PUBLIC FORUM.

Only rhetoric

Re ``Senate can override Bush veto on stem-cell bill, Specter says'' (May 26):

President George W. Bush and Tom DeLay state that embryos are people. Since frozen unwanted embryos are destroyed, why are these two powerful people not charging the embryo-destroyers with murder? Why aren't they then taking all the remaining embryos and making them wards of the state, making them then available for adoption? Or is this only rhetoric?

- Norwood Price

Burbank

Same clowns

Re ``Panel recommends legislative pay hike'' (May 2):

I wasn't aware that the cost of living in Sacramento is so high that it warrants giving members of the state Legislature a tax-free per diem of over $50,000 a year. The legislators have accepted a 12 percent pay raise that makes their salary well over $100,000 a year, plus a juicy, bloated pension.

Obviously it was the Legislature that voted all this in, not the taxpayers. Weren't these members of the Legislature the same clowns who were whining not too long ago about public employees' high salaries and pensions being a major cause of the state's financial problems?

Once again, their actions prove that ``politician'' is just another word for hypocrite.

- John R. Schlank

Granada Hills

Sleazy environment

Re ``News with a view'' (May 19):

Thomas Sowell is wrong when he insists ``too many journalists see their work as an opportunity to promote their own pet political notions.''

There is plenty wrong with mainstream journalism today, but the problem is not a case of overzealous reporters imposing their opinions on readers. The trouble originates higher up on the food chain - from managing editors demanding that reporters seek out ``sexy'' stories and scoop the competition.

This comes at a time when a few media giants control most of the news. Profit can only be achieved with a diminished work force, thus leaving the lowly reporter to fend for himself in researching and fact-checking his story while adhering to a tight deadline.

When reporters are pressured to deliver exposes without enough time or resources to do the job properly, it's not surprising that the media lose credibility with the public when the lie is exposed.

As a working newspaper journalist, I no longer wanted to labor under such intimidating conditions and opted out rather than continue to work in such a hostile and sleazy environment.

- Molly Shore

Burbank

Off the wall

Re ``Arrogance of power'' (Our Opinions, May 26):

Asking the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to break the law, as the Daily News editorial suggested, is off the wall. State law only allows term limits on county supervisors, and this law was not challenged, which the editorial failed to acknowledge.

Apparently the Daily News is unaware that state law prohibits California counties from imposing term limits on county elected officials - sheriff, district attorney and tax assessor.

- Michael D. Antonovich 

Los Angeles County Supervisor

Why bother?

Re ``Hush vote costs public'' (May 25):

After reading the first paragraph of this article I almost spit up my coffee. If anyone was wondering why voter turnout was low during the election for mayor, the county supervisors conveniently provided the answer.

Since our elected officials always use backroom meetings and diversionary tactics to thwart and circumvent the voters' will and intent, why vote at all?

My disdain knows no bounds, therefore I am pleased to announce that this last season of ``Deadwood'' has provided me with the perfectly proper expletive for all politicians.

- Eric Dresser

Burbank

Wake up

Re ``Hush vote costs public'' (May 25):

Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach says, ``I really think if people would have the opportunity to make a decision on term limits, where the ... supervisors were not included, they would not have voted for term limits for the assessor, sheriff and district attorney.''

Hello! Wake up, Mr. Auerbach! We the people knew what we were voting on. I'm about fed up with the politicians challenging everything the voters pass in the courts, which, of course, we have to pay for. Let's put something on the ballot to prevent these constant challenges.

- Lavina Suarez

Sylmar

Big surprise

Re ``Hush vote costs public'' (May 25):

Is it any surprise there is a low turnout on voting day?

Why bother if your vote can be overturned because a couple of dissatisfied politicians are not happy with the vote? And going to court is just insane. Our courts have much more important issues to decide, and now they will be tied up with something they are going to side with politicians on anyway.

I have lived in the county of Los Angeles all my 63 years, and all I have seen is things get worse and worse for the private citizens, and better and better for the high-living pols. It's disgusting. And even with a new mayor, who comes directly from the most corrupt city council in the nation, it isn't going to get any better anytime soon.

- Bruce Roberts 

Sylmar

End of story

Re ``No fumble'' (Your Opinions, May 26):

State Sen. Gil Cedillo thinks Californians are stupid. He wants unmarked driver's licenses for illegal aliens because they will be a legal document that would open doors everywhere for illegal aliens.

Cedillo doesn't give a hoot about lofty reasons like the Nazi persecution of Jews. Cedillo is for Mexican citizens illegally in California, and no one else. End of story.

By the way, I'm Hispanic and I'm against illegal immigration.

- Haydee Pavia

Laguna Woods

Look harder

Re ``BFI pact to be urged on city'' (May 26):

There is no way I believe that a major business pulled out of a lucrative contract two days before a hearing because it didn't think the city was serious.

I don't want to hear surmising about who should take the blame. Right now, Mayor James Hahn and Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa, who both promised not to renew the contract, should demand that they find a way to put out another request for a permit. Or even better, look carefully at other companies that can handle our waste.

It's tiring being held hostage by BFI over and over again.

- Kim Thompson

Granada Hills

No editing there

Re ``Our freedom'' (Your Opinions, May 16) and ``Here and there'' (Your Opinions, May 27):

When George Langberg and Zachary Charles use phrases like ``Christian Taliban'' and ``Bible-thumping Jesus freaks'' in an inane attempt to put forth an argument expressing their ``concerns'' about our democracy, two things become apparent. One, their enslavement to hatred is protected by both our democracy and better men than them, and two, ``as a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly'' (Proverbs 26:11).

- Ted Baader Jr.

Valencia

Insults to injury

Re ``Rice visits Iraq to urge a Sunni role in constitution'' (May 16):

This veteran finds Condoleezza Rice's May 15 statements to our brave troops in Iraq an insult to their and our American public's intelligence. Her ``I want you to stay focused on what it is that we are doing here. You see, this war came to us, not the other way around'' insults us.

Our troops face their real problem of staying alive and uninjured in a war started pre-emptively on misinformation.

Rice, having worked hard to put our young women and men in harm's way, should stay focused on the truth of the United States' ``pre-emptive'' behavior rather than rewriting history!

- Meredith Gene Pearcy

Canoga Park