OPINION

1 Now I love Big D -- My attitude was all wrong when I moved to the area to live. It created bad vibes, although I tried to put up a good front. Then, reading The Dallas Morning News, I found my problems insignificant in comparison to many not so blessed as I.

Having been a motivational speaker, I decided to use my own advice: change my attitude, make constructive choices and live with what I couldn't change.

I hated the impersonal relationship with my new doctor, so I wrote her a letter, telling her I would have my questions ready so we'd have time to fully understand my problems. At the church, I volunteered to work and was soon involved, thereby integrating into the church family.

I made a concerted effort to communicate pleasantly with business people, especially those with ethnic accents whom I didn't always understand. Last, I spoke pleasantly to neighbors. Soon we became more friendly.

In other words, I took responsibility for my actions, and it has paid off big time. People respond well to kindness.

The metroplex, in its diversity, is a fabulous place to call home. I truly love it here now.

2 French Club spearheads drive for Haiti -- Re: "Students at Plano East: Donating for Haiti," Feb. 1 Three Cheers.

The paragraph about Plano East's French Club, Le Cercle Français, reported that the group raised $130 in two days for the Haitian disaster.

Well, I'm proud to say that Le Cercle made it up to nearly $600 within the next two days, thanks to the generous help of French Club members and the general student body alike; we received donations from the students ranging from a handful or two of pennies to $20 bills. Our funds ending up being sent to Médicines Sans Frontiéres, Doctors Without Borders, an organization chosen through an online poll for the benefactors, with a small side donation made to UNICEF. Tuesday, the French Club has plans to start a month-long toy drive to send stuffed animals to ill children in the hospital.

One of the most important things to Le Cercle Français is learning about French culture through first-hand experience. We know that Europeans are a lot closer to one another geographically than Americans are to anyone else, and that makes international crises harder for them to ignore. Therefore, the French Club tries to be aware of not only what's going on here in our own school but with people in our community, as well as in our whole world.

3 A soldier's heart -- Flying with a little baby girl (she's 11 months now!) is a whole new experience. It's challenging, and you never know how the flight is going to go.

We recently flew from Dallas to California, and it was going to be a three-hour trip. However, as we boarded, something happened that made me relax. While standing in first class, waiting to file on through the plane, we paused near a soldier sitting in the first row.

While waiting, he smiled and talked to my little girl, and she laughed at him. I thanked him for everything he is doing for our country and for making me a proud American.

His response brought tears to my eyes. He looked right at my daughter and said, "Everything we do, we do it for you." Something to think about -- they are fighting for our children's future.

It was truly a wonderful moment.

If we do not act now while health care reform is on the agenda, we soon will have to make a choice between paying our increasing premiums or paying for food, clothing and shelter.

Small companies can no longer afford to offer insurance to their employees, because the premiums are way too high. Not everyone can work for large companies that get better rates from insurance companies. Individual insurance is expensive, especially for individuals between 40 and 64 years old.

Insurance companies should not be able to take advantage with pre-existing conditions and less coverage for individuals at outrageous prices. Taxpayers are paying for all the emergency room visits by citizens who do not have health coverage. The system is broken for the insured but really paying off for the insurance companies.

Care worth the cost

As a board-certified hospital chaplain married to a breast cancer surgeon, I would like to encourage our congressional leaders to stop sniping at one another and begin to roll up their sleeves and work together to accomplish substantial health care reform now.

I have witnessed numerous times medical and financial situations that would and should be preventable -- but for a lack of insurance.

I strongly encourage those who fear change to look at who stands to gain and who stands to lose with that change. My best assessment is that 30 million more people can gain access to insurance for chronic conditions, which will save lives. This seems worth the cost to me -- especially in a time of fiscal recession.

Not about health or care

Re: "We need one Republican," by AliceAnne Ebinger, last Sunday letters.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, has had a Congress controlled by Democrats since the day he was sworn in.

