PUBLIC FORUM MUST-TAKE OPTION.

Enough is enough, already. I'm beginning to feel like I'm renting a car. The way Bush is trying to convince everyone we need to attack Iraq sounds exactly like the pressure put on getting the ``optional'' damage waiver. I can recall when I rented a car and the rental company employee was screaming at a woman to take the optional insurance. If they didn't, then she ``would'' have an accident and ``would'' lose everything she owns to pay for the repairs.

Just like Bush is trying to brainwash us into thinking Iraq ``is'' a more serious threat now, and Iraq ``needs'' to be attacked. I'm thinking Bush is saying we're required to take that option - never mind that it's getting closer to an election.

- Tony DiMaio

North Hollywood

Risking lives

Although I am against an invasion of Iraq, I was in favor of removing the Taliban in Afghanistan and going after al-Qaida. Of course I believe war should be the last response, but I believe in self-defense and al-Qaida did attack us.

The killing of thousands of Iraqi people in order to possibly remove one man from power in a country that has not attacked us would be an unjust war. What makes President Bush's quote, ``I am not willing to stake one American life on trusting Saddam Hussein'' so disgusting is that he is willing to risk thousands of lives (including Americans) in a pre-emptive, unilateral strike against Iraq.

- John Wisdom Dancer

Canoga Park

Tyrants and terrorists

Why do people on the left require us to be attacked first before we take any military action against an enemy state? Gen. Douglas A. McAurther once said that all military failures can be summed up in two words: ``Too late.'' I don't want my government to wait until it's too late before taking action.

I want my government to protect us from the threats of tyrants and terrorists. That is what the preamble of the Constitution demands of our elected officials. Not ``more money for schools'' as the protester's sign says.

- Glenn Smith

- Woodland Hills

EIDC fiasco

Your Sept. 20 editorial on the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. fiasco is incorrect in comparing this scandal to Enron. Enron was a bookkeeping shell game to inflate profits, whereas the EIDC is more like Adelphia. At Adelphia, the Rigas family plundered the company to the ultimate detriment of their shareholders.

In our case, the officers and board of the EIDC plundered the EIDC to their own benefit and to the detriment of the taxpayers. We used to benefit from the taxes levied from film shoots and the increased business they brought to the area, but now the money is spent on driving business to other cities and lining the pockets of EIDC officers.

- Bill Johnson

Granada Hills

Election advice

All of us who live in the San Fernando Valley should remember this when it comes time to vote on secession: ``If you don't vote to break away - the big cats will just keep taking away.'' Please vote to keep our money in our community.

- Joel Dinsfriend

Canoga Park

Separating us

I go along with Jennifer Pillpey: Why do we always assume things are tough for only one ethnic group over others? Why must we push for one nationality over another? I have lived in California for 37 years and have seen a big change both in the state and especially in the Valley.

The Valley wants to secede from L.A. and at times it seems California wants to secede from the United States. We should get back to being one nation, quit letting people separate us because of faith, language or any other measure.

- Russell E. Spencer Sr.

Encino

Reaping the benefits

I can no longer stay silent on the hypocrisy of those who complain about the migrant population yet at the same time enjoy the inexpensive fruits of migrants' labor. These people are here because, for example, the fruit growers of California pay such low wages that almost any U.S. native can do better than be a picker.

They, in turn, pass the savings on to us. Most of the migrants want to become citizens of the United States of America. In all probability, you come from a family of migrants, too. Bless the migrant workers.

- Craig Lennon Kysar

Sherman Oaks

Afriat responds

Your editorial ``Fat cats united'' (Oct. 6) was not only a personal attack on me but played into the hands of the pro-secessionists by focusing on attack rather than on merit. To question my motives because of how I make a living is unconscionable. My history as a San Fernando Valley activist is above reproach. I have spent my whole life here, attending public elementary and junior high schools as well as graduating from Canoga Park High School and California State University, Northridge. I have been on the boards of San Fernando Valley Head Start and the West Valley Jewish Community Center.

I have been honored to serve my community in many capacities, and the Daily News attack on my character and motives because I choose to volunteer my time to fight secession is both outrageous and duplicitous.

- Steven Afriat

Sherman Oaks

Not their money

Tim McGarry, the hired gun of Washington Mutual, says Saturday's Ahmanson Ranch town-hall meeting in Woodland Hills was just a publicity stunt created by Rob Reiner's ``hired guns.'' See the irony?

And, speaking of deception, it's been reported that Washington Mutual is delighted with Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo's proposal that has it spending $30.5 million for a traffic fund. Why wouldn't they be delighted? The $30.5 million won't come out of Washington Mutual's pockets but be added to the cost of the project's homes - which are already in the half-a-million-dollar price range.

- Felize Garvin

Calabasas

We lose again

Re ``Bratton named chief'' (Oct. 3):

The Los Angeles Police Department and the city of Los Angeles lose again. It's beyond many of us why the mayor could not select a worthy chief from the list of quality applicants within the Los Angeles Police Department. I guess for personal reasons he just wanted a sycophant he can control - tut, tut.

I do wish Chief William Bratton success on the job. Don't let anyone send the chief to the harbor alone; he may not be able to find his way back to the Civic Center.

- Ben Delgado

Retired LAPD detective

North Hill

We have rules

Re ``Bush and nuclear'' (Public Forum, Oct. 8):

George W. Bush's pronunciation of ``nuclear'' as ``nukuler'' is not correct. The preferred pronunciation in dictionaries such as Random House, Webster's, and Funk and Wagnall's is ``nuclear.'' Whether or not some highly educated people mispronounce it is irrelevant.

There are still rules of correct grammar, and because some people choose to ignore them is no reason to infer their way is correct.

Maybe the problem is with English tutors who choose to ignore grammatical rules of pronunciation - or don't want to correct sensitive students and make them feel guilty or inadequate when they mispronounce a word. Even phonetically, the word would still be nuclear and not nukuler. Did you ever try looking up the word ``nukuler'' in the dictionary?

- Bob Johnson

Panorama City

Please help him

I am a polyglot; I speak four languages fluently and would be embarrassed to mispronounce words. Please, someone help President Bush to pronounce ``nuclear.''

- Christine Peterson

Woodland Hills