PUBLIC FORUM : U.S. TALKS OF MORALITY, PRACTICES HYPOCRISY.

Through the years I have watched our political system at work, from President Hoover to President Clinton, and I must say that I am shocked at the hypocrisy that permeates this nation. We, the people, espouse morality, morality, morality, and yet in our everyday life, we break and bend every rule for the sake of the almighty dollar.

It is indeed sad to see the erosion of the presidency. It's not President Clinton. It's the entire system, including the press and television - starting with John Q. Public - that's to blame for our moral decay. Don't be so eager to accuse someone for some crime or conduct when we as a nation are engaged in tearing down the last vestiges of morality.

It's not Trent Lott, Starr or Clinton: It is us. Just look at what we have wrought. God has become a dirty word and a word rarely spoken about in a positive manner.

Take road rage. Now that is a classic example of where we're headed. We have become a rude nation. We know it. We see it in our daily lives.

My only advice is to love one another. We cannot regain our innocence, but we can endeavor to do the right thing. Let us not stand in judgment of our president but rather rally around him in forgiveness. We as a nation must move forward and try to strive for morality in our lives and in our hearts.

- Leonard Carreras

West Hills

I think all flags should be flown at half-staff because we have witnessed the demise of the judicial system as we have known it. Thank you, Kenneth Starr.

For the first time, we have seen a kangaroo court in full operation.

Our most basic judicial tenet has been that a person is innocent until proved guilty, normally after a trial in a court of law, either by a judge or by a jury of ones peers. Starr, you would have been a great companion to Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

As I understand it, the grand jury meets and deliberates in complete secrecy with no discussion leaving the room. Yet every day the prior day's proceedings were leaked to the press.

Starr has denied leaking information, yet he did nothing to put a stop to it.

In no way do I condone what President Clinton has done in his private life. It is amazing how a brilliant mind can be so stupid. Yet he has accomplished more in his six years in office than any president since Lyndon Johnson.

- Lewis M. Levin

Van Nuys

``Driving himself wild over Monica'' (Opinions, Sept. 24) by Maureen Dowd is a truly artful sham. As I read its graphic descriptions of Clinton, I thought to myself, is this the Maureen Dowd that I have come to love and respect? How could she so blatantly claw at Clinton in this manner? I was shocked at prurient details and leaps to shocking conclusions.

I personally lost a lot of respect for Starr for his released ``report'' about President Clinton. Based on hearsay, it is as tawdry as anything printed in the Enquirer.

For all the excesses about the report, I blame Starr, Congress, grand jury leaks, the American lust for gossip and, I might add, Maureen Dowd.

I suggest Dowd read Mona Charen's column (``Letting Clinton stay would set bad precedent,'' Opinions, Sept. 24) and learn what this chaos is all about.

- Peter Kirby 

Granada Hills

What's all this gibberish about Clinton's fate being up to the vote of the people? The vote of the people is partisan; the law is not, or at least it is not supposed to be.

Also, I have my doubts about representatives who call this nation a democracy. It is a republic. The representatives in Congress are the people's voice. So, let the people shut up and let their representatives have the say in the matter - or is that too complicated to understand?

- Mary Solari

Burbank

As a professor of political studies, it is continually frustrating to me to hear feminist leaders, Public Forum letter writers and others suggest that the investigation of President Clinton's misdeeds is a plot to make House Speaker Newt Gingrich president.

If they understood the American political system or recent American history, they would know that a new president immediately selects a new vice president, such as Gerald Ford selecting Nelson Rockefeller, so the speaker would only become president if the president and vice president both left office simultaneously. If Al Gore became president, he would select a new vice president long before he pardoned Clinton and, if Gore were subsequently removed, that vice president would become president and select a new vice president - not Gingrich.

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 was designed to produce a president if a nuclear attack simultaneously killed the president and vice president.