Republicans could do nothing to stop health care or any other legislation. The Dems had to bribe Democratic senators from Louisiana and Nebraska to try to get the votes they needed to pass health care.

What does Ebinger mean when she says that we need one more Republican to demonstrate compassion to pass health care reform? Get a grip, it ain't about health, and it ain't about care.

All this hyperventilating about Wall Street bonuses is bogus populism aimed at the appearance of being concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars.

If anyone is really concerned about wasting our money, Wall Street is a smoke screen intended to hide what Washington is doing to us and our future. The Wall Street "waste" is a pimple on the behind compared to what our politicians are doing.

Ad distorts Obama plan

I saw a new ad by the Committee for Truth in Politics and thought for a minute that I had been transported to DC Comics' Bizarro World, where up is down and black is white.

The commercial seems to attack President Barack Obama's plan to rein in the big banks, end abusive practices by the credit card and mortgage industry and ensure that taxpayers will never again have to bail out Wall Street.

But that is not the impression the ad gives, and because reforming our financial system can get technical, it's also ripe for distortion. It is too easy to make false claims about what's actually in the legislation. That's why it's so important to separate what the reforms will really do from the upside-down claims protecting the interests of the industry the legislation is designed to regulate.

Real financial reform will protect working families and small business by reining in the greedy, reckless behavior of big banks on Wall Street. Reform will crack down on the abuses by credit card companies and mortgage lenders. Financial reform will hold Wall Street accountable and prevent another financial crisis like this one, which has led to millions of Americans losing their jobs. And that's the truth in the politics of financial reform.

Our debt is a millstone

The ongoing hearings in the House grilling Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner have not addressed a key fact in the financial crisis. We are a huge debtor nation.

Our creditors, including China, Japan and OPEC, have a major stake in our economy. I would like to know how much influence they exerted in having the taxpayers back up the banking system in September 2008. Had the system been allowed to fail, we would likely be cut off from access to Chinese goods and OPEC oil.

This debt is a direct threat to our sovereignty. The sooner we take back our country and become a creditor nation, the better off we'll be.

Blame the rule-makers

Limiting executive bonuses to punish banks for the poor state of the economy is like giving an aspirin to a cancer and expecting the patient to heal.

We can't blame the bankers for our economy, because they were only playing by the rules of a free-market economy. Instead, I blame the lawmakers who set the rules.

Regrettably, the conservative Supreme Court recently ruled that there should be no limit to the amount that Wall Street fat cats can donate to the campaigns of conservative politicians who are supposedly seeking to curb the excesses of Wall Street. The irony should be obvious.

Republicans like to call for fiscal conservatism and free markets, but this fiscal conservative thinks that W's free markets were actually more akin to a lawless black market.

I would tell politicians the same thing I tell my children: Rules make the game fair and fun for everyone, even the losers.

Small business tax breaks

To fix the economy, we need specific answers, not rhetoric. We need to reduce the costs the government imposes on businesses and simplify the process of reinvesting capital.

The government can help by giving businesses tax breaks and incentives to stimulate capital equipment purchases. The tax breaks make it easier for businesses to acquire equipment. When small businesses can immediately write off percentages of capital expenditures, they generate capital through reduced costs.

Businesses with increased capital stimulate the economy and create job growth. Both sellers and buyers of capital equipment can inject life into a sluggish manufacturing sector. And the nation can begin to regain a powerful competitive position in the global market. We can return to being producers, not just consumers.

Tax incentives have been talked about recently, but nothing substantial has been done. Too often, incentive programs expire before we see results. When we make our tax system simpler on small businesses, we make competition a focal point. Let's put America back to work.

Re: "Perry's Achilles heel," by Hugh T. Lefler Jr., Monday Letters.

Does Lefler really not know what position God has on abortion? Is he unaware of deaths from "safe, legal abortions"?

And last, I guess I have totally missed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's 17-year effort "to make abortions unnecessary."

Abortion is the deliberate destruction of a living human and has no place in a civilized society. Period. Pregnant women in crisis need our love and support. They deserve better than abortion.

