PUBLIC FORUM : MEANINGLESS INDICTMENT.The international criminal tribunal of the Netherlands has decided to indict in·dict tr.v. in·dict·ed, in·dict·ing, in·dicts 1. To accuse of wrongdoing; charge: a book that indicts modern values. 2. Slobodan Milosevic for ``war crimes.'' Big deal! This action reminds me of the time Napoleon I of France was excommunicated. Napoleon had done some action that angered the Vatican, so the pope sent two monks to France to inform him that he was excommunicated. (This was an extremely horrific punishment in those days.) When the monks arrived, they were brought before Napoleon, where they presented him with the document of excommunication excommunication, formal expulsion from a religious body, the most grave of all ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical it is attended by social ostracism, as in the case of Baruch Spinoza, excommunicated by the Jews. . Upon reading the document, Napoleon called forth a captain, and ordered him to aim two cannons in the direction of Rome and fire them. Upon completing the task, the captain returned and informed Napoleon that the order was accomplished. Napoleon asked if the cannonballs had reached the Vatican . The captain replied, ``No, your majesty.'' Napoleon then turned to the two monks and told them, ``then the order of excommunication has not reached me either,'' and promptly told the monks to get out of there. - Gustavo Baron 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. Too clever by half Was it a clever idea by Boris Yeltsin “Yeltsin” redirects here. For other uses, see Yeltsin (disambiguation). Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (IPA: [bʌˈrʲis nʲikoˈlajevɨtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn] that led to the Russian military seizing the airport in Pristina? Or is it an example of Yeltsin's inability to control his subordinates? In either case, NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. and America have plenty to worry about. Maybe we should remind Russia of the American dollars the country needs to avoid bankruptcy. - Key Young Kim Panorama City End of freedom My America died today. We, as Americans, have given up our religious freedom to decide what we believe in or how we are to worship our personal deities. We have allowed the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. to become China. If Chairman Mao was alive today, he would be proud of Rep. Henry Hyde
Henry John Hyde (born April 18 1924), American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2006, representing the 6th . Our Congress has decided that our children need to carry a ``little red piece of paper.'' On the red paper, the printed words given to Moses by God are printed on it. These printed words are not suggestions for members of non-Christian groups. These words are commandments by our American government to these people. What happened is just the beginning. The cinema will soon be limited in personal expression. Books, newspapers and other written items will be limited in creativity and controversial fact, if we continue on this path. Soon, our own thoughts will be governed. We will soon cease to be free. - Ramiro Corletto North Hollywood Rogan's right Three cheers for Rep. James Rogan. Once again he has shown me that he is the kind of leader this country needs to get us back on the right track. Parents must indeed realize that the responsibility for their children's behavior, their attitudes about school, society and respect for authority lies squarely with them, the parents. I don't like violence, explicit sexual material, four-letter words, etc., but I don't go to movies or watch TV where I know what is on the menu. I'm not naive enough to think we can keep our children from being exposed to it, but we can teach them how to deal with it. Strong moral values should be taught in the cradle. If parents do their job, then maybe the government can concentrate on its job. - Aleda Cowan LaCrescenta Didn't have documents Your June 13 article ``LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) keeping leash on watchdog'' states that I had certain Belmont documents in my possession that were not forwarded to the school district's director of internal audits and special investigations. This is not an accurate statement. As one of the school district's principal spokespersons, I am a frequent recipient of requests for documents from journalists and elected officials. It is in this capacity that I collected and distributed Belmont documents to a local state senator's office on Feb. 20. The district's internal auditor Internal auditor An employee of a company who analyzes the company's accounting records to that the company is following and complying with all regulations. requested all documents concerning the Belmont site on March 26, over a month after I had already released the documents to the state senator's office. The documents, therefore, were not in my possession when the district's internal auditor issued his request. It is unfortunate that your article was in error by stating they were. - Erik Nasarenko Communications director LAUSD Chief Administrative Office Wasted money The article ``LAUSD keeping leash on watchdog'' (Daily News, June 13) claims it will cost $1.8 million of our hard-earned tax money to find who is responsible for this boondoggle boon·dog·gle Informal n. 1. An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity. 2. a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts. b. called the Belmont High School Belmont High School may refer to:
