Sally Ride was the first female pioneer in the US space program, in addition to being a scientist (“Sally Ride: 1951-2012,” Editorial, July 25).
Let us not forget under who’s leadership she made history — Republican President Ronald Reagan. He boldly went where no president had ventured before.
Robert McKenna, Staten Island
Hail Sally Ride. Blast off into the sky.
Alas, Sally’s last ride made her a spirit in the sky.
S. Davniero, Lindenhurst
Gun-law goof
In his otherwise well-written article, “You Can’t Stop a Madman,” (PostScript, July 22) Kyle Smith commits an egregious constitutional error.
The term “well-regulated” does not allow states to pass gun laws. “Well-regulated” in the constitutional sense means “properly disciplined.” In other words, the phrase means welltrained and prepared.
Frank Peel, San Jose, Calif.
Lucky on lockout
Thankfully, the Con Ed lockout was settled with the warning of a potential storm in the area (“Gov’s Perfect Storm,” July 27).
This allowed the company and the union to mobilize their emergency bureau and overhead bureau and get back on the system, ASAP.
W. Gluck, Garden City
Upper East Snide
Upper East Siders complaining about the proliferation of electric bicycles driven by delivery people ought to ask “to whom are these people delivering food?” (“Pol ‘Pedals’ Elec-Bike Bill,” July 26)?
I am much more offended by Muffy firing up her SUV every morning to drop the brats off at school across town.
Brian Flaherty, Manhattan
Quota-free classes
Kyle Smith misquoted me in his otherwise excellent column, “Political Science” (PostScript, July 15).
I never said “courts have ruled that applying Title IX to education rather than sports is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.”
Instead, I said that if the Obama administration applies gender quotas to math and science classes — the way such quotas currently apply to college sports — then that would violate the Constitution.
Title IX itself does not require classroom quotas yet and legally could not, in light of court rulings striking down gender quotas in college admissions and government boards.
The Obama administration may try to impose classroom quotas in the future, but if it does, its actions will be challenged in court.
Courts have only upheld gender quotas in college sports, a unique area where benefits have to be distributed evenly between all-male and all-female teams. But math and science classes are not all-male or all-female, so quotas are impermissible there, and enrollment must be gender-blind.
Hans Bader, senior attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC
O’s humble pie
Would the late, great Sylvia Woods, the “Queen of Soul Food,” have agreed with President Obama that someone else made her tremendous success happen (“Sylvia Woods, 1926-2012,” Editorial, July 23)?
Paul Bianco, Roslyn