The benefits of clean energy; the Kevin Cooper murder case; a religious group as a hate group

Clean or dirty, energy has costs

Re “Green won’t be easy for Brown,” Dec. 2

I was disappointed that the analysis of Jerry Brown’s clean-energy plan didn’t take into account the costs of doing nothing.

For example, most Angelenos probably aren’t aware that Los Angeles gets 39% of its electricity from coal-fired power plants in Arizona and Utah. These plants are among the worst stationary sources of pollution in the country, discharging huge amounts of hazardous pollutants, which cause a variety of dangerous health problems. The Times could have pointed out that the medical costs of coal-fired power are already costing us billions. As the Environmental Protection Agency begins to call dirty energy to account with better regulation and more appropriate fees, our existing energy mix will get more expensive anyway. By targeting low-income households and small businesses with low-cost energy efficiency programs, the impact of rate increases can be effectively minimized or even eliminated.

Renewable energy is simply a wise investment in our future that we can’t afford not to make.

David Haake

Culver City

The writer chairs the West Los Angeles Group of the Sierra Club.

Some other facts to weigh

Re “Case for clemency,” Opinion, Dec. 1

Alan M. Dershowitz’s and David B. Rivkin Jr.’s selective recitation of facts regarding the Kevin Cooper case is stunning.

Perhaps readers should have been informed of the highly inculpatory evidence that was set forth by U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Rymer in her opinion that denied Cooper the relief he sought. Rymer quoted the California Supreme Court, which concluded that the “sheer volume and consistency of the evidence is overwhelming.”

One key fact, conveniently left out by Rivkin and Dershowitz, was that “one drop of blood (A-41) that belongs to an African American male, which Cooper is, was found on the wall of the Ryen hallway opposite where Jessica was found, and post-trial DNA testing confirms that Cooper is the source of A-41.”

Jared D. Moses

Los Angeles

The lesson to be learned is not only that Cooper’s sentence ought to be commuted but that we must look beyond the death penalty and seek to replace it with more effective alternatives.

Cooper’s story is merely one painful example of a flawed policy that metes out justice based not on facts but on race and class.

James Brockway

Berkeley

Many sources of hate

Re “Hate cloaked by faith,” Opinion, Dec. 1

Hate starts somewhere. American hatred for gays and transgenders is pandemic. It is not exclusive to James Dobson and his rogue followers. These rogues are of human nature, capable of hate and violence.

Groups such as the Family Research Council rely on the unstable to extend their hate and carry out acts of ridicule and violence. The cycle starts as a dangerous philosophy, builds momentum, then becomes action.

A hate-group label means little when a large section of society, including presidents, legislatures and judges, are subscribers. Scary.

Scott Matz

Los Angeles

As public issues go, we all depend on journalists and those in the media to slowly advance the conversation about gay rights and other topics.

The objects of prejudice must wait for those who have a voice and a platform to say what nearly all gay men have always known: Religion as a form of government meddling does not serve us well.

It was not that long ago that The Times was scratching its head to discern the boundary between religion and politics. Tim Rutten now understands, and he has articulated this boundary exquisitely.

Jerry Lewis

Los Angeles

Rogue websites

Re “Sinking the online pirates,” Editorial, Nov. 28

The Times highlights the realities faced by the creative industries from rogue foreign websites. But your criticism of Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) proposed legislation and questioning of U.S. law enforcement’s focus on domain names misses the point.

The day after your editorial ran, federal law enforcement officials announced the court-approved seizure of 82 domestic websites.

Unfortunately, some sites will take refuge overseas, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. law. Leahy’s bill would help stop Americans from accessing these kinds of offshore websites.

Though you rightly point out that people can get around domain-name seizures by entering

numerical IP addresses, you omit the fact that many of these consumers are not trying to commit crimes; rather, they’re being duped. The bill would protect them as well.

No legislation is perfect, but the problem is real and recognized. The answer can’t be to do nothing.

Mitch Bainwol

Washington

David Israelite

Washington

Bainwol is chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Israelite is president and chief executive of the National Music Publishers’ Assn.

On HIV

Re “HIV — the next revolution,” Opinion, Nov. 29

This Op-Ed article, as well as the news stories on a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, are misleading.

The journal’s article about prevention of HIV infection by two drugs taken orally demonstrates only that HIV infection might be delayed, not prevented by them. When the numbers of infected people in the group that took the drugs versus those who did not are compared after three years, there is no clinically significant difference in the infection rate.

Unfortunately, the authors of the journal’s article and the editor of the journal did not emphasize this aspect of their data.

Also unfortunately, this may encourage potential victims to abandon condoms, which are shown to be effective in prevention of HIV.

Donald Pinkel, MD

San Luis Obispo

Wrong lesson

Re “1,000 L.A. Unified workers lose jobs,” Dec. 1

Always fire the little people — the custodians, office personnel and library workers. This is what so infuriates me about the Los Angeles Unified School District.

When I first came to South Gate High School in 1981, there were about 5,000 students on a year-round schedule, a principal and two or three assistants. When I left in 2008, there were about 3,500 students on a regular, one-track school year. But our administrative staff had grown to six or seven, each of whom made six figures.

I’ll bet most of us would prefer to have a clean bathroom and a nice place to eat lunch rather than another assistant principal.

Cheryl Clark

Long Beach