PUBLIC FORUM CONSERVATIVE ACTION.

Re Glenn Smith's Feb. 12 letter ``Liberals are wrong'' (Your Opinion):

It was the conservatives that placed Saddam in power, selling him the chemical and biological weapons we claim he has. Conservatives set up Noriega to run rampant through Panama with our blessings, allowing tons of narcotics to flood our nation. And it was a conservative group of American terrorists that murdered hundreds of innocents in Oklahoma.

It was also a conservative group that sold arms to Iran and transferred the funds to support a terrorist group in El Salvador. I'm sorry, sir, but the history of conservative action is less moral than you would have us believe. Wrapping yourself in a flag and claiming divine support does not make you moral or good. Just remember Germany in the '30s.

- Ronald Strong

- Burbank

Better things to do

So the City Council has voted to object to the war in Iraq. Who gave them the authority to speak for me. Don't they have better things to do, like the budget crisis, perhaps rescinding the 4 percent pay increase, or maybe a cut in pay or eliminating some of the undeserved paid holidays, the gangs, the pothole ridden streets, overgrown trees, the lousy schools, the money DWP is giving to the scooter deal, etc.

Wonder how they would feel if the terrorists had flown the planes into City Hall, the L.A. airport or other spots in L.A. It is a pretty well known fact the terrorists have ties to bin Laden who has ties to Saddam. It hasn't even been two years since 9-11 - how soon some forget.

- J.A. McMillin

West Hills

Look it up

Re ``Price of freedom'' (Your Opinion, Feb. 19):

The war that established this great nation and gave us all the right to disagree with our government was a just and noble war. So was the great battle against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. But to claim that those that protested this past weekend against an invasion of Iraq are hypocrites is outright wrong. While you may not agree with their views, they do have the right to express them. And since they are expressing their views and standing by them, how are they hypocrites? I suggest that you check the dictionary for the actual meaning of the word.

- Ronald Strong

Burbank

There or here

After Bruce Joffe's opinions (Your Opinion, Feb. 25), I wonder what part of ``they want us dead'' he doesn't understand. For him to assert that our administration is ignoring other threats is ridiculous. Highway Patrol officers single out one driver from a group of speeders because they have to start somewhere. That's what we are doing in the Middle East. We'll take care of the others as the need arises.

While in the service in Korea many years ago, I wondered what we were doing there in the first place. It became clear in the years following that we either fight them there or here, but fight them we must if we are to remain free. Moreover, with the influx of aliens who are not loyal to this country, we are in peril from that fifth column from within.

- Bob Salin

North Hollywood

Then I'll believe

I will believe that this girding for war with Iraq is not about oil the day that the Bush twins give up their (now legal) beer steins, their legacy (affirmative action) positions at Yale and the University of Texas, Austin, enlist in the military, and head for the front, and we see a true accounting of the so-called ``energy task force's'' meetings from the vice president.

To call the millions of patriotic anti-war protesters in the U.S., and the millions overseas, a ``focus group'' is to ignore the Constitution Bush is sworn to uphold. True leadership is lacking in Washington, D.C., these days, while cowboy rhetoric is gaining in strength. I am not safer today than on Sept 10, 2001 - I am not better off economically than three years ago.

- William Cinnamon III

North Hollywood

Taking advantage of us

I am shocked and amazed that more people are not up in arms over the increase in gasoline prices. How can Washington sit back and let these companies take advantage of us? Basically this really reduces our take-home pay when we have to pay almost twice as much for gasoline to get to work. The thing people do not realize is not only does our gasoline increase but everything in the stores we purchase will increase because the carriers will immediately take a surcharge on their rates to affect the increase in fuel so the consumer will pay higher prices in the stores.

I have said it before and I will say it again: Gasoline should be put under control like water, electricity and gas that they need to show proof before they can take an increase and have concrete evidence.

- Frank Jacobs

Sylmar

Runoff diversions

To all who seek unusual places for recreation and diversion, please plan a visit to our community, especially during the rainy season, and experience a swimming and wading adventure. Located at our seasonally flooded Tuxford Street and San Fernando Road intersection.

If you are an athletic group, try our ``Tujunga Avenue Two-Mile Trek,'' an invigorating downstream wade to our closest storm drain. Also keep in mind that we have a rather polluted runoff, so it would be wise to bring along a fun-loving, well-equipped physician in your party. Welcome. Come splash in our trash. (Stalled vehicles towed at your own expense.)

- Ron Hall

Sun Valley

Apparently works

Re ``Ridge's duct tape for the soul'' (Their Opinions, Feb. 24):

As a member of a air mobile unit in the central highlands of Vietnam in '68-'69, I may be a little more qualified to discuss the issue of plastic in regard to biological warfare, of which Marianne Means, obviously, is quite uninformed.

My plastic poncho was a very important part of the equipment I had to drag around. Since I am 55 years old, using plastic to cover my person when faced with gas and potential biotoxins, as well as Agent Orange, courtesy of our own military, apparently works. Even if we could only stay covered for the initial dispersion. Health risk due to particulate matter carried upon the wind can be substantially reduced or eliminated by ``sealing the area'' and staying there for the three to four days necessary to neutralize the effects. This includes nuclear particulates to varying degrees.

- Patrick Weir

Chatsworth

Different assumptions

I was amused to read ``Big bang was confirmed'' (Feb. 12). The big bang model is based on two assumptions: The universe has no center, and also it has no boundaries. However, Russell Humphreys of Sandia National Laboratories formulated the White Hole Model in 1995 for the origin of the universe based on two entirely different assumptions: The universe has a center somewhere, and it has finite boundaries. The White Hole model also accounts for the cosmic background radiation and the flat nature of the universe, because it expands forever. Both of these two models are mathematical extensions of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

It is ironic that scientists honestly cannot know their great great-grandfathers, and yet they postdict events that supposedly happened billions of years ago.

- Christopher Chui

Canoga Park

Alternative energy

I'd like to thank the president for his budget proposal of $1.2 billion funding for research to find an alternative to gasoline as an energy source. Here in Southern California especially, as well as other parts of the country where we've had General Motors' smog and not their tax deductions, negating their statement ``What's good for GM is good for the country.''

I've written the same thing to senators and Congress people since the Clinton days, asking them to put forth such a proposal, to no avail. In the last year I've written the Department of Energy, Dick Cheney, and even the president's wife, Laura. Maybe that's what worked. Whatever.

- John Thomas

Canoga Park