PUBLIC FORUM.Success, or mess? Re ``What ails California'' (Viewpoint, Feb. 13): Paul Koretz Paul Koretz (D-Los Angeles) announced his plans on August 2, 2007[1] to seek the Los Angeles 5th District City Council seat now occupied by Jack Weiss in 2009. Weiss is expected to run for Los Angels City Attorney against the current City Attorney, Rock Delgadio. and Tom McClintock Thomas Miller "Tom" McClintock (born July 10, 1956 in White Plains, New York) is a California State Senator. He ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election of Gray Davis and finished third out of 135 candidates with 13.5% of the overall vote. , coming from two different points of view, agree on one thing - California is a financial mess. Then, on Page 10, Lisa Friedman writes about the nomination of David Wetmore to head up Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's eight-person federal office in Washinghton, D.C. In the article, Rep. David Dreier David Timothy Dreier (born July 5, 1952), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since January 1981, representing California's 26th congressional district (map). He was first elected to the U.S. House at age 28 in 1980. is quoted saying ``... (Wetmore) worked with lots of Democrats. He made California the success it is today.'' What gives? Do we believe Koretz and McClintock, or Dreier? Is California a success or a mess? - Dante F. Rochetti West Hills Equitable taxes Re ``What ails California'' (Viewpoint, Feb. 13): Neither Paul Koretz nor Tom McClintock really supplies a solution to the problem. Mudslinging mud·sling·er n. One who makes malicious charges and otherwise attempts to discredit an opponent, as in a political campaign. mud , maybe. Doing away with Proposition 13 isn't the solution, nor did its passage cause the problem. Tax-and-spend only causes more problems. Politicians' perks, politicians' ``add-ons'' to legitimate legislation, waste, fraud, mismanagement mis·man·age tr.v. mis·man·aged, mis·man·ag·ing, mis·man·ag·es To manage badly or carelessly. mis·man  age·ment n. are problems.
Supporting a society that drives a fancy car and sports enough jewelry to finance a family of four for a year while paying for groceries with food stamps is part of the problem. Employers who don't pay minimum wage or provide benefits are part of the problem. Population growth in a society that cannot pay its own way is a no-win situation. A few laws have to be passed that make taxes more equitable all around. - Marilyn Sims Reseda Not a mention Re ``What ails California'' (Viewpoint, Feb. 13): This was interesting reading and a topic I often find discussed at various get-togethers with fellow inmates of the asylum. Others hopefully noticed that neither of our elected officials Paul Koretz nor Tom McClintock even vaguely mentioned the words ``undocumented workers'' or, even worse, the ``I'' word in their articles. I was disheartened dis·heart·en tr.v. dis·heart·ened, dis·heart·en·ing, dis·heart·ens To shake or destroy the courage or resolution of; dispirit. See Synonyms at discourage. to read that in their opinion - versus the majority of voters - that this no longer contributes to the problem. - Don Segien Canoga Park Looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. lesser evil Re ``Arnold: Split up LAUSD'' (Feb. 11): I am glad former Mayor Richard Riordan came out for Robert Hertzberg for mayor. It helps in my decision to not vote for Hertzberg. At this time, I do not know who I am going to vote for. It will be the lesser of all the evil candidates. - Joel F. Pawlowski Van Nuys Size not problem Re ``Arnold to weigh LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) breakup'' (Editorial, Feb. 14): The size of 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. is not the main problem. The problem is the size of the bureaucracy within the district. That is what needs to be broken up. - Carolyn Whitehead Canyon Country Developer welfare Re ``Final talks OK'd for hotel-entertainment complex'' (Feb. 12): The Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. claims it has no money to add police
and firemen to protect its citizens, but it has money to subsidize a new
hotel for the already hemorrhaging downtown Convention Center. It will
give the pay-to-play developers more than $250 million that will not be
providing police and fire protection to the neighborhoods but, at the
same time, the neighborhoods will pay for services for this downtown
project.
