Distrust

President Obama said in his State of the Union address that we need to restore trust in the government. Our country was founded on distrust of government. Read the Declatation of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the writings of the Founding Fathers. Distrust of big government is the basis of freedom. Ted Hartka, Phoenix

In a nutshell, Baltimore City is demanding immediate repayment of tax credits it erroneously gave to taxpayers, often over a period of several years ("City homeowners given 30 days to repay tax credits they didn't request," April 8). We must refund their mistakes right now, or else. This is the same Baltimore City that would seize your house for non payment of water bills that were wildly inaccurate. And these mistakes were not realized until private enterprise (The Baltimore Sun) pointed them out. No wonder we lack respect for and distrust the government.

In a nutshell, Baltimore City is demanding immediate repayment of tax credits it erroneously gave to taxpayers, often over a period of several years ("City homeowners given 30 days to repay tax credits they didn't request," April 8). We must refund their mistakes right now, or else. This is the same Baltimore City that would seize your house for non payment of water bills that were wildly inaccurate. And these mistakes were not realized until private enterprise (The Baltimore Sun) pointed them out. No wonder we lack respect for and distrust the government.

"How do we stop Newt?" I've now been asked that question by a lot of conservatives. It's not that I'm the go-to guy for that sort of question. Rather, one gets the sense that many "establishment" conservatives are asking everybody that question - in staff meetings, at the chiropodist, even at the McDonald's drive-thru. ("I'll have two happy meals, two chocolate milks and - by the way - do you have any idea how to stop Newt?") The other night, while having drinks with some prominent conservatives, I said I thought there was a significant chance that Newt Gingrich will not only win the nomination but that he might be the next president.

Black experts on AIDS are calling for new prevention and treatment programs tailored to minority communities in a refocused effort that they say is needed because of a distrust of government by many blacks.At a conference in Baltimore yesterday, experts told the National Commission on AIDS that black community leaders have responded slowly to the epidemic, which has hit blacks in large ** numbers.Of 3,099 AIDS cases in Maryland since 1981, more than half, 1,864, involve blacks.Among the reasons for the slow response is that existing programs in black communities often aren't led by blacks and don't adequately address minority concerns and skepticism toward government, the experts testified.

THE MOOD IN Maryland's suburbia -- the home of soccer moms and angry white males -- still seems fragile and distrustful, in spite of President Clinton's re-election Tuesday.Indeed, Mr. Clinton ran more competitively in this state's broad and burgeoning belt of tract housing and strip malls than he did when he captured the presidency in 1992.He also fared better than the results of the 1994 state election would have indicated when a fellow Democrat, Gov. Parris Glendening, lost all but the three most urban jurisdictions -- Baltimore City and Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

NORTHERN Ireland's new Cabinet is a tribute to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's tact and patience as moderator of the talks that brought it about.Now they are on their own.The new regime resembles an attempt that got off the ground in 1974 only to crash under withering opposition from the distrusting Protestant community.A young Ulster Unionist politician who helped shoot it down, David Trimble, leads this experiment as first minister. Seamus Mallon, of the Social Democratic and Labor party in the Catholic community, is deputy minister.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush acknowledged bitter strains between his party and African-Americans in an appearance before the nation's oldest civil rights organization yesterday that offered reminders that the president and Republicans remain deeply unpopular among black voters. Addressing the NAACP's annual convention for the first time as president, Bush drew a warm response when he promised to sign into law a renewal of the Voting Rights Act that cleared Congress yesterday. "I understand that racism still lingers in America," said Bush, who received a polite but reserved reception as he outlined priorities he said he had in common with blacks, such as rebuilding the Gulf Coast, improving education and expanding home ownership.

FEUDING politicians who had little trust for one another. A secretive process that was frustratingly slow in producing a document that would be the foundation of a new nation. Compromises that made little sense and seemed only to plant the seeds of future discord. That could describe the various delegates trying to come up with a constitution for Iraq. Or it could describe the delegates who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to try to do the same for the fledgling United States. Though the levels of enmity and distrust are often decried as poisoning the possibility of Iraqis ever agreeing on a new constitution, in Philadelphia two centuries ago, distrust was probably a crucial element in the success of the document those delegates wrote.

