PUBLIC FORUM.

A time out

Re "Trade me! (Or maybe not)" (May 31):

What the Lakers and Kobe really need right now is a time out. If I were Kobe I'd go to Dallas for one season and hook up with Avery Johnson. The Mavs really don't need a whole lot of help so he'll probably sit on the bench most of the season, which will minimize his chances of getting injured, and that will make the Lakers staff and fans sleep better.

The bad news is that Kobe will probably have to take a pay cut, but the good news is that he and Johnson will definitely get championship rings, and the time away from the Lakers will give Kobe, the fans and the Laker staff a chance to think about what went wrong and whether it can be resolved.

-- Anthony Jackson 

Beverly Hills 

Misbehavin'

Re "Trade me! (Or maybe not)" (May 31):

A common discipline for misbehaving children is to put them in "time out" for a while. It's time for Jerry Buss to give Kobe the consequence he deserves: Bench him for a season. No raise. No trade. And don't come out of your room until you have learned how to behave. Of course, that would require Jerry himself to behave like an adult.

-- John Andersen

Newbury Park

Let Kobe go

Re "Trade me! (Or maybe not)" (May 31):

Hey, Kobe, want to help the Lakers with their short-term championship rebuilding plan? Just leave so they can become a team and not your one-man show.

Please don't go to Phoenix. The Suns have real team chemistry and we wouldn't want you to ruin it.

-- Mike Miles

Granada Hills

Using fear

Re "Bush expands on al-Qaida terror threat against U.S." (May 24):

President Bush uses fear to strike out again regarding his own deadly failure for letting Osama bin Laden escape when he was cornered in Tora Bora. Bush did this by pulling troops out of Afghanistan in anticipation of invading Iraq.

Our troops are being killed over there in Iraq because Bush maintains they can't protect us over here in the United States. After not being concerned about Osama bin Laden, Bush finally remembers him when things are really going bad in Iraq and he needs a big scare. What is really scary about this war is Bush's not realizing or admitting that only 7 percent of the fighters in Iraq are al-Qaida, and there is a civil war going on, causing the majority of U.S. and Iraqi deaths in that country.

-- Jerold Drucker

Tarzana

Know the truth

Re "Stick to peanuts" (Your Opinions, May 28):

Former President Jimmy Carter was the most truthful occupant of the White House, and he still tells the truth. As for the marionette who currently occupies the White House, he and his puppeteers don't know what the truth is.

-- Chuck Crawford

Newhall

Mixing the terms

Re "At Last: hope for NE Valley" (May 24):

Politicos have a talent for mixing the terms "vision statement,""master plan,""blighted" and "Community Redevelopment Agency" so they look and sound good.

But it's the all-too-familiar smell we need to take note of because where there is stink, there is usually eminent domain. Be careful what you vote for; you just might get it.

-- Jim Papke

La Crescenta

ZIP codes of shame?

Re "225 homeless women, kids to go to center" (May 24):

This is another example of the hypocrisy that we live in. People often ask why women and children live in or near the Skid Row area. It's because it's centrally located for public transportation and offers lower-cost, affordable housing. We shouldn't penalize families for being poor. Nor should we label communities "ZIP codes of shame."

Relocating these families from the Skid Row community to shelters in remote areas will not salvage their lives. Instead, the Los Angeles city and county governments should emphasize investment in a viable infrastructure with accessible services in Skid Row and throughout Los Angeles County. Previous experience has shown that long-term strategies together with community-based solutions that engage and connect families to needed resources can prevent families from falling through the cracks.

-- Julio Marcial

Woodland Hills

ZIP codes

Re "Prop. 103 finally near the end of a long road" (May 24):

Now they're implementing Proposition 103, forcing insurance companies to level auto premiums across ZIP codes -- an idiotic move, which will likely drive more insurance companies out of California. Los Angeles Police Department statistics show that far more auto thefts and collisions occur in certain parts of town than in others.

If you choose to live in a high-risk ZIP code, why shouldn't you pay more? If you live in an area where morals prevent fake-injury lawsuits and theft is rare, why shouldn't you pay less? Next, they'll force life-insurance rates to be even between a 400-pound smoker and a low-risk person.

-- Charles L. Murray

Moorpark

Doing the work

Here's a solution to combat the war against illegal immigration, high gas prices and terrorism. During World War II, our nation faced labor and gasoline shortages that made it difficult to grow, harvest and transport fresh produce to the markets. More importantly, farm produce was being sent overseas to feed our troops. As a result, government asked our citizens to plant "victory gardens" and grow their own vegetables.

Twenty million patriotic American families dug in and planted home gardens that ensured victory overseas and protected our homeland from invasion. Let's do the work that Americans purportedly won't do and start digging again.

Robert L. Rosebrock

Brentwood

The worst

Re "Yay for Carter" (Your Opinions, May 30):

I remember when Jimmy Carter was president, we had double-digit inflation and interest rates, long lines at the gasoline pumps because of his price controls on crude oil, and Americans were being held as hostages in Iran. His attempt to rescue the hostages in 1980 was a miserable failure.

Our homeland has not been attacked since Sept. 11, 2001. The stock market is at an all-time high. Unemployment is low. Interest rates are low. Federal income taxes have been lowered to a point at which 45 million don't pay any. A coalition of countries is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and we -- with some help from 40 other countries -- are fighting a War Against Terror mainly in Iraq.

-- Bill Zelenka

Granada Hills

Carter's actions

Re "Jimmy takes the prize" (Your Opinions, May 29):

Bob Budworth describes the shah of Iran as our good friend and ally. In fact, the shah was a "Saddamesque" tyrant who outlawed rival political factions and deployed one of the world's most feared secret-police agencies -- resulting in human-rights violations and widespread civil discontent.

Budworth accuses Carter of being AWOL during the hostage crisis. In fact, Jimmy Carter took immediate action, freezing billions of dollars of Iranian assets, initiating diplomatic negotiations and approving an ill- fated military extraction mission. After the military failure, Iran dispersed the hostages throughout the country, making rescue via military action impossible. Bob, would you have preferred for Jimmy Carter to take us into a "Bushesque" war for our good friend the shah?

-- Kevin Teller

Woodland Hills