Obama’s nuclear initiative; politics and medicine; selling state buildings

Nuclear foolishness

Re “New nuclear policy walks careful line,” April 7

President Obama’s nuclear arms initiative is ill-conceived and very dangerous for our country. It is foolish to pledge that we would not use a nuclear bunker-busting weapon to retaliate against the leadership of a country that attacked us with chemical or biological weapons.

It is even more foolish to declare that we will abandon efforts to develop more modern nuclear weapons. It should be clear to anyone with a map that we have some potential enemies with whom we cannot compete on the basis of the number of ground troops.

Our security depends on having the most advanced weaponry. It took us a while to catch up and win World War II. If we ever get caught asleep again, there may not be time to catch up.

Obama did not campaign on this left-wing ideological platform, and his implementation of it demonstrates that those who predicted that he would govern as a centrist were wrong. Congress should override his wrongheadedness.

William R. Snaer
Lake Arrowhead

Absurdities in debate on nukes

Re “Moving to nuclear security,” Opinion, April 7

The president’s stated goal of creating a world free of nuclear weapons is certainly laudable, but while reading Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on nuclear security I couldn’t help but sense the absurdities lurking within any discussion of nuclear weaponry.

To get a sense of this, just replace the words “nuclear weapons” with “Armageddon machines.”

Would the statement, “The president is determined to ensure that our Armageddon machines remain absolutely safe, secure and effective” strike anybody as anything but breathlessly absurd?

James Harless
Costa Mesa

The ethics of medical care

Re “Doctor tells Obama voters to seek care elsewhere,” April 4

Reading that a Florida doctor is “telling patients who voted for President Obama to seek care elsewhere,” I asked myself: “What’s happening to ethics in medical care?”

As a family physician and biomedical ethicist for 47 years, I believed that a doctor should be willing to treat anyone who would benefit from their medical skills regardless of race, religion, social status or how they voted.

If their medical or financial status require services elsewhere, they should be referred to an entity that is able to provide that service -- not told to “seek care elsewhere” because they voted for the wrong party.

A spokesperson for the Florida Medical Assn. pointed out that “physicians are extended the same rights to free speech as every other citizen in the United States.”

My view is that the oath we take demands a higher level of behavior.

Melvin H Kirschner, MPH, MD
Granada Hills

Leasing back state buildings

Re “Loony leasebacks,” Opinion, April 6

Faced with a $20-billion deficit, California -- like any family -- is cutting expenses. The sale of state buildings could generate more than $2 billion, retiring $1.1 billion in bond debt; lock in the lowest rental rates seen in years for state tenants for the next two decades; and begin to get the taxpayers out of the volatile commercial real estate investment market.

This is not a new idea. Fortune 500 companies use the sale and leaseback of buildings to minimize real estate market risk and raise cash to improve their fiscal conditions.

This is not a fire sale and no bargain basement deals are happening. The state will only proceed if the bids are approved by a process to ensure the best interest of taxpayers. This is a common-sense measure for saving California money. We need to move forward with it.

Juventino “J” Gomez
El Monte
The writer, a councilman for the city of El Monte, is the newly appointed chair of the Los Angeles State Building Authority.

Goldberg’s views on monsters

Re “When monsters are real,” Opinion, April 6

Leave it to Jonah Goldberg to emerge from a theater after seeing a child’s cartoon movie only to conclude that the absurd theme to his book is correct: liberals are the real Nazis.

There is one thing I can agree with him about though. Children do need to understand that monsters really do exist.

There are people who willingly stand in the way of civil rights for gays. These people are monsters.

There are people who willingly prevent changes to a healthcare system that kills 45,000 of the uninsured every year. These people are monsters.

There are people who willingly support unnecessary wars that kill millions of innocents. These people are monsters.

And Goldberg needs to understand: These people are true villains, and not just “people who refuse to understand the misunderstood on their own terms.”

Ron Merrill
Redondo Beach

Goldberg’s misunderstanding of art and human destructiveness slays me.

He bemoans story lines that teach kids and adults that “there’s no such thing as monsters,” and he complains that psychological explanations tend to explain away evil. As an example, he gives our sympathetic response to the murderous Tony Soprano.

Goldberg confuses sympathy with identification. The Soprano character is so powerful because it compels us to face the evil in all of us, thereby broadening and deepening our understanding of worldly evil.

Goldberg need not be so phobic of his dark side.

Richard Lettieri
Santa Ana
The writer is a psychoanalyst.

Opus Dei and new archbishop

Re “Opus Dei members seek to be ‘closer to God’,” April 7

Thank you for your very balanced article about Opus Dei.

I am not a member of Opus Dei, but have friends in the organization and enjoy occasionally reading St. Josemaria Escriva.

After the many attacks against Opus Dei and the Catholic Church -- none of which correspond to anything I know -- your article was a true breath of fresh air and made my day.

Greg Youell
Omaha

Re “A columnist’s welcome,” Column, and “Rome’s dicey choice,” Opinion, April 7

Steve Lopez:

I wouldn’t be holding my breath for that meeting you wanted with Archbishop Jose Gomez after your impudent, insulting, insensitive and invidious “welcoming” comments.

Congratulations to The Times on a great start with our new archbishop.

Vince Vespe
Agoura Hills

The fact that columnists Tim Rutten and Steve Lopez both are critical of Gomez to succeed Cardinal Roger Mahony means he is probably a good choice.

Les Gapay
Rancho Mirage