Lawmaking and responsibility

Re “Big mother is watching with new laws in mind,” March 8

The Times gets it all wrong by essentially describing proposed legislation to ban incandescent light bulbs as an attempt to save people from themselves. Sure, getting rid of inefficient, pollution-creating and outmoded incandescent light bulbs will help save people from themselves by cutting the carbon dioxide pollution, smog, nuclear waste, particulates, water consumption and other costs created by electricity generation.

But saving people from themselves is almost incidental here -- trading in incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs is about saving the planet from ourselves. After all, Big Mother Earth is watching.

DAVID NEMTZOW

Los Angeles

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We are the authors of a trans fat ban in California public schools. We are perplexed that our ban was included in a set of bills described disparagingly as “nanny” bills by The Times. The legislation has at least two critical distinctions:

* Children have virtually no choice when it comes to the food they are served in public schools.

* The government is responsible for the health, welfare and safety of the children at school.

The government is solely responsible for ensuring that school-provided meals are healthy and nutritious. The scientific evidence is conclusive: trans fat kills. We also have an epidemic of unhealthy children. Banning trans fat from our public school campuses is not only the government’s responsibility, it is a moral imperative.

ASSEMBLYMAN

TED W. LIEU

(D-Torrance)

ASSEMBLYMAN

JARED HUFFMAN

(D-San Rafael)

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Has George Orwell’s “1984” become a reality? With a huge budget deficit looming and serious problems (traffic, crime and sustainable energy), lawmakers are proposing spanking police, light-bulb police and other intrusions into Californians’ daily lives. Can’t these idiots find a better use of their time?

WILLIAM GROSSI

Alamo, Calif.