In Tuesday's Letters to the editor
Some things never change: in Tuesday's Letters to the editor, readers react -- with their usual good measure of hostility -- to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest plans for the California budget. Writes Michelle Zweig, of Marina del Rey:
On Tuesday... we approved additional sales taxes... then on Friday The Times reported that Gov. Schwarzenegger is asking for a sales tax increase... to fund the state's coffers. Also in Friday's Times there is a report that the Department of Water and Power wants to increase our bills so that they can install solar panels.
This would put our sales tax above 10%. Has everyone gone completely out of their collective minds? If our esteemed leaders are trying to concoct a recipe to totally kill business in this state, they have succeeded.
Debra L. Wiley of Inglewood thinks a tax on Internet sales might do the trick. Lewis Flock, of Encinitas, argues for a tax on religious organizations. And Carol Marshall, of Anaheim, wonders how on Earth it makes sense to impose such big cuts on schools:
While it seems obvious to me that an educated workforce will guarantee that California leads the country out of the current economic downturn, the governor is taking the biggest chunk of money out of education. How can that be?
Reader reaction to Rep. Henry Waxman's bid to take control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, rogue hacker traffic engineers, and school bonds, too.
* Photo of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from Ken James/Bloomberg News.
In reporting on the recent conflict in Gaza for the LA Times, Ashraf Khalil often blurs the line between Palestinians and Hamas and even uses the two terms interchangeably. Khalil describes Hamas as "militants" and "activists" (never as "terrorists", or even "radicals").. In your January 2 article, he refers to Nizar Rayan as a "spiritual" and "military" leader but fails to mention that this so-called "spiritual" leader regularly, publicly advocated suicide bombings of civilians or that Rayan sent his own son to murder two Israeli civilians in a suicide bombing. Israel left Gaza completely years ago. Instead of finding a way to work together, Hamas brutally murdered their own Palestinian (Fatah) brothers in a violent coup and embarked upon a campaign of terror launching thousands of missles at innocent civilians in Israel.. Hamas and its ill-intentioned supporters (mainly Iran) have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on weapons designed soley to kill innocent civilians. Khalil has also failed to mention the recent widely-publicized statements by Mosab Hassan Yousef (son of a founding member of Hamas) that Hamas "betrays the Palestinian cause" and tortures its own members.
Hamas brought this disasterous situation upon itself, the Palestinian people and innocent Israeli civilians.
Hamas, not Israel, is holding the Palestinian people in Gaza hostage. By distorting the facts, Khalil paints a very different picture. Khalil should be more responsible and more objective in how he reports on the situation in Gaza.
Posted by: Andrew Lurie | January 03, 2009 at 11:41 AM
It was interesting seeing Governor Schwarzenegger with his sleeves rolled up telling us all how the state was fighitng fires.........it showed real leadership. Or did it? I am tired of politicians showing up at any photo op they deem desireable and really not do anything. With gas prices dropping, I saw an article in the Times that showed motorists were abandoning public transit and getting back into their cars. Where is Arnold when we need him? Why hasn't he appeared at a press conference and inspired us to keep up the billions of miles we have not driven since the run-up in gas? It is power we possess and has resulted in lower prices for oil.
Posted by: greg figge | November 20, 2008 at 07:20 PM