PUBLIC FORUM : EVOLUTIONARY ENGINEER.Once upon a time there were two engineers. One was very clever. He could make anything. And so he made horses and dogs and men. The other was even smarter. He made a set of laws by which things self-assembled and then he sat back and watched as creatures changed into horses and dogs and men. Why is it some most admire the dumber engineer? - Arthur Yuwielr Woodland Hills Not a watchmaker Re ``Kansas creationists defend a small God'' by Leonard Pitts Lenard Pitts is a nationally-syndicated columnist and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He was originally hired by the Miami Herald to critique music, but within a few years he received his own column in which he dealt extensively with race, politics, and culture. Jr. (Opinions, Aug. 24): He writes: . . . of God ``. . . Who lit the fuse on the bang? What existed prior to the beginning? And what will be here after the end? Only one name suggests itself to me.'' To that, God could answer accurately: Quoth quoth tr.v. Archaic Uttered; said. Used only in the first and third persons, with the subject following: "Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore!'" Edgar Allan Poe. God, ``It is clear I am Time. With evolution the power is mine. I'm no Omnipotent Watchmaker, Nor Benevolent Caretaker, Life sprang from primordial slime.'' - Clarence Freeman Fillmore What happened to faith? Congratulations to Kansas for deciding to make the theory of evolution optional in classrooms. Leonard Pitts Jr., in his article ``Kansas creationists defend a small God'' (Opinions, Aug. 24) was wrong in saying that Kansas will now have a substandard science curriculum. Evolution and creationism creationism or creation science, belief in the biblical account of the creation of the world as described in Genesis, a characteristic especially of fundamentalist Protestantism (see fundamentalism). are both systems of belief. Kansas has chosen to let the people decide which belief they want to follow. Whereas evolution views man as a developing being (starting from nothing and only getting better), creationism views man as a deteriorating one (starting out perfect in the garden and going downhill because of sin). The Bible does not explain evolution. The two beliefs are on two separate and distinct planes. Today people seem to think that something is truth only when it can be proved scientifically. Science is fallible fal·li·ble adj. 1. Capable of making an error: Humans are only fallible. 2. Tending or likely to be erroneous: fallible hypotheses. because it is controlled by man. Whatever happened to believing by faith? - Jill Whitmarsh Canyon Country Kansas-minded people Read your article ``Kansas creationists defend a small God'' (Opinions, Aug. 24). Great article. The next thing the Kansas-minded people will want is to start teaching that the world is flat and that people should not be using umbrellas because it's against God's way. - Robaire M. Viloria Sherman Oaks Open to interpretation The creation story told in the first chapter of Genesis and taught by creationists is very ripe for misinterpretation. There are 26 verses between the creation of heaven and Earth and the creation of man. In between are the creation of the firmaments, the water creatures, the creatures above the waters, the fowl of the air, the cattle and creeping thing, and everything that creepeth upon Earth. Who is to say how many millions of years are being spoken of between verse one and verse 26? I liked Leonard Pitts Jr.'s Aug. 24 article. Faith in one's God should not be threatened by the theory of evolution, but in my opinion he's wrong about one thing - that the theory of evolution is contradicted by the letter of Genesis. Anyone who doubts it, read it again, read the first chapter with an open mind. The Bible is a book - just like other books that are open to interpretation, how you choose to interpret it may say a lot about your true faith in God. - Lea T. Moreau Lancaster Crime is crime To punish someone more severely because of what some individuals call ``hate crimes'' is in itself a crime. What is the difference if someone murders your loved ones loved ones npl → seres mpl queridos loved ones npl → proches mpl et amis chers loved ones love npl because of their color, race or religion; or if someone murders your loved ones because they wanted the Rolex watch they were wearing; or if somebody firebombs your business because you are a Korean in an African-American neighborhood; or a white man firebombs a white-owned bar because the bar owner refused to serve the patron another drink because of drunkenness? A crime is a crime, regardless of who did it for what reason. To look at it another way, is it discrimination to punish someone because of what runs through his warped mind, more severely than a lowlife who has no regard for human life or property. All criminal acts should always be vigorously and fairly prosecuted. The labeling of certain crimes as ``hate crimes'' is another attempt to control thought, feelings and beliefs. - Thomas R. Carlisi Woodland Hills Protect this It would seem that all the would be mayoral candidates of L.A. had a collective gag reflex gag reflex n. Retching or gagging caused by the contact of a foreign body with the mucous membrane of the throat. Gag reflex and all decided to flog the law abiding at once. The oafish oaf n. A person regarded as stupid or clumsy. [Old Norse alfr, elf, silly person; see albho- in Indo-European roots. Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. is in the process of banning legitimate gun shows, guaranteeing a thriving underground black market; nice move, slick. Mike Feuer and Laura Chick want to impose draconian measures on presently honest citizens. Gonna kick our doors in? Bernard Parks might like that. Say, what was that in the paper the other day about an LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. recruitment booth at the Glendale Gun Show? On a more serious note: you take away our protection, you make us all victims in waiting. Oh, and quit invoking the children, we can only be guilt trapped so long. Protect this. - Daniel Taylor Daniel Taylor is the name of:
