PUBLIC FORUM NO SCHOOL PRAYER.May 4 was the National Day of Prayer, established by an act of Congress and President Truman's signature in 1952. The day was permanently set as the first Thursday in May by President Ronald Reagan. This day was instituted to encourage people to pray for the leaders of our nation. To assure that my children were aware of this important day and able to participate, I gathered them together in the morning to teach them the origin and importance of this day. We were curious if the schools in our neighborhood were doing anything special in honor of the day. I called our local high school, middle school, and elementary school elementary school: see school. . The reply from the first school was a muffled muf·fle 1 tr.v. muf·fled, muf·fling, muf·fles 1. To wrap up, as in a blanket or shawl, for warmth, protection, or secrecy. 2. a. giggle and ``No.'' From the second school ``The what? We're just doing testing.'' And from the third, ``I never heard of that, but Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo (Spanish; “Fifth of May”) Mexican holiday commemorating the Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862. The French army, better-equipped and far larger than the Mexican army, had been sent by Napoleon III to conquer Mexico. is tomorrow.'' I was disheartened dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. to learn that even a National Day of Prayer cannot be honored in our public schools. I guess even an act of Congress can't change that. - Vicki Van Camp Sylmar Broken promises Re ``Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs (Spanish: Bahía de Cochinos, also known as Playa Girón) is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones on the south coast of Cuba. plan leaked, CIA CIA: see Central Intelligence Agency. (1) (Confidentiality Integrity Authentication) The three important concerns with regards to information security. Encryption is used to provide confidentiality (privacy, secrecy). knew'' (Briefly, April 30). The article didn't tell the whole story, which might have freed Cuba from Castro and put an early end to plights such as Elian and his family have had to endure. President John F. Kennedy "John Kennedy" and "JFK" redirect here. For other uses, see John Kennedy (disambiguation) and JFK (disambiguation). John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), was the thirty-fifth President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in had promised air coverage for the U.S.- backed Bay of Pigs invasion Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961, an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government. On Apr. 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the south coast of Cuba. , planned by Cubans to take back Cuba from Castro and communism. But for some political reason, at the last minute, the president flagrantly broke that promise, and even though he knew Moscow had found out about the planned invasion the week before, gave his OK for the invasion to take place April 17, 1961. The Cubans, unaware of the leak and fully expecting help from the U.S. Air Force as promised to cover their landing, bravely moved in and were mowed down like sitting ducks Sitting Ducks is an iconic lithograph created by Michael Bedard in the late 1970s. It depicts a literal interpretation of the idiom "sitting duck". Three ducks are relaxing in the sun on white chairs by the poolside, one looks up and notices two bullet holes in the wall. - a bloody massacre. Then, as now, it looks like Castro has won again. - Margaret Oakes Burbank Cuban solution I can solve the Elian Gonzalez debacle in a heartbeat immediately. See also: heartbeat . Elian remains here and Bill Clinton goes to Cuba. That's what you'd call a win-win situation. - Stuart A. Cannold Palmdale Paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic staffing As a Valley resident for 40 years and a Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), also known as the Los Angeles City Fire Department to distinguish it from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles. firefighter for 15 years I oppose the mayor's and the fire chief's plan to implement one-and-one staffing in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Their plan is to split the existing two-person paramedic team and put a firefighter in place of the second paramedic. That second paramedic will now be on the fire truck. As we all know, one paramedic working alone can do far less for a patient than what a two-person team can do. If a single paramedic has to wait for even a couple of minutes (for the other paramedic on the fire truck to show up) before performing a life-saving technique, that puts the patient at risk. What the Valley needs is more two-person paramedic ambulances and not 257 more traffic officers. My family's safety will be reduced by one-and-one, not increased. - Mike McCrea Northridge Raising interest rates The American Dream American dream also American Dream n. An American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire: is once again under attack by Bill Clinton and crazy Al Greenspan, head of the Federal Reserve Board, which has nothing to do with our government, but represents the banks and how much they can rip off us property owners. Every time Clinton and Crazy Al raise the rates banks charge each other, in turn the banks leap on it and raise the variable-rate loans they have outstanding. The poor property owner, who either has a variable-rate mortgage var·i·a·ble-rate mortgage n. Abbr. VRM See adjustable-rate mortgage. or variable-rate home improvement loan, finds they are charged more interest and have less equity buildup or payment on the balance of their loan. This rip-off is explained as necessary to hold down inflation and hold down the stock market by making money more expensive. The truth is, rising interest rates are passed on to consumers by those affected producers or companies, thus increasing prices and inflation. I look around and I see nobody representing the decent, hard-working Americans as Crazy Al goes for another bank rip-off raise in interest rates, killing the homeowners. - Donald L. Mellman Studio City Flagrant sophistry soph·is·try n. pl. soph·is·tries 1. Plausible but fallacious argumentation. 