Letters to the editor: Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith; Gov. Brown signs the Dream Act; Anwar Sadat’s vision

Christians only?

Re “Romney’s faith back in spotlight,” Oct. 9

So, according to Texas pastor Robert Jeffress, the next president should be of a “sincere, authentic, genuine Christian faith.” I always thought one’s choice for president should be based on a candidate’s policies, intelligence, ethics and integrity.

The president governs a nation that includes, as well as evangelicals, mainline Christians, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, agnostics, atheists and many others. Why must the president, then, be someone of a “genuine Christian faith”?

Last I heard, we still have a constitutional mandate for separation of church and state. I want the next president to be genuinely good; perhaps, that goodness will be informed by faith. But I don’t believe a religious test is any guarantee of competence, and I am positive it is not constitutional.

Bonnie Ross

Sherman Oaks

So Christianity is an established religion but Mormonism is a cult because the folks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that there was a new revelation from God. But the Christians who said the same thing and abandoned (and condemned) Judaism are not part of a cult?

Oh, I see: I missed the part of Christian teachings that emphasize the need for hypocrisy.

George Johansen

San Francisco

What Jobs meant to the tech world

Re “Techies ponder a world without Jobs,” Business, Oct. 8

Of course Steve Jobs was a genius. But the next genius is among us. Maybe he’s in college, maybe in high school, but he’s there. He’s a young visionary, already seeing the products and devices we want in the future and learning how to create and implement them.

I’ve believed this ever since I saw Dick Tracy’s wristwatch communicator in the comics 60 years ago. Imagine!

Dave Lavezzi

Burbank

In the well-deserved eulogies for Jobs, one item is rarely mentioned: his salary of $1 per year.

In this era of corporate boards justifying outrageous compensation for their executives by claiming “that’s what it takes to attract top talent,” at least one example indicates otherwise. Jobs lived off the quality of the products he built, not off the involuntary largesse of shareholders.

It’s time for corporate America to look to Apple for lessons that go beyond how to use your iPhone.

Roger Bourke

Alta, Utah

The Dream Act becomes law

Re “Brown signs California Dream Act funding bill,” Oct. 9

So I guess we Californians can collectively breathe a sigh of relief now that all of our state’s economic woes are a thing of the past. How else can anyone explain Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of the second part of the Dream Act, which will allow illegal residents the chance to receive state financial aid for college? No rational person would offer free money when he’s penniless to people who have already played the system.

Illegal residents can now obtain all this subsidized education despite the fact that when they graduate, they will not be able to work in this country legally. Maybe I need to go back to school because I can’t figure out how this makes sense.

Scott Brownchweig

Playa del Rey

Not long after signing a bill that awards California’s electoral votes to the candidate who may not have won a majority of California’s popular vote, Brown has now chosen to permit state education cash grants to go to, for all intents and purposes, citizens of other countries.

With these two recent acts, I see the value of my citizenship (and California residency) quickly eroding. Jury duty seems to be the only citizen “benefit” left.

Kyle J. Kersten

Hollywood

As a conservative, I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Brown’s signing of the Dream Act.

Giving illegal immigrant students access to California schools and financial help should educate them to help themselves to a much better life. It may even make conservatives out of them!

Dick Ettington

Palos Verdes Peninsula

Health insurance requirement

Re “An odious mandate?,” Opinion, Oct. 7

William D. Leach confuses good ideas with what the government thinks are good ideas — and the fact it will punish you if you do not agree with it.

Using Leach’s examples, yes, getting solar energy panels or buying a hybrid vehicle are probably good ideas. However, if you choose not to purchase these items, the government will not confiscate 2.5% of your income, as it will with the insurance mandate.

A better idea would be to pass a law that would allow hospitals not to treat you if you cannot prove financially capable of taking care of your bill. A facility would have the choice in the matter, just as an individual would have a choice not to buy health insurance.

James Fryman

Crestline, Calif.

I see nothing wrong with requiring everyone to carry health insurance. We all must have auto insurance. Part of my annual premium covers uninsured motorists. I also live in a FEMA-designated flood zone and am required to pay flood insurance.

Those who do not have insurance raise the cost of insurance. When the uninsured get sick, they go to emergency rooms for free healthcare. Why are people so averse to making sure everyone pays their share for healthcare? Like auto insurance, if we all pay into the system, everyone’s cost goes down.

For those who shout “socialized medicine,” I say get a grip. The time has come to take a bold step into the 21st century and leave old fears behind.

Karen Hamstrom

Huntington Beach

Hot time

Re “New fire chief has racy photos too,” Oct. 8

How can we expect our city to run efficiently when the department heads are wasting time on idiotic nonissues like the racy photos taken 13 years ago of Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Brian Cummings? I don’t want a $260,000-a-year employee scraping gum off the sidewalk in some harebrained, preemptive mea culpa.

Not to mention, no doubt, the thousands of man hours that the department’s new code of conduct will eat away being drafted, redrafted, re-redrafted, printed, faxed, sent to legal, debated, voted on and voted against, re-re-redrafted, sent again to legal and then finally signed by every Fire Department employee after meetings explaining the policy.

Alan Shaeffer

Los Angeles

Sadat’s view

Re “His vision for Egypt,” Opinion, Oct. 6

Scott MacLeod doesn’t answer the question that’s probably unanswerable: Did Egyptian President Anwar Sadat make peace with Israel because he truly saw the light in welcoming the Jews back to their ancestral home (idealism), or did he think doing so was the only way he was going to get back the Sinai Peninsula, which Egypt lost in a war in which it sought to destroy Israel (realpolitik)?

The bigger question now for Egypt: If anti-Israel sentiment continues to build to the point where Egypt rips up its peace treaty with Israel, does Israel get the Sinai back? After all, it was a land-for-peace deal, and if Egypt reneges on the peace, shouldn’t Israel get the land back? Fair is fair.

Joseph Gold

Redondo Beach

Save the sharks

Re “Restaurant owners object to law banning shark fin sales,” Oct. 10

Don’t Chinese American restaurateurs realize there is a finite number of sharks in the ocean, and if they continue killing them at the current rate, they will end their own tradition because of the massive numbers of sharks killed each year?

Gail Noon

San Pedro