PUBLIC FORUM NOT MAKING FRIENDS.Re ``Truckers block freeway'' (May 1): I was caught up in the trucker protest on the freeways. I certainly understand that they were protesting high gas prices, but to impede traffic to get their message out was wrong. I drive from Burbank to Inglewood, and I was not happy. Now, if I, as an individual, cannot block entrances to buildings and impede traffic while I protest, what gives the truckers the right to impede traffic by driving at a snail's pace snail's pace Noun a very slow speed and taking up two lanes of traffic? The California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. should have given all of them tickets. - Eden Rosen Burbank Out of control Every time there is a comment on gasoline prices, the excuse is that they have consistently gone up since the Nixon administration did away with price controls. Eliminate the excuse and bring back the price controls. As the public, we have had enough of the oil companies' making windfall profits at our expense. All we need to do is start a referendum, and it will snowball to the national level in no time flat. - John Hruska Pacoima Teacher training Re ``Teacher absences hurting kids'' (April 30): Your article on teacher absenteeism in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. is only the tip of the iceberg tip of the iceberg n. pl. tips of the iceberg A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden: afraid that these few reported cases of the disease might only be the tip of the iceberg. . During seven years in West Valley LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) schools, my daughter has never had a year in which a teacher missed fewer than 15 days. A few teachers had absences in the 20s, and two topped out by missing more than 60 days. In addition to illness, personal time and vacations, teachers miss a tremendous amount of classroom time during training. Seminars on campus, downtown or in Sacramento take teachers away, often leaving students to watch cartoons or do busywork bus·y·work n. Activity, such as schoolwork or office work, meant to take up time but not necessarily yield productive results. Noun 1. . The truly evil thing about this training time is that records show the teachers as being on the job, when in reality they are failing their students and losing valuable teaching time. This whole training mystique filters through the LAUSD like a fog. - Michael Guetzow Woodland Hills Teacher absences Re ``Teacher absences hurting kids'' (April 30): LAUSD officials say that district employees have missed 1.5 million hours of work and that the absences will cost the district $430 million. How is this possible? Based on numbers in the article, the employee average is 21.4 hours of missed work - 1.5 million hours divided by 70,000 employees - so far this school year. When the school year ends June 30, if the total reaches 2 million hours, how will this cost the district $430 million? That is more than $200 an hour. Also, it should be noted that whatever the absentee rate is among the district's employees, not all those employees are teachers. - Debbie Faerber Castaic Diamond lane failure I think a proposal more people should be looking at is removing the car-pool lanes from our freeways. High-occupancy-vehicle or HOV lanes are supposed to increase car pooling. Since the creation of HOV lanes, car pooling in California has not increased. The plan has failed. Instead, 7 percent of commuters utilize 20 percent of the freeway lanes. If we open up the HOV lanes, 17 percent of the traffic in the remaining lanes will be relieved. While this is not a permanent fix to the problem, it could provide some temporary relief. State Sen. Tom McClintock Thomas Miller "Tom" McClintock (born July 10, 1956 in White Plains, New York) is a California State Senator. He ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election of Gray Davis and finished third out of 135 candidates with 13.5% of the overall vote. , R- Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , has requested a study of this plan, which is being held up in the Appropriations Committee In the United States government, the Appropriations Committee can refer to either:
The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: - Michael Miller Michael or Mike Miller may refer to:
Thousand Oaks Perfect fit Re ``Ex-Iraqi general taking over'' (April 30): I have been saying this for months: We need to put some of these people back in power. But don't stop with a handful of generals. Let's proceed with the logic of this strategy and apply it 100 percent - all the way up to Saddam. He is the man to straighten this mess out pronto pron·to adv. Informal Without delay; quickly. [Spanish, from Latin pr  mptus; see prompt. .
We'll rebuild the palace, deliver him to the door and provide all the money, supplies and weapons as required. It's perfect. - Jack Spiegelman Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Restraint in Fallujah Re ``Kerry, Bush need reality adjustment'' (Their Opinions, April 30): Maureen Dowd Maureen Dowd (born January 14, 1952) is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times.[1][2] She has worked for the Times since 1983, when she joined as a metropolitan reporter. wrote: ```Most of Fallujah is returning to normal,' the president said, presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. defining 'normal' as flattened.'' This is an example of highly irresponsible journalism. The military exercised great restraint in relation to Fallujah, and it was by no stretch of the imagination ``flattened.'' - John Aherne Panorama City Look at their faces I am writing in response to all the controversy surrounding ABC's ``Nightline'' program - the reading of the 721 names of our American troops killed in action during our current war. The reading of the names of the dead is a sacred thing to do. In respect of their lives and of their deaths, we honor their existence. I cannot judge anyone's agenda; nor do I need to. But I do know this: When you do read their names and you do look at their faces, you will have to listen to their voices. - Janet Peggy Menegakis Granada Hills `Nightline' blackout In ``Nightline pre-empted'' (April 30), you failed to mention an important fact about the Sinclair Broadcast Group The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG) NASDAQ: SBGI is the operator of the largest number of local television stations in the United States with a total of 59 stations across the country in 38 primarily small and medium markets, many of which are located in the South and . Sinclair is a conservative broadcast network that openly supports Bush and the current administration. Think of the Sinclair people as Fox Lite. They have refused to allow commercials they perceive as hostile toward Bush. There is nothing noble about their decision not to air ``Nightline.'' I can think of nothing more powerful than an hour of television comprising only the names of our fallen troops. Shame on the Sinclair Broadcast Group officials for using these dead men and women as pawns in their game to spread harmful propaganda. - Josie Nericcio North Hollywood Fallujah an anomaly There are serious problems in Fallujah - no question about it. However, Fallujah is an anomaly. It is important that we not equate the city of Fallujah with the rest of Iraq. Historically, Fallujah has always been a problem area. Even under Saddam's brutally repressive regime, Fallujah was rebellious and somewhat autonomous. We can no more judge our success in Iraq and the feelings of the Iraqi people based solely on Fallujah than we can judge America based solely on the citizens of Berkeley, California Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington. . - Bobbi Leigh Zito Porter Ranch Time, gentlemen Re ``Military acts fast to defuse Iraqi prison scandal'' (May 1): President Bush said that he was disgusted by the way some Iraqi prisoners, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. photos, were treated recently. What most Americans don't understand is that we are just as capable of evil as our enemies when we see them as obstacles to our goals, no matter how noble, instead of human beings. There have been some wrong-wing pundits who suggested that we should have wiped out the entire city of Fallujah because some in the city fight us to try to get us out of their country. Consider how many women and children would have been killed. Now that idea is really disgusting. These people didn't attack us on 9-11. Wouldn't we fight them if they invaded our country? Time for us to leave. - John Wisdom Dancer Canoga Park One weapon It's time to face up to reality. Our troops have been fighting in Iraq for more than a year now, and they've found only one weapon of mass destruction weapon of mass destruction (WMD) Weapon with the capacity to inflict death and destruction indiscriminately and on a massive scale. The term has been in currency since at least 1937, when it was used to describe massed formations of bomber aircraft. : Saddam Hussein. Mission accomplished. - Robert L. Rosebrock Brentwood |
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