PUBLIC FORUM BALANCING THE BUDGET.Re ``Legislative quitters'' (Editorial, July 3): There are many ways California can balance its budget, if Gov. Davis and our representatives would become bolder and begin to think outside the box: Save billions by releasing from prison all nonviolent drug offenders. Establish a 0.25 percent tax on all stock transactions. Legalize le·gal·ize tr.v. le·gal·ized, le·gal·iz·ing, le·gal·iz·es To make legal or lawful; authorize or sanction by law. le and tax marijuana and prostitution, as Holland does. Raise income taxes by 5 percent for the richest 1 percent of Californians. Establish a 0.5 percent wealth tax on all Californians worth more than $5 million. Remove industrial property from tax caps imposed 25 years ago by Prop. 13. None of these proposals seems to be on the negotiating table. Perhaps they should be. - Al Sheahen Sherman Oaks Might be a savings It's been said the recall of Gov. Davis would cost the taxpayers $30 million. I wonder what it would cost to keep him. - Jack Rohan John Patrick "Jack" Rohan (August 25 1931 – August 9 2004) was an American college basketball player and coach. The Bellerose, New York native was men's head basketball coach at Columbia University between 1962 and 1974, and returned in 1991 to coach until 1995. Valley Glen Spend and tax Democrats at every level of government are blaming the state's shaky financial situation on Republicans, who refuse to vote for a tax increase. But these people have no one to blame but themselves. California is living on borrowed money. Am I to believe I should be paying higher taxes because the state can't afford to pay its bills? It's sad that the state must teeter on the brink of financial ruin tor Democrats to pay attention to what Republicans have been saying all along: You can't spend like there's no tomorrow and hope the bill never comes due. - Marlene Walker Glendale More than darkness Let's see Let's See was a Canadian television series broadcast on CBC Television between September 6, 1952 to July 4, 1953. The segment, which had a running time of 15 minutes, was a puppet show with a character named Uncle Chichimus (voice of John Conway), which presented each now, I really want to understand this: Since '93, 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. mayors have spent $115 million on ``consultants and other costs'' for an LAX master expansion plan and now Hahn proposes to spend $9 billion on this project (``Hahn unveils LAX plan,'' July 10) - yet, streets can't be lighted, or fixed, because there's not enough money? (``Darkness at City Hall'' Editorial, July 10). Why is it that all L.A. mayors want to expand that sprawling mass rather than place it somewhere else? Does that $9 billion include motels for waiting for flights? There's more than ``darkness'' at City Hall. - John Goff
John William Goff (January 1 1848 - November 9 1924) was an Irish-born lawyer and judge also noted for his support of Fenian rebel movements. Valley Village Burned-out bulbs Re ``Darkness at City Hall'' (Editorial, July 10): Your point is well taken on the issue of streetlights in the northeast section of the Valley, but there is a more pressing matter that needs immediate attention. Has anyone noticed how many lights are burned out on traffic signals throughout the Valley? Most of them seem to be red lights, and I'm afraid someone is going to get killed going through these intersections. Somebody needs to get out here and fix these lights right now. - Boris Menart Sunland Mismanaged city Our City Council has panicked - and is busy seeking ways to raise money to cover mismanaged costs and waste. They can't see the businesses leaving Los Angeles, taking jobs and taxes with them. Nor do they note the resident taxpayers leaving for less tax-greedy states. Fix the tax structure by lowering workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. and slash unfriendly business taxes. Stop jobs from leaving now - don't try luring investors back to a city that used taxes to drive them out. For starters, fix financial problems without raising taxes. First, roll back all city employees' salary raises until the deficit is eliminated. - Ron Hall Sun Valley You call this driving? Re ``Fatal crashes up 32 percent'' (July 2): I'd like to thank the motorists racing through the yellow, those of you I have to avoid because you may hit me from behind as I stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Also those of you who now flash your headlights to let me know you have no intention of stopping for the red. Fatalities up? Not surprising. - Laurien DuTremble Northridge NIMBY NIM·BY n. pl. NIM·BYs Slang One who objects to the establishment in one's neighborhood of projects, such as incinerators, prisons, or homeless shelters, that are believed to be dangerous, unsightly, or otherwise undesirable. roadblock ``Transit planners needed'' (Viewpoint, June 22) illustrated how a regional, cost-effective light-rail system will improve air quality, productivity and mobility for our citizens. To reduce congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. on the 101 Freeway, with less disruption to residents and taxpayer pocketbooks, an at-grade or elevated rail system in the freeway median could connect Ventura County and 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. to Union Station by tying into the Gold Line in Pasadena through Burbank's Media District and Glendale. Voters supported the freeway rail in 1990, but vested interests vested interest n. 1. Law A right or title, as to present or future possession of an estate, that can be conveyed to another. 