PUBLIC FORUM LACK OF EMPATHY.

I have been watching the fire coverage almost nonstop. Only on one channel did I hear empathy for those who were suffering. The others seem to place the blame for the losses on the owners of the homes. Peter Jennings said, ``As long as people continue to choose to live in the wilderness, this will happen.''

So it is the fault of those who have been devastated for choosing not to live in the inner city? Others blame the homeowners for having shake roofs, not clearing brush correctly, not having fire sprinklers in their homes, living near the mountains, not having fire insurance or any other thing they can find to avoid feeling empathy. Why are people who are unable to cope with the losses that they are seeing so anxious to find a reason not to feel compassion?

- Sue Prout

Van Nuys

Apocalypse here

Re ``Air and ground war'' (Oct. 28):

Weapon of mass destruction - a single lit match.

- Sherry Greene

Santa Clarita 

Fire and air

It is horrific to view the great plumes of smoke looming on the outskirts of our city. But even when the smoke clears and the dirty air from the fires has blown to our brothers and sisters in the east, we will still have dirty power plants that emit more air pollution than they should.

The Department of Water and Power does not have an aggressive plan for meeting the air quality standards set by the AQMD. If we don't meet those standards, then we better get used to living in a city with bad air quality. The fires will be put out, but the sooty air will remain if we don't combat air pollution with cleaner energy.

- Alana Stamas

Los Angeles 

Nice gesture

Re ``Air & ground war'' (Oct. 28):

People are dying. Hundreds have lost their homes. Thousands are in shelters. But, the MTA and grocery workers are still on strike and expecting sympathy from us. Wouldn't it be a nice gesture to call off the strikes to help out all the displaced and devastated people in Southern California? At least until the fires are out.

I never supported these moronic strikes in the first place and I'm sure more and more people every day are dropping their support of these selfish idiots.

- Peter Adanalian

Thousand Oaks 

Contemptible flicking

If any good can possibly be said to come from these fires (and one seems to be working its way toward this area), perhaps smokers will hereafter think twice before flicking lit cigarettes out their car windows in that definitively contemptible ``I'm so hip'' gesture.

I know, I know, it's too much to hope for. But it's a nice thought, isn't it?

- Kevin Dawson

Sunland

Cutting our benefits

Re ``Looking at reasonable'' (Your Opinions, Oct. 28):

Do you really think that $20 for individual or $80 a month for family coverage is the reason the retail clerks went on strike? Common sense should dictate how ridiculous that is. You are severely misinformed.

Management wants to cut our current benefits to 50 percent of what they are now. You are paying $884 per month for insurance - you must make a very good salary. As for our salary, $17.90 per hour sounds like a decent sum. But most clerks are not full time, and simply cannot afford $100 a week medical coverage.

- Jackie Barton

West Hills

Supermarket strikes

The practice of employers paying their employees' health insurance is an anomalous anachronism. The point has been reached where the gap between the protagonists in the supermarket strikes will never be bridged because both parties are off on the wrong foot.

Supermarkets should stop paying their employees' health coverage, confine themselves to the grocery trade and pay their employees a going, reasonable wage enabling them to be responsible for their own health care.

- Ray Woolley

Burbank

Congestion permit

We have just returned from Europe and found that the traffic in L.A. is worse than ever. Perhaps we should do what the major cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and many others do. In order to drive through the heart of London during peak traffic hours, there is a congestion fee and you must buy a permit. The permit costs 80 pounds, about $136. The permit is placed in the front window. There are cameras set up all throughout the area. If your permit is not displayed, you will receive a ticket in the mail - a fine of 80 pounds.

If the city of L.A. used this system, not only would it cut down on traffic jams and accidents, it might even promote ride sharing. The money is sorely needed to increase our police manpower.

- David Ayling

Sherman Oaks

Servicemen mistreated

Re ``Army investigates poor care'' (Oct. 21):

I was shocked and sickened by this report our returned servicemen who are now languishing in a run-down facility at Fort Stewart, Atlanta. They are incarcerated without proper medical care and have unsanitary toilets and bathing facilities.

Whether reserve, guard or regular military, these people have put their lives on the line in Iraq (and elsewhere) to protect us here in the United States. Is this the kind of reward and thanks they deserve? Shame on those who are responsible for such treatment.

- Suzanne Chapman

Sunland

Fundamentally wrong

Lt. General William J. Boykin, in a belated attempt to prove that aside from being a Bible-thumping, holier-than-thou fundamentalist zealot, he is also well-versed in the tactics of strategic warfare by beating a hasty retreat from his inflammatory Muslim remarks.

His lame attempt to substitute God for the radical right wing of the United States Supreme Court by claiming that George W. Bush is in the White House because God put him there is one of the most inane, ill-advised examples of fundamentalist zealotry.

- Zachary A. Charles

Burbank

Quagmire of Iraq

It looks like Paul Wolfowitz, one of the principal architects of the war in Iraq, has escaped death. Unfortunately this cannot be said for the young American soldiers who die daily in the worsening quagmire of Iraq. Wolfowitz has been interested in an expanding American Empire since the '90s. He believes that a massive U.S. military in every part of the world will be able to achieve some sort of Pax Americana.

It is time for Congress to call Wolfowitz and the Bush regime on their lies and manipulation of facts and intelligence in order to expand the U.S. Empire. An investigation should be carried out to see if there was a conspiracy to defraud Congress and the American people with regards to their true intent of invading Iraq.

- Charlie Wilken

Northridge

Front of the war

Re ``Ted vs. the Zionists'' (Your Opinions, Oct, 24):

I am one of those Zionists he mentions. I put Israel not above America, but standing between America and some vicious enemies of democracy, on the front of the war between the Muslim empire and the free world. ``Thank Israel'' for that; and for supplying our intelligence with the Soviet warplanes they shot down during the Cold War, for instance; and for consistently supporting us in the U.N. - the only ally to do so.

Our soldiers are losing their lives not because of any double standards but because we defend democracy and stand up to expansionist dictatorships. This began just 200 years ago, long before we were involved in the Middle East, when the Muslims of North Africa attacked our shipping. Why did the writer think the Marines went ``to the shores of Tripoli?''

- Louis Richter

Encino

Open the wallets

In most antique/junk shops, there is usually a sign that says, ``You break it, you pay for it.'' I guess that Dubya's staff didn't tell him about that, either.

- Irwin R. Langs

Canoga Park