PUBLIC FORUM SHAMEFUL.Shame on Cardinal Roger Mahony His Eminence Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony (born February 27, 1936) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1991. , mayoral candidates Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (born Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. on January 23, 1953) is the mayor of Los Angeles, California. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872. and Xavier Becerra Xavier Becerra (born January 26 1958), an American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing California's 31st congressional district (map), which is based in Los Angeles. , Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. and other political leaders for sending a reassuring message to aspiring drug dealers. Kids, do not worry, get into the drug dealing business, but make sure to send good hefty sums of money to political honchos so in case you get caught and sent to jail, the ever-grateful honchos will get you out free. Now, what about all the other drug dealers currently serving time in jail? Don't they deserve to be set free to return to the ``safety net of family and community?'' Or they forgot to salt away money for political contribution? - Dante F. Rochetti West Hills Helping those who help Scott Holleran's column (Opinion, Feb. 11) is bitterly opposed to the government giving any funds to religious organizations helping the indigent indigent 1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a lawyer for defense in a criminal case. despite the fact that there are more religious organizations than government agencies helping the poor and the sick. Is giving food, clothes or medicine to the indigent a matter of religion? In most instances, the ones being helped don't even know religion is involved because the workers are instructed not to mention religion in any way. If the government helps these agencies, then more needy will reap the benefits and, subsequently, our country itself. - Stephen Lord Stephen Lord (born 1 October 1972 in Manchester, England) is an English actor. He has appeared in many British televisions shows, including Heartbeat, The Bill and Sea of Souls. Sherman Oaks Not the cure Religion is most definitely not the cure for cultural relativism Cultural relativism is the principle that ones beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of ones own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by . Religion brings ignorance and parochialism. - Josh Rivetz Northridge Failure We have repeatedly given our trust and our hard-earned taxpayer money to 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. , and they have repeatedly lied and failed to uphold many of their promises, from Belmont to the misuse of our BB bond funds. LAUSD's crucial test? It's already been given, and their grade thus far is an F. Just wait and see. - Judy Bononi Northridge Neither rain ... I would like to commend the paper delivery person in the Lake Hughes area. Today, Feb. 14, we had almost a foot of snow, 5 feet wide in front of our mail box. Our delivery person got out of the car and walked over to the box, as all we could see were footmarks in the snow. We appreciate the dedication and effort. - Val Reineman Lake Hughes Gun control Despite what the media has been reporting, the shooting last week at the White House did not happen. Washington, D.C., has the most strict gun control laws in the entire country. In that city, you can't own any gun, let alone possess one. So, he couldn't have had a gun. Gun control works, doesn't it? I'm confused. - David L. Peltz Reseda Aqueduct lights Every time I drive by the Los Angeles Aqueduct This article has multiple issues: * It needs to be expanded. Please help [ improve the article] or discuss these issues on the talk page. at the junction of the 5 and 210 freeways, I wonder why, during Stage 3 power alerts, the Metropolitan Water District thinks it is OK to leave on its huge decorative colored light display? What did it cost to install all those lights? Who pays for them and the power to run them? Is the cost factored into our high utility bills? - Norman Dlugatch Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Hitting the nail George H. Atkinson
George Henry Atkinson (1819-1889) was an American missionary and educator in what would become the state of Oregon in the United States. (Public Forum, Feb. 15) hits the nail on the head, except that Mona Charen is more dangerous than asinine. One would think that her paycheck is signed by Ariel Sharon. Aren't we getting tired, and overburdened, with this Zionist propaganda? Clearly, the Bush administration has jettisoned most of the Zionist influence that Clinton leaned on. This is comforting, but the next step should be to stop all financial aid to Israel since it is quite obvious we are flogging a dead horse. - Max Ross Lancaster And tolerance Mike North's response (Public Forum, Feb. 14) to my letter illustrates the very point I was making. It is feckless feck·less adj. 1. Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective. 2. Careless and irresponsible. [Scots feck, effect (alteration of effect) + -less. to argue over and over the details of history that is so ancient that its accuracy is totally unprovable. What all sides must do is put away the past and start now to find a way to live side by side in humane and human harmony. Goodwill and tolerance will bring an era of peace and mutual prosperity; anything else will merely extend the blood and destruction that has cost so much already. - Ira Skutch Sherman Oaks Puppy love Thank you for such a wonderful front page article, ``A gift with heart,'' (Feb. 13), on the Pet Orphans Fund Ultimate Valentine Project, to find homes for older dogs. In the 16 years I've lived in 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. , I've yet to meet a man who can hold a candle to either of my dogs. They make every day Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. at my house. - Dolores Dolores (or Delores) was a common given name (until the 1960s in the USA); it is cognate with the English word "dolorous" (meaning sorrowful) and equivalent in meaning. Long Van Nuys Selective memory Re David Holland and Thomas Shepherd's Feb. 12 comments concerning my Public Forum letter of Feb. 7. I find some truth in what they say. Unfortunately, they seem to share the ``selective memory'' syndrome of the left. Reagan's tax cuts caused Treasury revenues to almost triple over previous years. In addition, every budget Reagan submitted was declared DOA (jargon) DOA - Dead on arrival. A piece of hardware that has never worked. by the Democratically controlled Congress. The incredible amount of pork the Dems added (because of the increased Treasury revenue) dwarfed all U.S. defense spending. Further, Reagan was the architect of Star Wars, causing the communist economy to collapse. Finally, and in agreement with Holland, the Federal Reserve played the major role in bringing down inflation rates, but the man who headed it was selected by Reagan. - John Holt La Canada Tax relief The idea to cut everyone a check instead of giving a tax break is ludicrous. It is another disguised attempt at the Marxist redistribution of wealth. The low-income and no-income people are already receiving their subsidies from the government, subsidies paid for mostly by the rich. Taxpayers have overpaid o·ver·pay v. o·ver·paid , o·ver·pay·ing, o·ver·pays v.tr. 1. To pay (a party) too much. 2. To pay an amount in excess of (a sum due). v.intr. To pay too much. and this practice should be stopped by a tax cut which will probably increase the Washington coffers. After this tax cut goes into effect, the rates should come down 1 percent per year. The reason is that the rates now are artificial and history tells us every time we have a tax cut, Washington revenues increase. - Michael Hannin Newbury Park You shouldn't care What if Michael and Katherine got married, or Tom and Nicole split up, and no one gave a hoot? It would probably mean people have been paying too much attention to their own family matters, instead of that of their celebrity gods and goddesses. And that is not very good for the tabloids. - Julian T. Nguyen Reseda Make `em pay Thanks to Samantha Kimmel (Opinion, Feb. 12) for reminding us of the necessity to do something workable to keep the 911 lines open for real emergencies. I imagine 411 (directory assistance) gets its fair share of stupid requests, as well, but they don't delay or deter emergencies. Kimmel is absolutely correct: There's nothing like losing money to stimulate a necessary reality check and make some twit think before mindlessly dialing 911 to find out how to change a light bulb or the batteries in the remote. It's a serious situation and deserves serious consequences - such as a nice, stiff financial penalty. - Terri Andrews Castaic |
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