When they try to call the people who voted against the new sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. anti-police, they should instead hang this charge around our failed Mayor James Hahn's neck and his nine tax-and-spend chorus of council members. - Charles Brink Van Nuys Don't dilute efforts Re ``Feds picking California's pockets'' (Feb. 12): Every year you sing this sad song. You don't understand that taxation is not a ``zero sum'' game. Never was, never will be. If we adhered strictly to your principle that the tax dollars should always flow back to the source from which they came, we would expect that all of the money Beverly Hills pays out would go back there and all the money from Watts would return to them. Come on. You don't believe that. The idea is that some places are net producers of taxes, while others are in need of more taxes than they raise. There are plenty of issues on which to criticize our federal government. Don't dilute your efforts by whining about helping out less-productive states in our nation. - Keith Smith Canyon Country While you're at it Re ``Not in the comics'' (Your Opinions, Feb. 13): As long as we are ``cleaning up'' the comics pages, I would add to James Hamilton Moore's suggestion to remove the ``This Day in History'' box. How about removing that alter ego A doctrine used by the courts to ignore the corporate status of a group of stockholders, officers, and directors of a corporation in reference to their limited liability so that they may be held personally liable for their actions when they have acted fraudulently or unjustly or when of Bruce Tinsley, ``Mallard mallard: see duck. mallard Abundant “wild duck” (Anas platyrhynchos, family Anatidae) of the Northern Hemisphere, ancestor of most domestic ducks. The mallard is a typical dabbling duck in its general habits and courtship display. Fillmore'' (the ``Aflack'' duck wannabe), too. This lame duck An elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post. The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. is still quacking about Dan Rather, for crying out loud. We don't need Tinsley's drivel driv·el v. driv·eled or driv·elled, driv·el·ing or driv·el·ling, driv·els v.intr. 1. To slobber; drool. 2. To flow like spittle or saliva. 3. staining the comics pages ... After all, as Moore points out, ``the comics are a place to relax and laugh,'' not a platform to spew out Tinsley's fowl-mouthed blather. Leave the comics pages for fun, not politics. - Michael W. Prah North Hollywood Funny Re ``Not in the comics'' (Your Opinions, Feb. 13): I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who would rather see only funnies on the funny pages. Most of the rest of the paper is dedicated to things we should know, in order to be ``informed,'' but, when we get to the comics, all we want there is to get a chuckle. I do, however, enjoy Mallard Fillmore. Not all might appreciate his insight, but then they can go to Doonesbury. - Terri Andrews Castaic Harsh and painful indeed Re ``President: Social Security crisis looms'' (Feb. 13): President Bush says that unless Social Security is overhauled ``the choices ahead will be harsh and painful.'' He is correct. However, it's not because of Social Security, a program which has been solvent since the 1983 revisions, and will be solvent for the next 30 years or more. The ``harsh and painful'' financial times ahead are caused by his own ill-advised economic policies - cutting taxes while steeply building up the military and fighting an expensive war of choice. And Bush is using every publicity stunt possible (propaganda?) in an attempt to hide the sad economic performance of his administration - including blaming Social Security for his own failings. - Garth Bishop Los Angeles No one learns I am looking out my window and watching dozens of dump trucks removing earth from a location above Polk Street in Sylmar. Once again, developers have taken what once was a beautiful view and will be building houses on the mountainsides. Did anyone learn a lesson from the mudslides we've been witness to and the loss of property and lives that went with it? I guess greed means more to people than safety. Maybe if the developers were held accountable, there wouldn't be such haste in building homes in the hills. - Erin Ziliak Sylmar 'Crucible' deja vu The Calvinist Witch Hunt gene is like the 17-year locust locust, in botany locust, in botany, any species of the genus Robinia, deciduous trees or shrubs of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) native to the United States and Mexico. . Throughout American history certain types succumb to a raging need to get someone or some group. They go back into the ground after the folly of their quest is exposed. The McCarthy era is a clear example. By the time Clinton came along, the sadistic sa·dism n. 1. The deriving of sexual gratification or the tendency to derive sexual gratification from inflicting pain or emotional abuse on others. 2. The deriving of pleasure, or the tendency to derive pleasure, from cruelty. urge had been suppressed so long it exploded out of all proportion. Once it was satiated sa·ti·ate tr.v. sa·ti·at·ed, sa·ti·at·ing, sa·ti·ates 1. To satisfy (an appetite or desire) fully. 2. To satisfy to excess. adj. Filled to satisfaction. , Bush's lies slid right on by - as if invisible. With the passing of Arthur Miller it would be a good time for certain of the wolves-in-sheep's-clothing, born-agains, all hate groups and most neocons to break out their ``The Crucible'' DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. . - Bill Pratt Northridge |
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