PUBLIC FORUM LIKE A DEMOCRAT.

I was watching the Republican convention the other night and wondered, Why don't the Democrats ask Gen. Colin Powell to switch parties?

Almost everything he said agreed with the Democrats. Affirmative action, gun control, abortion rights, education. My goodness, he would even make a good vice president under President Gore. Now why didn't I think of that?

- Irving Chasnov Northridge

Playing the field?

In an article in the Daily News, (Colin) Powell was quoted as stating that he was mentioned by presidential candidate George W. Bush as a possible secretary of state in the Bush administration, provided Bush wins the election in November. Then, without hesitation, Powell stated that he would also entertain a position in the Gore administration, if he wins the November election.

Powell was elevated under a Republican administration. You would think that he would be loyal to that party instead of flip-flopping He has never impressed me in the past, and with that kind of statement, he impresses me less.

- Neal M. Graney Los Angeles 

Isn't that your job?

Does anybody else find it disturbing that Hal Bernson goes skipping into work, votes away $4 million of our tax dollars, then apologizes for his vote, saying he didn't have all the facts? Isn't that your job to know the facts, Hal? Doesn't an elected representative have a responsibility to research the facts before casting a vote?

Try making a $4 million decision in the private sector without doing your homework and see how long you last. The arrogance of our elected officials is astounding.

- Steven Miles Encino

Issues, not violence

The Democratic National Convention demonstrators, as represented by D2KLA, are justifiably passionate about many issues ranging from those crucial to our local community to those that affect the entire planet. Their goal is to promote thoughtful discussion, constructive action and, if possible, win-win situations for everyone on the planet. And do this as soon as possible.

The LAPD seems to think that it can achieve these ends by using tear gas, lethal weapons, and acts of violence. D2KLA does not. It never has and it never will. The D2KLA disavows violence, if, for no other reason than that violence takes the focus off of the issues and puts it onto the LAPD. This is not the ``LAPD Show.'' Just because the LAPD can imagine something doesn't make that something true. They need to reign in their fertile imaginations, calm down and get a grip. - Terry Stone Van Nuys

Thought about it

Re Leonard Holden's ``Posting signs,'' (Public Forum, Aug. 2): I was well aware of the ordinance against posting signs on public property when we placed our signs. It being the only way to quickly communicate to our neighbors of our missing dog, I gave only a moment's thought that I was violating the ordinance when weighing it against the grief my daughter was experiencing over her lost pet.

I think most who read the story of our adventure would forgive us for this infraction under these circumstances. I'm sorry you chose to find something negative in a story intended to express gratitude to those who helped us. By the way, Leonard, my daughter did remove all the signs the moment she came home with her little dog.

- Dennis Harding Woodland Hills

Here's my plan

I have, as a Passenger Advisory Committee member, proposed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority tear the bus terminal at North Hollywood Station down and use the land for additional parking.

The 154,156,166 and 183 lines would be placed on Lankershim. Other lines would be rerouted to Universal City. The present 152 line has to be taken to North Hollywood station at an amount of time which it would use to get to UC to begin with and is much easier to access at Universal City. Under my conceptualization, Universal City would be the main conduit for bus and rail connections for the Valley.

- Charles J. Thomas North Hollywood

Trolley line

Not having a multilevel parking structure at the North Hollywood subway station is unbelievable. But it will be even more unbelievable if the MTA doesn't utilize those tracks along Chandler Boulevard for a trolley line to connect the station with points west.

What good is the subway when you can't find a parking spot in order to utilize it? If they're not going to provide a convenient way to get there, people are not going to get out of their cars.

- Devron Conrad Studio City

Conspicuous compassion

Fred Coble thinks that ``compassionate'' is synonymous with the word ``liberal.'' As usual, he is quite wrong. The dirty little secret of liberals is that they doubt their own morality - let alone compassion. Thus they must continually ``prove'' their moral superiority and ``compassion'' to the rest of us - and to themselves - by ever more outrageous acts of conspicuous compassion.

