PUBLIC FORUM.

Killing Social Security

Re ``Bush thinks big'' (Editorial, Feb. 4):

In a continuing assault on Social Security, begun by the right wing in 1935 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt first introduced it, George Bush has proposed a plan, which, eventually, will kill it.

His not-so-subtle attack on the only insurance policy us older people have is couched in bromidic panacea meant to assure younger people that gambling with their money is a ``God-given right.''

Well, according to my bible, Democratic Social Security giveth, and Republican Social Security taketh away.

- Zachary A. Charles

Burbank

Ongoing mantra 

Re ``Bush thinks big'' (Editorial, Feb. 4):

The so-called ``Third Rail'' of American politics, Social Security, has been stepped on by President Bush and for this the Democrats say he must pay dearly. How dare he attempt to fix what they know to be unfixable. It is better to let the system explode in the far-distant future when most of them will not be around to be held accountable.

This has been the ongoing mantra of the Democratic Party for as long as anyone cane remember. It doesn't take a genius to understand that as the ousted party the Democrats are now the opposition party. There is nothing wrong in assuming that position as long as when you oppose something you have a better plan and /or idea.

- L.A. Calabro

Northridge

Must do something

Re ``Bush thinks big'' (Editorial, Feb. 4):

Your editorial about Social Security reform was right on. It does not matter whether the Titanic is just scraping the edge of the ice or whether the iceberg has already penetrated the hull. Something must be done to save the ship.

- Alexander V. Muller 

Granada Hills

You can invest now

It's interesting that two writers in the Feb. 4 ``Your Opinions'' column spoke of the fact that the government has ``borrowed'' from the Social Security Trust Fund for years and years and seldom, if ever, repaid anything.

If the government had been investing all these years, rather than using the money, we would have enough. If insurance companies can do it, why can't the government? Another point: Don't people already have the ability to save (invest) their money in private retirement funds? Isn't that what IRAs, 401(k)s, etc. are?

- Lorraine Davis

North Hollywood

Canvas shopping bag

Re ``Free bags may get the sack'' (Feb. 3):

The tax/fee for plastic bags is one of the very few things I agree with. I would pay very little myself because I have shopped with canvas bags for years. I do it because I feel a sense of responsibility to not add to the landfill problem.

Perhaps this fee/tax would inspire people to get more in touch with the fact that we cannot just keep throwing away stuff, which creates more and more need for landfill space. Maybe the readers complaining about it would discover how much more durable and reusable a canvas bag really is and enjoy knowing they are part of a solution.

- Pam Konyk

Van Nuys

The right stuff

Re ``Schlessinger glad son to be warrior'' (``Names in the News,'' Feb. 7):

Bully for Deryk Andrew Schlessinger, radio talk host Laura Schlessinger's son, who is showing the right stuff by joining the U.S. Army special forces this year. She appears to take credit for his very brave decision by disclosing she brought him up to be a warrior.

Her doling out advice in a ``tough-talking'' manner to more than a few individuals for solving a personal problem (tantamount to ``Do I use a Kleenex or my sleeve to wipe my runny nose?'') may not have earned her the title of Amazon queen, but she can dream ... can't she?

- Stephen Pettine

Canoga Park

Cry me a river

Re ``Self-appointed experts rail about crash'' (Their Opinions, Feb. 7):

Wah! Wah! My God, the Daily News devotes a quarter page to a whining Kymberleigh Richards who has nothing to offer except to bash those who would offer suggestions as to how to avert another rail disaster. Apparently she and other ``transit officials'' can't figure out that you don't push trains, you pull them? A simple turnaround at the end of the line consists of 1,000 feet of track and two switches.

Please tell me our tax dollars don't pay for Richards' salary and this Metro S.F.V. Valley Sector Governance Council (whose name is apparently longer than the list of duties these people perform)?

- Jim Rowe 

Chatsworth

Most of the railing

Re ``Self-appointed experts rail about crash'' (Their Opinions, Feb. 7):

Kymberleigh Richards seems to be doing most of the railing. Other than being a ``transit official,'' she offers no credentials as an expert either. Her entire piece is nothing but a whining rant that belittles anyone who has an opinion and she offers no solutions.

Oh, and here's some logic, Kymberleigh: What would you rather have? An SUV possibly pushed into the path of another train or a derailed train definitely in the path of another train? As for the cost, you tell that to the families of the 11 people who died. Ask them what it cost.

- Jeff Clarke 

Simi Valley 

Outrageous question

Re ``A school by any other name'' (Feb. 7):

The remark that Principal Suzanne Blake made to her middle-school student body, 97 percent of whom are Latino, is outrageous to say the least. She reportedly said, ``Might you want to name this school after a dead, white president?

This country has 38 dead white presidents - that is a fact. But to use that fact to exhort her students to come up with a name for their new school is purely racist in the context in which it was used. Surely Superintendent Roy Romer and the members of the Board of Education should have something to say about this ugly situation.

- Richard Bort

Panorama City

Naming rights 

Re ``A school by any other name'' (Feb. 7):

I could hardly believe what I was reading. The eighth-graders at East Valley Middle School No. 2 are being given the opportunity to participate in renaming their school. When the principal asked if they might want to name it after a ``dead white president,'' they gave a resounding ``no!''

And where was the adult guidance through this? Well, Principal Suzanne Blake would like to see the school named after a communist artist, Frida Kahlo, or maybe labor leader Dolores Huerta. No help there. Perhaps the honor of naming the school should go to those who pay for it - the taxpayers of California.

- Vicki Van Camp

Sylmar

Double-dipping

Re ``"Rules can slam retired public workers'' (Feb. 8):

If the public workers do not pay into Social Security why should they receive a payout? They get a pension from public funds (taxpayer money). I see why Reps. Howard McKeon and Howard Berman want to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. They want to be able to ``double dip'' in the future also.

But let's get real. The Social Security rule for payment includes the number of quarters you paid in (40 minimum) and the amount of income in the last few years that you paid Social Security on. What is the average public pension versus the amount paid to those living on Social Security who have paid in for years?

- Betty Jenkins

Chatsworth

Live in L.A.

Regarding the lack of funding to pay our police officers and firefighters: Why not bring back the city-limit residency requirement? Seems to me that we can increase city tax revenue by making our first responders live in the city they work in. Why should outside cities reap the benefit of L.A. tax dollars?

- Irving Gabriel Gonzalez

Norwalk