I support right to choose

I was really mad that the ad featuring Tim Tebow's mother would be on TV Super Bowl Sunday. I feel strongly about freedom of choice.

My aunt, whom I loved deeply, had chosen to have an abortion in 1934 -- I learned later -- and almost died. She should have had the right to medical assistance then, as well as every woman today, to have the freedom if she chooses such a decision. I am pro-choice and stand up for the woman's right to any choice.

Put priorities in order

Let's be real honest here. All this rhetoric about the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad is beyond confusing. All of the naysayers are telling us that we do not need to view such controversial ads during a fun time like the Super Bowl.

So let's bring on the Clydesdales and partially clad women and say to our children: "America is about booze and sex, but whatever you do, don't you dare talk about preserving life."

Detractors should apologize

Every journalist, columnist and blogger who published negative comments directed toward Tim Tebow, Pam Tebow, Focus on the Family and CBS should apologize for his or her statements.

The airing of the commercial that was preemptively assumed to be controversial has proved all of the inflammatory language and criticism to be unfounded.

Likewise, all those involved in the production and airing of the commercial should be acknowledged as having been honest in their representation of the commercial before it aired.

I am so sick of the constant criticism of the president's handling of the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's case. The Republicans accuse the president of appearing weak to the terrorists, when what makes us appear weak is the constant whining and divisive behavior of the Republicans.

We must present a united front to fight terrorism. Sarah Palin, in her criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of the Christmas Day bomber, also criticizes her own party, who dealt with Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, in the criminal courts, where he was read his Miranda rights.

What empowers the terrorists is stupidity and ignorance and divisiveness, and Palin has revealed those qualities to us all, in the palm of her hand.

Re: Photo with "Palin pulls in crowd for Perry -- 8,000 turn out and cheer former VP candidate's anti-Washington message," Monday news story.

The picture of Gov. Rick Perry and Sarah Palin was what you might call priceless, or maybe "a picture worth a thousand words." Words, indeed.

The notes you see on Palin's left hand used to be called "crib notes" when I was in grade school, and if I were caught, I would be accused of cheating. But then I wasn't trying to impress the elite tea party pols, was I?

Medina is a clear choice

Even though I always leave many spots blank on the ballot, I've typically had to hold my nose when I vote. There just haven't been that many solid-thinking, ideologically grounded people throwing their hats into the political ring.

But the more I hear from Debra Medina, the more I'm certain that I'll be proud to vote for her and glad that I did. Any self-professed "conservative" who votes for anybody else has some "'splainin'." to do.

Why does the half-term governor of Alaska keep talking and actually saying nothing? Perhaps because she is not past her high-school mentality of writing a cheat sheet on the palm of her hand, not knowing it is worse than using a TeleprompTer. She criticized the president for aiding himself with that device.

At least he is tech-savvy. Students know if they do palm cheating, they have to keep their fist closed -- as well as their mouths.

Will tea party help Democrats?

Re: "Defining tea parties -- Mark Davis takes a moment and sets the record straight on what this movement is -- and what it isn't," Wednesday Viewpoints.

Davis' column said almost nothing. In trying to define what the tea party is, he spent lots of time telling us what it is not, and then managed to say almost nothing about what it is.

According to Davis, tea party members are not a small third party composed of extremists, anti-taxers or social conservative lunatics with delusions of becoming a major party. He has already cast them as a major splinter party of freedom-loving Americans dedicated to a strong and limited government.

Pardon me, but is that not what the Libertarian Party generally stands for? The tea party movement has yet to establish itself and is still struggling to find its way.

Yet without some sort of charismatic leader pushing a coherent message, the most the new tea party can hope for is to ensure that Democrats will win the next election by spitting the Republican vote.

