District story is still a tale of two cities Re: “Gray travels back to ‘One City,’ promises jobs,” March 29
Mayor Vincent Gray is not Marion Barry. Never in his career, either as a nonprofit executive or as a politician, has Gray played the race card. He is an honest, decent, caring man who speaks the truth to people. The Examiner is wrong in assuming he has ulterior motives.
This headline and ensuing story indicate that all Mayor Gray was doing in what I agree was a too-long State of the City speech was to play to his base, missing the truth he told: With all the progress the District has made in recent years, we are still two cities, one east of the Anacostia River and the other west of it.
The mayor didn’t promise anyone jobs, but did say that creating potential jobs through economic development, training residents for those jobs, and moving forward on education reform would be a focus of his administration. He also highlighted the 5,000 students who are taking advantage of the new community college for which he can rightfully claim credit for bringing into existence. But he was clear that this effort will take both the government and the community working together to accomplish.
Peter D. Rosenstein
Washington
Okay, so how should we pay for highways?
Re: “Dim Bulb: Sen. Kent Conrad,” March 28
You ought to turn the lights out on your “Dim Bulb” commentary. The March 28 one unfairly criticized me for merely seeking balanced information about options for how the federal government can pay for highway improvements.
Our highways are deteriorating and the gas tax isn’t generating enough money to pay for needed road improvements. Our nation’s long-term economic growth is dependent on our having a safe and reliable highway infrastructure. Rather than criticize those of us who are searching for solutions, why don’t you join the discussion and offer your ideas on how the federal government should pay for highway construction?
Given the fact that your paper rails against deficits, I found it troubling for The Examiner to take a swipe at those of us who are trying to solve a funding shortfall so that spending for highway improvements no longer adds to the federal deficit.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
Chairman,
U.S. Senate Budget Committee
Despite liberal detractors, Thomas & Palin are doing fine
Re: “Why liberals hate Clarence Thomas and Sarah Palin,” March 27
Just as Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was severely criticized last week for comparing slavery to the National Football League owners’ treatment of players, columnist Star Parker deserves a similar rebuke for mindlessly invoking the slavery analogy in describing the liberal mainstream media’s apparently scandalous treatment of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Parker whines that “Thomas and Palin are particularly threatening to liberals because their lives fly in the face of liberal mythology.” But both Palin and Thomas have done extraordinarily well, notwithstanding their legions of liberal detractors.
Palin, a remarkably incurious woman, has managed to parlay an abbreviated and undistinguished stint as chief executive of the state of Alaska and an ill-advised stunt of being selected as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate into celebrity status.
And despite a legal career of no particular distinction before being nominated for the high court, Justice Thomas enjoys lifetime employment and occasionally cranks out nutty, reactionary opinions that pass for constitutional interpretation. So much for two slaves fleeing the plantation.
Craig Taylor
Alexandria