It seems government agencies like to stonewall stone·wall v. stone·walled, stone·wall·ing, stone·walls v.intr. 1. Informal a. all investigations of themselves, and this investigation is no different. We would never have voted for the bond issue that allows the LAUSD to build this school if we knew what the LAUSD was doing. Let the investigators bring all of the parties that are part of this fiasco before a grand jury and put all parties under oath. Let us not waste more money on this fiasco; we will never find out who was responsible. We must close this boondoggle down and not waste more money. I am livid livid /liv·id/ (liv´id) discolored, as from a contusion or bruise; black and blue. liv·id adj. that my tax dollars, money that my family could also use, is so squandered squan·der tr.v. squan·dered, squan·der·ing, squan·ders 1. To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See Synonyms at waste. 2. . We are tired of the squandering squan·der tr.v. squan·dered, squan·der·ing, squan·ders 1. To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See Synonyms at waste. 2. by the LAUSD of our tax dollars. - Gilbert Smith Encino Why weren't they built? The LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. is recommending a new police station be built in 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. , ``Police plan new station in Valley'' (Daily News, June 16). While this is a laudable proposal, I am somewhat confused about the funding. The needed $10.4 million will come out of ``savings'' from a 1989 bond measure that was supposed to, but did not, build police stations in the San Fernando Valley. If this money has been available all this time, why haven't the police stations been built? Is there money available from the other voter-approved bond measure, also intended to build police stations that were never built? If this money is still available, why was there another bond measure with the same stated intentions on the ballot in April? Rather than trying to expand the City Council to 25 members or creating another money-pit bureaucracy, as with the proposed Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (Daily News, June 17), I suggest we place a measure on the next ballot to elect CPAs who can keep track of our money, spending it as intended by the taxpayers. The people who are doing it now seem to only be proficient at hiding our money and using it for their own purposes. - John R. Schlank Granada Hills Vouchers bad solution It's clear from Alan Bonsteel and Michael Rothschild's article, ``Parents need real choice'' (Viewpoint, May 13), that the people who push school vouchers don't expect or intend to strengthen public schools. They want to drain public schools of money and the best and brightest students. That they do this under the pretext of a love for the masses and concern for the children of immigrants is sheer hypocrisy. What will vouchers do for the crucial concerns facing students with limited English or students with special needs? Nothing. Private schools don't want ``problem'' students. All children can learn if we give them clean, safe schools, if we expect high standards of achievement and discipline, and if we provide well-trained, qualified teachers. Forget vouchers. Fix the schools. - Steve Blazak Director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. United Teachers Los Angeles Los Angeles Which came first? The chronological order is difficult to determine. Is it the inconsiderate in·con·sid·er·ate adj. 1. Thoughtless of others; displaying a lack of consideration. 2. Not well considered or carefully thought out; ill-advised. neighbor that becomes the irresponsible pet owner or the irresponsible pet owner that becomes the inconsiderate neighbor by virtue of allowing the dumb animal to bark incessantly day after day and into the night? - Linda Dunham Northridge Sin of omission The National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. has made a career of omitting the first half of the Second Amendment to justify its universal gun ownership policy. However, the complete Second Amendment offers a powerful tool to restrict the availability of guns. Article II of the Bill of Rights is quoted: ``A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'' The definition of militia (as it is currently recognized) for those who are not members of the regular armed forces is: The National Guard, the Organized Reserve Corps (Army and Air Force) and the Naval and Marine Reserves. These constitute the organized militia, all others, the ``unorganized militia.'' Based on the preceding, anyone who owns a weapon or wishes to purchase one should be able to produce evidence of membership in an organization militia. It is suspected that most gun owners would fail this test. - Raymond Goldstein Chatsworth Televising chases Re the letter from Jack Brewer, ``Tasteless chase'' (Public Forum, June 15): I beg to is an elliptical expression for I beg leave to; as, I beg to inform you s>. See also: Beg differ with Jack. He believes that there is no need to televise tel·e·vise tr. & intr.v. tel·e·vised, tel·e·vis·ing, tel·e·vis·es To broadcast or be broadcast by television. [Back-formation from television. chases. I truly think that if that would happen that we would see a lot more of them. Chases lead up to one conclusion: You cannot run away from the police. The news helicopters help keep track of them and warn us to stay away from that area. Jack said, ``They may put people in harm's way.'' This may be true, but what if you had no idea that there was a chase going on right outside your driveway, and you decide to go somewhere? Keep them televised, and might I add that the police departments handle themselves very well during these pursuits. - Danny Rukhman Sherman Oaks |
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