Famed teacher Jaime Escalante’s battle with cancer; the Toyota case; an interview with Gloria Steinem
Life lessons
Re “From sickbed, Garfield legend is still delivering,” March 7
Bravo for following the story of former Garfield High School teacher Jaime Escalante, the legendary Advanced Placement calculus instructor introduced to Americans in the film “Stand And Deliver,” which chronicled his work in the classroom.
Hats off to the wonderful inspiration he gave all of us, and may his life remain an example for us in years to come.
Maybe one of his former students could come forth to fund a scholarship or plaque at Garfield. Let’s hope so!
Joseph Daniel Gould
San Bernardino
Like many, I feel profound admiration for Escalante’s success in teaching calculus to economically disadvantaged students. The way he motivated his students and elevated their self-esteem was impressive.
How was he able to connect the dots in math but not in his political actions? He was a cheerleader for -- or was used as a cheerleader by -- regressive leaders such as President Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, whose policies kept poor people waiting forever for trickle-down benefits.
He colluded with people who said they wanted good education but opposed taxes to finance it. These are the same people who support a health insurance industry that makes impossible humane, affordable healthcare for all citizens -- including Escalante -- for the sake of profit.
Cosme Noriega
Costa Mesa
Keeping an eye on Toyota
Re “Runaway Toyota stopped by CHP,” March 9
I’m glad the California Highway Patrol was able to come to the aid of James Sikes after his 2008 Prius accelerated to over 90 mph, but I’m sorry that The Times seemed to insinuate that the driver possibly deserved some blame for the near accident.
Yes, Sikes’ Prius has been recalled. Yet, as nervous Toyota owners know, having a vehicle subject to a recall does not mean that an automaker is ready to fix the problem. We are still anxiously waiting for letters from Toyota allowing us to make appointments for repairs that we can only hope will solve the problem.
Marjorie Popper
Ballard, Calif.
Re “Toyota hysteria,” Opinion, March 9
Michael Fumento attempts to blame the victim drivers (“individual responsibility”) for Toyota’s reported manufacturing defects.
Though it is true that more attentive driving may reduce the number of accidents, it is also true that defects should be engineered out of the design of vehicles. These are not mutually exclusive acts.
Consider safe manufacturing “corporate responsibility.”
Thomas D. Penfield
Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.
Fumento’s terrifying and damaging accident was resolved out of court with Toyota not having to accept liability.
But his personal suffering doesn’t allow him free rein to counsel others to tone down their anger and see the company’s problems in a broader context.
The facts uncovered so far seem to indicate that Toyota did everything possible to evade responsibility for the safety issues with Toyota and Lexus cars, and to protect its image for product quality.
Those efforts, more than anything else, account for the “hysteria” Fumento deplores today.
Dennis Signorovitch
Los Angeles
Re “Workers warned of dangers at Toyota,” March 8
The Times reports that Toyota’s management refused to listen to concerns over safety and employee fatigue created by a push to lower costs and boost production.
Quality guru W. Edwards Deming notwithstanding, Douglas Mac-
Arthur succeeded in Americanizing Japan beyond anything he, the general, could have imagined or intended.
Paul Ascenzi
Pomona
A few words for Gloria Steinem
Re “The founder,” Opinion, March 6
It’s time for Gloria Steinem to recognize the early stages of her dementia. We’re not living in the 19th century anymore.
Steinem probably hasn’t gotten out much in the real world. If she had, she would realize that women have made great strides in achieving gender equality.
Women can now vote, and they have equal protection in the workplace. Women can even drive cars. By themselves!
Please tell Steinem that women also now command naval ships, hold high positions in government (for example, secretary of State) and run huge corporations (for example, EBay).
Please tell her the ‘60s ended a long time ago. She and her fellow travelers need to think more about where to be buried than the so-called inequalities women today are supposed to be facing.
That stuff might have sounded interesting 50 years ago, but she’s beating a dead horse.
Anthony Montoya
Sunland
Steinem is wrong about the reason “feminist” is a no-go.
The word and the movement have been hijacked by the left, not by the right.
There has been no room in the feminist movement for anyone who deviates from a leftist agenda, particularly on the issue of abortion. Hence, the dismissal of Sarah Palin.
Therese Wolf
Sherman Oaks
Pay cuts and L.A.’s unions
Re “L.A. labor must share in the pain,” Opinion, March 6
Ten percent pay cuts to avoid layoffs or 15% cuts to avoid layoffs and ensure essential city services to the citizens of Los Angeles . . . that’s a bargain in these times.
If city union members cling to every cent of their current wages in the short term, they lose in the long term -- the fellow city workers they have turned out and the respect of the citizenry they serve.
Take the cuts now! Then demand changes to ensure that better fiscal management keeps history from repeating itself.
Richard Hinkle
El Segundo
Though it is correct, and we appreciate the acknowledgment, that labor has played a major role in social progress, Tim Rutten says unions have not stepped up during the current budget crisis. Not so. Delays in processing early retirements were not our fault. Also, all union members are currently taking furloughs. We have already been doing our share to help the budget, including giving up raises.
In the months since the furloughs began, union members are also paying more into their pensions, yet officials are again threatening that we give more to repair the budget, or thousands of our co-workers will be fired. It is hard to believe that the city will remember additional sacrifices.
I hope Rutten understands that we do not think the numbers, or the plan, really add up.
Roy Stone
Los Angeles
The writer is senior librarian, Fairfax branch, and president of the Librarians’ Guild, AFSCME Local 2626.
Rutten opines that city unions must agree to take a pay cut of up to 15%. He brushes aside that for a majority of these employees, losing 15% of their pay is the difference between survival and staring into poverty’s dark abyss.
If allowances must be made, a real “shared sacrifice” would be a tiered, temporary salary displacement adjusted for actual employee salaries.
Asking a union worker to surrender 15% of his pay is the same as asking him to give up the years of collective bargaining raises it took to reach current, still dismal and apparently fleeting pay levels.
Billy Mange
Redlands
Not amused
Re “Italy’s recipe for juicy scandal,” Column One, March 6
The Times delights in the scandal within Italy’s government, depicting it as campy fun. Yet the scandal includes two deaths -- murders, potentially -- and still you describe the series of crimes as “delicious, unseemly decadence.”
Delicious? This insensitivity would never pass editing were one of the victims not transsexual. The article is a clear example of blatant phobia for and marginalization of the transsexual community.
Picture the uproar were The Times to describe any other murder the same way. Because she was transsexual, the victim is treated with no more respect than if your writer were composing a review of a character in a fiction.
The Times owes an apology to readers.
Mike Kerkman
Los Angeles
