PUBLIC FORUM SHAMELESS.

Re ``Vote no Prop. 71'' (Editorial, Oct. 20):

Have you no shame? You bring up the financials on the possibility of saving lives? When even our Republican-sided governor is for this initiative. I question the day when your loved one or loved one's are stricken with cancer (as I have been, three times in 18-plus years) or with Parkinson's et al. There is no question you will be saying to yourself and your family ``If only there was a cure.''

There are other ways to work the budget, but not to continue the possibility of cures for such diseases would not only be immoral but an outrage at this time in the history of civilization.

- Spencer Shiffman

Calabasas

Won't be passed on

Re ``Prop 72 won't help health care woes'' (Their Opinions, Oct. 20):

Daniel Weintraub is completely wrong making the statement ``people fear that employers would not shift that money (saved from mandatory health costs) back into wages ... is unfounded.'' In the film industry, every contract employer cries that employee costs are too high, but with every project, we see increases in star trailers, and free jets to high ranking people in our business.

Years ago they said that they needed relief from having to allow us to go to lunch because it cost too much to stop for lunch after 6 hours without any breaks. Now almost every film has issues with breaking for lunch on time, 3, 4, 5 days a week. Employers are not going to give us a break if health costs were eliminated. They are going to pass that money onto increasing profits.

- Richard Mosier

Simi Valley

Why should we?

Re ``Prop. 71 double threat; Taxpayers, ethics suffer'' (Their Opinions, Oct. 19):

Why should the public support $3 billion worth of research for the biotech industry, which would then turn around and sock it to the public - if they ever found results. The whole premise sounds ``weird'' because I know what it takes to be healthy. I fell three stories in 1991 - and broke my right foot badly.

However, I completed three marathons, after the fall, at ages 60, 65 and 70.

I trust in a Higher Power than stem cell research. It kind of sickens me to think about looking for cures that are based on destroying living cells.

- Barbara Charis

North Hollywood

Double that

I am a very strong supporter of stem cell research. But, Proposition 71 is not the answer. The basic cost of this bond issue is $3 billion. However, the bonds that will be authorized by Proposition 71 will actually cost taxpayers $6 billion, according to California's Legislative Analyst, when the interest is added.

It makes no sense to stick California taxpayers with this $6 billion debt. This is especially the case considering that our state is still not on a firm financial footing.

- Robert S. Kennedy Jr.

Camarillo

Proposition 63

Proposition 63 is no solution. Despite the billions, yes, billions of tax dollars the California Department of Mental Health gets each year, conditions in mental health facilities and services for the mentally ill never change for the better. In fact they get worse.

I urge fellow Californians to wake up and not fall for this seriously flawed and self-serving Prop. 63. California's unworkable mental health system does not need more tax dollars. What it needs is a California referendum demanding accountability and results for the nearly $3 billion it already gets.

- Peter M. Dockx

Sunland

Proposition 62

According to the polls, anywhere from 40 percent to 60 percent of people surveyed support third party participation in the political system. Proposition 62, if passed, would harshly curtail voter choice and severely restrict freedom of political expression by all parties.

By limiting the general election candidates to the top two vote gettersfrom the preceding primary, we would be silencing large segments of the community, cutting across varied political persuasions. The Democrats and the Republicans, in addition to the third parties, stand to be silenced as well if the opposing major party can produce two top vote getters.

- Warren C. Jaycox

Canoga Park

Benefits only a few

Regarding Propositions 68 and 70: Indian lands are sovereign properties. Why go to the trouble to let them expand all over the place when local governments can put a toll booth on the last 50 feet of access to their properties?

I understand that there are fewer than 100 full-blooded Indians left in California. Why make them any richer?

- George Kilbride

Sun Valley

WTC probe

Re ``Tower's design not at fault in collapse'' (Oct. 20):

How much of the taxpayers money was spent on this ridiculous probe? We needed federal investigators to probe why the buildings collapsed? This is common sense. The explosions caused by the impact and the jet fuel reached high temperatures, which caused the steel beams to heat up, which caused them to buckle and the buildings to collapse.

I am not a rocket scientist, I sell marketing programs. This probe was totally unnecessary and a complete waste of the taxpayers' money. Our government does not have its priorities straight and seems to enjoy spending tax dollars foolishly to generate its own income.

- Lou Cozzolino

Woodland Hills

Probably normal

I continuously read where right wingers write that the mainstream press is too liberal and at the same time the left wingers write that the mainstream press is too far right politically. If it is all a matter of relative perception, then it seems likely that the mainstream press is indeed representative of the normal views of our country.

- Kraig Lennon Kysar

Sherman Oaks

A change

It's embarrassing to see people grasping for medicine, especially senior citizens lining up for flu shots, the result of an attitude of neglect and lack of focus by our leaders on what we all really need. I never thought that health care really mattered because I am still young, but seeing our elders asking for help is touching and sad.

Our leaders say we are fighting the war away from our homeland, but it really feels that the war is now here - health care, economy, and everybody now is suffering in high fuel and gas prices - everyone feels the pinch. It looks like the silent majority knows what to do. I would like to go for a peaceful change, and a productive change, for more allies to win the war and a strong economy here in our country.

- Ray Benaza

Palmdale

Moose on a wire

The picture of a moose hanging by its antlers in the Oct. 18 Newslite page was in poor taste to say the least. Showing the suffering of an animal is not entertainment. You've also recently run a picture of a pig ``jumping'' into a pool at a fair, and this too is a depiction of cruelty served up as entertainment. There is nothing funny about forcing an animal to jump into a pool of water.

- Victoria Minetta

Hollywood

Good news

Now that our government tells us that we will be gettingflu vaccine from Canada, this means you all, as I've been doing for more than 2 1/2 years, can order your medications from Canada. If your government says they will inject you with Canada's flu medication you can certainly safely digest their pills. Enjoy the savings.

- Marilyn White-Sedel

Studio City