Letters to the editor

The credibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Steve Mendell, president of Hallmark Meat Packing and its distributor, Westland, is zero. Either they were unaware that sick animals were abused and fed to an unsuspecting public, or they turned a blind eye in the name of greed. Either way, they need to be held responsible. But they are merely a reflection of an agricultural system gone bad. Old McDonald had a farm, but he was put out of business by large factory farming operations and a complicit USDA that put profit above all else. There is a more sustainable, humane way to farm, and many of us are choosing with our dollars to support organic foods locally grown by small family farms.

James Montgomery

Redondo Beach

Re "An animal lover in the lion's den," Feb. 19

I read about the undercover Humane Society investigator who exposed the truth about the industry at the Hallmark/Westland meat processing plant. All I could think about was what a courageous soul he is. I am thankful there are people like him who are willing to face the cruelty we force onto weaker creatures. I also think the real criminals are the company heads, not the individual workers. Although their treatment of the animals was less than noble and horrific, they were just doing what they were told. I want to see the presidents of such companies indicted. They are the ones who have allowed the workers to act in such a way. They are the ones who should be criminally charged.

Kristina Cahill

Long Beach

Guns, rights and violence

Re " 'Prayers' just won't do," Opinion, Feb. 16

To the reactionaries who no doubt will froth at the mouth over Tim Rutten's sensible call for the political will to curb the availability of guns, I say this: Where is the societal benefit of gun ownership? Other rights elucidated by the Bill of Rights have clear merits. Where's the public good in bearing arms? Self-protection? Maybe, but you're more likely to be shot with your own gun than kill an intruder. Being allowed to feel like Walker, Texas Ranger? Um, no. The 2nd Amendment actively harms American society. That's the difference between the gun lobby's pet cause and the rest of the Constitution, and why gun ownership needs to be made illegal except in very special circumstances.

Tim Vandehey

Ventura



Gun-control fundamentalist Rutten conceals 2nd Amendment scholarship that contravenes his argument. Liberal and conservative scholarship questioned why the phrase "the people" in the 2nd Amendment should be read any differently from the same expression in the other Bill of Rights amendments. Thus the rights, including gun ownership, are all given to "the people" individually, which a recent court decision on a District of Columbia law affirms.

Samuel F. Rindge

South Pasadena



Rutten cries that "we are a nation held hostage by the pandemic of gun violence" and says it's "idiocy" for law-abiding citizens to be allowed to carry guns. The real idiocy is not in allowing the public to protect itself but in restrictive firearms policies that have proved to be ineffective. Urban liberals like Rutten and his sidekicks in the elite media always blame President Bush, Republicans, the National Rifle Assn. and Middle America, but never those pulling the trigger. The truth is that gun control makes crazy liberals who advocate totalitarianism feel powerful.

Pat Murphy

Pacific Palisades