President’s Crime Bill

It is with frustration and anger that I write this letter. The Times has an article relating President Bush’s opinion that we should expand the death penalty. He states that we owe it to our returning military people from the Gulf to return them to cities with safe streets.

President Bush is euphorically enjoying his new popularity and apparently feels he can intimidate the legislators to push through his agenda based on pomp and patriotism. Since many of our young people who volunteered for the military did so to have a job with a steady income or to prepare for a vocation, how about returning them to a country that offers employment for all and not the highest unemployment rate in years? How about returning our military people to a country with streets free from the homeless and poor? How about returning our military to a country that offers health benefits to all who need them and how about returning to a country that does not favor big business and give tax benefits to the wealthy at the expense of the majority?

I wish our President would stop appealing to people’s emotions to apply pressure for his political agenda and instead address the real issues in an intelligent and caring manner. Only then will he deserve the admiration given to a true leader.

ZITA KASS

Woodland Hills