Bush & Obama are as different as Coke & Pepsi
Re: “Two very different presidents elected by the same country,” Nov. 22
Bill O’Reilly is telling us that he either is extremely forgetful or that he lives in a different world from the rest of us. Several similarities between Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama can easily be cited:
1. Both lied repeatedly and deliberately to the American people.
2. Both engaged in reckless and irresponsible deficit spending.
3. Both pampered illegal aliens.
4. Both attempted to label as “disloyal” all those Americans who disagreed with their administration’s policies, refusing to acknowledge the validity of honest dissent.
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is the difference between Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola.
Lawrence K. Marsh
Gaithersburg
Private industry could fix Metro’s problems
Re: “Task Force: Board of directors contributing to Metro’s decline,” Nov. 18
So Ms. Farmer is informing Examiner readers that another government funded bureaucratic quagmire like Metro — which is poorly run and operated, with poor customer service, one that ignores maintenance and is still hiring though riddled with debt — has problems “stemming from the top”? Wow, color me shocked.
How is the lack of progress surprising when Metro’s annually rotating chairman puts a vision in place, only to see it dismantled the following year? Another “surprise” is that Jim Graham and Christopher Zimmerman have been on the board for the eight years Metro has gotten progressively worse.
If private industry were allowed to bid on Metro contracts, there would be a marked improvement within 12 months. “Peak hours,” “peak of the peak” and other only-in-government-jobs legal theft would go the way of the dodo. A private company would streamline the work force while improving work conditions and procedures and 86 the union, which suffocates upward mobility and slows everything down. Accountability would return.
Yep, I ride Metro regularly and see plenty of scofflaws collecting a paycheck.
Paul Bongiorno
Reston
Military service is no immunization from lunacy
Re: “Obama’s paltry paper trail raises serious questions,” Nov. 21
Diana West argues that since Lt. Colonel Terrence Lakin is “a senior military officer with an unblemished military career,” this warrior cannot possibly be dismissed as a crank or lunatic.
Notwithstanding Lakin’s military service, his military record neither says anything about his mental stability nor immunizes him from lunacy any more than, say, being a syndicated columnist immunizes West from trafficking in sophistry.
Craig Taylor
Alexandria
