PUBLIC FORUM CONCEDE.

It seems that I recall Al Gore stating that he would fully accept the results of the forced recount on Sunday's deadline, no matter which way it fell, with no contest. Apparently I missed the part when he said which Sunday and month he was talking about. Show some dignity and concede.

- Russell Brown 

- Valencia

Disgraceful behavior

How long must we endure the barrage of hateful vilifications being hurled between opposing political affiliates? How long, before we realize how this disgraceful behavior threatens our nation's unity and tranquillity? Political parties turn us into separate nations; each with conflicting ideologies; each dominated by different classes; each fighting for control of our government.

George Washington - our only president to represent the entire nation - pleaded with the Continental Congress to preserve the unity proclaimed in the Constitution and to prevent splitting the nation into political parties (the kind he had witnessed in England). It wouldn't take a mental giant to envision the power and unity of a nation in which our president would represent the entire nation instead of the political party that put him into office.

- Fred W. Coble 

North Hills

Good plan

I'm getting fed up with this endless wrangling. William Shakespeare had it right in ``Henry the Sixth'': ``The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.''

Gore won the popular vote and Bush the electoral. According to the Constitution, Bush wins. Let's be done with it. If Gore doesn't like it, then run again in 2004, just like Nixon did. If Bush doesn't cut it, he'll be out.

- Roger Waters

Valencia

Under Gore's influence

As I listened to Sen. Joe Lieberman's reaction to the state of Florida's voter certification, I thought of the man who was once known as the conscience of the Senate because of his deeply held personal, political and religious ideals, and how these ideals had been subjugated after he came under Gore's sphere of influence.

Listening to Lieberman espouse the Gore mantra was like listening to a minister of propaganda espouse the views of another man whose charisma led an entire nation into ruin. How could any man who had such deeply held ideals allow the proffering of the vice presidency of the United States to alter and warp his soul in such a way is beyond comprehension.

- Peter J. Kurt

Woodland Hills

The decline of Joe

Joe Lieberman appeared at first to be a man of honor and integrity. It's sad that he allowed himself to be so quickly lowered to the level of his running mate.

- Arline George

Reseda

The bottom line

In the midst of all of the rhetoric and ballyhoo we have seemed to forget that the bottom line should be a real effort by all concerned to discern the will of the people.

- Ron Presson

North Hollywood

Not logical

As much as I dislike the term ``states' rights'' and the deification of the ``federal system,'' this is nonetheless the law of the land. I recognize the ultimate right of the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether or not to allow recounts to continue after the statutory deadline for their certification.

What I don't understand, however, is how the Florida Supreme Court can on the one hand interpret the conflicts in Florida law such that the right to have one's vote counted via recount overrides legally the aforementioned statutory deadline, and then, on the other hand, impose a new deadline which in effect makes such a recount impossible for the largest Florida counties.

- Ronald O. Richards

Los Angeles

Now we know

So now we know how Al Gore plans to reinvent government, with a scorched-earth policy. Talk about your sore losers.

- Steven Miles

Van Nuys

Dark secret

A dark secret long suspected, now confirmed, that leaves one in a state of intellectual and emotional overload: No impediment is sturdy enough to block Al Gore's run for power, whether it be our collective constitutional rights or the singular exercise of the right to vote by a serviceman stationed far away on the frontier of freedom.

If Gore still thinks he is capable of leading this country, a second suspicion is sadly rendered open: Al Gore is not a man of sound mind.

- Kenneth A. Eaton

North Hills

Major difference

Before the election, I heard that there was no real difference between the two parties. Now, after watching this farce going on in Florida, I have concluded that there is, indeed, a most obvious major difference and that is:

The Democrats have turned vote-stealing into an art while the Republicans haven't a clue!

- Hal Grabfelder

Glendale

What else?

I would like to know whether anything (candidates, propositions) - other than the presidential votes - are being recounted. Were there other problems?

- Sally A. Butler

Panorama City

He ought to know

For a member of the notorious Chicago Daley family (Bill Daley, spokesman for the Gore campaign) to lecture us about the sacredness of the election ballot is about as credible as Hugh Hefner giving a pitch for sexual abstinence.

- Mark A. Doyle

Glendale

A few others

Re Becky Butler's letter ``Couldn't be worse,'' (Public Forum, Nov. 24):

Hello. Wake up and smell the coffee. You mentioned a vile four letter word, Gore. Excuse me, I would like to remind you there are a few other vile, crude, and very disgusting four letter words, in the dictionary, like Bush, Dole and someone named Dick.

- Muriel Subotnick

Calabasas

Not our fault

The voters were once again duped into approving a proposition that will ultimately eat into their collective pocketbooks. Proposition 39, sold as ``for the kids,'' tricked the majority of the voting public into punching the yes button. Too bad we are not in Florida; we could say it doesn't count.

Our property taxes are now likely to increase from $100 to $200 dollars each year as a result of this decision. It's not the voters' fault. They were suckered by false and misleading campaigning. Our schools will not get better: They will just cost more to build because the districts can now spend massive amounts on construction with accountability being an after-the-spent audit, i.e., no accountability.

- Michael C. Hines

West Hills

Just business

As soon as I saw the Clinton picture under the bust of Ho Chi Minh, I knew the Clinton haters and conspiracy zealots would howl. But if one can take a step back a little, it was just where one state happens to receive visits from other heads of state. Nixon met Chairman Mao in person. Remember him? Big time commie? Wrote the little red book?

Vietnam had a terrible cost for all parties involved. But it's treated different because they won. Germany and Japan killed some 400,000 U.S. citizens, but because we won, America was magnanimous in victory and rebuilt both countries. It's time to move on - there and Cuba also. We trade and deal with former enemies and fascist and dictatorial governments all the time.

- Billy Sottile

Lancaster