The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page A10

10A TUESDAY 09.11.2007 THE SUN ANOTHER VIEW SUN THE A Tribune Publishing Company TIMOTHY E. RYAN, Publisher, President and Chief Executive Officer TIMOTHY A. FRANKLIN, Editor DIANNE DONOVAN, Editorial Page Editor WILL ENGLUND, Associate Editorial Page Editor ANN LOLORDO, Deputy Editorial Page Editor ROBERT BLAU, Managing Editor SANDRA A. BANISKY, Deputy Managing Editor J. MONTGOMERY COOK, Deputy Managing Editor PAUL M.

MOORE, Public Editor LINDA HASTINGS, Vice President Advertising LINDA HUTZLER, Vice President Information Technology LOUIS A. MARANTO, Vice President Circulation KEVIN P. SCANLON, Vice President Human Resources STEPHEN G. SEIDL, Vice President Operations ERIK A. SMIST, Vice President Chief Einancial Officer TIMOTHY J.

THOMAS, Vice President Marketing TIMOTHY F. WINDSOR, General Manager Interactive The Sun endorses Following are the Democratic candidates in today's Baltimore primary election. The Sun's endorsements are highlighted. There is no Republican primary. MAYOR SHEILA DIXON A.

Robert Kaufman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. Mike Schaefer Phillip A. Brown Jr. Andrey Bundley Jill P.

Carter Frank M. Conaway CITY COUNCIL District 8 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Benjamin Barnwell Sr. HELEN L. HOLTON Darryl Anthony Jefferson Sr. Andre Manigault Mahasa David Maurice Smallwood District 9 MICHAEL EUGENE JOHNSON James Hugh Jones II Agnes Welch District 10 Donnie Fair TERRY F.

HICKEY Hunter L. Pruette Edward L. Reisinger District 11 Karen Veronica Brown WILLIAM COLE Rita Collins Fred D. Mason III Adam S. Meister Nick Mosby Dana Owens Brandon Thornton Warren Zussman District 12 Ertha Harris Frank William Richardson BERNARD C.

"JACK" YOUNG District 13 Warren Branch VERNON E. CRIDER Cynthia A. Gross Emmett Guyton Robert R. Stokes District 14 MARY PAT CLARKE Thomas Conradt President Kenneth N. Harris Sr.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake MICHAEL SARBANES Charles Ulysses Smith District Donald John Dewar III JAMES B. KRAFT Terry Jay McCready Marc E. Warren District 2 Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr. LAWRENCE JAMAAL MOSES District 3 ROBERT W.

CURRAN Norman E. Hall Michael L. Hamilton District 4 Scherod Barnes Neil R. Bernstein Ryan M. Coleman Monica L.

Gaines William "Bill" Goodin Reba Hawkins BILL HENRY Christopher Jack Hill Earl Levi Holt III District 5 No contest District 6 Ramona Moore Baker Sharon Green Middleton Deborah B. Ramsey ELIZABETH "LIZ" SMITH District 7 Tony Asa BELINDA K. CONAWAY Marshall Toby Goodwin John Holmes Stop subsidizing the oyster harvest THE NEWLY FORMED MARY-land Oystermen Association is, in effect, asking taxpayers to continue to subsidize the oyster industry by using public funds to prepare oyster bars with oyster shell and then plant them with seed oysters to organize," Sept 3). This sort of oyster management scheme has been in place for almost a half-century but it has not stemmed the long-term decline in the bay's oyster population or the decimation of our once economically important oyster industry. While oystermen often compare their industry to farming, harvesting oysters is not now analogous to farming.

A farmer owns or leases his or her land, and assumes the risks of weather, disease and market conditions at harvest. The fanner is also committed to the stewardship of the land, and it is in his or her self-interest to treat it with respect. But commercial oystermen often expect oyster bars to be planted, maintained and subsidized by the public. While in principle all oyster harvesters have a responsibility for the sustainability of natural oyster bars, there is no individual stewardship of the natural oyster bars, which are property held in common, and poaching and illegal harvesting are severe problems. This creates the classic "tragedy of the commons," in which everyone seeks maximal personal gain but no one has specific responsibility for maintaining the resource.

Oyster aquaculture is a viable alternative to open harvest from public oyster bars for Maryland's oyster industry and an approach that has been successful in other states, such as Washington. Indeed, Maryland has a small but growing aquaculture industry Perhaps the state should offer financial assistance to current commercial oyster harvesters who want to transition to oyster aquaculture. Kenneth B. Lewis Baltimore The writer is chairman of the Government Affairs Committee of the Coastal Conservation Association. Video is reminder of dangerous world FOR THE FIRST TIME IN nearly three years, Osama bin Laden appeared in a videotape, just in time for the sixth anniversary of the 911 attacks Islam, bin Laden tells Americans," Sept.

8). This tape from the most wanted terrorist in the world must serve as a reminder about the dangerous times and the dangerous world we live in. It is clear that al-Qaida is con were damaged or ended? And is it a family value to oppose a decent wage for people who have families and are willing to work? Is it a family value to deny health care to tens of millions of Americans, many of them children? The list of ways in which the Republican Party has undermined families, and thus family values, is staggering. The best line in the Sept. 1 article belonged to Whit Ayers, a Republican pollster, who warned Democrats not to take advantage of the Craig issue because "acting 'holier than thou' is a dangerous strategy." But with regard to family values, the Republican Party has been acting "holier than thou" for decades and getting away with it.

