V——_—_—eL LETTERS — provides the only unbiased, truthful ro porting on the activities of our govern- ment, Without public broadcasting we would be at the mercy of commercial stations, which typically repor. lies by omission and biased information. 1 have never seen or heard NPR or PBS ‘broadcasts that did not have equal and opposing viewpoints. ‘Terry Phillips (Letters, Friday) may be confused by the local programming ‘of public broadcasters, which often re- flects the views of their regional listen- ing audience. Bay Area residents may be surprised at the more conservative slant of PBS and NPR in red states like Idaho for example, Jean Griffiths Palo Alto Obama's HSR Policy Dear Editor: President should put up or shut up regarding his plans for high-speed railroads across the country. Tn France and Japan, the HSR sys- tems are heavily subsidized by those national governments. ‘If Obama can’t convince Congress to. fund his national vision, then HSR talk should end. ‘Such talk has already ended in three states. Fiscally responsible governors ‘in Obio, Wisconsin and Florida have ail turned down “free” federal HSR mon- ey because state taxpayers would be responsible for billions in construction cost overruns and perpetual operating subsidies In California, the California Labor Federation and their Democratic-con- trolled politicians covet federal HSR money only to line their union coffers. It is unfair to dangle federal HSR money at states with true infrastructure needs, but then make the states pay for billion-dollar cost overruns and per- petual operating subsidies. What kind cof “national” transportation policy is that? Mike Brown Burlingame Fatah vs. Hamas Dear Editor: Don Havis (Let- ters, Tuesday), referring to Palestin ian leadership, should have different ated between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in the West ‘Bank has disavowed terrorism, has eo- ‘operated with Israel, and the resule is an [See LETTERS, pege 15]