Huffington on Public’s Priorities in Mourning

Re “Mourning for a Dog, Silence for Dead Boys,” Column Right, July 14: I bristle at opinions expressed by the likes of Arianna Huffington (and other conservatives), to whom dogs are a few rungs below humans on some significance ladder, and who are apparently offended by the deep connection that dog lovers have to their canine companions.

Like Huffington, I am repulsed by the senseless deaths of the children she mentioned. I am also saddened there was not a greater outpouring of sorrow for their deaths. Unlike Huffington, I don’t see that love for a dog comes at the expense of love for children. I completely understand how a chord was struck in the hearts of so many that a dog was killed while selflessly serving not only his human masters, but, as a police dog, the rest of us. This is not unlike the outpouring of sorrow expressed toward human police officers killed in the line of duty. Would she be just as disgusted at hundreds of police officers and citizens showing up at the funeral of a fallen human officer?

DOUG KEENE

Mission Viejo

* While reading Huffington’s column I couldn’t help but think of the Los Angeles City Council’s $5,000 reward offer [in April] for the killer of a dog.

I am a volunteer for the LAPD Van Nuys division’s Jeopardy program, which teaches underprivileged or troubled youth boxing and weightlifting, as well as tutoring in their schoolwork. It never ceases to amaze me how numb our citizens are to the problems of our youth, as well as the community.

When we opened our facility last year, the majority of City Council members showed up and made all the usual empty rhetoric regarding how they will take part in the building of our program and ensure that we receive all the needed equipment. Of course, this never happened. Then, to hear of the reward being offered for a slain dog, it makes you realize that all the council members have in mind is what’s best for their political image.

SCOTT LIVINGSTON

Santa Monica

* Huffington’s column on the contrast between the police dog, Ralph, and the two boys murdered by their father is pretty typical of her style. She says, “It makes you wonder if our society has lost all sense of proportion.”

Yes, it certainly has. Spending $28 million on a losing political campaign entered because the Huffingstons thought they could then use it as a platform to tell people to donate generously to charities is probably one of our best examples to date.

JUDITHANNE YOUNG

Norco