PUBLIC FORUM INMATE HEART TRANSPLANT.

Re ``Inmate receives new heart'' (Jan. 26):

About a year ago a good friend of mine suffered a major heart attack from which he was unable to recover. His doctor recommended a transplant, but the people who run the organ banks discouraged that idea because of Leon's age (75). Consequently, they tried to repair the damaged organ but were unsuccessful.

Leon died a couple of weeks before Christmas. Leon accepted the logic of his being denied a transplant and went ahead with the alternative without any complaints. However, he did not know, nor did any of his friends and family know, that the heart denied to him would be given to a convicted felon who will never be a tenth the value that Leon (an outstanding working scientist up until a few months before his death) would be.

Perhaps someone out there could explain to me why a very scarce and very valuable organ should be donated to a felon in prison or, for that matter, why the taxpayers should pay a million dollars for the medical bills.

- Virgil Weatherford

Woodland Hills

A second term

The fact that the Police Protective League wants him out, that police officers with disciplinary actions pending are complaining to the ACLU, the fact that complaints against officers are getting real attention are the most ringing endorsements for the retention of Bernard Parks as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Individual officers on the street have an extreme amount of discretion and very little real oversight without an effective complaint system, which Parks has sought to establish. He deserves another term.

- Mark Boykin

Tarzana

Sing this

Re ``Cry of 'Jihad good' shuts down Ventura Boulevard'' (Feb. 1):

To the 40-year-old French citizen who went up and down Ventura Boulevard shouting ``Jihad is good'': We should send him a bill for police time and loss of revenues by the local businesses affected by his idiocy.

If he can't pay, lock him up and let him sing ``Jihad is good'' to his ``new friends.''

- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Davis' attack ads

By most political standards, former L.A. mayor and Republican candidate for governor Richard Riordan is a liberal who rarely takes a firm conservative position on any issue. His annoying habit of financing and supporting Democratic and liberal causes is no secret and has earned him the label of RINO (Republican-In-Name-Only).

To my amazement, the committee to re-elect Gray Davis is running TV attack ads that attempt to link Riordan to about every right-wing cause under the sun. Perhaps Davis' Democratic operatives are desperate. But Riordan a right-winger? How ludicrous can they get? And how much nonsense will Californians swallow?

- Charles A. Kramer

Tehachapi

Dumbing down

In the Jan. 31 Daily News, there were two articles that need to be addressed. One was that University of California President R.C. Atkinson wants to drop the SAT I after 30 years of testing for qualified entering students.

Secondly, CSUN reported that more than 61 percent of entering students needed to take remedial English and math. Why can't these underachievers go to a city or community college before applying to these schools of higher education? This is an example of dumbing down of education, and the fact that our high schools are not doing their job.

- J. Nicassio

Valencia

Amazingly silent

With the advent of the Enron scandal, I wonder where all the shrill-screeching, right-wing character assassins like Tom DeLay, Dan Burton and the myriad others of their ilk are. These McCarthy clones seem to have crawled into their caves with the same alacrity as Osama bin Laden.

These heretofore ranting, raving right-wingers who, for eight years, screamed for a special prosecutor to investigate Bill Clinton's sexual improprieties are, amazingly, silent now that real scandals, a la Watergate, Iran-Contra and other egregious criminal activities, demand a special prosecutor.

- Zachary A. Charles

Burbank

Those Democrats

Observing the insalubrious comportment exhibited by the Democratic Party concerning Enron (and the lack of same concerning Global Crossing), it occurred to me that if there were no Enron ``scandal'' involving President Bush and Vice President Cheney, they would invent one. Oh wait, ... they did.

- Richard Bussell

Saugus

Bush's war

Apparently the Bush administration believes that yelling fire in a crowded theater is OK if it will keep them in power. Rumsfeld is out spreading stories that there are even more deadly terrorist attacks on the way. In truth, they don't know any more now than they did before 9-11.

This band of war brokers will do or say anything to keep the nation astir, trying to ensure a second term. In a conversation with Bob Kiss, speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, this past week concerning the fact that they are both fathers of twins, Bush said, ``I've been to war; I've raised twins; if I had a choice, I'd rather go to war.'' This may reflect his preference but, pray tell, when did he ever go to war?

- Philip Wilt

Van Nuys

Not surprising

With every home that is bulldozed, every orchard destroyed and every person assassinated in ``self-defense,'' it is increasingly clear that Ariel Sharon intends the ``ethnic cleansing'' of all lands that he has decided should not belong to the people who have lived there for generations.

Why are people surprised when the Palestinians react with the complete viciousness of people who have no expectation of fair play, no hope of justice and no stake in the future? And why is the United States so against an international peacekeeping force in the West Bank and Gaza? I understand that Israel doesn't want the world to see what it is doing. But why the U.S.?

- Kilani Hutchinson

Panorama City

Palestinian anger

Were the Palestinians equally angry with their Jordanian and Egyptian military occupiers from 1948-1967? East Jerusalem was guarded at each entry gate by heavily armed Arab soldiers and no one was allowed to pass between the four quarters. Not one suicide bomber attacked Cairo or Amman. Is the Palestinian anger only aimed at Israelis? The British had a pretty hard record of occupation from 1917 to 1948 and the Ottoman Turks for 300 years prior to 1917.

Do I know the solution? Sure. Abandon all Jewish settlements, grant Palestinian statehood, and declare east Jerusalem as the capital. Of course, in return, the Palestinians have to abandon their goal of driving Israel into the sea.

- Sol Taylor

Sherman Oaks

Remember?

When I was young, the local TV stations had Skipper Frank, Engineer Bill, KNX's own Tom Hatten (thanks for the Wham-O tank I won), Webster Webfoot and Sheriff John for my after-school entertainment. My daughter grew up with the world of Sid and Marty Kroft, Herself the Elf, Strawberry Shortcake, Hanna-Barbera cartoons and a squirrel named Rocky.

Today's after-school fare consists of competing talk shows with vital issues like: Preteen girls who sleep with their mother's boyfriends. Reruns of adult prime-time sitcoms. Local news programming repeating every half-hour from 3 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. The one exception is my old friend KTLA with Pokemon and Scooby Doo. I salute the TV Watch Dog groups who have ended cartoon violence and provided quality for our children.

- Lloyd A. Fradkin

Canyon Country