The only two things that Jonah Goldberg left out of his article on the explosion of Social Security disability payments was that the huge enrollment in recent years helped reduce the overall high rate of unemployment (“Why Disability Is the New Welfare,” PostOpinion, April 3).
I have no doubt that the Democrats calculate that a grateful recipient would be more likely to vote Democratic.
Andy Romanic, Freeport
Welcome bikes
The article on bike-sharing missed the real story (“New Yorkers Trying To Prevent Bike-Share Racks From Going on Their Block,” March 31).
The Department of Transportation has met with thousands of New Yorkers in community workshops, as well as gathered crowd-sourced information via its Web site to figure out where to place bike kiosks.
The majority of New Yorkers support bike sharing, and community boards all over the city have worked to ensure smooth implementation.
Like thousands of other city residents eagerly awaiting CitiBike, I will purchase a membership on the first day the system is running. I’m glad there will be a kiosk near my home.
B. Kintisch, Bedford-Stuyvesant
Back to basics
Washington wants to repeat the mistakes of the past that led to the subprime-mortgage mess (“Home A-Loan 2” Editorial, April 4).
Politicians only think about votes, not about the harm they may do to the economy or the people who are coerced into buying houses they can’t afford.
Everyone in Washington, from the president on down, should go back to college and take Economics 101. You don’t make loans to people who can’t repay them. These are the same people who don’t understand that they shouldn’t spend money they don’t have.
Tom Lienhard, Westfield, NJ
Shroud’s meaning
Whether one concludes that the Shroud of Turin is an authentic relic of Jesus or not, I vehemently disagree with Pope Francis’ association of the facial image to those who are among “the weakest” (“Science & the Shroud,” Michael Walsh, PostOpinion, April 5).
On the contrary, it is the face of the strong, the principled and the brave who are willing to suffer and die to affirm the principles to which they subscribe — a character trait that is, unfortunately, lacking in today’s world and Christianity in particular.
The Catholic faith was never about identification with the poor and downtrodden; it is about the victory that faith and good works achieve for us in spite of any and all earthly woes that may afflict us.
Lou Longobardi, Valley Stream
Aborting gifts
I want to thank Kyle Smith for his beautiful column on babies with Down syndrome, most of whom are being aborted in the United States (“The Gifts We’d Lose,” PostScript, March 31).
Unfortunately, many members of the medical establishment are complicit in encouraging these abortions through diagnostic tools. They fear wrongful-birth lawsuits from parents who believe that they are entitled to perfect babies.
Until we learn to revere the dignity of life from conception to death, this slaughter will sadly continue, aided and abetted by women’s groups and their political allies who worship at the altar of legalized abortion, regardless of its consequences.
Alice Lemos, Woodside