IF RICHARD NIXON had just gone quietly, there would probably be no call for a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush White House for leaking the identity of a CIA agent. Chalk up another one to the legacy of Watergate. More than a quarter-century later, its legacy still informs the issue over administration officials allegedly telling reporters that the wife of an administration critic was in the CIA. Consider that in the two centuries of U.S. history before Watergate, there were only a handful of special prosecutors.

Steven L. Salzberg's response to Margaret Dunkle's vaccination op-ed is itself a study in fear-mongering and ignorance ("Sun prints dangerous anti-vaccination op-ed," July 14). It is precisely because of the condescending and uninformed views of Dr. Salzberg that parents are losing confidence in the CDC mandated vaccination program. Salzberg is "deeply concerned" that the op-ed piece will lead to decreased uptake of vaccination and increased morbidity due to vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.

I write to perhaps shed some light on the reasoning for opposition to the use of speed cameras generally, which I believe can be extended to their use in school zones. First a few contextual background points. Governments, because of their organization, structure, personnel and political nature, are terrible at distinguishing the difference between "causes" and "effects," so policy changes very seldom actually work, achieve their intended purpose, and are incredibly difficult to change once adopted.

As older baby boomers near or enter retirement, many are so paralyzed by fears of poverty and distrust of financial advisers that they can't take the steps needed to secure their future, according to a report released Monday by a California investment adviser. Instead, they often rely on "magical thinking," where they hope that it will somehow all work out in the end, says Financial Engines, which interviewed more than 300 older boomers during the past three years. It's understandable that early boomers, the oldest of whom turn 65 this year, are worried.

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy responded to the endorsement of Gregg Bernstein by Police Chief Frederick H. Bealefeld III by proclaiming that "we don't want a police state in Baltimore City. " Her accusation that the election of Bernstein, her opponent in the state's attorney's race, would turn Baltimore City into a police state is the most recent example of how low she will stoop in order to pander to the worst instincts of her constituency. Ms. Jessamy has won three prior elections by appealing to voters who distrust the police and has spent 15 years in office fanning the flames of that antipathy.

Baltimore's top prosecutor accused the city's police commissioner Friday of using the power of his badge to help her opponent in next month's primary State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said in a statement that Frederick H. Bealefeld III has broken years of precedent with "overt actions … to influence the outcome of an election" — which she warned "can only lead to divisiveness and distrust in the community. " Jessamy said it was "unprecedented and inappropriate" for the city's top police officer to put a campaign sign on his lawn.

President Obama said in his State of the Union address that we need to restore trust in the government. Our country was founded on distrust of government. Read the Declatation of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the writings of the Founding Fathers. Distrust of big government is the basis of freedom. Ted Hartka, Phoenix

The stock market is plummeting and Democratic candidates are letting the voters know that the rich and greedy businessmen - the friends of the Republicans - are to blame. That might sound like today's headline, but it was also the story 70 years ago. The candidate was Franklin D. Roosevelt. The man playing the part of Enron's Kenneth Lay or the Arthur Andersen accountants or the WorldCom executives was Samuel Insull. He had made his millions in electric utilities in Chicago only to take thousands of stockholders down with him when the Depression collapsed his financial house of cards.

QUEENSTOWN -- A day before an American-imposed deadline for a breakthrough, President Clinton flew here yesterday to speed up slow-moving talks between the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians.Clinton spent much of the afternoon closeted separately with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in mansions on the secluded Wye Plantation estate here.Negotiations were to continue late into the night.White House spokesman Joe Lockhart gave no indication of how forceful the president felt he needed to be to bring about a deal.

M y wife and I and our dog attended my aunt's funeral recently. We drove from our home in Washington early Sunday morning to the funeral home and then joined family and friends at the cemetery. My wife and I were both born in Baltimore (delivered by the same obstetrician), but she left when she was 1. I have deeper roots. I left Baltimore for college over half a century ago, then went on to graduate school and a career in universities in the United States and abroad. But I know Baltimore - my parents were born there and lived their whole lives there; my brother and I both grew up in Baltimore; my sister and her family, and my son and his family, and other relatives live there.