- Gregg Frazer

Pacoima

Re ``Where's the outrage?'' Viewpoint, Sept. 27:

I, too, have been waiting for the outrage, especially from women, over lies, sex and abuse of power. I have seen abuse in the workplace and heard the stories of exchanging sex for advancement.

However, today's women seem to be willing to condone such immoral conduct. What are we teaching our youths? Character, integrity and morality count for nothing.

- Linda Hoff

Canoga Park

Pierce College land

Again, thoughts on using Pierce College land recur (Public Forum, Sept. 27). Again it appears that fundamentals of strategic and educational master planning are not applied before selling off public lands.

When will our community college board of trustees recognize the need to create viable contingency plans based on reducing costs without sacrificing value? This is a routine management task required of all private-sector enterprises.

It seems that Pierce College, in order to avoid continuing land-use conflict, should also focus its future priorities, goals and objectives on clients, customers, lifelong learners, students, and community demands and needs.

The college district's lack of policy is now leading to selling off or leasing public land to special interests. This reprehensible tactic fails to maximize current and future public benefits. Public land should be dedicated to public and not private pursuits.

If the college cannot fiscally and operationally manage its current and probable future affairs, it should turn over public lands to a more receptive higher entity that is more fiscally competent and publicly accountable.

While I know many who would favor an entertainment and cultural center complex at the Pierce College site, I'm also convinced that other equally valued uses should and must be considered before sacrificing our public open spaces to the altar of declining-value mammon.

- J.B. Domine

Winnetka

Missing textbooks

Susan Mueller (Public Forum, Sept. 28) mistakenly stated that Los Angeles Unified School District students are supposed to be charged for lost or damaged textbooks. This is not school policy.

Although charging students for loss of textbooks had been successfully implemented by Crenshaw High School a few years back, the LAUSD school board terminated this policy for fear of offending students or their parents, who would likely have to pay.

Some school administrators have admitted that textbook losses caused by student irresponsibility account for up to half of the textbook budget.

The next time the LAUSD school board asks for approval of yet another multibillion-dollar school bond, it will not get my vote.

- Jay Karelius

Granada Hills

Job for parents

Regarding the Sept. 25 article ``Are our kids safe?'' in which it was reported that three elementary students ate a substance found by another student that was laced with LSD:

I wish to comment on the statement by parent Blanca Gomez. Gomez states that teachers should routinely check student backpacks and that ``kids are supposed to be supervised by their teachers,'' as if this would have protected those children from taking the found LSD.

As a parent of an elementary school-age child, I am annoyed that Gomez puts the responsibility on the schools and none on the parents. Personally, I do not want my son's fourth-grade teacher wasting time going through my child's personal belongings when she could be teaching him.

More importantly it is my responsibility as a parent to supervise my own child, not the teacher's.

As a parent it is our responsibility, not the school's, to teach our children not to eat found candy. It's time parents stop putting the responsibility of raising their children on the schools and take responsibility for their own.

- C.C. Michaels

Chatsworth

Pity innocents, not villains

In regard to the killing of the bank robber in Tarzana (Daily News, Oct. 2) and the remark by the interviewed person who said, ``It just breaks my heart.''

Does it break your bleeding heart to see innocent bystanders terrorized and traumatized by bank robbers? Does it break your heart to see bank guards and armored-car guards shot?

Pity the innocents, not the villains.

Three cheers for the guard who shot the would-be robber. The guard had no way of knowing whether the villain was or was not armed when the guard rushed into the bank.

The robber did not freeze when he saw guns pointed at him. The guard should receive a medal for his valor in placing himself in harm's way, acting quickly and decisively.

This event and the front page headline (``Bank robber killed; Tarzana heist ends as guard shoots man'') will hopefully serve as a lesson for other bad guys who think about robbing a bank.

The old saying of ``Don't do the crime if you can't do the time'' applies here. This villain's time just happens to be eternity.

- Alan Richman

Woodland Hills