PUBLIC FORUM HOW COULD THEY?How could the 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. supervisors ``suddenly'' find $309 million? (Oops, I forgot that these are the same people who voted to change the county seal, against overwhelming opposition.) And how could they now decide to spend it on salaries and repairing county buildings when they have said there is not enough money to keep parks, libraries and probation camps open? And how could they dare to ask for a sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. increase? And why hasn't the one in charge of the money been fired for incompetence? Won't someone please explain this to me? - Arline George Reseda Going ... gone Re ``County finds unexpected $309 million'' (Sept. 29): Well, we now know who our supervisors work for - certainly not us taxpayers. First they give away our cross to the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. , now they find $309 million and are going to give themselves and their buddies raises. So guess how I am voting on all their bonds. - Joe Pinoy Lozano Mission Hills After crying After Crying is a Hungarian musical ensemble, established in 1986, which composes and performs contemporary classical music or symphonic rock. They use instruments ranging from classical acoustical instruments like cello, trumpet, piano, flute to the instruments of a modern rock poor Re ``County finds unexpected $309 million'' (Sept. 29): So, the county stupidvisors found an extra $309 million. And, before telling us about it, they've already figured out how to spend it. They complain that some county employees haven't had a raise in 16 months. Is that all? Many of us in the private sector have gone much longer than that. This, after crying ``broke'' all year, and they still want us to raise the sales tax by another half-percent. - Jerry Schwartz Granada Hills Testing vs. heat Re ``Schools may start in August'' (Sept. 28): Scott Folsom is correct, starting school in early August is insane. The average high temperature at my daughter's West Hills school is 95 degrees in August. Over the past 10 years there have been eleven 110-plus degree days. Does the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) really expect me to believe this environment is safe for my child? How have we reached a point where the health and welfare of our children takes a back seat to test scores? If finals are a problem, go to trimesters or quarters. If testing comes too early, let the governor know we will test in early June. But to put our kids at risk this way, without exploring all of the options, is sheer negligence. - Brent Smiley See emoticon. smiley - emoticon West Hills Probably not here Re ``Safer in Iraq'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 29): By suggesting that it is safer in Iraq than in Los Angeles because three times as many Americans die each year in the L.A. area than have died in Iraq since the invasion, Bill Harrel provides a fine example of the misuse of statistics A misuse of statistics occurs when a statistical argument asserts a falsehood. In the period since statistics began to play a significant role in society, they have often been misused. In some cases, the misuse was accidental. . Harrel neglects to note that there are hundreds of times as many Americans in L.A. as in Iraq. He also conveniently ignores the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in this unwise and illegal invasion. He then implies without evidence that most deaths in L.A. are attributable to illegal aliens. We know that this is true in Iraq, but probably not here. - David Holland Northridge Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam[1] (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July, 1948 in London), who was known as Cat Stevens from 1966 to 1978, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, educator, philanthropist and prominent convert to Islam. Re ``A peace pup'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 28): Virginia Taylor should get her facts straight before condemning Yusuf Islam. As soon as the media took his comments about Salman Rushdie Noun 1. Salman Rushdie - British writer of novels who was born in India; one of his novels is regarded as blasphemous by Muslims and a fatwa was issued condemning him to death (born in 1947) Ahmed Salman Rushdie, Rushdie out of context, Islam wrote an open letter clarifying his statements. He was ``horrified'' that his words were twisted in such a way. He had said that the Quran did allow for death sentences but that every Muslim is bound to follow the laws of his community. The media only reported the first part, which made for a sexier story. Islam has always been a man of peace and continues to promote positive images of Muslims. - Todd Prepsky Northridge Loses his gun Re ``LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. official halted at LAX'' (Sept. 24): While LAPD Chief William Bratton is busy trying to take guns away from trained, law-abiding citizens, his appointed buddy, John Miller, one of our great protectors, does not even know where his permitted gun is. A big buck politician whose loses his gun may need our protection. At the same time Bratton just laughs it off. I am glad I don't live in Los Angeles. - James Ross James Ross can refer to:
Lancaster Think Germany, Japan Re ``Invasion, not war'' (Your Opinions, Sept. 26): The statement ``you can't force democracy on a nation or its people,'' has got to be one of the single stupidest statements I have ever come across. Is this person oblivious to World War II, when we forced democracy on Germany and Japan with bullets and bombs? Did the South agree to freedom for blacks out of love for blacks, or was it forced on them by bullets? And who says Iraqi people don't want democracy? Just because some outlaws don't want it, do they speak for all Iraqis? It is an insult to Iraqis. - Jerry Kaufman Sherman Oaks Perfect imitation It's amusing how the tune changes when a political campaign gets desperate. President Bush always used to be a moron mo·ron n. A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education. , a dunce, a librarian's husband who can't read. A few slow ones in the chorus are still singing about stupidity, but the rest flipped a new page. Now Bush is a brilliant Machiavelli who has blunted Kerry's campaign with slyly crafted rhetoric that confuses the rube voters; Bush also miraculously persuaded a Texas crackpot crack·pot n. An eccentric person, especially one with bizarre ideas. adj. Foolish; harebrained: a crackpot notion. who hates him to slip forgeries to CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. in a Kinko's parking lot to make Kerry look bad; Bush has convinced intelligent Americans that surrendering every penny they earn to the government is not a good idea, and other dirty tricks dirty tricks pl.n. Informal 1. Covert intelligence operations designed to disrupt the economy or upset the political situation in another country. 2. like that. Face it, Bush is so smart and sneaky that he lulls everyone with his perfect imitation of an idiot. The next few weeks will be a lot of fun. - Charles K. Sergis Calabasas Terror strategy It is clear to me that the savages in Iraq are following the example of the North Vietnamese North Vietnam A former country of southeast Asia. It existed from 1954, after the fall of the French at Dien Bien Phu, to 1975, when the South Vietnamese government collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War. It is now part of the country of Vietnam. , who drove America out of South Vietnam South Vietnam: see Vietnam. by filling our media with pictures of brutal events. The American public soon tired of these reports, forcing a pullout pull·out n. 1. A withdrawal, especially of troops. 2. Change from a dive to level flight. Used of an aircraft. 3. An object designed to be pulled out. Noun 1. even though the war was not lost, and turning thousands of those who supported America over to the vengeful victors. The murderers in Iraq are now trying the same tactic, filling our TV screens with horrible brutality. Their expectation is that America will again lose its will. Their hope is to turn President Bush and Prime Minister Allawi out of office, replacing them with leaders more to their liking. Then they will deal with those cast adrift by America again. That our enemies are having some success with this strategy was clearly evident in the anti-war mobs that turned out for the Republican National Convention. The target of those mobs was not the convention, but the court of American public opinion. - Joe W. Bott bott n. Variant of bot1. West Hills Here we are Both parties are equally evil in their own consorted ways, but straight America, wake up - we're here, we're queer, get used to us. We are your brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, co-workers, neighbors. We are the clerk at the market, the gas station attendant, the women's pro basketball player, the teller at the bank, the mail person in your office, the waiter at your favorite restaurant. We are everywhere and while maybe not completely out we are in every walk of life. We are a part of nature. Our ``trait,'' the thing that makes us different from you, is also in approximately 400 other species. There is no ``cure.'' Let us live our lives openly and freely. A right most of you take for granted. - Andrew Holinsky North Hollywood |
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