Katrina highlights the plight of impoverished

Re “Storm Strains Bush’s Ties to Black Clergy,” Sept. 20

I presumed that the dialogue between the Bush administration and black clergy was focusing on, among other things, the plight of the black poor in America. George Bush’s epiphany after Katrina seems to suggest that such a dialogue never took place.

In addition to courting and being courted by the administration, I hope that the black clergy is working across denominational lines to institute a faith-based investment fund to address poverty and economic issues among its congregations and communities. It is estimated that each Monday several million dollars are deposited in banks by black churches nationwide. If just 10% of these funds went to establish a faith-based investment fund, substantial progress could be made in collaboration with government at all levels and the private sector in addressing these seemingly intractable economic problems among our black poor.

PHILIP S. HART

Los Feliz

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Re “A new storm on the right,” Opinion, Sept. 20

Once again, Robert Scheer has shown us the Bush blindness. “If we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist” is the administration’s mantra. We can only hope the American people see more accurately, more compassionately, than their leaders.

MARY FINAN

La Mirada