PUBLIC FORUM NADER AND MATCHES.

Re ``New candidate Nader dismisses 'spoiler' label'' (Feb. 23):

I hope the rest of us have better learning curves than the egomaniacal Ralph Nader. He burned our country severely the last time. Our jobs, our civil liberties, and our country's standing in the world have been lost in a way that never would have happened under a Democratic administration.

Yet he still can't stop himself from picking up the matches and playing with them again. The man is unsafe at any speed.

- Joan Easley

Woodland Hills

Our failure

Re ``Tuition plan hints at waste of school funds'' (Viewpoint, Feb. 22):

The tragedy of our failure to adequately educate our children will haunt us for generations. There is simply no excuse for this mess. We have spent billions of dollars trying to educate the children of illegal aliens and because of our sensitivity to this issue, all children have suffered with reduced expectations.

And we are continually being asked to fund more and more bond issues to build more schools, lower the class size and improve the quality of the teachers. And now we admit young adults into our universities with the equivalent of an eighth-grade education and are asked to fund remedial education classes to bring them up to minimal standards. More money is not the answer, accountability is.

- Judy Mclaughlin

Simi Valley 

Paying the price

Re ``6-cent gas-tax boost urged'' (Feb. 19):

Oh, my gosh. The gas tax has gone up 9 whole cents since 1990. Get real. The tax hasn't even kept up with the rate of inflation. Though legislators in this state need to learn that you can't spend money you don't have, sooner or later people in this state need to learn that you get what you pay for.

If you want nice roads, you have to pay for them and in some cases be willing to sell your house to widen a freeway.

- Richard Hellinga

Los Angeles 

Price of gas

If the Bush administration could do anything about the disparity of the gasoline prices in this country, it wouldn't, for several reasons:It would be counterproductive to its drive to open more fields in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. It would cut down on the biggest source of revenue of both Texas and the federal government.

The sooner the consumer puts pressure on his representatives to do something about it, the sooner the Bush administration will get its way and make even more money that can be siphoned off into Southern interests. It has been said that the South would never forget what happened 100 years ago, and we are sure paying for it with the bunch of Dixicrats who are currently running this country.

- John Hruska

Pacoima

Both ways

Re ``On Vietnam, Kerry can't have it both ways'' (Their Opinions, Feb. 16):

Hey, Rich Lowry, John Kerry can have it both ways. He should criticize those American soldiers who committed atrocities in Vietnam. Not all the Winter Soldier stories might be true, but we know that the Mai Lai massacre was. At the same time, those soldiers, like him, who fought with honor deserve praise.

We now know that President Johnson sent our troops into harm's way based on lies. Not just the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The domino theory also was a lie. And President Nixon showed that we didn't need to fear the Communists when he made friends with China. You argue like a wrong-wing pundit saying that Kerry smeared all Vietnam vets when he criticized only a few.

- John Wisdom Dancer

Canoga Park

Not one is true

John Kerry's laundry list of atrocities are the stories all GIs heard in basic training and not one of them is true. Viet vets who repeat those stories are those who were not out in the field, who did not have the misfortune to participate in real combat. After five months in various base camps and eight months (1968-69) in a central highlands airmobile unit, I am ``firsthand'' familiar with both worlds.

Any atrocities of this sort would have to have been committed long beforeKerry's commandos and regular army showed up. He was on a riverboat. Hewas not involved in field operations where these ``atrocities'' occurred andhaving never seen these ``atrocities,'' he just passed on the war storiesthat never occurred.

- Patrick Weir

Chatsworth

The sleaze factor

Political slime time has come but most certainly has not gone. Politically I am slightly to the right of Ghengis Khan, which places me in the Bush column. But I'm also a Korean War combat veteran, which bonds me to John Kerry. What to do.

I'll tell you exactly what I'll do. Whichever side comes down with the worst case of the sleaze disease will lose my vote - so turned off am I to dirty politics. We need a great leader. One who needs to win by destroying the opposition, in my eyes, couldn't lead Dracula to a blood bank.

- Paul Wasserman

Northridge

Playing the Big Box

Re ``Big Box ban'' Feb. 12):

During my earlier years, I worked at a large family-owned grocery store. Except for the manager and assistant manager, no one else received benefits nor adequate wages. Nothing was ever discounted.

Wal-Mart, and other ``big-box stores'' provide discount savings to their local communities, churches and schools. They afford part-time employment to teens and members of their retired community. So why does the City Council oppose Wal-Mart? To quote Rick Orlov, ``Wal-Mart has not been a major player in terms of contribution to city officials.''

- Max Duran

Acton

Remembering George Hale

Re George Hale obituary, Feb. 20):

I was deeply saddened to read about the passing of George Hale. I first met George Hale while a student at Valley College in the late 1950s. Thanks to George, I developed a lifelong love and interest in California native flora.

Because of his influence, I became a member of the board of directors of the Theodore Payne Foundation, and dedicated many years to help insure the survival of that native plant organization. George will be deeply missed by many for his charm, wit, interest, dedication and understanding of native plants.

- William Richardson

Van Nuys

Good question

I had my pilot light continually going out in February. After calling the Southern California Gas Co., I had to wait days for service, plus I had to be there for eight hours. Since it was very cold outside, it was also cold inside. All the repairman did was light the pilot.

I asked him to check why it continually went out. He said everything was OK. Another few days and the pilot goes out again. Another service call and the same thing: wait, light pilot, everything checks out. Third call - the same. The fourth call - I insisted the thermacouple wire be changed. The repairman said it was fine but he would replace it. No problem since.

My question is this: Was it a lack of training or was it that they were protecting their jobs? (More calls, more jobs).

- Roland Wagner

Sylmar

Not counting Florida

May I remind your readers who keep saying Al Gore is a loser: Al Gore won the popular vote by 500,000 - and that's not counting all the votes in Florida. George Bush won the Electoral College by five votes and we still don't know the truth about that. George Bush was ``appointed'' by the Supreme Court.

In addition, I'd like to know why it was OK to harass and criticize Clinton for eight years, but when anyone criticizes Bush they are unpatriotic.

- Sara Brock

Los Angeles

Feeling secure

I read in the paper a day or so ago where a woman boarded an airplane with a loaded handgun in her purse. She passed through security checks and no one discovered it. She eventually told a crew member about it. Since we are ``taxed'' on our plane ticket for security charges, would this not be taxation without representation? Just wondering.

- Ray P. Keesler

La Crescenta