PUBLIC FORUM.

In the 1998 general election, California voters voted in a state government completely controlled by the Democratic Party. ``Be careful what you wish for because you may get it'' is so true. California's state government system is completely out of control of the people and in absolute control of the labor unions, teachers associations and trial lawyers.

On Sept. 9, the state Senate passed AB 84, and on Sept. 10, the state Assembly passed AB 84. Both votes were done without public debate. In the dead of night, AB 84 was sent to Gov. Gray Davis for signature. AB 84 will make it illegal for large stores, such as Costco, to operate in California if they sell food or drugs, two items that people need.

The reason for this bill is because large stores such as Costco, Wal-Mart, etc. are nonlabor-union businesses. This is another payback for the millions and millions of dollars that the labor unions contributed to the Democratic Party during the 1998 and previous elections. This vote-buying process created by labor unions, teachers and trial lawyers is an all-consuming monster. Californians are themselves to blame for this monster.

- Francis Jansen

Northridge

Support AB 84

Re ``Measure to restrict superstores a stunner'' (Daily News, Sept. 11).

I read the article and hope the governor signs Assembly Bill 84 into law. This bill would place some restrictions on these huge megacenters that are invading California.

To put these monsters in cities will kill good-paying jobs and replace them with part-time, low-benefit work.

I'm all for free enterprise, and some argue that these retailers will benefit our communities. I strongly disagree. Our communities are built around small businesses and local markets that support good jobs and good business. I fear the loss of good jobs, traffic jams, small businesses closing down and our local government paying for health benefits that these megacenters refuse to offer their employees.

- Martin G. Harris

Saugus

Real reason

AB 84 is a very bad bill which will prohibit large warehouse stores. The legislative rationale for this bill is based on the claim that these ``big-box'' stores place inordinate demands on the police, fire and other municipal services of a community and therefore must be prohibited.

The real reason is that they constitute strong competition to the supermarket chains, independent grocers and their representative labor unions.

- Diana Dixon-Davis

Chatsworth

Voteless in Sylmar

Tell me where I can go to vote so that it counts. We have voted so many things into being only to have a person or the ACLU stop the voice of the people. I try to live by the law and obey its rules, but it is getting more difficult when the vote is blocked at every corner.

It used to be that when something was voted in, it was a mandate to the politicians that this was the will of the people. Not anymore. Some liberal judge can say we were too stupid and did not know what we were doing. When I vote, it no longer counts; it seems the only place it counts is nowhere.

- J.J. Moore

Sylmar

Pope Pius XII 

Re ``WW II pope undeserving of sainthood'' by Richard Cohen (Opinions, Sept. 22).

Once again the anti-Catholics are trying to sell that old saw again - the same old provable lie that is brought up every five years or so, claiming that Pope Pius XII did nothing to help the Jews during World War II.

Without going into facts like how many Jews the pope secreted in the Vatican then sneaked out to neutral countries, I have just one fact to bring up to which I would like Cohen to reply: Israel's beloved former Prime Minister Golda Meir stood up in the United Nations and lauded Pope Pius XII for being ``the lone voice in the wilderness'' to protest the Nazi treatment of Jews when the American Jews remained silent about the Holocaust while it was going on. Would he prefer to believe her or that British writer John Cornwell?

I wonder how those Jews whose lives Pope Pius saved during the war feel about Cornwell's book.

- Stephen Lord 

Sherman Oaks

Targeting Jews

If it wasn't for Pat Buchanan, would a Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr. and others of his ilk have been so violent toward Jews and other minorities? According to William Safire, (``Pat Buchanan really helping elect Al Gore,'' Opinions, Sept. 22) his fanning the flames of anti-Semitism and minority badgering is well-documented, going as far back as the Nixon era. I believe there is a connection.

When an accepted member of the mainstream media spews such virulent exposition toward minorities, especially the Jews, we see a rise in hate crimes, every presidential election year. So, why is he an acceptable member of the media? Why does CNN keep hiring him? Why does ``The McLaughlin Group'' treat him as an old crony when his vehement slime gives rise to such hatred? Apparently, it is not a level playing field. If it was you or I, we would be fired on the spot. But Pat keeps rolling along as if it were perfectly acceptable.

