Letters to the editor: The death of Steve Jobs; the Keystone XL pipeline debate; L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca visits the jails

Oil and money

Re “Proposed oil pipeline draws deep divisions,” Oct. 3

Your Oct. 3 front page had an image of someone holding a sign touting jobs from the Keystone XL pipeline. Look at all the jobs the Fukushima nuclear power plant created!

A Keystone pipeline in Nebraska leaked 21,000 gallons as recently as May. The tar sand oil the pipeline would carry would be shipped to an international terminal in Texas; most of this would not be oil for America.

Those who think this carbon bomb has positive value for our country are very confused. The potential for disaster is great, and you can ask the people in Alaska and on the Gulf Coast how the oil companies operate when disaster strikes. They will spend much of their money on attorneys. I guess you can count those as jobs created by the pipeline.

Randy Zaucha

Newport Beach

The legacy of Steve Jobs

Re “A tech visionary,” Obituary, Oct. 6

It was no coincidence that during a TV news broadcast Wednesday night from the Occupy Wall Street site in New York, a major topic of discussion was Steve Jobs. Without all of the technological innovations by Jobs and Apple, the growing peaceful protests there and elsewhere would not be the big story they have become.

Activists against the Vietnam War had to print fliers and hand them out on street corners or try desperately to get media attention using colorful antics. What took years for the Vietnam War protesters to build has been done in a matter of weeks by the anti-corporate-greed activists of today.

Jobs’ technological gifts have made it possible to speak to each other freely, clearly and in real time, without the filter of the media and the distortions by powerful interests.

Doug Weiskopf

Burbank

How do I thank Jobs? In the year that I have owned an iPad, I have devoured 13 books. Left to my own “devices,” I would have done well to read maybe three.

Jobs’ vision and products have improved the quality of my life, and I am grateful.

Saul Saladow

Los Angeles

I have experienced some wondrous things in my life: the Beatles, the moon landing, an African American president and Steve Jobs.

What a tremendous loss. iMourn.

Teresa Pietrasanta

Oak Park

Penn Jillette’s magic act

Re “Politics and the bugnut Christians,” Opinion, Oct. 2

Penn Jillette uses sleight of hand to conclude that “nonbelievers” are close to being a dominant religion in the U.S. “if you start breaking Christians up into their smaller groups.” Why break Christians into smaller groups?

Jillette states that atheists and agnostics are “growing way fast.” Robert Putnam and David Campbell write in their book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” that “self-identified atheists and agnostics comprise a vanishingly small proportion of the U.S. population.” Jillette lumps in religiously unaffiliated Americans with nonbelievers, but Putnam and Campbell point out that “few of them claim to be atheists or agnostics. Indeed, most of them express some belief in God and even in the afterlife, and many of them say that religion is important in their lives”

Deceiving audiences may be good for magic, but it doesn’t help rational civic discourse.

Dave Neumann

Long Beach

Jillette doesn’t really explain why politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry say such crazy things in the name of Christianity. I have an answer for him: They are what I call CINOs, or Christians In Name Only.

What they are most like are the Pharisees: holy on the outside but filled with hypocrisy. They make a big show about professing their Christianity, but really each of them only has the singular goal of getting elected.

It’s time for one of those candidates to look at the example set by John F. Kennedy and clearly state a belief that the separation of church and state is absolute under our Constitution. Then he or she needs to stop talking about what God thinks and step forward and propose viable ways to resolve our problems.

Charlotte Costello

Fountain Valley

Fighting crime

Re “LAPD shifts 150 cops for prison plan,” Oct. 4

The ripple effect for Los Angeles caused by the release of inmates from state prisons is even more serious than represented in this article.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has drastically reduced staffing in its criminal division. Despite the adverse circumstances, deputy city attorneys have been doing their best to continue carrying their heavy criminal caseload. Because 70% of the Los Angeles Police Department’s caseload is handled by the city attorney’s office, an increase in crimes in the city may very well tip the bucket, which is already close to overflowing.

City leaders need to be reminded that to adequately address crimes, the justice system requires all of its component parts to work. Unless courts are adequately staffed and prosecutors are given the necessary support, any time and resources spent by the LAPD will not be adequate to meet the public safety needs of this city.

Howard M. Fuchs

Granada Hills

The writer is a deputy city attorney.

Bank blues

Re “Getting a mortgage workout shouldn’t be this exhausting,” Column, Oct. 4

The injustice exemplified by Wells Fargo’s treatment of Jackie Durra and her husband, Pedro Balladares, is beyond shocking, but it’s just standard operating procedure for the banks.

Whether it’s reneging on automatic transfer policies, tacking “use” surcharges onto ATMs or stonewalling a couple struggling to make their mortgage payments and threatening to foreclose on them, there is no courtesy given by the banks to their customers.

In a broader view, it explains why the U.S. economy is tanking. It appears that the pigs are running the farm.

Richard Rothschild

Los Angeles

Bravo, Baca

Re “Baca visits jail to hear inmates’ woes,” Oct. 2

You’ve got to love the way L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca takes ownership of his organization. It would be easy for him to adopt a head-in-the-sand approach, which many officials do.

Baca took time to actually speak to the inmates. He invited his staff and demanded that they take notes. I truly believe the sheriff wants things to get better in the jails.

I can only imagine how the deputies who work there felt knowing that the boss came down to hear their comments and listen to the inmates’ grievances. Baca’s actions will encourage his deputies to do better.

Andre Leonard

Marina del Rey

Know Newton

Re “Colliding theories,” Opinion, Oct. 4

Lawrence Krauss’ excellent Op-Ed piece contains a message (how science works) that should be broadcast regularly. The downside was the title.

Nothing has raised a credible challenge to relativity in the last century. The reader who simply scans headlines receives a different message.

One day relativity will be shown to be a special case of a more overarching theory, just as Newton’s laws are now known to be special cases of relativity. Not wrong, just special cases.

Newton’s simple and straightforward formulation has worked very well in guiding spacecraft.

Stanley A. White

San Clemente

The writer is Orange County chapter president for Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.