PUBLIC FORUM.

Antonio and Arnold

Re ``Antonio trade-off with Arnold'' (Oct. 14):

Thanks to Tony Castro's fine reporting, I am now able to connect the dots. The appointment of Villaraigosa's sister to a $149,000-a-year Superior Court judgeship by Schwarzenegger does it for me.

Arnold has insulted Mexican immigrants, he attempted to sell teachers, police and firemen down the river with his failed (thank God) special election (I hope they haven't forgotten). I would ask, Antonio, is your vision of the statehouse in 2010 so sweet that you would sell out the people of your heritage and the people of the state by contributing to the defeat of Phil Angelides, a fellow Democrat, in favor of the biggest phony to ever enter California politics?

-- Philip Wilt

Van Nuys

Oasis event center

Re ``Man wants an Oasis in the Valley'' (Oct. 11):

The statements in favor of, and in opposition to, the Oasis arena expressed at the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council public hearing are the best reasons for studying the Oasis as part of the Warner Center Specific Plan review. Traffic, crime and other community impacts are part of any proposed project and are not unique to the proposed Oasis arena.

Whether or not an arena called the Oasis or something else is ever built is irrelevant. Now it is the neighborhood council's responsibility to include studying an arena in the revised Specific Plan and let the conclusions of the plan speak for itself.

-- Sean McCarthy

West Hills

Lane dividers

I applaud Caltrans for the lane dividers that it installed on the northbound 405, exiting to the westbound 101. It's been well over two years now, and the flow of traffic has increased, as well as the number of accidents have diminished.

Now, how about the southbound 405, exiting to the eastbound 101? Please, please install the lane dividers there as well. There is sufficient time for individuals to exit the first off-ramp, Van Nuys Boulevard, which is 1.5 miles away. With the increasing number of cars traveling on those routes -- it is well overdue for more safety conditions -- thank you.

-- Daniel Marinoff

Studio City

Paying their debt

Re ``Yes on Jessica's Law'' (Our Opinions, Oct. 12):

Any child molester deserves the strictest punishment handed to them as well as registering with authorities for housing. Although once a criminal has served their sentence, individual rights are again theirs. They have served the term given by our criminal-justice system and paid their debt to society.

I was unaware that in today's America that once released, prisoners lost all their rights and liberties as citizens. Which is exactly what Proposition 83 would do -- force free citizens to wear GPS devices to be tracked by government. This proposition undermines the entire criminal-justice system, which we have deemed as just and fair.

-- Andrew Gilberts

Santa Clarita 

Like it or leave

Re ``LAFD needs to change its abusive ways'' (Viewpoint, Oct. 15):

The LAFD is still a class A department in my book. During the past three years I can't count the number of times I've had to call the LAFD. All but two times I've been met with the utmost professionalism and kindness. Those two times, women, with a chip on their shoulder, were rude and with not an ounce of compassion, considering the circumstances.

But thank you, LAFD and Chief Bamattre, for continuing to come to our rescue in a class A manner. My advice: If you don't like working for the LAFD, quit and do something else.

-- Ruth Fairrington

Los Angeles 

Proposition 83

You know Jessica's law is for children -- I mean who really cares about the sex offenders? And when he or she gets out of jail they can pay for the new jewelry.

And for rehabilitation that is job security for the nut doctors -- it will never work. Stop playing games with our tax dollars and children.

-- Ronald Watson

Arleta

Proposition 85

Re ``No on Proposition 85'':

In California, a girl under 18 can get an abortion without her parents' knowledge, but cannot get an aspirin from a school nurse! Is something wrong here? Previously, Proposition 73 was defeated by a pro-abortion lobby including the taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood and others.

The Daily News still supports parental notification, but doesn't want it passed this time because it was voted down once before. If something is still right, why is it wrong to vote for it again? Let the voters reconsider the issue and vote to protect their daughters from predators.

-- Charles O'Connell

Stevenson Ranch 

Still Bush's people

Re ``We must take war seriously'' (Their Opinions, Oct. 12):

Thomas Sowell states, ``... media ... have spent incredible amounts of time on ... a bogus claim that the administration revealed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA `agent' -- actually a desk job in Virginia -- .''

Perhaps Valerie Plame's name was leaked ``accidentally'' by Richard Armitage (Powell's No. 2 in the State Department) to Bob Novak, and not Karl Rove or Dick Cheney, but she certainly had not a ``desk job.'' Valerie Plame ran a HUMINT (human intelligence) operation under the NOC (not official cover) of Brewster Jennings. Her mission was to find instances of nuclear proliferation (remember WMD?) in the Middle East. The damage caused to this operation and the risk that it placed on all agents she coordinated cannot be overstated.

-- Al Saavedra

Sherman Oaks

Defenseless

Re ``Clerk beaten to death; parolee held'' (Oct. 14):

After Friday's senseless slaying at the Chatsworth Arco, maybe the city should immediately pass a new law to register baseball bats. Had only that poor clerk been able to defend himself, he would be alive today, not just another crime statistic. And the crazed attacker would be rightfully dead, receiving his reported wish. It seems right and just to me.

-- Dan L. Huffman

Chatsworth

NRA caricature

The Oct. 12 Drew Sheneman caricature of the National Rifle Association was a mean jab at the perceived vision of the NRA and its opinions as somehow seeing the awful massacre of the gentle Amish schoolgirls as an opportunity to push a vision of NRA members as arsenal-toting Neanderthals interested in arming children.

There may be a story somewhere about arming teachers, but this isn't the scenario where I see anything that would have worked. What we need more is an agenda to identify the pained loners and the mentally ill.

-- Mike Hawkins

Camarillo

No comparison

Condoleezza Rice and Donald Runsfeld keep reminding us of the difficulties surrounding Germany's occupation and how much it looks like Iraq. Compared with the Iraq mess -- where U.S. military is grossly undermanned -- Germany was solidly occupied by overwhelming allied forces, including hordes of Red Army troops.

The enemy in Iraq has inexhaustible access to weapons and munitions -- courtesy of the U.S. military leadership -- contrary to its actions in World War II in which they destroyed all the weapons.

-- Jerry Pennington

Van Nuys

None of the above

If the comments made on both sides by those two individuals running for attorney general in this upcoming election are anywhere near true, I would bet my last dollar that a none of the above on the ballot would win easily.

Have you ever seen two more half-baked nitwits than these?

-- George Timko

West Hills