- Sam Kwasman

Granada Hills

Defining hate crimes

The writer of ``Acts against society'' (Public Forum, Sept. 19) argues that ``hate'' crimes should carry a stiffer penalty. There are several flaws with this argument, but the nub of it is, who defines a hate crime? If a gang from one ethnic group tags a neighborhood which is predominantly of another ethnic group, is that a hate crime or merely defacing property? What if the gang is predominantly a minority group and the neighborhood is also a minority area?

Put differently, are certain groups to be designated as potential victims of hate crimes, while other groups are simply potential victims of regular crimes? Crimes are crimes, and horrible crimes are horrible crimes. It can be argued that we are too civilized to mete out appropriate punishments in cases like Texas and Wyoming. But do we really want to open the bag of snakes labeled hate crimes?

- M.C. Savell

Simi Valley

Who to blame

The president of the United States grants clemency to 14 convicted terrorists and murderers and releases them back into society. A liberal court system releases a man convicted of deadly assault (Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr.) back into society, where he shoots and wounds a group of innocent people in a Jewish community center.

When Furrow committed his heinous crime at the Jewish Center, the liberals said nothing about the liberal judge who had released him. The liberals, instead, all screamed for more gun control laws, totally ignoring the human elements of error that led to the crime. If and when one of the terrorists, released by the president, repeats his previous pattern of mayhem and murders on the streets of America, what will the liberals and our ``crime-fighting'' president do about it? They will blast the National Rifle Association and demand more gun laws and gun control.

- Frank G. Carlisi

Calabasas

Ought to be ashamed

When they want to rob the veterans of some small benefit, the bureaucrats always cite ``budget cutbacks.''

Suddenly, after nearly six years, the gym is unsafe and has to be closed - thus shutting out 3,000 to 4,000 guys who were there to stay fit and healthy. (We can send $3.5 million to Kosovo to house and feed people who don't care a whit about the United States of America, but we can't repair a gym for the guys who made it possible.)

There used to be volunteer ladies present every morning, with coffee and rolls for the guys who were outpatients. All donated, all volunteer. Now, there's Starbucks entrenched in the lobby, hawking coffee at a $1.40 a cup. That's quite a stretch, considering there are signs all over the VA center that read, ``We put veterans first; can we be of service?'' or ``How can I help?''

So much for official hypocrisy and mendacity. To all you government empire builders, I can only say, you ought to be ashamed.

- James A. Takacs

Encino

Not for working folks

``Music Center Serves All'' (Public Forum, Sept. 22) contained some half-truths. While it is true that anyone can attend any performance at the Music Center, the careful selection of classical music, stage plays and other selected programs combined with the price of tickets for these events do provide a barrier to the common, working folks as effective as the Berlin Wall.

The center was built with private funds (all or most was tax deductible, thereby diverting the tax dollar away from something for the general public), but the maintenance by Los Angeles County probably exceeds the cost of the structure, and this will go on forever. The county provides a full-time staff of electricians, steamfitters, plumbers, general maintenance men and elevator mechanics, and they are stationed there all year long.

The annual budget to maintain the center is a closely guarded figure, but it must be in the millions. It has been estimated that less than 5 percent of the Los Angeles population will ever attend events at the Music Center, and yet we all pay to keep it running. Why?

- Walter Poe

Woodland Hills

Get your facts right

If Earl O. Hutchinson wants to weigh in on the gun issue and editorialize for more effective gun laws, he should at least take the time to get his facts straight (``Tougher laws are better than gun buyback,'' Opinions, Sept. 19).

He incorrectly states that there are 200 million to 300 million guns in civilian hands in California alone. In fact, the most reliable data indicate that number as the total in private ownership in the entire United States.

He also states that gun buyers ``can order them by mail or on the Internet.'' Actually, the Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibited these types of sales, so they've been proscribed for over 30 years.

Hyperbole and scare tactics aside, if gun laws aimed at the law-abiding were the answer to violence, we'd be the safest nation on Earth with over 20,000 of them currently on the books.

- Brian Baker

Saugus