Kadafi must go

L.A. Times Archives

March 28, 2011 12 AM PT

Re “The Libya calculation,” Editorial, March 25

You raised some valid points in your editorial, but you missed an important one.

We are in Libya to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians. Doesn’t this imply removing Moammar Kaddafi from power? Otherwise, unless by some miracle the rebels defeat him, he can simply wait until we tire of this operation and declare “victory” and go home -- then he will exact revenge on his people and may even attack the U.S. or Europe (think Lockerbie).

If Kaddafi is not removed, this entire operation will have been a pointless waste.

Jeff Lane

Idyllwild

Re “The GOP’s Libya dilemma,” Opinion,

March 24

When Doyle McManus writes that the Republicans’ “main purpose, of course, is to portray the Democratic incumbent as weak and indecisive,” was there really anything more to say?

The Republican Party has no foreign policy of its own; it simply waits until President Obama takes a position, then opposes it. Like a master hypnotist, the Great Obama has only to say “yes” and the Republicans will scream “no.”

I don’t believe the Republicans have a Libya dilemma. They simply have to wait for Obama to speak and, if it’s not too nuanced for them, just say the opposite.

Ronald Rubin

Topanga

Re “Obama’s missed break,” Opinion, March 22

Jonah Goldberg complains that we did not bomb Libya fast enough. Wasn’t that the problem with Iraq?

I believe the so-called Arab spring happened in large part because Obama reversed the bungling, interventionist policy of his predecessor. Regimes such as those in Iran, Libya and Syria have survived by using American overreach during the George W. Bush administration as a foil to keep their people distracted from their own misdeeds.

The only thing I am sure of is that diving into Libya as soon as the bullets started flying would have been a huge mistake. Even if it helped topple Kaddafi, the whole Muslim world would have been talking about the United States trying to get its greedy hands on an oil-rich Muslim nation.

The result: more maniacs willing to blow themselves up and automatic legitimacy for whatever virulently anti-American movement rose up to take Kaddafi’s place.

Branden Frankel

Encino

A very noisy Villa Park

Re “Controversy disturbs O.C.’s ‘Hidden Jewel,’ ” March 24

Villa Park Councilwoman Debra Pauly’s apologists frequently complain about Muslims’ poor treatment of women and other civil rights violations. These problems are cultural, not religious.

Muslim women in the U.S. have equal rights to men. Are they “less Muslim” than those in the Middle East? Under our “Christian” nation’s rule of law, slaves and women were denied all kinds of civil rights for a long time. Are we any “less Christian” now that slaves are free and women can vote?

Matt Horns

Los Angeles

Pauly needs to remember that she is supposed to represent all of her constituents, not just the ones she likes. Her words are representative of a bigot. The fact that she continues to stand by them is only further proof of her bigotry toward people of another religion.

This should not be tolerated in an elected official. She is a disgrace and should be ashamed.

Scott W. Hughes

Simi Valley

Ensuring a good education

Re “Not-so-public education,” Editorial, March 23

I have two boys in high school, so I know the games parents in L.A. play to get a decent education for their children. They enroll their children in schools outside their zone or in religious schools outside of their religion; others try home schooling. All this happens while a huge chunk of their tax money goes toward public education.

If the school you’re zoned for is performing very badly, then you should be able get some of your tax money back in a voucher to help pay for a good education at some other school. Otherwise, there should be a law that guarantees that the school you’re zoned for has at least a 95% graduation rate and that a large majority of the graduating students qualify for college.

Mark Kehlenbeck

Canoga Park

In your editorial against school vouchers, you conveniently omitted the well-known fact that the L.A. Archdiocese schools serve poor families (at least as well as and probably better than the public schools).

William McCormick

La Canada Flintridge

Not gas either

Re “U.S. nuclear renaissance is a figment,”

Business, March 23

Evidently, nuclear energy is too expensive to continue with, not because of its dangers but because of its cost. John Rowe, chairman and chief executive of Exelon Corp., says , “Natural gas is queen.”

Much of our natural gas is retrieved through a process called fracking, which has its own problems. For example, in Dimock, Pa., fracking has resulted in the contamination of that town’s water supply, which residents say has made many of them sick. This is not the only instance; there are many such examples.

It seems irrational that we would allow the injection of chemicals, many toxic, into the ground to retrieve fossil fuels. There’s money in environmental degradation.

Companies are being sued and there’s talk of regulation. Perhaps our best hope is that fracking will quickly become too costly to operate.

Thera Jane Mercer

Long Beach

Israeli laws

Re “New Israeli laws are seen as anti-Arab,” March 24

It was with revulsion that I read about the new Israeli law legalizing “admissions committees” made up of the (Jewish) residents of small towns to reject would-be residents not considered “socially suitable.” This is a transparent way to keep Israeli Arabs from living in much of the country of which they are citizens.

Particularly galling was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement: “There is no country where Arabs have the rights and democratic freedoms ... as they do in Israel.” One could have said the same thing about African Americans in the U.S. in the 1950s vis a vis Africa, but it would have missed the point. Black Americans were being denied the rights white citizens took for granted.

Jimmy Carter was right: Israel seems hell-bent on moving toward apartheid.

David Saffan

La Verne

Still waiting

Re “A year later, healthcare law is still in contention,” March 24

So the “Republican leaders are still working up a replacement in the House,” eh? They’ve had two years to formulate their own healthcare plan -- the first year spent opposing the passage of “Obamacare,” the last year identifying all the horrible things it will do to us -- and still no plan?

This reminds me of O.J. Simpson’s approach to his wife’s killing: He was going to head up his own investigation. Sadly, I expect the results will be the same.

David Olmstead

Ventura

Money ball

Re “Bonds’ last big at-bat,” Editorial, March 23

I was amused by the penultimate line in this editorial, “Yet it’s hard to imagine how any pro athlete, or any high school kid aspiring to be one, could look at [Barry Bonds’] public disgrace and decide that taking steroids would be a good idea.”

Let’s look at the scales. On one side is honor and self-respect. On the other side is fame, fortune and an extramarital affair with a Playboy model.

I wonder which way the vast majority of those scales are tipping?

Steve Pepoon

Chatsworth