LETTERS
It’s a tribute to Jobs
Re “Value of Apple tops $500 billion,” Business, March 1
In the future, the next time a hippie-type guy has an idea about a company, we will probably listen real close to what he has to say. The late Steve Jobs’ company will likely go much higher than half a trillion dollars in value.
Who would have thought 10 years ago that their investments in Apple would increase in value by a whopping 4,500%? It’s really a sad scenario that Jobs, the man most responsible for the success of Apple, is not present to witness this milestone. I call him the iMan, primarily because his inventions made daily living easier.
We may not experience another businessman like Jobs in our lifetime.
Bill Spitalnick
Newport Beach
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Easier access to abortion
Re “Bill aims to boost abortion access,” Feb. 29
Kudos to state Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego), author of a bill to allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurse midwives to perform routine first-trimester abortions. At a time when Republicans are trying to limit abortion and access to birth control, along comes a voice of reason.
No one is thrilled at the idea of needing an abortion, but for many women and under some circumstances, it is a reasonable and perhaps necessary option. Making it more available makes perfectly good sense. I am proud to be a Californian.
Barbara Rosen
Fullerton
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Ana Rodriguez, executive director of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, called early abortions “a safe and legal procedure.” Abortion is absolutely not safe for the new life in the womb.
Also, if something goes wrong with a nurse or midwife performing an abortion and no doctor is accessible -- cited as the reason for allowing non-doctors to perform abortions -- how safe is that?
Kay Baur
Los Angeles
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On freedom of religion
Re “Santorum vs. JFK,” Editorial, Feb. 29
Your editorial makes some good points, but it fails to make a very important one.
There is a huge difference between using religious beliefs in thinking about social issues versus turning your religious beliefs into laws. If you and your religion are against abortion, contraception or gay marriage, then you don’t have to participate in these actions. But to pass laws that forbid everyone else from doing these things is interfering with their religious freedom.
You can speak against these things, but if you pass laws to forbid them, you show that you only care about your own religious freedom.
Wendell Shultz
Arroyo Grande
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If Rick Santorum -- and for that matter, all the others running for president -- took John F. Kennedy’s speech defending the separation of church and state to heart, they would be taken far more seriously.
The words and message of Kennedy’s speech should be added to the oath of office.
Tim Ashford
Lomita
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Paying the price for tax evasion
Re “False tax return brings severe penalty,” Feb. 26
Giving Japanese immigrants Akio and Fukado Kawashima a deportation order more than 20 years after they filed one false tax return, paid the fine and served time in prison is a travesty.
That is made even more glaring in light of Steve Lopez’s shocking column in the same issue reporting that Los Angeles is the second-most-corrupt city in the U.S., with greed and abuse of trust from government to the L.A. Department of Water and Power going on without punishment.
The powerful must be held accountable no less than the vulnerable if our democracy is to stand a chance.
Jack Cooper
Sherman Oaks
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One of the problems that the IRS has is proper reporting of income from cash businesses. These just happen to be businesses that immigrants often participate in.
Deportation of immigrants for underreporting income seems like a legitimate way to enforce tax compliance. After all, there are thousands of honest potential immigrants waiting to come to the United States. Why allow crooked ones to stay?
The Supreme Court decision on deporting non-tax-compliant immigrants should be posted in all immigrant-heavy cities as a reminder that noncitizens who break the law will not be allowed to stay here.
Robert Price
Walnut
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Mail-in ballots
Re “Vote by (slower) mail,” Editorial, Feb. 27
I want to assure California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and all of our customers in California that the vote-by-mail process is very important to the U.S. Postal Service, and we are proud of its popularity as an efficient and effective means for citizens to participate in the voting process. The opportunity for overnight receipt of mail ballots in the local area will be available to the voting public if state and county election officials work with the Postal Service to ensure that first-class mail ballots enter the mail stream on time at our processing plants.
The return time for completed ballots would be two to three days in California.
To prepare for this election season, we are in contact with election officials to make sure the vote-by-mail process goes smoothly.
Eduardo H. Ruiz
Santa Ana
The writer is the U.S. Postal Service’s Santa Ana district manager.
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Saving otters
Re “Record number of sea otter deaths recorded,” Feb. 27
The dramatic rise in shark attacks on sea otters may be a natural occurrence, but policies that restrict sea otters to their narrow range in Central California are not.
The article omits the fact that the sea otter population was already in decline before the spike in shark attacks. The decline can be attributed to disease and pollution, and restricting where sea otters can swim does not help the species. Shark attacks may represent a challenge to sea otter recovery, but we can do our part to give sea otters a chance to survive by freeing them of failed policies and dirty water.
Congress needs to ensure an end of the no-otter zone off the coast of Southern California, and the public needs to work on improving the quality of our urban and agricultural water runoff.
Jason Lutterman
Carmel, Calif.
The writer is a program manager for Friends of the Sea Otter.
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A girl’s death
Re “Haunting questions in girl’s death,” Feb. 28
I am amazed at the language used to describe the events that led up to the death of 10-year-old Joanna Ramos after a school fight.
To refer to the incident as “relatively harmless, even timeless,” trivializes the tragic choice of violence as a solution to the conflict. What in their short lives prompted them to resort to their fists to resolve a problem; what in their home and school environment made that OK? Those are the questions.
To couch the violence that is endemic in our society in language that makes the incident read like a simple hair-pulling is irresponsible.
Hollis Jordan
Toluca Lake