2. A fixed right granted to an employee under a pension plan. 3. and the MTA's tunnel vision tunnel vision n. Vision in which the visual field is severely constricted. tunnel vision, n a defect in sight in which a great reduction occurs in the peripheral field of vision, as if one is looking through defeated this on a split vote. Unlike the $5 billion, 17-mile subway that took more than three decades to build, the nearly 14-mile Gold Line was built in a few years for approximately $750 million. As Charles O'Connell says, the NIMBYs must not be a roadblock to a cost-effective transit system. It is time to begin engineering on the 101-134 light-rail project. - Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San Los Angeles County supervisor Main rationale wrong Re ``Bush says decision on Iraq was right'' (July 10): The White House has acknowledged that George Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address “State of the Union” redirects here. For other uses, see State of the Union (disambiguation). The State of the Union is an annual address in which the President of the United States reports on the status of the country, normally to a joint session of Congress (the stating Saddam tried to buy uranium in Africa was based on an admittedly forged document. Iraq's purported nuclear weapons program was the main rationale for attacking Iraq, conjuring up visions of ``mushroom clouds'' to alarm Americans. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson was sent to Africa to investigate, and he verified that the CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). had notified the White House in March 2002 that the document was a forgery forgery, in art forgery, in art, the false claim to authenticity for a work of art. The Nature of Forgery Because the provenance of works of art is seldom clear and because their origin is often judged by means of subtle factors, art . Ari Fleischer and Bush maintain they never heard this. And on Wednesday our president was still maintaining that he was justified in invading Iraq. Where is the outrage? - Angela Bradshaw Los Angeles Same intelligence Despite the fact many Democrats were privy to the same intelligence reports President Bush had and none rebutted the premise that some African nation had been approached by Saddam to buy enriched uranium Enriched uranium is a sample of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99.284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0.711 % of its weight. , the usual suspects are demanding an investigation into why Bush couldn't get it right. Heck, if I were a Democrat, I'd want an investigation into why Democrats have not been able to get it right for more than 30 years. - Michael Hannin Oxnard While we're recalling Re ``Sore losers'' (Your Opinions, July 7): Michael Simarano believes that an incompetent official who inherits a surplus and turns it into a mass deficit should be recalled. That sounds fair, but let's be fair all the way. Shouldn't he also be calling for George W. Bush's recall? Didn't Bush also inherit a surplus and turn it into a mass deficit? If that's the criterion, then there should be a petition to get George W. Bush removed from office. Fair is fair. - Clayton Kodama Van Nuys One or the other Re ``Notch babies'' (Your Opinions, July 8): Notch babies - you are correct. But let's add my situation: My husband passed away in November 2002 at age 73. I had worked for more than 30 years and received one Social Security check for the month of October 2002. When I applied for his Social Security benefits, I was told to take ``one or the other.'' Isn't it a shame that the two of us worked a combined 80 years and I had to accept ``one or the other''? Of course I took his, which was a bit higher than mine. But what happens to all the funds I put into the system through the years? - Eileen Kahn Oak Park Feminist dinosaurs Re ``Future X + Y may be 2X, studies say'' (Their Opinions, July 10): As liberal columnists go - and go they must - this Maureen Dowd Maureen Dowd (born January 14, 1952) is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times.[1][2] She has worked for the Times since 1983, when she joined as a metropolitan reporter. woman is spot-on the wooden nickel wooden nickel cheap counterfeits circulating in 1850s America. [Am. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1164] See : Fraudulence . Stopping to catch her breath between bashing the Bush administration and kissing up to manufactured pseudo Similar to; made up to appear like something else. See pseudo compiler, pseudo language and pseudonymous. (jargon) pseudo - /soo'doh/ (Usenet) Pseudonym. 1. An electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human for amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative celebrities, she trots out the ol' whipping boy whipping boy surrogate sufferer for delinquent prince. [Eur. Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 942] See : Substitution : Men. Insecure? Naw. Bored? You betcha. She has enlightened me, however, as to just how increasingly irrelevant these '70s-era feminist dinosaurs have become. - Daniel F. Taylor Tujunga |
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