PUBLIC FORUM : A MASTERPIECE.

Your Photos of the Century picture (Nov. 29) showing a Vietnam Vet returning to his family was truly a masterpiece. If the USA has a National Art Gallery, that photo should be exhibited there permanently.

- Joe Gleason

Woodland Hills

National Guard in Seattle

Apparently ``Government of the people, by the people, and for the people'' has fallen by the wayside - along with our national sovereignty.

It's a hell of a note when the National Guard is called out against citizens of the United States who are protesting the World Trade Organization to make it abundantly clear that they don't want to be globalized - yet our government won't call out the National Guard to protect our borders from the hordes of illegal foreign invaders who violate our sovereignty and laws every day.

When are we going to take our country back from the globalists? People need to realize that without our national sovereignty and borders, we won't have a country

Thank God for Pat Buchanan.

- Carol Keeler 

Sylmar

Secession hostilities

It is amazing to me that no matter what happens, the City Council never gets it.

The latest is the comment made by Council president John Ferraro when he said ``Maybe they should go out to the desert and start their own city.'' He got that right, only he had the wrong they. It should be the City Council that moves to the desert.

I'm afraid these clowns (I mean people) should starting living in the real world. They continue to treat the people not living in Greater Los Angeles like little people not to be taken seriously. Big Brothers know best and that means be sure to take care of the important people in Greater Los Angeles.

Mayor Riordan is not much better himself. He may get it, but certainly does nothing with it. You can believe I will vote for secession.

- Jeanne Brown

Winnetka

One-year residency

Who says that prayers are not answered? I have been praying for someone to make a formal protest to the last minute residency of any candidates deliberately moving into districts so that they can run for a political office in that area. I am surprised, but pleasantly, that councilmen Nick Pacheco and Alex Padilla (obviously a quick study,) have brought this to the public's attention. Ambition does override honesty too often in politics. I suggest a minimum of one year residency in order to run for office in any district. What say you all?

- Ron Hall

Sun Valley

Who's in charge?

Re The Daily News Line question for Nov. 26, ``Do you think new leadership will save LAUSD?'' my immediate response was, probably not. However, after reading your lead article, ``LAUSD pay scam,'' I would have to say absolutely not.

Thanks to the diligence of the Daily News, we have been treated almost weekly with revelations of fiscal abuse that in the private sector would have resulted in criminal charges. But thanks to our school board and the ineffectiveness of the District Attorney's Office, nothing has been done. It appears that nothing will ever be done, except to buy out the contracts of these people or give them obscene incentives to accept early retirement.

What prompted this letter is the quote in your article from incoming LAUSD superintendent, Ramon Cortines. In response to his frustration with his staff's inability to give him a bottom line on the district's spending, he said, ``There are so many layers and no one is really responsible for anything.'' It is horrendous that with a budget of $7.4 billion and a payroll of over $5 billion, no one is really responsible for anything.

- Lydia Smith

Reseda

When the debt come due

Mark Weisbrot's ``Social Security rhetoric misleading'' (Viewpoint, Nov. 21) is a monstrous lie. His own words give the lie to his assurance that ``Nobody is going to raid the (Social Security) trust fund.'' He writes, ``the Social Security Trust Fund only lends money to the rest of the government, it doesn't give it away.'' How misleading can one be?

President Lyndon Johnson and the Congress started funding the Vietnam War with money from the Social Security trust fund, leaving nothing but IOUs in the so-called trust fund. If this isn't a raid, big-time, what is it?

In 1999 annual Social Security taxes still exceed annual payments to retired people. But the excess is regularly spent by the government, a la Johnson, and replaced with IOUs called bonds. But what will happen a few decades from now when the payments exceed the taxes?

At that time Weisbrot's chickens come home to roost, with only two ways to keep Social Security commitments - either raise Social Security taxes or print more worthless Federal Reserve paper money - probably both.

- Robert E. Kofahl

Glendale

Person, not the gun

I read the article ``Fatal shots fired by gun in home, police tests show'' (Nov. 27). I think that the writer is saying that a gun was used to fire the fatal shots, not that the gun pulled the trigger. Then she quotes Eric Nishimoto, the spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, who said, concerning the revolver, ``It is the murder weapon, It is responsible for all the wounds.'' What is amazing to me is that the gun can be responsible. A pronoun refers back to the nearest antecedent, which is the revolver. Therefore the revolver must be charged with murder, as it is responsible for the fatal shots. Let's understand that a person is responsible, not a gun, or a knife, or a club, or etc. People use the weapons at hand and they are responsible. Charge the person, not the object used to do the deed.

- Harry Wilson

Sylmar

Strange love

Re ``Woman on `crush' video says she needed the cash'' (Nov. 28):

Paleease

There are other ways of getting cash. You don't have to be so sick. It disgusted me to see you only got probation. Killing an animal is still killing a life. The law may change now, but what is this article really about? Is Aileen Chaffin making excuses? There is no excuse for what she has done. She said she loves animals and has all her life? Well if that's the way she shows love, all I have to say is watch out, husband.

- Kathy Keith

West Hills

Have we gone mad?

I am intrigued by the news article ``Woman on `crush' video says she needed the cash.'' I cannot believe that Aileen Chaffin has spent 88 days in jail and is on three years probation for squashing a mouse with her heel, a mouse who was about to be fed to a snake one way or another, dead or alive.

This was probably not the smartest thing she ever did, but my God, it was only a mouse. Worse yet, Gary Lynn Thomason is facing four years in prison for his part in making the video. Have we gone mad? Mice, according to Webster's dictionary, are vermin just like fleas, cockroaches and rats. Who has not put out rat poison or set a mouse trap?

I suppose that any day now we will be arresting exterminators for killing fleas and cockroaches.

- Philip Wilt

Van Nuys

Blue Line taxi crash

In the wake of the tragic taxi/Blue Line accident in Compton, I cannot believe some of the things that are being said. The imbeciles on the Compton City Council want the MTA to provide more protection at railroad crossings because the morons that live in Compton must be protected from themselves. Maybe they should call out the National Guard and have armed soldiers patrol the crossings. Relatives of the cab driver are blaming the MTA, saying that the train was going too fast. If the train had been going slower (say 5 miles an hour) the taxi could have maneuvered around the lowered crossing gates safely. The cab driver killed himself and five innocent people, all because he couldn't wait thirty seconds for the train to pass. I am sure that their lawyers already contacting the families of the deceased preparing to sue the MTA on the grounds that the train shouldn't have been there at all. And you can bet your bottom dollar that they will find a jury that will find the MTA guilty and award the families millions of dollars.

- Ralph Cantos

Los Angeles

Don't dump on us

The tobacco industry once claimed that cigarettes don't kill. The National Rifle Association says that guns don't kill, people do. And Browning-Ferris Industries insists that its proposed expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill will not be a serious health hazard to surrounding communities.

Well, in case BFI doesn't know the facts, cigarettes kill, guns kill, and landfills too close to schools and residential neighborhoods kill.

The innocent children at Van Gogh Elementary School should be concerned about getting an education, not about how many carcinogens they're inhaling from the Staples Canyon Landfill and from the diesel trucks hauling trash to the dump.

There are alternative sites to dispose of the city's trash. I urge Mayor Richard Riordan and all of the City Council members to explore these alternatives and to oppose the expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

Please don't turn Granada Hills into Grana-death Hills!

- Gary Greenfield

Granada Hills

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: Foster City, Calif., March 17, 1973: Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert Stirm returns home to his family. Running to greet him are his children Lori, in the lead, Robert, Cynthia, Roger and his wife, Loretta.

Sal Veder/Associated Press