hear one more talking head say that the surplus is derived from government "revenues," I'll choke. It isn't revenue, it's the overcharging of the taxpayers for the cost of government, never mind the silly pork-barrel projects that both Democrats and the GOP seem to thrive on. Get the refund for us, W.

GLEN BLACKMON

The Woodlands, Texas

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