Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII; the climate change debate; Donald Trump’s political ambitions

Wallis and Edward

Re “No love for this romance,” Column One, April 26

It’s too bad that British widow Jean Jones — who, regarding the Wallis Simpson-Edward VIII marriage, thinks that most Americans “romanticize the whole thing” — hasn’t talked to typical Americans.

Even today, but especially so in 1936, most Americans value honor and loyalty to duty over the pursuit of personal happiness. We work at mundane jobs and stay in somewhat unfulfilling relationships because of commitment and responsibility.

It’s a myth to think that the American public of 1936 approved of the royal abdication. Most older Americans know of people in their communities who were ostracized in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s because they got a divorce. The people in those communities certainly didn’t romanticize the idea of divorce and remarriage.

Sarah E. Adams

Rancho Palos Verdes

I read with interest the continued resentment many Britons feel toward Simpson for robbing them of their king.

In reality, they should thank her, as this was truly divine intervention. This abdication saved England from a monarch who was a Nazi sympathizer.

Leslie Emer

Los Angeles

Climate science and its doubters

Re “Cooling on global warming,” Opinion, April 26

Jonah Goldberg writes that “climate change is dead as a major political issue for the foreseeable future.” This may be true, but it does not alter the basic science unequivocally stated recently by the National Academy of Sciences: “Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities and poses significant risks for — and in many cases is already affecting — a broad range of human and natural systems.”

Major insurance underwriters, the U.S. military and many large U.S. corporations recognize this. While the Chinese are devoting enormous resources to take advantage of the economic opportunities in alternative energy sources, Congress cuts programs that could keep us competitive.

Conservatives should play a constructive role in formulating policies to deal with climate change, but they cannot do this by denying scientific reality.

Ray Weymann

Atascadero, Calif.

Goldberg claims that climate refugees are “nowhere to be found.” I wonder how hard he looked.

Millions are homeless because of environmental disasters. Perhaps Goldberg has heard of Hurricane Katrina, which drove a quarter of New Orleans’ population permanently out of the city?

Was the 50 million estimate too high? Sure. But it is better to overestimate and take extra precautions.

For the millions of people with limited resources and little political power, the question has an obvious answer: act. Goldberg appears to be too busy gloating over a political coup to worry about that.

Daniel Brezenoff

Long Beach

Science-deniers are impervious to empirical evidence that threatens the certainty of their cause.

Mother Nature doesn’t give a damn. She will continue her inexorable march toward the destination of her choosing, and what’s left in her wake will be completely bipartisan.

Alan Shapiro

Pasadena

It’s fair to say President Obama has caved in to political pressures. But climate change is still an issue, at least in the scientific community. Let us not forget that people died in recent heat waves in Paris and Moscow, of all places.

Tim Swanson

Torrance

Focus on teachers

Re “Save our teachers — please,” Column, April 27

Thank you, Steve Lopez, for keeping this crucial issue before the public. As a high school English teacher who began teaching in the 1960s, I retired

10 years ago after witnessing the slide into the budget cuts and chaos that Lopez describes.

I and most of my colleagues, like James Yi, loved teaching. To lay off young, dedicated and energetic teachers like Yi is shameful when there are other ways to balance the budget.

Gretchen Clark

Los Angeles

I had to laugh at Lopez’s nomination of Yi to education sainthood when I read at the end that he “is one year away from an education doctorate” and “wants to be a principal.” In other words, he loves teaching so much he can’t wait to get out of the classroom. Administration is where the money and job security is.

Me? I’m just a 25-year veteran teacher who never once thought of being an administrator, but who gets ripped by Lopez’s innuendo that I’m one of those responsible for “tossing [Yi] onto the teacher scrap heap.” What a world.

Robert Robak

Burbank

He refused to recuse

Re “Who’s fit to judge?” Editorial, April 27

Obviously you, like the other opponents of Proposition 8, are missing the point. U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker should have recused himself because gay judges in same-sex relationships cannot help but be biased toward the rights of gay people.

Only normal judges, with normal marriages and normal families, would be able to be unbiased. A normal person would have upheld Proposition 8.

Or something like that.

Susan Buckner

Seal Beach

I don’t know who would have been the best judge in this case, but Walker should have recused himself. He stood to personally gain by making his same-sex relationship eligible for marriage. A married judge may be presumed to have had a bias but would not gain anything by his decision either way.

This should be sent to the Supreme Court, where the decision would be final for all states.

Lawrence Nowak

Torrance

Mr. Trump, meet reality

Re “Trump’s momentum gets a boost in N.H.,” April 28

One big consideration for Donald Trump in deciding whether to run is giving up a TV career that brings him “a lot of money and a lot of prestige and a lot of power.”

I learned in school that the role of the politician was to be a public servant. The greatest ones seem to always be those who have a desire to serve the American people. We go to the polls hoping to elect such individuals. Of course, many turn out to be driven more by power than moral obligation.

Some people seem to appreciate that Trump is not afraid to speak his mind and call a spade a spade. He’s made his priorities clear to everyone.

News flash, Donald: This is the presidency of the United States, not another reality show.

Joel Wachbrit

Burbank

The subhead for this article reads, “His outspokenness and business savvy win the support of some voters.” This leads me to believe that outspokenness now means brainless spouting of drivel to get undeserved attention, and that business savvy means knowing how to lose money running casinos and surviving bankruptcies.

So what do people see in Trump? The behavior of Moammar Kadafi and the ability to oversee the bankruptcy of the U.S.?

Jim Hayes

Santa Monica

Working stiff

Re “Thank you, Standard & Poor’s,” Opinion, April 26

By whining about inflation where there is none, while unemployment is 8% or so and underemployment is certainly higher, Michael Kinsley neatly illustrates all that is wrong with modern political thought.

Kinsley has a job, and it probably pays pretty well. So for him, inflation is bad. But we desperately need to get the people who are not Kinsley back to work, and the way to do that is not to tighten our money supply.

One of the quickest ways to reduce the deficit is to have more Americans working and paying taxes. Supply-side economics hasn’t accomplished this. Austerity budgets don’t work either, as Chile has demonstrated in the last decade and as Britain is demonstrating now.

But because monetary policy is determined by rich bankers and comfortable columnists, what we need and what we are likely to get are two very different things.

Craig Zerouni

Los Angeles