2. A plausible but misleading or fallacious argument. sophistry Noun 1. Re Joanne Jacobs' essay, ``Policy admitting gays in Scouts' call,'' (Opinions, May 3). The flagrant sophistry employed in Jacobs' essay on the Boy Scouts and homosexuals is remarkable. Her statement that ``the Boy Scouts should judge leaders by their behavior, not their sexual identity'' is claptrap. Jacobs baldly implies that an organization's decision to exclude ``gays and atheists'' necessarily entails excluding ``rational, compassionate and tolerant people.'' The Greek philosophers taught us that reason (logos), passion (pathos) and morality (ethos) are the three factors that must influence the decision-making process. The weight given to one factor proportionally affects the other two, the ideal being all three in balance. It is telling that Jacobs excludes morality from her decision-making process. Or perhaps she equates an absence of morality with tolerance. - Dave Culver Pasadena A sense of guilt Accolades to Richard F. Denne for his letter of apology for bombing, killing and maiming the warriors and people of Vietnam (Public Forum, May 2). I too, feel a sense of guilt when I realized that my hard-earned tax dollars helped finance and perpetrate per·pe·trate tr.v. per·pe·trat·ed, per·pe·trat·ing, per·pe·trates To be responsible for; commit: perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke. our carpet-bombing frenzy of a defenseless little Third World country still wallowing and floundering in the 15th century. Shame on us for unleashing the mightiest military machine the world has ever known on this wretched nation of color not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color . - Monroe Leung Monterey Park Monterey Park, city (1990 pop. 60,738), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a growing residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1916. It is a wholesale, retail, and financial services center. The flip side Flip side In the context of general equities, opposite side to a proposition or position (buy, if sell is the proposition and vice versa). Re ``Minimum wage,'' (Public Forum, May 2). I like your argument, so let's just look at the flip side and see if you like mine better. Suppose we only tax people who make more than the minimum wage, put more tax money into welfare for the distribution to janitors and simply declare a return to U.S. slavery. This would certainly keep these poor people in their place and at the same time, allow the rest of us not to have to endure the agonies of inflation. - David Frost Canoga Park No refuge About ``SUV fearsome,'' Justin Hartung's April 21 letter. He justifiably feels unsafe driving highways along with large SUVs. I must aggravate his fear. In a recent drive to and from Phoenix, I saw many fewer sport-utility vehicles on the highway than I encounter daily on our city streets! Where will we find refuge from these behemoths? - Ruth Horgan Northridge Good deed punished The other night at 8 p.m. there was a knock on the front door. A young lady wanted to know if I had a jumper cable. Her car was stalled down the street and her friend had another car, and could get the car started if they had a jumper cable, but neither had a cable. I loaned her mine. She said she'd return it as soon as they got the car started. I watched them for several minutes, and they did get the car started. And they drove off - with my jumper cables. I guess you could call it being naive or charitable or both. It doesn't make me jaded, only disappointed. - William T. Child Chatsworth Not all girls I must confess that your article on teens preparing for the prom shocked and insulted me greatly (``Prepping for the prom,'' May 4). I am a senior at Cleveland High School and I have experienced none of the ``prom paranoia'' you described. However, what disturbed me most about your article was not that it did not pertain to me, but that it painted a horribly negative picture of teen-age females. I would like to believe that we are not all weight-obsessed twits whose sole aspiration in life is to emulate Britney Spears. I would like to think that you could give us a bit more credit than that. Most of the girls I know are far more concerned with the size of the impact they will make on others in the course of their lives than the size of their waists. It is not thoughts of how they will get to prom that plague their minds, but how they will get to college. - Jessica Rutberg Tujunga CAPTION(S): photo Photo: In Van Nuys, members of the Church on the Way participate in 49th National Day of Prayer. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer |
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