PUBLIC FORUM : KENNEDY'S BELATED APOLOGY LACKS SINCERITY.``Kennedy apologizes for family misconduct,'' Daily News, June 8, was an interesting although somewhat disturbing article. As a woman who was divorced with a small child to raise, I found it not very amusing that Joseph Kennedy appeared before the delegates of the Democratic Party and said he needed to address the concerns that ``he knew were foremost on their minds,'' and ``first apologized for his words and behavior'' because he had ``verbally bullied'' his ex-wife. Having been in the same position as Sheila Kennedy Sheila Kennedy is a model and actress who was the December 1981 Penthouse Pet of the Month and the 1983 Penthouse Pet of the Year. She moved on to acting, mostly in low-budget sex comedies, such as Ellie, The First Turn-On!, and , I find this apology insincere in·sin·cere adj. Not sincere; hypocritical. in  sin·cere ly adv. at best, since he didn't feel it was necessary to bother with her until it would impact public opinion. Kennedy continued to say that he was ``sorry, so very sorry, for what has happened to the Verrochi family'' concerning his brother Michael's five-year affair with a teen-age girl. If it were almost anyone else but a Kennedy in Massachusetts, dear Michael would be up before a judge and jury for statutory rape Sexual intercourse by an adult with a person below a statutorily designated age. The criminal offense of statutory rape is committed when an adult sexually penetrates a person who, under the law, is incapable of consenting to sex. . Thank goodness current thoughts regarding family responsibilities are returning to the less liberal public attitudes, and people are beginning to see that ``I had a marriage that didn't work out'' is simply not a very valid reason to leave a previous wife and children to cope with a broken family life. - Carole Breyde North Hollywood Morality in the '90s This is in response to ``Divorce,'' Page 1, June 8, and letters by Vickie Van Camp (Public Forum, June 8) and others. It is not 1907 or even 1947 anymore. The old days of one family car, a dad going down to the factory every week for 30 years, a mom staying home and raising kids, three kids and a dog in a single-family home with a yard and a picket fence, are as dead as the dodo. The grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl of children born today are the kids who dropped out, smoked pot, burned bras, had sex on their third date and protested everything during the late '60s and early '70s. There are no high school electives in choosing a ``life mate.'' Even if there were, people change. The person you thought was wonderful when you were both 25 may not be right at all when you are both 35. Everyone lives longer. Women have more options. Back when ``till death do you part'' meant something, the family was an economic unit as well as a social one. You stayed together and raised your kids to amount to something, because when you got old, living with your children was the only major option besides church homes and the county poor farm. If the government wants us to get and stay married, why do they punish us when we do? If Joe makes $40,000 and Jane makes $20,000 per year, the IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. will raise their taxes around $1,000 per year if they marry. Pity people approaching the minefield of a second marriage. Sam can't get married because he is paying too much child support. Rose can't get remarried because no one can afford the expense of her two kids. Domestic violence is at an all-time high. If divorces are harder to get, how much worse will it get? I guarantee child abuse, spousal abuse and murder will all rise. - Woodrow J. Hughes Northridge The letters from Art Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. and George Scileppi (Public Forum, June 3) reflect the amoral a·mor·al adj. 1. Not admitting of moral distinctions or judgments; neither moral nor immoral. 2. Lacking moral sensibility; not caring about right and wrong. points of view of the 1960s. So consensual sex among adults should be no one's business but one's own. What if, as in the case of 1st Lt. Kelly Flinn Kelly Flinn, sometimes referred to as Kelly Flynn in media sources, (b. December 23 1970, St. Louis, Missouri) was the first female B-52 pilot in the United States Air Force. Flinn was discharged from the U.S. or Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (born August 16 1930 in Santa Monica, California) is a former American football player and one of the better-known American sports commentators in the latter part of the 20th century who made the transition from an athlete to broadcasting. , other parties such as wives and/or children are adversely affected? No one exists in a vacuum, and what we do does affect others. This type of irresponsible approach to sexual misconduct sexual misconduct Professional ethics Any behavior that violates a health professional's ethics through sexual contact of physician and his/her Pt. See Professional boundaries. has led to millions of illegitimate children as well as many other societal ills. Housing and feeding these children is basic, but how about their emotional and spiritual needs? Scileppi seems to have his head in the sand concerning the case of Paula Jones
Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin vs. Bill Clinton, when he describes it as ``thin'' or ``highly suspect.'' If it were, the Supreme Court would not have ruled in hTer favor. The real issue with President Clinton is how credible is he now that he is the butt of jokes by top comedians, talk-show hosts and callers. He is no longer a dignified chief of state, but a tarnished playboy who stands accused of misusing his political power to exploit women. Who needs him. - Sonya Jason Woodland Hills Bilingual education bilingual education, the sanctioned use of more than one language in U.S. education. The Bilingual Education Act (1968), combined with a Supreme Court decision (1974) mandating help for students with limited English proficiency, requires instruction in the native ban Re ``No lesson learned from bilingual education'' by Joe Gelman, Viewpoint, June 8: Gelman puts in context the initiative by Ron Unz Ron K. Unz, born 1961, is a former businessman and