Tea partiers frighten me

Re: "Defining tea parties -- While this movement is flaring up it needs an agenda, otherwise it runs the risk of flaming out, says Dick Polman," and, "Mark Davis takes a moment and sets the record straight on what this movement is -- and what it isn't," and, "Tea parties just the latest in the high cost of freedom -- Americans have always had a distrust for government, authority, says Gregory Rodriguez," Wednesday Viewpoints.

I have to agree with much of Polman's and Rodriquez's points of view on the tea party movement. But Davis' column was typical Mark Davis rhetoric. I'm afraid I must disagree totally with his vision of a group of genteel, Kum-Ba-Ya singing advocates of anti-extremists.

After viewing firsthand a large contingent of tea partiers in Washington, D.C., I have to say these people were nothing if not frightening. They were so loud and disruptive that the Capitol was shut down to visitors temporarily; therefore depriving my 13-year-old granddaughter of a much-anticipated visit. Their signs were vicious, their chants angry and very frightening.

When a large group descended to the Metro as I was coming up to street level, I felt extreme unease. These people don't represent me and certainly not anything I believe in.

Let's hope that sanity soon regains control, and people will remember that in our country we can disagree, and it's all right. Extremists of all kinds are the ones to be feared and mistrusted, and their behavior was extremist.

Medina's lesser funding a plus

Not a single vote has been cast in the Republican primary. No matter -- corporate media keep telling us that Debra Medina can't compete because, unlike her wealthy opponents, she doesn't have a multimillion-dollar campaign war chest.

I disagree. I see this as a good thing for Medina. When our governor is not in the pockets of the political elite and other special interest groups, we Texans win.

When words become political

My 50-year-old sister is an acondroplastic dwarf, and I learned relatively early in life that deriding friends, acquaintances, business associates, strangers for their innocent and unknowing use of the word "midget," a derogatory term used in describing persons of short stature, caused only unnecessary embarrassment for my friends, me and my sister.

Sarah Palin is new in the realm of "family of the handicapped," but it appears she has a few things to learn. Palin's attempt to use her handicapped child for political gain is far more egregious than those that inadvertently spoke of a "retard."

Somehow, Debra Medina, the toxic GOP candidate for governor, used her empathy for 9/11 truthers to explain why she thinks there should be a moratorium on executions in Texas.

The twisted logic here is hard to follow, but when you realize what she is saying, it's far more damaging to the cause of a moratorium than it is helpful.

Essentially, she is saying that she believes there are some credible doubts at the government's ability to tell the truth . You know, sometimes government prosecutors get it wrong on issues of justice, hence the need for a moratorium on executions. And sometimes, White House officials who are cozy with Israel and energy companies conspire to blow up the World Trade Center. Um, no ...

Not the same thing.

Not even close.

Read more and comment.

Southwest Airlines has a problem on its hands, after kicking famed director Kevin Smith off a flight for being too fat to properly fit into his seat. Smith tweeted at length about the indignity; controversy ensued.

But I'm having trouble picking sides in this debate.

Exhibit A: Smith originally purchased two seats for his flight, so he must have known his weight could be an issue. However, he was trying to catch an earlier flight on standby; it was this earlier flight he got thrown off of. If Smith originally bought two tickets, why did he then think he could get away with one? Smith seems in the wrong.

Exhibit B: Southwest has fallen all over itself apologizing to Smith, first on Twitter and then in an official apology. And they gave him a $100 voucher for his inconvenience. This is probably good PR, but it's bad for consistency. What happens when a not-so-famous obese man has the same problem later? Would the same rules apply? This puts Southwest in a bad light.

I'll give the edge to Southwest for now. But this isn't the publicity it needs.

Thank goodness we don't have a flood of letters on the same subject today. We did have a good, solid commentary on local and national issues.

Debra Medina is probably the most-discussed person in the news. Specifically, readers discussed whether her comments on 9/11 hurt or helped her. One reader pledged his vote, even though he didn't agree with her on 9/11.

I didn't keep a formal count, but I did notice a good many letters about the weather.

Tomorrow is the start of early voting in the Texas statewide primary and so it's the day we will recap all candidate recommendations we've made to date - roughly three dozen recommendations in top races statewide and in North Texas.

Sadly, we've yet to publish our recommendations in five key races - three congressional and two county. We'll publish those recommendations later this week. Why the delay? We simply couldn't get the candidates in all 40-or-so key races in for interviews in the roughly six weeks between the candidate filing deadline and start of early voting. We've yet to interview in three key races (those interviews are today and tomorrow)....

Still, we think it's important to wrap up our thinking to date, given that tomorrow is the start of early voting, and so tomorrow's page will contain all but the remaining five recommendations. We will republish the complete list - with the Final Five - on Sunday and again on Election Day.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the candidates' answers to our questionnaires, which are online here. We emailed customized questionnaires to more than 130 candidates in 50 some races and more than 90 percent completed them for your perusal. Check them out and be a smart voter whenever you choose to go to the polls.

Michael noted in this morning's staff meeting that some anti-climate-change doubters are pointing fingers at the record D.C. snowfall (maybe the Dallas snow as well?) as a sign that the global warming issue is all a bunch of hooey.

I suppose that finger-pointing is out there, but we'd be better served to lend our editorial voice to what might need to be done as a result of the sloppy work in the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Chage report of 2007.

At the end of November, we editorialized about "science climate researchers' stunning lack of integrity," as evidenced by a trove e-mails that a computer hacker stole from scientists. (Sorry, I've spent 15 minutes looking for the link and have finally given up.) And we've touched on errors in the 2007 report.

But this issue is gaining steam again because two GOP senators are citing the
errors (here's a good Washington Post takeout documenting/detailing those mistakes) as further reason to block mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Just last week, one of the senators, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said the U.S. should halt any action on climate until it verifies the panel's scientific conclusions.

Big news today: Democratic Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana announced he will not be seeking re-election.

Why? Politico explains:

In prepared remarks reported by the Indianapolis Star, Bayh said his desire to serve in Congress "has waned."

"Even in the current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for reelection," Bayh said in the remarks. "But running for the sake of winning an election, just to remain in public office, is not good enough."

Interesting. Remember that Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy announced Friday that he is leaving Congress. There seems to be a trend developing here ...

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza explains:

No matter how the two fields shake out, holding the Indiana seat just got much harder for Democrats. Although President Barack Obama won the Hoosier State narrowly in 2008, it is generally regarded by strategists of both parties as swing territory with a slight edge for Republicans. The national playing field's tilt toward Republicans makes the seat all the tougher for Democrats to hold.

Bayh is the fifth Democratic Senator not seeking re-election. He joins Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Ted Kaufman (Del.) and Roland Burris (Ill.) on the sidelines.

Are the rats jumping off the ship? Could be. But Cillizza also notes:

Six Republicans are not running again: Sens. Kit Bond (Mo.), George Lemieux (Fla.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), George Voinovich (Ohio), Sam Brownback (Kans.) and Jim Bunning (Ky.)

What do you think about Bayh bowing out of the race? What does this mean?

Debra Medina's game-ending gaffe actually gives Kay Hutchison her last chance to get Rick Perry into a runoff.

Medina's comment to the effect that she really doesn't know if the government didn't have anything to do with 9/11 pretty much tops her vote off with the frustrated crowd. Ardent Tea Party folks will back her regardless, but the frustrated-but-not-truthers' portion of the electorate will not.

They are now shopping for an alternative. Hutchison can never win them on conservative purity grounds, but she perhaps could pick up enough to make a difference if she can prove that she's the change-agent in this race.

While Perry may be their natural fallback candidate, he's also been the guy presiding over a fractious Austin. If anything, today's frustrated voter seems mad at elected officials for not being able to get much done. Hutchison could present herself as the candidate who can do a better job than Perry. She could try to portray herself as the one who's more suited to working with both parties.

I concede this is a long shot. But yesterday's polls suggest she doesn't have many shots left. She should take this one and try to persuade those who were drifting to Medina to back her as the race's change agent.