I hope people will begin to understand what truly undermines families in our society and the hypocrisy of many of those who loudly claim to uphold them. Stan Markowitz Baltimore Welcome reminder of Palestinian plight I WAS DELIGHTED TO SEE the excellent letter "Palestinian refugees have a prior claim" (Sept. 3), which reminded us all of the vital importance of making it a priority to respect international law and the Palestinian refugees' right of return. May the letter writer's words echo around and around the world to help build a battle cry for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land and beyond. And may hope, decency and true community return to the Holy Land with every home rebuilt and every heart healed by reconciliation.

Anne Selden Annab Mechanicsburg, Pa. Nation is in need of better bathrooms THE LACK OF PUBLIC REST-rooms at the National Mall is indeed an issue; so is the lack of public facilities almost everywhere in this country National Need," Sept. 3). Perhaps one in six Americans suffers from incontinence or continence (i.e., shy bladder) issues. That's why the American Restroom Association advocates for the availability of clean, safe, well-designed public restrooms.

Only when the people of this country wake up and realize that the state of America's public toilets is (with few exceptions) a national disgrace will something be finally done about it. Steven Soifer Baltimore The writer is vice president of the American Restroom Association. tinuing to focus on targets that would produce mass casualties and significant economic aftershocks here at home. This videotape sends us a clear signal that we must persevere in the war against Islamic terrorists until the terrorists are defeated. To concede and pull out of Iraq now would help turn Iraq into a major base for al-Qaida terrorists.

Al Eisner Wheaton Support the troops by ending Iraq war CONGRESS CAN SHOW ITS support for the troops and for the people of Iraq by refusing to further fund this reprehensible war to brief Congress on Iraq," Sept. 10). There is enough money in the pipeline to fund the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Let's stop funding war and instead fund education, health care and reparations for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Missy Beattie Baltimore The writer is a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. How can bin Laden criticize capitalism? OSAMA BIN LADEN SPOKE OF the "deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system" in his latest address Islam, bin Laden tells Americans," Sept. 8). But I can't help but wonder where bin Laden would be without capitalism. The immense wealth and connections of his family gave him the opportunity to aid the mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

U.S. tax dollars and Saudi oil money helped finance the Afghan jihad against the Soviets. Bin Laden's multiple investments helped fund al-Qaida, and indeed, it took millions of dollars to fund the 911 attacks. It's a bit late for bin Laden to be decrying capitalism now. J.

DAVID LOVEJOY Baltimore Republican policies don't value families THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AP-parendy fears that Sen. Larry E. Craig's behavior will undercut its position on moral values hoping Craig is a faded memory by November '08," Sept. 1). But what position on family values? The GOP has led the charge to cut funds for the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect us from unscrupulous corporations such as Enron and the lenders in the subprime housing scandals.

How many illnesses resulted from such scandals? How many children did not get to go to college? How many marriages The 2016 scenario HOW TEMPTING IT WAS YESTER-day to give Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker the benefit of the doubt. We really are finally turning the corner in Iraq, each said in testimony before a joint House committee. At last we've figured it out. A satisfactory outcome is obtainable, if only America sticks to it.

But were they persuasive? Not very. It's hard to escape the feeling that this long-awaited and thoroughly pre-aired progress report is little more than a fingers-crossed effort to kick the can down the road. Certainly, General Petraeus was able to point to all sorts of selective statistics that back up his view that the surge is showing results (though deaths of American soldiers have been running above average since it began). But his assertion that the tactical gains achieved so far will be sustainable once the surge recedes next year and moreover be translatable into strategic gains was delivered as a matter of simple faith. Of evidence there was none.

Mr. Crocker was somewhat less able to boast of diplomatic progress, because there has been no diplomatic surge to match the military one, but he could talk about various incremental steps. For instance, the Saudis have reopened their embassy in Baghdad. That's good. But the sentence that really jumped out of his testimony was about the restoration of electric service it could well be achieved, he said, by the year 2016.

That'll take a heap of patience, for those willing to wait. And are American soldiers supposed to keep fighting and hoping that something better turns up until then? The point of the surge was to buy time for the Iraqi government so that it could find ways to foster reconciliation. Nothing like that has happened. But the surge did buy time for the Sunni sheiks, especially those in Anbar province, who have calculated that it is in their interest to turn against the al-Qai-da fighters in their midst, which should strengthen their hand in then dealing with the Shiite majority. General Petraeus made much of that development yesterday, but it presages a divided country Sunni here, Shiite there, Kurds in the north not a united one.

It also raises the interesting point that in a few months, a group of tribal chieftains has accomplished what would have clearly been beyond the ability of the Iraqi army, after four years of U.S. training. It shows just how little this war resembles the war that the U.S. military is built to fight. If a divided country is inevitable, as seems likely it might just be better to let the Iraqis sort it out themselves.

It's worth remembering that the British once controlled Basra, and that southern province was a model of peaceful administration, until the local militias decided to take over. The institution-building undertaken by the British was soon forgotten, and now that they're leaving in defeat, so, too, will the British be forgotten. The point is that the disposition of Iraq is ultimately a question for the Iraqis, and it doesn't matter that they are not likely to answer it in a way that Americans would feel good about. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker seemed blind to that yesterday. That's why their optimism is so out of place.

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