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Letters from Readers

By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Local Opinion Editor
October 29, 2009

Opposition to charter school doesn't make sense

Ward 5 residents showed their true colors during a meeting with Mayor Adrian Fenty. The topic of opening a new YouthBuild Public Charter School in an old vacant school in Shaw/Dunbar was on the agenda. About 30 students and staff from YouthBuild, where I work as an instructor and college placement specialist, came out to show the community why the school would benefit them. They didn't really want to hear us because their minds were already made up. So we sat there quietly listening to many resident discuss why they did not want our new school in their neighborhood. I grew more disappointed, upset, angered and surprised at what I heard. I didn't think the comments could get any more ignorant until I heard that they do not want more teens in the area because it would mean more trash, even though they do want to add retail development. Our students, only one of whom was able to speak during the chaotic meeting, were more respectful and mature than the adults. I just don't understand why a community challenged with drugs, gangs, trash, and the homeless would not support a school whose mission and curriculum is designed to educate our urban youth to rise above such tribulations.

Volita Russell

Washington

'Mainstream media' is a misnomer

There seems to be a deficiency in the vocabulary of media observers who constantly refer to the "mainstream media." This description is quite out of line with what an objective evaluator would categorize this group of writers and broadcasters. If there is a "right-wing media" and a "left-wing media," then logic requires that the "mainstream" lies somewhere in the middle of the news and information that floods our airways and publications. How can the New York Times, whose publisher is on record saying that he wished an American soldier would die in a firefight with the Viet Cong, be considered "mainstream" when his own father thought such comments were treason? (See page 499 of "The Trust," about the NY Times oligarchy.) There is a steady stream of such examples on other MSM outlets every day. I suggest that responsible publications like The Examiner adopt a more accurate and descriptive acronym: OMHAS ("Obama Media Harem and Sycophants"), which is pronounced exactly like the Arab word "umma." This translates to "a community of true believers" in the Muslim world and means exactly the same thing in the Obama world of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times, the Washington Post, etc.

John Adams

Washington

Deeds has a better transportation plan

Some Examiner readers think that Bob McDonnell's transportation plan will not raise taxes. The exact opposite is true. Annual interest costs for the $4.5 billion in bonds he proposes would amount to $225 million at 5 percent. Taxpayers would pay once for principal and once for interest. The ABC stores he would sell for $500 million would take $100 million -plus from Virginia's General Fund every year forever. These funds would also need to be recouped with additional taxes. After he wins the election, Creigh Deeds' plan calls for appointment of a broad-based commission to come up with a credible, cost-effective plan to fund new roads, expand mass transit and repair crumbling bridges and highways. Deeds' consensus-building plan makes sense, and would be done at minimal costs to Virginia taxpayers.

Kevin M. Raymond

Dale City



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