PUBLIC FORUM.Think tobacco Re "Food-drug regulators back DEA DEA - Data Encryption Algorithm against medical pot" (April 21): The Food and Drug Administration spokesperson said "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and is not an approved medical treatment," and then implied that this is a problem needing enforcement by the Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was established in 1973 by President richard m. nixon as part of the Justice Department, thus uniting a number of federal drug agencies that had often worked at cross-purposes. . But marijuana does not kill thousands of people every year. If the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. had said "smoked tobacco has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment," and then referred the matter to the DEA, thousands of lives could be saved. - Joseph Beezy Tarzana Leave it to states Re "Food-drug regulators back DEA against medical pot" (April 21): Not only should FDA regulators not deceive the public by implying their decision is based on scientific fact, but who decided one day in 1937 that marijuana was illegal? Alcohol, paper, tobacco interests? Probably all three. I would think the FDA would have a full plate with the real threat of an avian flu avian flu: see influenza. pandemic pandemic /pan·dem·ic/ (pan-dem´ik) 1. a widespread epidemic of a disease. 2. widely epidemic. pan·dem·ic adj. Epidemic over a wide geographic area. n. this summer and the FDA with no vaccine. The FDA should mind its own business and leave it to the states whose people voted in support of medical marijuana use. - Suzanne Lewis Valley Village One too many for him Re "Treethinking" (April 23): I live on a tree-lined street in West Hills. Our sycamore trees are 50-plus years old. A year ago, a new neighbor deemed his parkway tree an inconvenience and it was cut down early one Sunday morning Sunday Morning may refer to:
The replacement tree has not, to this day, been planted. How can we expect the Mayor's Office to follow through on his tree-planting agenda of planting 1 million trees when here in West Hills we cannot even get one tree replanted. - Heather Bruce West Hills Cost of arrogance Re "LAUSD's takeover political" (Their Opinions, April 24): Julie Korenstein hit "Mr. Mayor" right at his misguided arrogance. Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take over and reform LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) : Millions of dollars and untold numbers of dropouts, with the attendant consequences. LAUSD moving the 28 trash Dumpsters away from our classroom once Julie Korenstein became involved: Zero dollars. Korenstein dressing down Villaraigosa on his aforementioned arrogance: Priceless. - Jeanine D'Elia Granada Hills Pot calling the kettle Re "LAUSD's takeover political" (Their Opinions, April 24): Julie Korenstein begins by chiding Antonio for his purported "hubris Hubris An arrogance due to excessive pride and an insolence toward others. A classic character flaw of a trader or investor. ." Yet she conveniently overlooks her two failed attempts to use her school board seat as a steppingstone step·ping·stone n. 1. A stone that provides a place to step, as in crossing a stream. 2. An advantageous position for advancement toward a goal. to the L.A. City Council. She challenges the mayor, "How will you be looked upon in the annals of Los Angeles history?" Better she should worry about her own legacy of toxic schools, a 50 percent dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human rate, and $5 billion in unfunded retirement costs, all under her "watch." Yet she somehow trumpets these failures as triumphs, crowing, "An elected school board acts as an oversight committee." I guess failing to keep half of our kids from dropping out was an "oversight." Undaunted, she further warns Our Fearless Leader, "Do not experiment with our children's lives." You mean, like "whole language" and Ebonics? - Billy Bauman Van Nuys As for the rest of us (abuse) for The Rest Of Us - (From the Macintosh slogan "The computer for the rest of us") 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. Re "Rio de Los Angeles" (Editorial, April 23): I want to thank Sen. Barbara Boxer for getting federal funds Federal Funds Funds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements. Notes: These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve to make the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. look better, while the Antelope Valley has only two emergency wards and no trauma unit for over 350,000 residents. Also for disregarding the dismal medical services for the citizens of Los Angeles County. The county medical services have been decimated while Boxer's plan is to make the Los Angeles River beautiful. As a former French queen once said: "Let them eat cake!" Thank you, Sen. Boxer, for fighting to make the Los Angeles River beautiful. - Thomas E. Nolan Lancaster Congress' fault Re "Bush: Massive deportation not realistic" (April 25): With its 1986 immigration law, Congress created sanctions against employers who hired illegal aliens. The idea was that, if jobs for them dried up because of employer sanctions, illegal immigrants would stop coming. Problem is, Congress then refused to fund the creation of the necessary fraud-proof ID. The result was an explosion in the production of fraudulent documents, including green cards and driver's licenses. Employers who hire illegal aliens claim, rightfully, that they can not be held responsible for knowing that the documents are fraudulent. If recent reports are correct, some 12 million illegal aliens have taken up residence in the U.S. since 1986. One thing is clear: Because they failed to implement a fraud-proof ID in 1986, the members of the Congress of the U.S. are primarily responsible for it. - George Raymond Tyndall Los Angeles Gossip snarkiness? Re "Tinseltown Spywitness" (U Entertainment, April 23): I was appalled to find a very pointed slur directed at President Bush in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of an account of the premiere of the film "Akeelah and the Bee." I have come to expect the derogatory commentary regarding the president that substitutes for intelligent criticism on the editorial pages of the Daily News. That it was considered appropriate, let alone necessary, to include a snide remark in the midst of a gossip column as well is frankly astonishing a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. . What's next on the agenda - insulting Bush in the sports or real estate section? - Autumn Olson Simi Valley Abortion targets Re "`Bad' women real target of abortion laws" (Viewpoint, April 23): Am I the only one who noticed the ironic contradiction in Mariel Garza's "Bad Women" article when she rants and raves about how the right to an abortion should be protected and then goes on to say, "I think everybody agrees that the killing of babies, even teeny Teeny 1/16 or 0.0625 of one full point in price. Steenth. weeny cell-cluster ones, is definitely not cool. Abortions are terrible, horrible and painful things ... ." - Danelle Mills Santa Clarita Roll back subsidies Our government has power to protect our citizens from the plundering they are suffering at the hands of the greedy oil companies and their obscene profits and also from the greedy speculators who are manipulating the oil futures prices. The government has exercised control over the stock markets to maintain better equity for all investors, and they could find a way to protect consumers from the oil gougers as well. Consumers, as taxpayers, have been forced by the government to provide subsidies to the oil producers, refiners and distributors, and the time has come for those debts to be repaid before the runaway oil prices further skew (1) The misalignment of a document or punch card in the feed tray or hopper that prohibits it from being scanned or read properly. (2) In facsimile, the difference in rectangularity between the received and transmitted page. our economy, which in all other respects is doing great. - Ralph Smathers Newhall Everything is legal Bush ordering a probe into gas price-gouging is an oxymoron. The only thing he is going to tell his oil company cronies is to make sure they don't actually get caught gouging Gouging can be:
- Carolyn Whitehead Canyon Country Trash to cops I would like to thank the city for replacing my trash cans. But I have just one question: What was wrong with the ones you took? Perhaps if the city would only replace those that need replacing, they wouldn't have to raise the trash fee to fund more police officers. What a concept. - Marv Williams Chatsworth |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion