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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2009

Poor Museum Coverage

As one of a couple of thousand people who witnessed the grand opening of the new Tampa Bay History Center, I was surprised at the lack of coverage from the local media, both print and broadcast, particularly since it was a momentous occasion in Tampa history in its own right.

The city, county, and the surrounding area have been waiting several years for a modern, interactive repository to share and interpret the vast history of this area, and we now have it thanks to the vision of several key leaders and the hard work of hundreds of people in the area.

I was quite impressed with the lines, the celebration, and the awe of the many families who chose to partake of a day of history, yet I saw nothing on Saturday or Sunday on the local news broadcasts and only a very tiny photograph and one paragraph in the Sunday Tribune.

At a time of martial conflict around the world, crime, economic woes, and general negativity in the area, where was the coverage about something positive and enlightening in our own backyard?

ROSS L. LAMOREAUX

Brandon

Land-Line Phones

I saw a TV reporter make the statement that we could all get rid of our land-line phones and rely on our cells to save money in these tough times.

Eh? I don't know about you, but I rarely get or make a cell call that doesn't drop.

It makes no difference which service provider you use around the Tampa area, calls drop by the thousands every day.

I tried to reach a product support line and was placed on hold for seemingly forever.

Finally, a voice came on the line, and what do you think happened? Yes, the phone clicked and gave me the infamous "call ended" display message.

When redials, lost time and the counterproductive aspects of lost calls are all added up, my land line is a great alternative to my cell phone.

So no thanks. I'll keep my land line for the truly important calls.

DON FOWLER

Brooksville

Roe vs. Wade March

Jan. 22 was the 36th anniversary of the infamous decision to legalize abortion. Fifty million children have died as a result. On Thursday in Washington hundreds of thousands of people marched to protest this decision. Unfortunately, your paper chose to ignore the march, as usual. If gays, blacks or feminists had marched, it would have been front-page news with columns of information. Now we know why newspapers are failing. You do your readers a disservice by ignoring an important story like this.

SHARON DIPIAZZA

Seffner

Ending War On Terror

President Obama is closing our secret overseas prisons for terrorists (we don't bring them here because our liberal justice system would instantly grant them the full rights of a citizen), and he has prohibited borderline interrogation techniques like waterboarding (i.e., ones that actually make terrorists talk). He is closing Guantanamo (without any plan for where to send the detainees).

In other words, he just unilaterally ended the war on terror.

Radical Islam is once again largely a matter for the Justice Department rather than the Pentagon and the CIA. We may not have liked the Bush/Cheney method, but it has kept us safe for many years. If we get hit again, President Obama will have to answer to the American people for making these profound changes. Obama probably has a speech all prepared to smooth things over when the inevitable happens. Unfortunately, his world view puts him more at odds with the previous administration (and therefore its tactics) than those who have an unrelenting hostility for the western world in general and the USA specifically.

DWAYNE KEITH

Valrico

Change In Tactics

The headlines Jan. 23 stated that there is a change in strategy in the war on terror. Some strategy. Sounds more like admitting defeat. It's more like conceding victory to the terrorists who declared war on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. We are giving them what they want. Will it take a mushroom cloud over New York or Washington, D.C. or one of our Southern border states to wake up some people that this is an ongoing war. It is a war with people who do not want to negotiate. They just want to kill Americans wherever they find us, at home or abroad

GLADYS A. PRATT

Tampa

Tortured Logic

What kind of tortured values allow a party, a person or a president to protect terrorists but extract an unborn child from its mother's womb and execute it for the convenience of society?

DAN COGGINS

Wesley Chapel

JOIN DISCUSSION

The Tribune welcomes letters and e-mails from readers. The text should be original and no longer than 150 words. By making a submission, you agree the Tribune may edit the letter for length and clarity, and publish it in any medium.

Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Mail to: P.O. Box 191, Tampa, FL 33601-0191. Or e-mail without attachments: tribletters@tampatrib.com.

Also, read and participate in the Tribune editorial board's blog, "Thinking Out Loud," at www.tboblogs.com/index.php/thinkoutloud/categories....

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