PUBLIC FORUM TAKING AWAY CARS.

Re ``Seize away'' (Editorial, April 5):

Monday's lead editorial opines against the seizure of automobiles from drunk drivers. I respectfully disagree with your position. Of all the crimes for which property seizure seems most appropriate, this is certainly one.

A person who drinks and drives is like a person shooting a gun in the air. It's only a matter of time before someone is killed by either. The car in the hands of a drunk person becomes a weapon as much as a pistol or rifle and the possessor has forfeited the right to use any of them when he/she does not practice safe use.

- Alan Pollack

Woodland Hills

Rule by fear

Re ``Seize away'' (Editorial, April 5):

Am I the only one who has a problem with the confiscatory mentality of our so-called leaders? How is it they continually give themselves permission to take what is not theirs? This latest scam to be inflicted upon ``suspected'' drunk drivers, read: officially sanctioned theft without that pesky little thing called due process. Lowered standards indeed.

Better stay off the Bactine in the morning lest you get funneled into a sobriety/theft checkpoint and peg the local gendarmes' blow meter. Freshen your breath, lose your wheels. There must be a better way for these incompetents to generate funding than to steal from us. This is rule by fear and I do not respect it.

- Daniel F. Taylor

Tujunga

Creating hatred

Re ``Iraq erupts'' (April 5):

The Pentagon (under-)reports that 10,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed during this war. We killed those people. Every father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, son that we kill in Iraq creates or extends yet another group of people with direct personal reasons to hate us.

We are sacrificing American lives, killing Iraqi civilians and spending billions of dollars to create our own enemy. Saddam is gone. Spend the billions here. Stop killing people. Stop sacrificing our soldiers. Bring our soldiers home.

- Kim Iannone

West Hills

We are not wanted

The April 5 Daily News Question Line asked, ``Is June 30 too soon to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqis?'' My immediate reaction was, ``Hell, no, it's too late, I say get out now.'' How often do we have to be hit on the head or, more to the point, how many young Americans have to die before we realize we are not wanted in Iraq and for that matter in many other places?

Each day that passes, we are hated more around the world. Even now Russia is gearing up its military as it witnesses Imperial America on the march. When George W. Bush proclaims himself a ``war president'' it makes me shudder. Apparently it has caught the attention of many around the world where the Bush doctrine is seen as inviting more violence and terrorism.

- Philip Wilt

Van Nuys

Questioning Iraq war 

Rich Lowry should update his research before writing columns criticizinganyone, in this case the Democrats (``Benedict branding a bad move'' April 5). Lowry conveniently forgets that it was the Republicans and Bush'sarmy that has been criticizing the Democrats for lack of patriotism inquestioning the war in Iraq.

Questioning the war in Iraq is fair game. Just read today's headlines. Questioning Max Cleland's ``lack of patriotism'' is disgusting, especially from an administration that did what it could to stay out of harm's way when its turn came.

- Gene Cofsky

Tarzana

Right of mainstream

Re ``Boxer defies 'mainstream' label'' (Viewpoint, April 4):

Chris Weinkopf's column is completely misleading. Either he is extremely gullible and has bought into the spin of the right-wing conservatives or it is he who is out of the mainstream in his anti-choice position.

Bush's administration and his right-wing supporters have made no secret of their desire to overturn Roe vs. Wade and have made every effort to challenge and weaken that ruling. It is Senator Boxer who is in the mainstream in her support of abortion rights. It is also Senator Boxer who is in the mainstream of Californians who care about the environment, gun control and education. It is Chris Weinkopf and Bill Jones who are out of the mainstream.

- Mark Kimura

Los Angeles 

Restricting feedback

Re ``MTA councils give local voice'' (April 6):

Lisa Mascaro's article about the MTA floating an idea reducing the meeting schedule and budget of the Sector Governance Councils couldn't be more timely. The MTA is proving to a federal judge that it has a better answer to resolving crowded bus conditions than the ill-advised Consent Decree.

To restrict the local entities that give it the feedback it needs for cost-efficient transit will not only reduce the MTA's ability to address bus crowding but promote the autocratic image that resulted in the Consent Decree in the first place.

- Kenneth S. Alpern

President

The Transit Coalition

Court appointed

Re ``A republic'' (Your Opinions, April 2):

What Preston Ritter doesn't seem to get during his statistical diatribe is that while all the presidents he refers to may not have won 50 percent or better of the vote, 50 percent does not mean that he did not get the most votes. Those presidential elections did not come down to a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

We as a republic will never know if George W. Bush won the election, because the election process was tainted. George W. Bush, like Roger Maris of baseball, should have an asterisk next to his name. All his statistics are just a smoke screen because the popular vote doesn't mean 50 percent or better in a presidential election, something most of us ignoramuses know.

- Eleanor Hemminger

Winnetka

Votes muted

Re ``A republic'' (Your Opinions, April 2):

Ignoramuses? Preston Ritter sites how past presidents had not received the popular vote and won. Well, that may be true. However, with regard to Bush, he hadn't won the popular vote of the people but won. If Bush didn't ``steal'' the election he most certainly ``captured'' his hopefully temporary seat he now holds.

But more to the point, if we the people who vote can have their selection muted by five Supreme Court justices then why do we - should we - even bother to vote? All selections for any candidate should and ought to count - period and the end.

- Leo Bertucelli

Sherman Oaks

Public personal info

Re ```Offshoring' threatens our privacy, security'' (Their Opinions, April 5):

It seems everywhere you go, they request your personal information. I recently signed up for a college class, and they expected me to write down my Social Security number on my application so they can keep it on file, and later make a profile on their computer for the records. This computer is a network that displays my Social Security number and all other personal information whenever my name is entered.

- Jason Wang

Lake View Terrace

False information

Re ``Error of my ways'' (Your Opinions, March 15):.

Alex Bey, I think you have only been listening to the false information spewed out by Democrats. The truth is that the economy is getting much better as we come out of the Clinton recession. You can't possibly believe that our president would kill our wonderful young people for financial gain. That is ridiculous. Saddam was a threat to the world, and he is in jail. Isn't that a good thing? I hope you aren't one of the Vietnam vets that Kerry accused of killing and mutilating civilians during their time in Vietnam. Think about it.

- Mary Nassany

Northridge