Tujunga System not broken Oops, the system isn't broken, it's just rusty. Two days after I e-mailed my letter to the Public Forum, ``System broken'' Aug. 24, my Real Estate License Renewal arrived in the mail, and the following day I got a phone call from Assemblyman Tony Cardenas' office. My problem was solved before my complaint got published. I apologize to Cardenas and his staff. - Jody Kay Sylmar Transit bill Congratulations to the Assembly for its stand on SB 1101. It has sent a clear message that it's workers and riders that have priority in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . The vote on Aug. 23 sends a message that self-appointed big-business interests will not plunder TO PLUNDER. The capture of personal property on land by a public enemy, with a view of making it his own. The property so captured is called plunder. See Booty; Prize. the public coffers at the expense of workers' and riders' rights. Since the MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. was created it has been one person or another getting rich at the public's expense, and through it all MTA's rank-and-file employees have worked hard to keep the system going. It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to put an end to to destroy. - Fuller. See also: End this cash-cow attitude. It's time for Julian Burke to weed out the leftover people from the LACTC LACTC Los Angeles County Transportation Commission who are acting contrary to the public's best interest. It's time for the MTA to move full steam ahead with its bus Operations Department Operations department See: Back office. operations department See back office. because the public deserves no less. - Michael Kalustian Canoga Park Issues, not personal history Being a Democrat, I should thoroughly enjoy the hazing by the media of George W. Bush. But I don't. I do think, though, that those who so vociferously endorse his candidacy could have second thoughts about his qualifications for the presidency. His thoughts and speeches are full of rhetoric. And his stand on the ``right to privacy'' gives the Republicans the shakes. But I do agree with his feelings on the ``gotcha'' curse put forth by the media. In my opinion, valuable TV time and print space are being wasted. Bug him about the problems he will face in the new century. What will he do about Medicare, Social Security, campaign financing, gun laws, education, immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. and crime? So what does crack, drugs, etc. 25 years ago have to do with the importance of current issues? It is not what he has, or even what he does, that expresses the worth of man, but what he is. - Earl D. Horwitz North Hills LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) hyperbole Re ``Hayes says DA staffer gave tip,'' Daily News, Aug. 4: So much for cutting through the hype. The comment by Genethia Hayes that ``Belmont is the largest crisis in the nation'' would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. Try telling that to the 12 victims of the day-trader shootings in Atlanta. Or the 200-plus fatalities in this summer's devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. heat wave. Or, the hundreds of farmers losing their livelihoods to one of the worst droughts in history. Or the folks on Capitol Hill, wrestling with the threat of a nuclear war with North Korea. The new school board promised to bring leadership and thoughtful deliberation to a troubled district. How quickly the new resident was co-opted, succumbing to the hype and hysteria that have clouded debate over the Belmont Learning Center This Belmont Learning Center contains information about a building currently under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as construction progresses and new information becomes available. . Largest crisis in the nation? Yeah, sure. And Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. is the best school district. - Sylvia Hernandez Palmdale A nice holiday I would like to propose a new national and even perhaps a new global holiday. And maybe call it ``Civil Day.'' It would not be a day in which you would get a day off work, but the rewards could be much greater. Could you imagine a day, while you're driving to work, and you put on your turn signal to change lanes and the other car slows down to let you in? That would be two people celebrating Civil Day. Or how about the elderly lady waiting for the bus, as you walk to lunch every day? You know, instead of her looking across the street as you look down, you may look to her and say ``Good morning.'' And what would happen if she did likewise? That would be two more celebrating Civil Day. So, as you can see,'' this new holiday can benefit all in so many different ways. You can even have this holiday fall on the same day as another holiday. Can't do that with any other holiday. And, if you like your job, you don't have to stay home that day. But please, do not cuss or use finger gestures on that day, it just wouldn't be civil. - Robert R. Mekeel Sylmar |
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