Obama, two years in; school funding and teacher expectations; Whitman and Latinos

Obama at halftime

Re “Obama has strong first-half finish,” Dec. 20

President Obama has indeed had some impressive accomplishments so far, but his greatest political disappointment is his not being able even to begin, let alone pass, comprehensive immigration reform.

With the new Congress taking over for the rest of the president’s term, any attempt at needed broad reform would be dead on arrival. If the bipartisan reform attempt under the Bush administration could not succeed with presidential backing, what chance would Obama have with the GOP shouting, “It’s amnesty,” “Support the rule of law,” “Arrest the illegals” and, “Defeat Obama”?

Even if sense and necessity will not likely prevail, however, we shall keep trying.

David Eggenschwiler and Jane Gould

Los Angeles

The realities of school funding

Re “Stop pretending,” Editorial, Dec. 20

Thank you for giving a very real look at our public schools. As a teacher for 18 years in California schools, I have watched a very steady decline of resources when our expectations have risen.

My classroom has no heat. I do not have enough textbooks for my class of 40 students. Although the technology in the world around me has improved greatly, I am using the same tools I had when I was a student in the 1980s.

I buy supplies out of my paycheck, which has also gotten smaller. As always, I will make it work.

But no matter how enthusiastic, creative and hardworking you are as a teacher, the bottom line is it is hard to build a well-rounded, academically savvy student ready to face the 21st century.

Nea Voss

Ventura

I began teaching sixth grade back in those pre-Proposition 13 days when California schools ranked at the top of the heap. I watched them slowly deteriorate until we have reached today’s dismal conditions.

When will the public come to realize that things will not get better without sufficient funding? And yes, that means the “t” word.

The problem cannot be solved until we grit our teeth and raise taxes.

David B. Housh

Glendora

My parents began teaching in the 1920s, my wife and I in the ‘60s, and our two daughters in the ‘90s. I’m familiar with the dynamics of school funding.

Twice in the last 10 years, more than one-third of my neighbors here in Ojai voted against a parcel tax measure despite its having a mechanism allowing property owners over age 65 to be exempt.

When more than one-third of a school district’s voters say no to a parcel tax, that’s a pretty good indication that many Californians will settle for a warm body at the front of their children’s classrooms rather than paying a little more for something better.

Wendell H. Jones

Ojai

After I was feeling like the victim of ongoing abuse as a teacher, one line in your editorial caught my eye: Gov.-elect Jerry Brown “has not yet made his education policies clear, but there are indications that he takes a more sympathetic approach to teachers.”

I know I’m vulnerable, but Gov. Brown, I think I’m in love.

Shelley Gelber

Studio City

Whitman’s woe

Re “Whitman paid a high price for Latino distrust of GOP,” column, Dec. 20

Of course Meg Whitman didn’t have a chance in California. Her chance of being elected was the same as a police officer’s would be if many of the voters were felons.

No one who wants to be firm on illegal immigration will ever have a chance in California again, and that is one reason we are in the mess that we are with no hope of ever recovering.

As the comic strip Pogo used to say, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

P.J. Gendell

Beverly Hills

Leaders’ ‘values’

Re “Love and politics in a cynical age,” Opinion, Dec. 20

Liu Xia is blessed to have a spouse, Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who has raised the meaning of marriage to the level of compassion and loyalty despite hardship — traits we should expect from our leaders. I used to discount the dalliances of powerful leaders but came to realize that many govern in the same untruthful way that they treat their spouses and families.

It appears that many such leaders have had emotionally or physically absent childhood caregivers. If one carefully observes these leaders, we see patterns that can often be traced to unmet needs in early childhood.

Values are values. The way one treats family will most likely be the way one treats the people he or she leads. Great leaders should be “married” to the people they lead, not to loveless corporations who, unfortunately, lead them.

Nancy Kezlarian

Los Angeles

The writer is a licensed marriage family therapist.

Trickling down

Re “French ski resort abuzz over $6.6-million birthday bash,” Dec. 18

Ah, the French. They complain (as many Americans surely will) that the very idea of a billionaire spending obscene amounts of money for a mere birthday party is outrageous.

Yet economists agree that the super-rich tend not to spend enough of their fortunes, complicating further the economic problems of the current recession.

It all brings home the foolishness of our conservative politicians, who tell us that if we cut more taxes to the super rich, they will hire more workers, buy more goods and help get the economy moving again. But the super rich do not spend this extra money; they tend to bank it.

So back to our wealthy European mogul, who intends to spend millions of his dollars, which will trickle down directly into the pockets of the French middle class. We should thank this man for choosing to loosen his wallet.

Eric J. Oxenberg

Los Angeles

Mexico mayhem

Re “Mother slain at anti-crime vigil in Chihuahua,” Dec. 18

Marisela Escobedo Ortiz should be hailed as a hero, but instead we are mourning her death at the hands of a cowardly murderer who shot her to death while she was protesting the violent killing of her daughter.

Escobando paid the ultimate price for having the courage to denounce the legal system that allowed her daughter’s confessed killer to avoid imprisonment. She is not unlike thousands of other victims in Mexico who have not been able to escape violent criminals.

While we send our troops all over the world, a country that borders the U.S. is losing its war to drug cartels that prey on innocent people.

Where is the outrage?

Don Schultz

Van Nuys

Political lines

Re “Redistricting panel will draw a line,” Dec. 20

I live in a very Republican district where Democrats usually don’t even bother to run, so those who don’t agree with the GOP do not even really have the right to vote. I have at times reregistered as a Republican so I could vote in the only election that counted, the Republican primary.

I doubt that the new open primary voting system will change anything in my area.

I do hope my district is reapportioned in a rational matter. And if you want to see a really silly gerrymander, look at the state

Board of Equalization districts.

Linda Robinett

Ridgecrest

Pedophile priests

Re “Church must look at its role in abuse, pope says,” Dec. 21

Pope Benedict XIV says that child pornography is seemingly considered normal by society and that as recently as the 1970s, pedophilia wasn’t considered an absolute evil.

As a mom who raised four children in the ‘70s, I strenuously object. The only ones who didn’t consider pedophilia an absolute evil were some Roman Catholic priests.

Loretta Krippner

Westminster

Bible and gays

Re “Gay rights is a new tune for conservative Nashville,” Dec. 22

If we listen carefully to the debates about gay rights, we find nuggets of truth emerging from both sides. Randy Davis, head of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, said his side is “acting from the perspective of a biblical worldview.” The operative article is “a,” not “the.”

There are numerous biblical worldviews. No longer can we in a pluralistic democracy continue to privilege any single biblical interpretation over all the others.

Richard J. Follett

Woodland Hills