PUBLIC FORUM.Kobe Hustle Re ``Not the time to be a hater'' (Sports, Jan. 24): Has Steve Dilbeck ever heard the phrase ``There's no 'I' in team''? Michael Jordan This article is about the former basketball player. For other uses, see Michael Jordan (disambiguation). Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player. played with a team - and won. Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. seems to think he's a one-man savior. ``Kobe is unfairly looked at through a different prism. Many see him as calculated, as self-centered.'' He is what he is - an embarrassment. Face it: Kobe Bryant is basketball's Pete Rose - Brenda Leggon Northridge Double standard As we enter the next phase of the latest chapter in American politics - the Alito confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate - we are challenged by the polarizing comments being bantered by leading Democrats. ``We now live in different times.'' Unlike the Clinton appointments, and the rubber-stamp bipartisan confirmations of liberal nominees Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein touted that ``There was not the polarization within America that there is today.'' Maybe true, but that summation is likely reflected in the old fable of the teenage boy who shotgun kills both his parents and then pleads for the leniency le·ni·en·cy n. pl. le·ni·en·cies 1. The condition or quality of being lenient. See Synonyms at mercy. 2. A lenient act. Noun 1. of the court because he is an orphan. - Nate Brogin Sherman Oaks Spreading the wealth Re ``UTLA's financial health'' (Your Opinions, Jan. 24): One of the curious things about UTLA UTLA United Teachers of Los Angeles (California) dues is that around 40 percent (around $11 million) paid by UTLA members goes not to UTLA but to other organizations, namely the California Teachers Association The California Teachers Association (CTA), initially established in 1863 as the California Educational Society, is by far the largest teachers' union in the state of California. It is considered by many to be the most powerful union in California. , the National Education Association, the California Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. It was formed (1916) out of the belief that the organizing of teachers should follow the model of a labor union, rather than that of a professional association. . Not a single one of those organizations gives any accounting to UTLA members for the money collected, yet UTLA officials want more member-dues money with no accountability other than saying they've received a bill. UTLA and affiliate officials need to come clean as to just what is happening to member-dues money. - Phil Pearson Agoura Hills To Pluto, and beyond! As long as I can remember, people have asked why we send spaceships to Pluto and elsewhere rather than spend it on food. Here's the answer: Investing some time and energy in learning and exploring rather than spending 100 percent of our effort on finding food is a trait that distinguishes homo sapiens from amoebas. In some cosmic mix-up, a few people have apparently acquired a DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. segment from amoebas and have simply lost the urge to learn and explore. It also stands to reason that there are a few amoebas wondering if there are other amoebas out there in the universe. - Don Schmidt Lancaster Defending Rosendahl Re `'Tunnel vision'' (Our Opinions, Jan. 20): Your editorial response to Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. member Bill Rosendahl's call of a half-percent 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. to support mass transit projects is not only negative, but bashed an ally who has arduously supported the 405 northbound HOV lane and who is exploring the creation of a LAX/Union Station/Burbank Airport rail connection that would benefit Valley residents. Rosendahl was referring to SB 314, in which Sacramento recently allowed L.A. County to ask its voters to approve a half-percent sales-tax increase to allow for the creation of the Westside Expo Line, the Foothill Gold Line, the Valley North-South Busways, the I-5 widening project in Southeast L.A. County and a host of other projects throughout the county. At best, the Red Line subway will only receive funding to Fairfax Boulevard (which is nowhere near Bill Rosendahl's district) within the next 10 years - if at all - even if the SB 314 that Rosendahl was referring to is passed by the voters. Please choose your opponents more carefully - Rosendahl isn't one of them! - Ken Alpern President, The Transit Coalition Los Angeles |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion