Future prospects

Re “Terminated? Not likely,” May 18

The end of the road for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Not likely. He will probably go down in the history books with the likes of Bill Clinton, Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. Just look at former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer; he got caught in a prostitution ring, and now he has his own show on CNN.

The American public can sometimes be too tolerant of sex scandals, immediately placing celebrities on a pedestal where they don’t belong.

Instead of expecting Schwarzenegger to apologize to Californians, we should ignore his future endeavors in film, politics, green energy or whatever. He is human, but his status does not entitle him to get out of this predicament easily.

Daniel Wirtz

La Habra Heights

As painful and difficult a situation as Maria Shriver finds herself in right now, she stood proudly by her husband’s side when he ran for governor while women bravely came forward to reveal Schwarzenegger’s unwanted attentions. These women took great risks by speaking out, and they were ignored.

I’m sure Schwarzenegger will continue to make lots of money and behave badly. Such are the privileges of stardom.

Lisa Blok-Linson

Los Angeles

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Should we fear Sharia?

Re “The Sharia paranoia,” Editorial, May 16

It is strange that the conservative forces behind the drive to make us fear Sharia are the same ones that are trying to impose their Christian version here (anti-gay rights, anti-

abortion, abstinence-only education and so on).

Some conservative Christians still make women second-class citizens, and we just had a conservative newspaper in Israel delete Hillary Rodham Clinton’s image from the picture of Obama administration officials in the Situation Room during the Osama bin Laden raid, as it offended its view of a woman’s role.

Ignorance and hatred, not God, are the driving forces here.

Terrell Roberts

Northridge

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The Times ignores well-known facts in trying to minimizing concerns about aggressive Islamists. The well-advertised beliefs of the Muslim Brotherhood and its satellite organizations, whose members helped start several organizations in the U.S., call for the creation of an international caliphate and the institution of Sharia.

Events in Europe should provide data for those willing to look. The anti-Sharia statutes may be ill-advised, but they reflect a genuine concern, not paranoia.

Barry F. Chaitin

Newport Beach

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But parks are such nice places

Re “How do you close a park?” Editorial, May 17

You state: “Californians cannot expect state parks ... to be spared from the budget ax.” Why not?

State parks provide all Californians with benefits far out of proportion to what they cost. They provide most of the available access to our coast, protect the tallest trees in the world, contain historically significant sites and provide open space. The measurable value alone -- dollars received by local communities from state park visitors -- is reason enough to keep them open.

What is probably not measurable, but is of far greater monetary value, is the parks’ role in attracting and retaining a skilled and educated workforce. People who are attracted to outdoor recreation visit or move to California to some degree because of the largest state park system in the country.

Because spending on state parks amounts to a tiny percentage of the total budget, closing them is an extreme example of being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Pete Aniello

Redlands

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Gov. Jerry Brown wants to close 70 state parks to help balance the state budget. This is the same old recycled plan that helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger extremely unpopular.

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has introduced AB 1130, a measure that would raise taxes by just 1% on taxable income over $500,000. Skinner says her bill would raise more than $2 billion.

Why not raise taxes on the wealthiest residents instead of closing state parks that belong to us working Californians? And here’s another idea: Chevron could kick in a couple of billion from its huge profits. After all, what does Chevron do for our state or our planet?

Linda Rollins

Oakland

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Medicare is really sick

Re “Fix them soon, or pay later,” Editorial, May 14

The Times understates how terrible Medicare’s financial situation is. The actuarial projections are based on unrealistic reductions in what Medicare pays for services.

The appendix to the Medicare trustees’ report cites numerous reasons, including a 29.4% reduction in physician fees scheduled for 2012 and projected reductions for a wide range of medical services that are unrealistic.

The appendix goes on: “The financial projections shown in this report for Medicare do not represent a reasonable expectation for actual program operations in either the short range (as a result of the unsustainable reductions in physician payment rates) or the long range (because of the strong likelihood that the statutory reductions in price updates for most categories of Medicare provider services will not be viable).”

I agree that the problem must be faced. Sadly, the much-politicized healthcare debate over the last two years appears to have done little to help.

George Arias

Calabasas

Fixing the current Medicare and Social Security systems is not the same as gutting these programs, as the Republican plans would do.

Handing Medicare over to the profiteering health insurance industry and turning Social Security into private accounts is not an equitable solution. The people are clear: We do not want to see these social programs destroyed.

There are solutions, but the Republicans need to stop pushing their regressive dogma and work with the Democrats to fix the problem.

Ted Foster

Venice

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Not a cure

Re “Gov. seeks mental hospital changes,” May 17

This article reflects the very seriously unsustainable position of California’s mental health system. Hospitalized psychiatric patients do not need or respond to policing. What they need are well-trained physicians, nurses and technicians. From the problems reported, the state hospitals have an inadequate supply of exactly that. More security overseen by a new government agency won’t help.

California’s mental patients need more and better doctors, not tighter security.

George Kalman, MD

Los Angeles

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Man’s best friend

Re “Dogs of war,” Editorial, May 16

You state: “Dogs have been rescuing us from calamities for centuries.” It is important to note that many of these calamities are entirely man-made.

Dogs do not act as suicide bombers or violent criminals. And as far as I know, none of the dogs that died in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty. We have decided that we have the right to use them as we see fit, and they have responded with unwavering devotion.

For this we owe

them not a tribute but an apology.

Susan Murray

Oak Park

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Traffic pattern

Re “Skyscrapers planned for Hollywood,” Business, May 14

Glaringly missing from the utopian computer picture of the proposed development adjacent to the Capitol Records building in Hollywood is the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Who could not smile and support this development as presented?

Then again, this is typical of developers hoping to gain approval from L.A. city government.

Steven R. Odell

Huntington Beach