The U.S. role in Mexico’s drug war; the debate over Proposition 23; Meghan Daum’s take on a new preppy handbook

Needles and guns

Re “U.S. takes an urgent tone on Mexico,” Sept. 9, and “Where’s the outrage?,” Column, Sept. 9

After reading your excellent recent articles about the terrible cost of Mexico’s drug war, I’m baffled by an omission.

Where is the analysis of the huge role that U.S. drug policy plays in the carnage? Mexican government spokesman Alejandro Poire puts it in a nutshell when he says, “Perhaps the most important similarity …[between what Columbia faced and Mexico now faces] is the extent to which organized crime and narcotics trafficking organizations in both countries are fed by the enormous and gigantic U.S. demand for drugs.”

Maybe instead of funding another war in Mexico, we should rethink our drug policy here at home. If half the money now being spent on enforcement went into treatment, afterschool programs and other research-

based policy that would cut demand, maybe we could save ourselves as well as Mexico.

Laurel Gord

Venice

Though it may be politically impractical, it is time to abandon the failed policies of the “war on drugs.” No matter how many billions are spent, the flow of drugs into the U.S. continues unabated.

When will our leaders have the courage, and the will, to bring about the legalization, strict regulation and heavy taxation of all drugs?

Isn’t it time we face our puritanical fear and admit we have a problem?

Brock Walsh

Santa Monica

I rarely agree with anything Hector Tobar says. However, I found his indictment of the “muted expressions of outrage” from the immigrants rights folks in the U.S. spot on.

Immigration reform and border security are, indeed, in need of overhaul. But, we must keep our eye on the reason so many are risking it all to come here. Kudos to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for putting a spotlight on this violence.

I say, let’s all step up to help Mexico rid itself of this plague. The sooner we do, the sooner we can solve “our” illegal immigration problems.

Randy Morris

Hemet

One thing I have not read a lot about is the fact that the drug cartels are as rich, powerful and well-armed as they are because of the ready market here for their illegal drugs.

There needs to be a very loud and very ubiquitous campaign putting great emphasis on the fact that every U.S. resident who buys and uses illegal drugs — no matter how rich and famous — is complicit.

Gregg White

Los Angeles

Hurrah, Hector Tobar, for writing about the 72 migrants massacred, Al Capone-era style — lined up against an abandoned warehouse wall — on a ranch in northern Mexico.

The lack of outrage and the silence of immigrants’ advocates here is deafening, as Tobar writes, because it will rob them of their moral authority when they confront the U.S.

Rogelio Peña

Montebello

Worked up about global warming

Re “Big Oil’s Prop. 23 should fail,” Column, Sept. 5

In the column, it says that “a pair of bills that would have required California to continue weaning itself from highly polluting energy sources went down in flames, thanks in part to the muscle of Pacific Gas & Electric.”

How does “muscle” used behind the scenes work? I’d like to know. Is payola used? Are there bribes made? Threats made? Dirty pictures made public? Will affairs be made public?

I and so many others want to know how lobbyists do their work. And then we really want to know how to put a stop to this kind of politics as usual. It stinks.

Jo Carol Hunter

Newport Beach

Is Steve Lopez the “czar” of California’s labor force? He justifies the loss of existing jobs due to

AB 32 — the state’s climate change law — on the hope that theories about the human impact on global warming will forever be an end-all-be-all scientific fact.

Here’s a fact: People eat. AB 32 will drive up the already high costs of agriculture in California, making it increasingly difficult for our farmers to feed California and the world. AB 32 dismisses these jobs and their economic activity for the sake of a “green” economy. Not only are farmers affected but also companies that make dairy products and truckers that haul these products to market. With such high unemployment here, is Lopez really proposing we sacrifice these jobs?

As the saying goes: A recession is when your neighbor is jobless; a depression is when you are. Perhaps his opinion would change if his job were on the chopping block.

Rob Vandenheuvel

Ontario

The writer is the general manager of the Milk Producers Council.

I’m opposed to Proposition 23 and am a “tea party” enthusiast who opposes legal corruption. And that is what Proposition 23 is — companies attempting to alter our Constitution for the sake of their profits.

I do wish The Times would halt the name-calling against tea party activists who are opposed to fraud.

Amy Madsen

Los Altos

Bay Area blast

Re “Gas blast razes Bay Area homes,” Sept. 10

What a tragic event. Our hearts go out to all the people of San Bruno and their families over this inferno.

Our hearts do not go out to the billionaire sponsors of Proposition 23. It appears that our gas and oil industries need more inspections and regulations, not fewer.

Bonnie Hanson

Santa Ana

Health funding would pay off

Re “Health dollars and sense,” Editorial, Sept. 7

Your editorial states that “there’s a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul aspect” to a campaign by Congress to urge President Obama to double the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund because such a contribution “would mean severe cuts” to other successful programs.

But this need not be the case. Rather than argue over which diseases or programs to fund, we should recognize that a fully funded President’s Global Health Initiative, which includes meeting our commitments to the Global Fund and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, benefits people first, but also advances a range of foreign policy, security, and economic and development interests.

We could and should fully fund all aspects of the initiative to see a return on our investment in national and global security that U.S. leadership would provide, particularly because, as your editorial recognizes, contributions to the Global Fund have a leveraging effect on other countries.

Kevin Robert Frost

New York

The writer is CEO of amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research.

Old-school style

Re “A preppy guide for hard times,” Opinion, Sept. 9

Maybe it’s that I’m a good 10 years older than Meghan Daum; maybe it was my working-class, Depression/WWII-era parents; maybe it’s that as a former literature major whose education was paid for by a nation that then still believed democracy and education were necessary, maybe it’s all those things that make me believe that Daum has inexplicably grown delusional.

Tongue in cheek or not, entitlement should never be equated with self-

respect. So-called prep school decency has always been based on inequity and elitism.

I’m thankful my parents enticed me with Grimm’s Fairy Tales from the get-go. In disguised simplicity, those stories entertainingly illustrated the capriciousness of inequity and entitlement. And I can find no better or more timeless reminder about living decently in trying times.

Denise Clary

Culver City