Thanks for some of the most honest and fair coverage of some of the many unanswered 9/11 questions, and the people asking them [News, "The Truth Is Out There Somewhere," Andy Greenberg, Sept. 7, 2006]. I'm one of the 45 percent of Americans who want a new investigation. With this many omissions and distortions, why isn't Congress and the [mainstream media] investigating?

Erik Larson

Whatever happened to investigative reporting, freedom of the press and the freedom to report truthfully on investigations? What would happen if you printed a serious, in-depth story on the educated and the former government employees who swear our government most certainly was involved in the events of 9/11? Or about all the groups whose exhaustive research based purely on physical evidence prove that the "9/11 Commission Report" is the only real conspiracy here — and without the words "tin hat."I don't think you're allowed to.

Every article I read or hear in the media — yours included — always manages to either attribute it to a complete lunatic, or use the "tin hat wearer" phrase,thereby summing up the whole matter of a cover-up as being the delusional theories of a paranoid Bush basher.The hologram theory is severely damaging to the credibility that the 9/11 Truth Movement has fought so hard to obtain and should be sidelined and shunned at all costs.

Our own government is complicit. Open your eyes and help us all to get our America back to the principles on which it was built. It has to start somewhere. I'm just confused and upset about why mainstream media aren't running with this. It's the crime of the century — no, written history — for God's sake.

Debbie Kane

I'll never understand how people will insist on believing anything they are told by the Bush administration and/or their supporters. They began their lying, conniving and bullshitting even before the Supreme Court put them in charge.

Mark Walker

Squandered what [Editor's Letter, "The Collapse," Duane Swierczynski, Sept. 7, 2006]? The natural feelings of camaraderie and empathy that follow any tragedy? These always dissipate over time. I live in a community that lost 22 residents on 9/11. My husband worked across the street from the Twin Towers; still does. My son was in the State Department that day. Better that the country is attack-free five years later without the sympathy of our so-called allies than wallowing in the "love" of other nations that comes in the wake of additional horrendous tragedy.

Christine Mullaney

Thanks to Amanda Gefter for uncovering the chaos that resides underneath the city's streets and sidewalks [Cover, "The Ugly Underneath," Sept. 7, 2006]. What she should examine next is the disruption that we all experience as we try to drive on streets that are constantly being torn up to allow the utilities to gain access to the infrastructure down there. One would hope that once the entire system were mapped, it would be possible to find ways to access it without having to tear up the streets every time some utility wants to add a line or fix a pipe. We endure countless delays driving around these excavations, and our streets can hardly perform the function they are supposed to provide, namely a means of transit, for the sake of maintaining the system just below.

Dan Romer

[News, "Fuel for Thought," Jenna Portnoy, Aug. 31, 2006] reveals yet another lost opportunity by a transit agency that seems to pride itself on how narrow-minded and intransigent it can be. Even better than trying to clean up its noisy, fume-belching diesel buses, SEPTA ought to replace at least some of those buses with zero-emissions vehicles such as trolley cars and trackless trolleys. Clean, fast and quiet, electric trolleys and trackless trolleys are the way world-class transit authorities move their passengers.

But in recent years, SEPTA has taken electric trolleys and trolley buses off the streets on eight different transit lines, replacing them with — you guessed it — noisy, belching diesel buses.

Diesel buses are third-rate transportation for third-rate cities. Philadelphia's transit riders, its neighborhoods and all of us who breathe the air, deserve better.

Michael Szilagyi

I often enjoy your weekly letter and you normally seem like an open-minded intellect with a knack for political correctness. However, in [Editor's Letter, "Endangerment," Duane Swierczynski, Aug. 31, 2006], I was extremely offended by your reasoning as to why your wife has a "Temper of Mass Destruction."

You say this is because she is of German, Irish and Russian heritage? Well, I too am of German and Irish ancestry. Personally, I find it appalling that the editor of such a well-known independent media outlet and the voice of the Liberal Philadelphian could be so culturally insensitive and racist. How dare you equate a personality trait that you believe we hold to such horrible symbolism! Maybe you think, in this modern world, that because my people are finally no longer an oppressed minority, it's OK to insult our heritage.

Though your name appears to be Polish or Russian, I would never dream of suggesting in such a format that your ancestors are known for a lack of common sense. (Even though it seems you have failed using yours in this case). I would appreciate an explanation for this lack of forethought or you can consider another weekly reader reaching for the box six inches to the right.

Shaun M. McCann

I'm pleased to see that you Philadelphians also enjoy talking like pirates [Cover, "Ultimate Summer Fun '06," June 8, 2006]. It's fast becoming an international language.

Eric Shackle

[News, "Infighting About Fighting," Doron Taussig, Aug. 31, 2006] was a pleasantly surprising one to read. It's always a nice surprise to see other Jews daring to confront the "put your head down and follow the crowd" mentality of never saying a bad thing about Israel and its own multitude of war crimes. If we had more people look at the Jewish state objectively, instead of claiming that everyone who is a disbeliever in how the modern state we know as Israel came about is an anti-Semite, the world may feel a little better about dealing diplomatically with Israel. Jews aren't the problem, it's the whole "land without a people" mentality. There were always people living there, whether Israelis want to face it or not.

Maysoon Dayoub