Harriet Tubman certainly deserves recognition, but why are we
funding with federal dollars a $21 million monument and visitor
center in her honor at a time when we are closing national
parks, shutting down FAA control towers and dealing with
sequester issues ("A monument to Md. abolitionist," March 26)?
Our elected officials seem to have lost contact with reality in
pursuing their political ambitions. Gov. Martin O'Malley went
off campaigning in South Carolina claiming he cut state spending
"big time," all the while supporting the Tubman monument.  Why
couldn't this have been done earlier, or postponed to a more
propitious time? Meanwhile, the Obama administration has
promised to deliver $500 million in annual aid to Palestine.
Again, why now? Where is the sense in that? Doesn't charity
begin at home?  Walter W. Salmon Jr., Perry Hall