PUBLIC FORUM : WITH FLYNT SETTING AGENDA, CAN IT BE ANY WORSE?

It was with utter shock and dismay that I read Robert A. Felburg's open letter to Larry Flynt (Public Forum, Jan. 19). As I read through the first few paragraphs, I told myself over and over again: This must be a joke. This must be an exercise in high sarcasm. It has to be. I kept waiting for the punch line.

But alas, it wasn't a joke. It was a genuine expression of admiration for a man who is a pornographer . . . and for a man who now works alongside Clinton's army of muckrakers and scorched-earth agents in their efforts to smear and destroy anyone who doesn't bow before the king.

Have Americans completely lost their minds? Have they taken all leave of their senses? If nothing else, this entire Clinton saga has been extremely effective in proving one thing, and that is that the majority of people in this country have sunk as low as it is possible to sink.

It seems the population of this country has degenerated to the level of a Jerry Springer audience. At times, I feel I am stuck in an episode of the ``Twilight Zone,'' in some alternate reality where evil is good, up is down and lies are truth. I am ashamed to be an American.

- Laz Rojas

Burbank

Airport editorial flawed

Your (Jan. 18, ``No-fly zone'') editorial questioning the merits of the city of Burbank spending $40,000 to educate the residents of Glendale about airport issues missed the mark.

The residents of Glendale and Pasadena get no information from their airport commissioners other than what is reported in local papers. However, Glendale's commissioners report to their council in executive session, without the opportunity for public scrutiny or input.

Many times I've had to correct a misconception from Glendale residents who have either been told only half the story on a particular issue or in certain cases been told something that was factually wrong.

Using your logic that Burbank is close to meddling in Glendale's community affairs in an inappropriate manner, aren't you missing the obvious?

The six commissioners from Glendale and Pasadena - supposedly accountable to no one, who may determine the quality of life for Burbank residents forever - aren't just meddling, they may control Burbank as we know it.

Of course Burbank needs to educate Glendale residents on the impact of their actions. I say it is money well-spent.

I am one of the Burbank commissioners on the Airport Authority but write this as my own opinion.

- Charlie Lombardo

Burbank

Left-wing smear lives on

The Jan. 21 Newslite lead item, ``Heston suggests kudos for Kazan,'' continued the left-wing smear of loyal Americans who risked their lives to expose Communist traitors.

The House Committee on Un-American Activities was misidentified as ``the House Un-American Activities Committee'' to give the impression that the House of Representatives was un-American.

Liberal fanatics bent on perpetuating the ``McCarthy blacklist'' myth should remember the rule of Pravda's first editor, Soviet leader Josef Stalin: ``In order to lie convincingly, first get the basic facts straight.''

- Bill Starr

Burbank

Polls must be myths

The talk of polls and how Clinton is so popular continues on. There is something very mysterious in all this talk.

For years all my friends and I have been trying to find someone, anyone, who has been polled, but this search has been to no avail.

There is someone I know who is one of the highest ranking law-enforcement officers in Los Angeles County. This person is the one exception to my search. It seems that when a pollster called him and was told that Clinton should be tarred and feathered, the phone was hung up very quickly. So much for objective polls.

- Matthew Gordon

Los Angeles

In desperation to get caught up in the euphoria involving all Bill Clinton has done for America, I offer him my most heartfelt thanks for making the following comparisons possible:

Thank you for making Dan Quayle look like the Rhodes Scholar.

Thank you for making Jimmy Carter look competent.

Thank you for making Gerald Ford look graceful.

Thank you for making Richard Nixon look honest.

Thank you for making John Kennedy look moral.

Thank you for making Al Gore look positively presidential.

Thank you for reminding us of the importance of term limits.

And last but not least, thank you for reminding us, when all is said and done, character really, really does matter, even in the septic tank known as the liberal/socialist agenda.

- James L. Costin

Northridge

During President William Jefferson Clinton's State of the Union Speech, he made a pitch to save Social Security by investing surplus taxes the American public has paid into stocks.

My first reaction to this was that the proposal was a thinly veiled maneuver on the part of the president to sway those involved in the impeachment process whose insistence on the rule of law is conveniently forgotten as soon as large corporations can reap benefits.

Now that televangelist Pat Robertson has suddenly and dramatically not only praised Clinton's speech, but also called for an end to the impeachment proceedings, my worst suspicions seem to have a basis in fact.

- Bob McKay

North Hills