PUBLIC FORUM.

Brrrrrrr ...

Last summer we had record highs for temperatures, and the newscasters and naysayers started screaming that ``it's global warming.'' Now it is colder than cold, and records are falling all over for how cold it is. So why isn't anyone yelling that ``the next ice age is coming''?

Nature has cycles, and weather is what it is. If you go back in time, you will see cycles repeating themselves all the time.

-- Cathy Hardy

Arleta

Inconvenient truth?

This weather we are having is proving to be an inconvenient truth for some people who say we really need to act on this global warming. Of course we will be told by the Al Gores of the world that this is actually a sign of global warming; so they win either way.

-- Patrick Hamblin

Valencia

Chill out 

Beware of global warming! Yeah, right. Los Angeles International Airport just matched the 1924 record low of 39 degrees. What's the next scare tactic, global chilling?

-- Robert L. Rosebrock

Brentwood

Good for economy?

Re ``Good for the economy'' (Viewpoint, Jan. 14):

Gary Jason cites a study of the effects an influx of immigrants had on wages and unemployment after the Mariel boatlift. The Mariel boatlift was a one-time occurrence more than a quarter of a century ago (1980), and it brought about 125,000 people. How can that be compared with current estimates of 500,000 illegal immigrants per year for the past decade?

After trying to convince us that illegal immigrants are not responsible for holding down wages and employment for U.S. workers, Jason proceeds to give them credit for keeping inflation in check by providing cheap manual labor. With Jason's contradictory statements and outdated studies, his arguments in support of illegal immigration are just more meaningless rhetoric.

-- Jim Mulvihill

Simi Valley 

Depressing

Re ``Good for the economy'' (Viewpoint, Jan. 14):

Gary Jason omitted a crucial fact, which invalidates his premise that illegals help our economy. A substantial portion of the income earned by illegals is sent to Mexico. These ``remittances'' represent the second largest component of Mexico's economy, behind only oil production. At an estimated $20 billion annually, these remittances actually represent a $120 billion loss to our economy.

Why? The reason is that exported U.S. capital does not circulate through our economy and does not result in the typical six U.S. transactions for each dollar generated. Accordingly, illegals tend to depress, not enhance, our economy.

-- Billy Bauman

Van Nuys

Last good deed

Re ``2 pilots killed in Valley crash'' (Jan. 13):

Gerald Silver, an avid anti-airport activist, used the occasion to claim that the crash is the result of having an airport in the midst of a bedroom community. That's twisted logic, given that the airport was started in 1927 and not one single home now in the area was built until years later.

While Silver claims the aircraft could have hit homes, he fails to comment on the fact that the aircraft was seen veering away from homes -- probably the result of two frantic pilots doing their last good deed by sacrificing their lives to keep the plane away from those homes. Being a pilot, I am willing to give those two men credit for not seriously hurting a single person in the middle of Silver's bedroom community.

-- George Jerome

Chatsworth

Accelerated responds

Re ``Charter school is in default on $9.9 million LAUSD loan'' (Jan. 4):

The Accelerated School bridge loan was part of a larger new school project financing effort in which the school contributed land and private contributions totaling $24 million for its new campus, and the Los Angeles Unified School district contributed $24 million in state bond proceeds. The LAUSD loan was made to bridge the school's capital campaign fundraising. The school borrowed $9.9 million to complete its new campus and, to date, has secured $2.1 million in cash and grants to repay LAUSD, with approximately $7.8 million remaining to be raised.

Although fundraising efforts have not met our projected schedule, causing a ``soft default'' under the note, the school is proceeding as provided for under the loan agreements, by revisiting our fund-raising strategy and exploring restructuring options to fully repay the LAUSD loan. The current note structure gives the school until June 10, 2009, before being truly in default in its debt to LAUSD.

-- Eric Johnson 

President

The Accelerated School Board of Trustees 

Colorblind society

Re ``Civil-rights battle not clear today'' (Their Opinions, Jan. 15):

Earl Ofari Hutchinson made some excellent points in his commentary on Monday, but I would like to add that we could take his complete article, replace the word ``black'' with ``white'' and make the same points. It has been well-documented that there are as many disenfranchised whites as there are blacks and that discrimination is rampant on both sides.

Just have the last name Whitelaw, and you'll feel the racism. And, believe me, at times it is not pretty. We all need to look within ourselves to defeat racism, it is a lifelong commitment. Civil rights are not just for blacks, but for every race. Let's all work toward a colorblind society.

-- Dave Whitelaw 

Eagle Rock

America's logic

Come to Woodland Hills, where I live now, or to Encino, where I lived before. It is forbidden by law to burn anything outdoors, but it is OK that you use your fireplace. Double standards? I used to sleep with open windows. It is impossible now. Even with everything closed, we can smell the smoke during the night that seeps into our house through little cracks, etc. I want to take a walk, but it's impossible because you smell smoke -- not cigarettes, but smoke adding to our smog, and you wonder about lung cancer.

Don't underestimate smog. Just come on a winter night to Encino or Woodland Hills. We don't have normal air to breathe. Of course, the rich have all kinds of purifiers that we on Social Security can't afford.

-- Robert C. Paul

Woodland Hills

The too-cheap cure

Re ``A cure for gang violence'' (Jan. 13):

The solution to gang violence is recognizing that the effects of sin subject the intellect to ignorance, and the will to malice.

Violence will always be -- unless parents and schools teach students how to behave themselves. To do unto others as you would want others to do to you. Going that route may be too cheap for the amount of money politicians want to spend.

-- John J Curti

Tarzana

More of the same?

Re ``Bush damned no matter what'' (Viewpoint, Jan. 14):

Yes, Bill O'Reilly, George W. Bush is damned no matter what he does because this entire mess happened on his watch largely due to the poor assumptions, miscalculations and mistakes he has made. More of the same is definitely not the answer.

-- Bryan Hays

Saugus

Carter lies

Finally 15 members of Jimmy Carter's Library staff have resigned because of the ex-President's outright lies in his new book. What took them so long. Carter has lied over and over again on many issues ever since President Reagan politically slaughtered him.

-- Paul Vaughn 

Van Nuys

Simple solution

A suggested answer to the shopping cart problem. Have the business owners of the carts charge, say 50 cents when the user takes a cart, then return the 50 cents when they return the cart.

-- Charles Dusheck

Chatsworth