World Cup loyalties; Afganistan leadership; County-USC; American eating habits
World Cup loyalty
Re “Mexican flags wave again,” June 25
Mexican immigrants who say their allegiance is 100% to America nevertheless root for the Mexican soccer team in the World Cup competition, over that of the U.S.
Anyone has the perfect right to cheer on any team whatsoever, for any reason. It’s all in good fun, anyway, especially with modest amounts of bourbon or tequila. But the question is raised: How long must a person call the U.S. their home before they identify with its teams?
I think my forbears were from England. I do not root for the English team to beat America’s. I also was born in another state, but I favor California schools in competition with those from my former home.
So what, you ask? Not much, I guess. The World Cup comes only every four years -- and we have the good fortune to have fun and yell for somebody as an antidote to the world’s ills. Cheers.
Daryal Gant
La Crescenta
Re “Soccer kicking up race debate,” June 26
The French are a sophisticated and complex people.
It is simplistic to blame mere racism for the ire they’ve directed toward their national soccer team.
Many of these players have taken on an “American” professional athlete persona of misbehavior and “bling.”
The French are reacting much more to bad manners and the flaunting of wealth than to anything else. That is what has triggered this giant wave of disapproval.
Adriana E. Padilla
Los Angeles
Nationalism in England
Re “England’s ugly nationalism has become kinder, gentler,” June 24
It is not “uncharitable” for my homeland’s citizens to resist the Islamicization of England, any more than it is uncharitable for us U.S. citizens to resist laws or actions here that we believe are unconstitutional.
Five years ago London’s Tate Art Gallery withdrew an art exhibit because it feared offending Muslim visitors. The exhibit was fine for English sensibilities.
The museum was wrong to fear offending a “guest.”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in England or in the U.S., our rules and values hold sway. Our concept of human rights is worth defending.
Maggie Blankley
Los Angeles
Afghanistan’s latest dupe
Re “Who’s in charge in Afghanistan?,” Opinion, June 27
Who’s in charge of Afghanistan?
It’s the Afghans now — as it has always been throughout their long and troubled history.
These tribal peoples have defeated such vaunted powers as Alexander the Great, the British Empire and most recently the deceased Soviet Union — and they are well on their way to vanquishing the latest foolhardy empire: the United States.
Gen. David H. Petraeus ultimately will be no more successful in taming this country than past imperial regimes.
As with Vietnam, our American political leadership has once again failed this nation by utterly ignoring history.
It’s time to extricate ourselves, now!
Bob Teigan
Santa Susana
The crowds at County- USC
Re “Crowding is severe at County-USC,” June 26
As a resident physician in the Los Angeles County healthcare system, I say shame on Supervisor Michael Antonovich for scapegoating a vulnerable population — “a large illegal immigrant population” — to explain the Board of Supervisors’ inefficiencies.
While they sit in their ivory tower, healthcare professionals are working hard to clean up the mess caused by their band-aid approach to health services. Physicians and management continue to work on efficiencies at our county hospitals. All we ask for is a Board of Supervisors with foresight in planning for the needs of our patients and our communities.
Such foresight requires leaders who are willing to invest in our health system and not skimp on services that are always highly utilized. In the end, “cost-saving measures” (i.e., reducing hospital beds) actually cost us more, especially in dire economic times such as now.
Michael Core, M.D.
Harbor City
The writer is vice president of the Southern California Committee of Interns and Residents.
The new Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center was in the planning stages for years before it was built. Health and medical experts and organizations recommended 750 beds. Despite this, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to build 600 beds ( Gloria Molina being the exception). A new 80-bed hospital was supposed to be built in the San Gabriel Valley.
Today’s overcrowding is no surprise, nor is the fact that the smaller hospital was abandoned years ago.
Harvey D. Kern
West Los Angeles
Big council salaries in Bell
Re “D.A. looks into city of Bell’s salaries,” June 24
To say that close to $100,000 in yearly compensation for members of the part-time City Council in Bell, a financially struggling city of about 40,000, is outrageously obscene is a significant understatement!
And now the city of Maywood is disbanding its Police Department, laying off all its municipal employees and transferring its day-to-day field operations to Bell.
Don’t do it! Bad decisions result in bad results!
I am blessed that I chose to live in the little city of Lomita.
Tim King
Lomita
Americans’ poor diet choices
Re “More diet tips to ignore,” Editorial, June 26
I completely disagree that the recent USDA recommendations will not be followed because Americans don’t have the time to eat moderate portions, exercise and improve their cooking skills.
I believe they do have the time but are lazy. If some of the hours consumed by Americans on social networking, watching mindless TV and Internet gaming and surfing were applied to healthful endeavors and exercise, our obese Americans would lose weight, be happier and reduce healthcare costs overall.
Richard Spaniardi
Northridge
That Americans spend 48.9% of their food dollars away from home is shocking.
The time one spends standing in line for a fast-food meal is probably longer than it takes to prepare a meal at home, which would certainly be more nourishing, more appealing and less expensive.
Lorraine Kubera
Orange
Ignorant of tobacco risks
Re “A colorful death by tobacco,” Opinion, June 24
About cigarettes, Meghan Daum writes, “Everyone knows by now that they’re killers.”
Au contraire. Researchers who studied smokers wrote in Tobacco Control in 2005: “…the accumulated data demonstrate convincingly that smokers have a very imperfect understanding of the risks of smoking and of risk statistics in general. Furthermore, regardless of what they may acknowledge about the risks faced by other smokers, they believe that their own risk is less. Given the accumulated evidence, the argument that people begin to smoke or continue to smoke with adequate knowledge of the potential risks appears indefensible.”
We all have a stake in this issue due to the cost of medical insurance and other factors, and therefore it is in our interest to let the FDA know we support further deglamorization, including no color in packaging except for a big red WARNING on the package.
Stephen V. Hymowitz
Los Angeles
