Sounding off: Tomlin, Civil War, Casey among week's topics

Keeping Tomlin shows disregard for players, fans

I have been a Steelers fan for well over half a century and remember the days when Buddy Parker was allowed to walk away, Mike Nixon was terminated after only one season and Bill Austin was let go after three.

What has followed may have earned Dan and Art Rooney the praise of those who value loyalty, but that quality is well past its sell date, and now reeks of a total disregard for the team’s performance and a complete disdain for its fans.

Moreover, the Steelers organization itself is tarnished. It is well understood by the fans, the media and even Rooney’s peers that 31 NFL franchises employ head coaches on merit, with even the accomplishment of winning a half-dozen Lombardi trophies not exempting one from scrutiny, while one requires absolutely no accountability. Everyone knows Mike Tomlin has been appointed coach for life.

If Rooney’s political circle of friends or some other influence intimidates him from doing what any other NFL owner would have done at least five years ago, he needs to finally exhibit some intestinal fortitude. The Steelers are an immensely talented squad that has underachieved for at least the past 10 seasons, roughly corresponding to when Tomlin’s training wheels were removed and he could choose his own assistants.

If Rooney is content to accept the personal ridicule that will accompany keeping Tomlin employed, he should at least not allow it to spill over to the storied Steelers franchise.

Dave O’Mara

Haymarket, Va.

The writer is a former Bellevue resident.

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Civil War clearly based on slavery

The author of the letter “A Civil War history lesson” (Jan. 9, TribLive) needs to take another look at the history books. I am so tired of hearing that the basis of the Civil War was the economy or state rights and not slavery. It takes less than 10 minutes to Google the articles of secession for all 11 of the Confederate states. They all state that the reason for breaking from the Union was their “state right” to continue slavery or their “peculiar institution,” a euphemism for slavery, as the basis for their economy.

The entire economy of the Confederates states was built on the unpaid labor that slavery provided. Mississippi was the richest state in the Union before the Civil War. Cotton was not the only major crop. Louisiana exported sugar cane. South Carolina exported rice. Virginia had depleted much of the soil because of their early reliance on tobacco, so in the decades prior to the Civil War, their major product became slaves who were sold to the deep South since they could no longer be brought into the U.S. from Africa.

Stop rewriting Confederate history to whitewash the importance of slavery to the southern economy!

Elizabeth Veronica Weaver

Hempfield

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The Civil War slavery myth

Bravo to the writer of “A Civil War history lesson” (Jan. 9, TribLive) for a fascinating, well-researched letter. He must have used a bulldozer to unearth this information.

When the Constitution was ratified, slavery was present in every state. May smaller states feared a powerful central government. That is why the words “slavery” and “secession” cannot be found in the Constitution.

That is the reason for the 10th Amendment. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people … .” That is states’ rights.

Slavery had proved uneconomical in the North. The North did not approve of secession. Slavery was legal in the South. Indeed, some freed Black slaves owned slaves and they were not rescued family. That isn’t put in the history books. Southern states believed in the right to secede from the Union.

The North decided to end slavery in the South. Northerners tried to shame Southerners. John Brown attempted to incite a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry. It failed. Laws were made restricting the spread of slavery. Forget the Constitution; use any means to kill it.

The South finally decided to secede. They did so peacefully. The North could not allow this, and so the Civil War began.

The North won the Civil War. The victor always writes the history of the war. Therefore, the Civil War was about slavery.

The North ignored the Constition and invaded the South. It was Northern agression, not slavery, but it is impossible to kill a myth.

Kathleen Bollinger

Fawn

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Casey an undistinguished legislator

I was disgusted when I read Rep. Nick Pisciottano’s letter praising Sen. Bob Casey for securing $520,000 for Allegheny County to make county streets safer for pedestrians (“Casey helping to keep pedestrians safe,” Jan. 12, TribLive). He says he is “thankful we have an effective leader like Casey.” This $520,000 was a minuscule 0.000043% of the $1,200,000,000,000 spending included in the Infrastructure Act.

Meanwhile, the “effective” Senator Casey blindly supported President Biden when he essentially opened America’s southern border to millions of illegal immigrants and now provides many of them with free cell phones, $5,000 charge cards, bus and plane transportation, hotel and other housing, and schooling for kids who don’t speak English.

After sacrificing thousands of brave American soldiers in Middle East wars to keep our country safe, our southern border is now largely open to terrorists, drug dealers, criminals and, sadly, trafficked children.

Casey recently co-sponsored election-year showpiece legislation that would spend billions to detect fentanyl at border checkpoints but would not stop “got aways” or reduce illegal immigration. He has served three undistinguished terms with no major accomplishments and no major committee roles, and his opinions are rarely sought even by the liberal news media.

Casey, once a moderate like his father, has become a reliable liberal vote and has definitively proved not to be a problem solver.

Meanwhile, his competitor, Dave McCormick, has an impressive record of accomplishments at West Point, in Afghanistan, in business and in government service. He’s the proven problem solver we desperately need in Washington.

Larry Schultz

Murrysville

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Look to character rather than party affiliation when voting

I believe, in light of the American political climate today, party affiliation is less important than a candidate’s character and positive accomplishments.

A commitment to truth, a strong moral compass, empathy toward those less fortunate, compassion for those who are sick in mind and body, and a commitment to a shared sense of social responsibility should be paramount in evaluating any candidate.

We are all descended from immigrants. None of us poison American blood, because we are America. Whether our ancestors were Asian, European, African, Indian, Native American or Hispanic, our forefathers have all contributed to this great country, as do we. Anyone speaking otherwise is without character, un-American and unworthy of any place in our body politic.

E pluribus unum: “out of many, one,” refers not only to the many states creating one nation, but out of many diverse peoples comes one nation: America.

Kenneth Powell

New Kensington

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No time to go backward on abortion safety

Karnamaya Mongar was a female immigrant patient who died as a result of the negligence of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. It was a tragic death that could have been prevented.

It is in the memory of Karnamaya and all those women who suffered at the hands of Gosnell that the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a measure in 2011 to require abortion facilities to meet health and safety standards — standards written in the best interests of women.

Now some state lawmakers, backed by Planned Parenthood, are introducing legislation to repeal the law. Such a repeal would turn back the clock, back to the days when hair and nail salons received greater scrutiny in Pennsylvania than abortion centers. Now is not the time to go backward.

Maria Gallagher

Harrisburg

The writer is legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.

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Stealing money from public schools

Last year the Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional. It is estimated that at least $5.4 billion is needed to correct this situation. Harrisburg is currently struggling to come up with solutions to this problem.

One wonders why, when we desperately need funds for public education, our lawmakers are giving taxpayer money to private schools. Last month our General Assembly increased by 40% the tax credit to private and religious schools, to nearly a half-billion dollars. This on top of the $1.6 billion in taxpayer dollars going to charter schools and $1 billion going to cyber charter schools, half of which went to advertisement. These funds come from our property tax.

Why are we stealing money from public schools to subsidize private and religious schools? Why are we reducing our tax pool by giving deductions to individuals and businesses that give tuition and donations to private schools?

Tell Harrisburg to stop giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to private and religious schools. Public funds for public schools.

There are big-money donors who want to privatize our educational system. Tell your lawmakers we do not want to continue to subsidize private entities. Public funds for public services.

Chris Baldonieri

Latrobe