PUBLIC FORUM WASN'T THAT TEAM.

The deafening silence from team Clinton-Gore regarding the tanking stock market, our impending energy crisis and our slide toward recession should be the final exclamation point on the now indisputable fact that Bill and Al, so willing to take credit for the good times, have had nothing to do with our swiftly departing prosperity.

I'd wager asking Bill Clinton to balance a checkbook would be akin to asking Hillary to make a commodities trade on her own. And for the record, Milton Friedman is correct, Alan Greenspan should be replaced by a machine.

- Roger Olsen

Burbank

Same attitude

Re: Valerie Hendrix's letter (Public Forum, Dec 18):

Hendrix says that immigrants are ``overcrowding our schools, parks, housing, freeways.'' As long as they are entering the country legally, what business is it of hers?

She says that she hopes our president closes all borders. Isn't this the same attitude people in this country had at the turn of the last century? Is Hendrix claiming that her ancestors were born here? I bet if she researches her family, she will find that her ancestors were immigrants as well. She needs to get off her high horse.

- Amy Salisbury

Lancaster

It's all hazy

We lay people have always thought that the lawyers who made the laws made them understandable only to lawyers.

Now, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court audiotapes, we have learned that it didn't really work that way. We now have proof that the lawyers also do not understand the laws.

- Ralph Smathers

Santa Clarita 

Death knell 

The real loser in the election was state's rights. The U.S. Supreme Court had no business interfering in the elections of an individual state. Just one more note in the death knell of our republic.

- Dan McBride

Simi Valley 

Nothing worked

Regarding the ``stolen'' election. Let's see now - we voted in Florida and Bush won. We couldn't have that, so we recounted the vote and Bush still won. This was not acceptable. We will count them by hand - all the counties and precincts - no, no, just those with a history of being predominantly Democrat in the past, and none of those absentee ballot from overseas that didn't come through the post office so they don't have a postmark.

Well Bush still leads, so let's recount those which showed no vote for president and we will just guess who they would have voted for if they had voted for president. Well that isn't working either so we'll get Jesse Jackson to cry ``discrimination,'' ``confusing ballots'' or anything else he can think of. Well. Nothing is working for us. Bush still stole the election. Yeah, right.

- George Cogswell

Canoga Park

Not on my dime

Hillary to tell all about marriage? I'm sorry to beat a dead horse, but the ideal of someone profiting from rape, seduction etc., is infuriating. Smut magazines are a dime a dozen. Why pay top dollar for garbage? Change the names, add a cigar and soiled dress and send your money to an organization that helps victims of abuse.

- Larry Naramore

Sun Valley

Only a name

Re ``Name change plan splits community,'' (Nov. 29):

Regarding the proposed renaming of part of Sylmar, why not go all the way and call it Rancho Temblor? Both Rancho and Temblor are Spanish words, so it makes more sense than a cockamamy hybrid name like Rancho Cascades. This renaming of bits and pieces of the Valley is ridiculous, but it's very Hollywood, which specializes in makeovers.

Valley Village is still North Hollywood, and West Hills is still Canoga Park. Why not go back to the original names of Valley communities, like Owensmouth for Canoga Park - or Sylmar - Lankershim for North Hollywood and Marion for Reseda.

- David Kinchen

Encino

Paying the cost

San Fernando Valley residents who espouse secession should seriously consider if paying higher water and electricity rates is worth it. As long as the Valley remains an integral part of the city of Los Angeles, it is entitled to the benefits of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's affordable water rates compared with Metropolitan Water District rates.

If the Valley does secede, DWP will charge residents 15 percent higher water rates based on a city ordinance that requires areas serviced by DWP outside of Los Angeles to pay a water surcharge. It is also likely that a seceded Valley will pay higher electricity rates. Are you willing to pay the price for secession?

- Meiling Dai

Sunland

Too many tests

Re ``Testing teachers'' (Editorial, Nov.2):

The CBEST, Multiple Subject Assessment Test for Teachers and the Reading Instruction Competency Assessment - how many tests did you have to take to be qualified for a job? These test range in price from $180 to $300 and take about five hours on a Saturday to complete.

Instead of investing all this time and money in these tests, we could be gaining informative knowledge on cultural differences, which everyone expects us to have.

- Veronica Seanez

Glendale

It's our fault

Re Michael C. Hines' ``Not our fault,'' (Nov. 28):

Placing the blame on politicians for our laziness is beyond belief, the cigarette lawsuits notwithstanding. We get the government we deserve. If the voters would just read the measures offered to us, we would not be ``misled.'' The 55 percent voter requirement change in Prop. 39 was clear in the voter pamphlet.

If the voters read Prop. 38, they would have understood that present private school students were excluded and the public schools would soon have more money per student than they have now. If they read the Campaign Finance Reform proposition, they would have known it was an end run around our previously voted reform. As long as we let the advertising agencies' product substitute for a little effort on our part, we will continue to be to blame.

- Tom Montali

Woodland Hills

Works both ways

I note with alarm that Boy Scouts of America may use city facilities only after payment of fees. It is the city's right to decide that. I do insist, however, that any other group that uses any city facilities must also pay appropriate fees. Most groups discriminate. Church groups usually don't welcome nonmembers in outings. Veterans' organizations exclude lifelong civilians. Almost all fraternal organizations exclude nonmembers.

At the same time, that decision has a price. As long as that is the policy of the city of Los Angeles, it is my policy that none of my money will be spent in that city. Ventura and Santa Barbara are as close as downtown L.A.

- Robert L. Jaseph

Simi Valley

Protecting ourselves

Re ``Murder soars in L.A.'' (Dec. 1):

Of course it is soaring. The Los Angeles Police Department has been hamstrung to the point it is useless. It's time to issue conceal-carry permits to citizens of this city and state. The LAPD can't protect us, we must protect ourselves and our families.

Florida has done it, and their crime rate has gone down. Criminals are brazen when they know their victims are unarmed. It's time to be more afraid of criminals than the law-abiding citizens who legally purchase their weapons. All the laws in the world will not stop ``criminal intent.''

- Martin Cole

Sunland