The void in the souls of liberals is a black hole. If not thwarted, it would eat the world, consume the universe. It can never be sated. This would be sad were it not for the unfortunate fact that liberals discovered that they could coerce others into paying for their displays of compassion. Forced compassion is not compassion, no matter what the Fred Cobles of the world would have us believe. But it is very easy, is it not, to be ``compassionate'' when someone else is paying the tab.

- James F. Glass Chatsworth

Slap in the face

And Tiger Woods was doing so well there for a while. What a slap in the face and demonstration of disrespect for all the Screen Actors Guild members who put their careers and livelihoods on the line to create this guild.

Tiger Woods will never have to worry about his next month's rent or his car payment or his children's college tuition, but he just put into jeopardy those of us down the line here who do have to pay attention to such things. It bears repeating: ``If we don't hang together, we will hang together.''

- John Gowans S.A.G. Member Studio City

Unlicensed drivers

Letter writer Eloy Mendoza (Public Forum, July 31) attempts to make the point that licensed drivers, not unlicensed ones, are the problem when it comes to numbers of traffic collisions. What he fails to appreciate is that unlicensed drivers are over-represented in fatal collision statistics by a factor of more than three to one, according to the recent studies on this problem.

At Valley Traffic Division, we regularly deal with these tragedies. We especially target unlicensed drivers, and whenever the law allows, we take away their cars. Despite the fact that the math works against him, Mendoza has a point: Licensed drivers, indeed all drivers, need to slow down, drive more carefully and show respect to others using the road.

- Capt. Greg Meyer Commanding Officer LAPD Valley Traffic Division

All about money

According to Capt. Greg Meyer's comments in the July 26 Public Forum, the photo red light is being installed to reduce accidents. Since deadly accidents usually occur at major intersections, why is it that I never see a police patrol car monitoring them? Yet I see them frequently sitting at a four-way stop sign in our neighborhood, where accidents never happen, giving citations to unsuspecting drivers who stop only briefly, yet safely.

It is all about revenue for the city. It's revenue first, safety second. And the unlucky motorists who are just a split-second too slow entering the photo intersections will have little opportunity to defend themselves even if the cameras do not function properly. The public should not be fooled - these photo red lights are just another way to bring in more money for our city leaders to waste.

- Loretta Hamburg Woodland Hills

Bring back the draft

Why not reinstitute the draft and help all the gangbangers - while giving us citizens a break? The GBs don't like peacetime authorities anyway, so they will not be losing or gaining any ground in a boot camp environment. They like to fiddle around with guns and the firing thereof, so that's available for them. There are opportunities to engage in rough-and-tumble programs, even shooting people (in a controlled way) when the military is called upon in emergencies.

The food's not that bad, and they get paid. The result of all this might accidentally produce a few better persons, and civilian-oriented crime and corruption would be reduced. Hey, the good guys had to do it and they survived. Let's form some gen-Xer battalions and help the gangsters do their thing.

- Michael Cryder North Hills

Unlike others

I would really like to commend you for allowing writers such as Chris Weinkopf the freedom to express their thoughts on crime and guns in the city and county. Unlike our other paper, the L.A. Times, whose editors rarely allow anything pro-gun in print, the Daily News prints the truth through writers like Chris on the true agenda of gun-control advocates.

Politicians constantly think up and put forth laws designed to disarm the public while telling them it's ``for the children'' or ``it will deter crime in the streets,'' knowing full well the criminals will still be armed and will still commit crimes.

- Don A. Parker Arleta

Technical wonder

More than 50 years ago, Willy Loman said something like, ``The most scientific thing in America today is manufacturing appliances so that they break down on the day the last payment is made.'' (``Death of a Salesman,'' by Arthur Miller, 1949).

The most scientific thing in America today is that all of the TV channels, commercial and cable alike, go to commercial at exactly the same time.

- John Pierson Thousand Oaks