PUBLIC FORUM.

Taming the warriors

Re ``Rampart, 7 years later'' (July 12):

Attorney Connie Rice wants no ``warrior'' mentality (and in the same issue, Supervisor Gloria Molina wants violent ``jail fights'' deleted from a TV show about the Sheriff's Department). What we have here is a denial of reality and a politicizing of crime fighting. If we get any less warrior mentality in the city of Los Angeles, we might as well cede the streets to gang members and street racers.

Violence occurs quickly, and the emergency-response time for local police is often many minutes longer than the average act of violence. Reactive policing will not protect you. Proactive policing can, and it requires a warrior mentality -- the very same outlook that Rice and those like her are trying to stamp out of our city ``soldiers.''

-- Rick Yerrinton

Tujunga

Organ-donor policy

Re ``New DMV organ policy a life-giver'' (Dennis McCarthy, July 11):

Though I am very aware no one has ever been reported awakened from ``brain death,'' I believe that when vital organs are kept mechanically functioning in order for transplant, that person is not dead. Therefore, I keep a signed statement in my wallet as well as in my car saying I regret I must withhold permission to harvest any vital organs in the event of fatal injury, but donation only of postmortem tissue for treatment of disease and injury is granted. Sorry to offend.

To all others of contrary belief: I would be more than willing to hear their arguments.

-- Kathryn Durfee

Agoura

One point, one wall

Re ``Calderon blasts border wall'' (July 8):

Well, damn. Perhaps Felipe Calderon ought to read the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ratified by Mexico on May 30, 1848.

Article XVI reads as follows: ``Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire right to fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge proper to so fortify for its security.''

One fence equals one point.

-- William O. Felsman

Woodland Hills

But it was true

Re ``Change-agent Dowd'' and ``Ignore the negative'' (Your Opinions, July 12):

News flash, boys: Everything Maureen Dowd has ever said about the Bush bunch has proved to be true. We have invaded and occupied a country based on manipulated and false intelligence, and everyone who spoke the truth -- from CIA agents to generals to U.N. weapons inspectors -- has been fired or trashed by the right, or should I say by the ``Reich''?

The last time a group of uberpatriots so zealously defended their ``family-values'' way of life was before the bunker was blown up in 1945.

-- Chuck Heinold

West Hills

Truth in advertising

Re ``Zine responds'' (Your Opinions, July 11):

I'm glad Dennis Zine takes action. Whether writing a letter to the Daily News or spearheading a new civic program, he is often the only City Council member who seems to have a grain of common sense.

But let's not kid ourselves. If these trailers advertised a new housing development or housed illegal aliens selling fruit, they'd still be there. The problem in this case was they rightfully advertised the lack of police protection and the City Council incompetence in Los Angeles.

-- Michael Guetzow

Woodland Hills

Wrong sad story

Re ``Just too sad'' (Your Opinions, July 11):

Millie Derose's description of the sad elephant featured in Huell Howser's PBS program is not the story of Gita, who died at the Los Angeles Zoo. The elephant on that program was named Nita, and Huell visited her with her former owner in 1988.

Gita had been at the L.A. Zoo since 1959. Yes, it is a sad story, but facts should have been checked before more readers are confused about the two elephants.

-- Arline Arnold

Burbank

Pork and pearls

Eleven years after Congress signed the Contract with America, our government has failed to deliver what that contract promised -- a smaller, more efficient government. Federal spending ballooned from $1.5 trillion in 1995 to $2.5 trillion in 2005 -- 67 percent. Waste, fraud and abuse are rampant. And the dangerous, explosive growth of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have virtually been ignored by both Democrats and Republican administrations.

What we need in our nation's capital are more statesman and fewer politicians who, like ancient rajahs, throw pearls to their constituents to ensure re-election. Example: the multimillion-dollar bridge to nowhere in Alaska.

-- Sid Conkwright

Van Nuys

New ``heroes''

Re ``Why Tom is angry'' (Your Opinions, July 12):

My 1966 dictionary defines hero as: ``A man distinguished for exceptional courage, fortitude or bold enterprise, especially in time of war or danger.''

My 1996 dictionary defines hero as: ``A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble quality.'' Tell us, please: Where do you find these qualities in your ``heroes'' who do in life what they love to do and get paid a humongous amount of money?

-- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Kicking the addiction

Re ``Tesla's birthday'' (Your Opinions, July 11):

I am pleased that Edson Johnson recognized Tesla's birthday and his achievements. A company named after him, Tesla Motors, is launching an electric vehicle on July 20. As a birthday tribute, a visit to the Web site at www.teslamotors.com is recommended. We all need to get serious about kicking our addiction to oil.

-- Kenneth Elsey

North Hills

Beating the crowd

Re ``Tesla's birthday'' (Your Opinions, July 11):

Yes, we should observe the anniversary of the birthday of history's greats. The statement that without Tesla we would still be living in the middle of the 19th century is ridiculous. One person or more would have come along around that time, or soon after, to duplicate Tesla's achievements. When the science and technology are ripe, an invention or theory will appear. Some people are smart enough to beat the crowd.

-- Leonard McGinnis

Granada Hills

Quiet again

Re ``Block party fireworks'' (Your Opinions, July 10):

I'm so glad that Bob Wilson got to see a legal fireworks display. What I have a problem with are all the illegal fireworks, as in bottle rockets and firecrackers that you see kids and parents firing off out on the street in front of their houses. I am pretty sure these are illegal, and they're usually loud. I just have a problem with all the people who start firing them off days before or after the Fourth. Now at least that has stopped.

Now my nights are filled with the sound of street racers along Platt again. At least it's a little quieter.

-- Sue Abrano

West Hills

Told you so

OK, discussion over. Tax cuts work. The economy is surging since then -- since then, not from the Clinton/Gore inherited recession. Please, get the dates straight, naysayers. Who's paying the freight on increased revenues? Why, it's those evil wealthy and big corporations. Deficits can't be reduced with tax cuts? Wrong again. Even with the war, Katrina, etc., they're lower than projected.

Tax cuts worked under Kennedy and under Reagan. They worked now under Bush. Now, if we could get our elected officials on both sides of the aisle to curtail their bad spending habits, I'd be an even happier man. But for now, I'm happy. The debate on global warming? Sorry, Al, still open for discussion. But tax cuts? Case closed.

-- Roger Olsen

Burbank