White House party crashers; trouble at an L.A. Unified school; budget cuts at Cal State
Guests . . . not!
Re “Crashers made it to the top,” Nov. 28
The Secret Service’s reaction to the breach of its own White House security during the recent state dinner appears to be obfuscation, or missing the point, or both, in concerning itself more with whether unauthorized guests broke the law rather than on how it happened.
Whatever the interlopers’ nonmalicious motivation -- a prank, a dare, a wager, publicity or social climbing -- they literally exposed a serious weakness in security, yet without tragic consequences to the president and a visiting head of state.
Instead of issuing the uninvited an arrest citation, how about a thank-you note?
Paul Napier
Sherman Oaks
Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words.
If you’re blond and beautiful the world is your oyster -- including, apparently, the White House.
Virginia Cassara
Irvine
The trouble with Markham
Re “Markham’s not working,” Editorial, Nov. 25
Although we agree with your editorial that states that teachers who want to work at Markham Middle School should be allowed to do so without regard to how long they have been in a classroom at the Los Angeles Unified School District, the reality is that the state education code requires teacher placement to be determined by seniority, a practice that is reinforced by the UTLA contract.
Regarding Markham’s loss of new, enthusiastic and energetic teachers, it is heartbreaking when the district must lay off teachers due to budget cuts imposed by the state’s grim financial situation. Fortunately, 13 of those laid-off teachers are working as extended substitutes at Markham, and will continue to work there for the rest of the school year.
Vivian Ekchian
Los Angeles
The writer is chief human resources officer, Los Angeles Unified School District.
Why is this tolerated?
We pay lip service to a commitment to the future of our children, yet constantly budgets are reduced, teachers are laid off, classes are enlarged and reduced, testing schemes are promised and diluted, and politically congratulatory slogans are broadcast for each educational chair moved on the Titanic’s deck.
Where does anyone expect that the uneducated and under-educated will go? Or, more apt, which welfare office, street corner, prison, jail or mortuary?
John O’Donnell
Los Angeles
When and if we ever realize that the terrorists that most affect American lives are not in the Middle East, we may be able to solve the problems of Markham Middle School.
The people who live in Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs are subjected daily to homegrown acts of terrorism. These terrorists continue to cause havoc generation after generation.
The media glorify them by euphemistically calling them “gangs.” They are not gangs. They are terrorists.
Afghanistan does not need our soldiers. We need them here policing our worst neighborhoods.
When children are free of the fear generated by these thugs, maybe then the children of Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs can enjoy the benefits of education.
Carlos Magallanes
Pasadena
Cal State cuts cut deep
Re “Cal State cuts felt on many levels,” Nov. 29
I’ve been a professor at Cal State Northridge for 37 years and will be going to Washington shortly to celebrate my receipt of a U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.
This will be a bittersweet celebration because budget cuts are forcing us to substantially reduce student research opportunities. My award is a testament to the value of these opportunities. Students say these are what got them in to medical school, dental school, pharmacy school, doctoral programs and more.
Our public university system -- which has prided itself in providing perhaps the most numerous high-quality research opportunities for its undergraduate students anywhere in the world -- is now on a crash course toward its biggest decline in history.
I thank The Times for the public service you provide in bringing this issue to citizens. If enough of us ask officials to bring back funding for education, the demise of public education in the Golden State will be halted.
Steve Oppenheimer
Northridge
What scientists believe
Re “Faith inside science,” Opinion, Nov. 24
There is a big difference between faith inside science and faith inside scientists.
That scientists may believe in God or even a revelation is neither here nor there as long as that faith is compartmentalized and does not condition the outcome of empirical observation and critical analysis.
Science is a game played by human players with human faculties and their attendant failings and frailties. Science cannot be perfect, but it would not be improved by the addition of liberal doses of the divine.
Elliott Oring
Long Beach
David Masci’s Opinion article is a classic example of misusing statistics to reach exactly the opposite conclusion he should reach. He cites a recent Pew Research Center poll showing that 51% of scientists believe in God or a higher power, and a 1914 poll showing that 42% believe in a personal God, and concludes that scientists today are more likely to believe in God.
What he does not mention is that, according to the Pew Forum’s website, this year’s poll showed that only 33% of scientists believe in God, while 18% “don’t believe in God but do believe in a universal spirit or higher power”; 41% said they did not believe in God or a higher power.
Masci should more appropriately conclude that the number of scientists who say they do not believe in God has increased from 42% in 1914 to 59% today.
Mike Patterson
Oxnard
Eye in the sky a slippery slope
Re “Focusing on crime and rights,” Nov. 27
Yes, of course patrolling Lancaster by plane would likely act as a deterrent to crime. So would turning the community into a police state. So would repealing the Bill of Rights.
Americans have spent more than 230 years seeking a delicate balance between freedom and security. It’s often easy to go with security, particularly after what happened on 9/11, and particularly in high-crime areas.
Well-meaning people such as the local teacher quoted at the end of your article consider such an idea and say, “What’s wrong with it?” because they think they have nothing to hide.
I suggest that a wiser course would be to step back and consider if such a society, where there is always someone up there watching, is really the kind of society you want to live in.
Jon Muir
Westlake Village
Thanks but no thanks
Re “The good news is . . . ,” Editorial, Nov. 26
Stop cheerleading for President Obama -- it undermines your credibility.
U.S. public relations may be improved in the world, but countries have not changed their policies. Obama’s cap-and-trade legislation will not pass in any form he has proposed. The stimulus has been questionable in its impact. Guantanamo is still open and will remain so. The healthcare bill, as proposed by Obama’s administration, is a disaster.
Nothing you mentioned has actually achieved success. Stop cheerleading.
Joe Laws
Pasadena
Your snarky dig at Sarah Palin’s book is fitting for a newspaper blinded by its own idiocy.
It was totally wrong and misplaced to place such views in an editorial that was a genuine attempt to give needed thanks to the few good things in our life.
Bill Clark
Simi Valley