political activist, best known for an unsuccessful run for the governorship of California, and for sponsoring propositions promoting structured English immersion education. to abolish bilingual education in our state by painting a realistic picture of the failure of this program to teach English. He then expresses concern that in the upcoming debate on the Unz initiative, Republican backers will be painted as anti-Latino immigrant, as they were in last year's Proposition 209 debate concerning affirmative action affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. . Some observations on Gelman's concern: Although Proposition 209, and Proposition 187 before it, did carry a clear partisan identification, there is actually no reason why a movement to restore English instruction should be either Democratic or Republican. It is simply an educational issue. And unlike Propositions 209 and 187, there is no element of immigrant-bashing in the Unz initiative. Whereas the earlier initiatives sought to take away programs from target groups, Unz aims to give something: English instruction. From 13 years experience in inner-city schools, I know this will be popular with Latino parents and children, if not with certain demagogic dem·a·gog·ic also dem·a·gog·i·cal adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a demagogue. dem ``leaders.'' - Douglas Lasken Woodland Hills Yes, it is time to eliminate bilingual education once and for all, regardless of whose ox is gored. Given the benefit of the doubt, bilingual education was a well-intentioned idea gone terribly bad. The statistics quoted in Joe Gelman's column say it all, and nothing the special-interest groups can say will change the facts. Nevertheless, the Latino immigrant groups will, as with Proposition 187, cry racism louder than ever. ThoseT of us who know that integration must follow 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. , will face the most difficult and rancorous ran·cor n. Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will. See Synonyms at enmity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin, rancid smell, from Latin fight imaginable. - Harlan Campbell Tujunga Valley emigrants Re ``Emigrants from Valley chase suburban dreams,'' Daily News, June 9: I also chased my dreams and moved from Santa Monica to the Valley 30 years ago because it was peaceful: no gangs, robberies or shootings and clean. Now it's full of illegal aliens, gang shootings, apartments and buildings galore, overcrowded o·ver·crowd v. o·ver·crowd·ed, o·ver·crowd·ing, o·ver·crowds v.tr. To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. and dirty. I'm 57 now and I'm stuck here. I'm middle class and I cannot afford to move. These people moving out of the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , I'm sure, will have the same thing happen to them as long as the borders stay open. - Valerie Hendrix Pacoima Eastin rebutted The superintendent of California's public schools, Delaine Eastin, was riding the wave of public opinion in ``Higher standards needed to give kids a better chance,'' Opinions, June 9. Eastin calls for more math and language courses to graduate from high school. What she doesn't say, amid her vacuous platitudes, is that the extra courses students would have to take are being dumbed down under the banners of ``integrated math'' and ``integrated science''. It's the usual shell game she plays with public schools. On the one hand, she supports phonics; on the other, she defends whole-language zealots Zealots (zĕl`əts), Jewish faction traced back to the revolt of the Maccabees (2d cent. B.C.). The name was first recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus as a designation for the Jewish resistance fighters of the war of A.D. 66–73. who want to spend state funds on overpaid o·ver·pay v. o·ver·paid , o·ver·pay·ing, o·ver·pays v.tr. 1. To pay (a party) too much. 2. To pay an amount in excess of (a sum due). v.intr. To pay too much. consultants to deprive kids of spelling and phonics. Eastin has been a champion of standardless, fuzzy math and fought tooth and nail to keep advocates of real standards, like Janet Nicholas, off the state Board of Education. She surrounds herself with the educrats who brought us the disastrous state frameworks that forced California's teachers to not teach arithmetic and spelling. The result is that California is at the bottom of the nation in reading and math scores. Finally, when the public will stand no more, she decries the watering down of K-12 education, which sheT helped create. Better late than never, Ms. Eastin, but please don't water us down with those crocodile tears. - David Klein Northridge The corruption not only of education but of the minds of Americans who think about education (``Higher standards needed to give kids better chance'' by Delaine Eastin, Opinions, June 9) seems to be complete. Hardly anyone today argues with the proposition that education is for the sake of labor - that is, that the reason we send our kids to school is so that they can ``learn a skill'' and ``get a good job'' and generally become willing, compliant little ants in the patronage-driven anthill of statist stat·ism n. The practice or doctrine of giving a centralized government control over economic planning and policy. stat ist adj. Utopia. The purpose of education is not to teach a person how to live well materially but rather to teach him how to live well, period. It is ultimately to teach a person how to live as a human being ought to live, and we would do well to remember that fact in the face of the clear and present danger posed to our civilization by those who proclaim otherwise. Not that I am arguing with Eastin's insistence on higher standards for students at every level: This is as it should be. My point is simply that if one doesn't know what the proper end of education is, one can hardly be in a position to set standards for it. - Jim Newland Santa Clarita Robison praised Brilliant. Quick-witted. Gifted. Masterly. Vivid. Those words and many, many more describe the letter (article) to the L.A. City Council by Jane Robison in Opinions, June 8. What an asset she is to the newspaper. William Fleishman Van Nuys |
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