PUBLIC FORUM GOVERNMENT HOLIDAYS.

Re ``Money for nothing'' (Editorial, March 16):

The editorial ``Money for nothing'' is right on point, and reflects the usual constant in politics and local government, that self-interest trumps the public interest and the taxpayer keeps paying. Another example is the 14 paid holidays government workers enjoy, in addition to generous and often lengthy paid vacations and other benefits not provided in the commercial sector where cost, benefits and the marketplace must be taken into account.

The Assembly bill introduced into the state Legislature to reduce paid vacation days from 14 to 12 is a step in the right direction. The 14 days adds almost three weeks of additional paid vacation time and for what benefit?

- Glenn W. Hoiby

North Hollywood

Police panel responds

Your editorial, ``Facing reality'' (March 17), completely missed the entire purpose of the Police Commission's persistence to move 1,300 employees out of Parker Center: the building is unsafe, period. The Daily News, and every other employer in this city, houses their employees in buildings with safety and life support systems, as required by law. Many of those codes were developed after building disasters. Parker Center employees, who are the public safety backbone of this city, deserve to work in a building that meets these basic codes.

Parker Center has countless safety and life support system violations. Does the building actually need to fall down before this plea is taken seriously? This is not a budget issue; this is a serious safety issue. The Police Commission will not stop in its quest to provide for the safety of its employees and will continue to hold the city accountable for complying with its own codes.

- David S. Cunningham, III 

President

Los Angeles Police Commission

How construction works

Re ``Pay-to-play payoff'' (Editorial, March 16):

You people have no idea what you are talking about. If for one second you knew how construction works as well as you know how criticism works, you would understand that there is no correlation between contributing to campaigns to receive large scale construction projects based on the fact that it is a legal ``low-bidder'' situation.

If you stop and look at what has been accomplished, as opposed to what you see being questioned, the obvious problem lies in the big-mouth reporters who claim to know it all, rather than the builders who are actually doing something to improve our cities.

- Jason Maltas

Los Angeles

Eating hormones

In the discussion about super-size Americans, I think one additional possibility needs to be included. Most of the beef and chicken we get in restaurants and stores has been fed hormones to make them quickly grow larger and heavier. Who knows how many millions of gallons of growth hormones have been fed to America's food animals in the past two decades?

There has got to be some residue from these hormones in the foods we eat, and it's possible that pass-through hormones are a hidden culprit in our national obesity problem. No matter how small the amount of residue in one serving, when you ingest it every day it's got to add up. That's why I'm careful to buy my meat and chicken only from stores that guarantee their meat has not been fed growth hormones.

- Wilma Bennett

Reseda

Not cost-effective

Re ``Reservists leave employers hanging'' (March 16):

If it is all a matter of judgment, as the Pollack PR web site claims, Noemi Pollack should have ``reserved'' her own. Telling the world that you ``love'' your employee and then belittling his commitment to allow you to speak your mind is appalling.

She saw Robert Parry's position as a U.S. Marine as a ``valuable asset'' when she hired him. It was something she could exploit. However, when the going gets tough and the country needs her, she turns her back and says ``it just isn't cost-effective anymore.'' In essence, she is not gaining anything any longer, so she wants out. No one ever said patriotism was cost-effective.

- Cristy Richey-McNay

Thousand Oaks 

Miserable choices

Am I the only one getting an upset stomach - similar to the one Alice found herself with in Wonderland - over our presidential campaign this year?

It looks like I can choose between an East Coast liberal who can't wait to increase taxes and reduce our freedoms under the Bill of Rights or an incumbent with a proven record of duplicity, mendacity and a fixation on starting unilateral wars. And, oh, he is also running us into an incredible hole of a deficit. These choices leave me miserable.

- Mike Hawkins

Newbury Park

It'll be OK

Re ``Continuous barrage'' (Your Opinions, March 17):

Robert Kunz ends his rant against Sen. Kerry with the following: ``God save us if a pathetic, waffling John Kerry were to get into the White House.'' Relax. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I remember feeling just as Kunz feels way back in 1968, when I feared that Richard Nixon would become president. I had thoughts of leaving the country. Well, Nixon did, I didn't, and we all survived. I'm not saying I enjoyed the Nixon years, but God still took care of us, and we're still here. As I said, relax.

- Arnie Moore

Sherman Oaks

Cracks me up

I just want to give a big ``thumbs up'' to Patrick O'Connor. His cartoons, even if I disagree with a few of them, never fail to absolutely crack me up with the ``gee whiz'' themes and the contorted facial expressions of the characters. Keep up the good work, Pat.

- Joseph Micciche

Arcadia

Economy improving?

President Bush said the economy was improving when there were 100,000 job losses. Now there are more than 3 million jobs lost and President Bush is still claiming the economy is improving. How many job losses will it take for President Bush to admit the economy is not improving - 4 million, 5 million?

- Robert Matano

Redlands

Switching

Reading and hearing John Kerry's position on every issue from Iraq to taxes is enough to convince even the most staunch Bush supporter to switch. From Heinz to Del Monte, or Hunt's ketchup, that is.

- Eric Dresser

Burbank

9-11 inquiry

Dubya traverses the nation almost daily to collect quid pro quo campaign contributions, yet can spare but one hour of testimony for the 9-11 commission. The antecedent causes leading up to the World Trade Center debacle will never be fully explained to the American people because the Bush regime continues to obstruct the search for truth.

Bush has yet to explain why he allowed bin Laden family members, along with other Saudis, to gather post-9-11 at Logan Airport in Boston, then whisk off to Paris. The end of that stupefying week found George II and Saudi Prince Bandar smoking cigars together on the White House balcony. Inquiring minds, unlike George W. Bush's, would really like some straight answers.

- Gary N. Miller

Encino

Conservation of mass

Re ``It's not the food'' (Your Opinions, March 16):

Fred Coble says obesity is not caused by food intake - that fat people are unfortunate to have genetically inherited an unalterable metabolic cause of their obesity.

Had Coble studied physics, he would know of the law of conservation of mass, which states that you can neither create nor destroy mass - you can only change its form. In other words, fat people cannot magically get fat without large amounts of food intake. I'm sure I'm right, as I have never seen a picture of a fat person in a concentration camp. By the way, I have a few pounds of my own to lose.

- Hal Netkin

Van Nuys