Protests in Syria; debating U.S. policy in the Middle East; California’s financially strapped community colleges Letters to the editor

Assad’s curse

Re “Assad pledges ‘iron fist’ for opponents,” Jan. 11

It is the means by which leaders manage the opposition that reveal their character.

When countless thousands of your subjects want you out — are willing even to die for this, and do — it’s not a conspiracy; it’s time to step aside. Syrian President Bashar Assad ignores this plea and kills those who disagree with him — not because he doesn’t understand this basic maxim but because he is a tyrant.

But with every killing, he gives birth to a martyr, fostering, encouraging and strengthening resolve — in a war against himself. We remember the Alamo; he should remember Kadafi.

Michael E. White

Burbank

Other views of the Middle East

Re “MIA in the Middle East,” Opinion, Jan. 9

I gather John Hannah wants the U.S. to do more in the Middle East. However, we are neglecting the needs of our own nation.

A foreign policy that protects the Middle East “gas station” is not in our best interest if it continues to cause us to inadequately address such major problems as the national debt, homelessness, jobs, greenhouse gases and environmental destruction.

Our nation left the rails when President Reagan ripped out the White House solar panels that President Carter installed. Until Hannah and others find the mind to put the train back on the track, our future is imperiled.

Stephen V. Hymowitz

Los Angeles

Hannah’s piece is a good example of what is wrong with neoconservative foreign policy: It has a simplistic, Manichean view of the world. It sees the solution to almost every problem as the application of U.S. military force.

It overestimates the effectiveness of military force and discounts diplomacy and other forms of “soft power.” It is unconcerned with local conditions, often putting the U.S. on the wrong side of local opinion. It doesn’t take into account the cost to the U.S. economy of its application. It knows no limits.

In short, it is an unrealistic policy that history has shown to be ineffective.

Gary Page

Hemet

A “benevolent imperium”? Hosni Mubarak our “most important Arab partner”? The author, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies? I think Hannah drank from the Orwellian trough, whose main ingredients are based on the formula that “war is peace and peace is war.”

By backing the Arab people rather than their autocratic monarchies, President Obama has demonstrated a mettle that conservative Republicans can only critique and never emulate.

Marc Rogers

Sherman Oaks

Housing first

Re “Ill convicts test county resources,” Jan. 9

As a sober housing provider, I can tell you that Los Angeles County lacks the resources to handle the influx of mentally ill ex-convicts.

The county Department of Mental Health understands the crisis and needs additional resources to stabilize this vulnerable population. The county offers no housing assistance for mentally ill probationers.

To make matters worse, the city of L.A. is pushing an ordinance that would require buildings housing more than two unrelated ex-felons under supervision to obtain a conditional use permit, and such permits would not be allowed for single-family homes.

Housing is the key missing element in Gov. Jerry Brown’s realignment plan. Sober living homes fill the gap. Making these resources illegal will ensure realignment’s failure in

Los Angeles.

Paul Dumont

North Hills

Learning never stops

Re “Community college makeover,” Editorial, Jan. 8

As part of the community college budget cutbacks, you support plans to restrict access to seniors and other adults. You overlook the fact that continued education provides a lifeline to high-quality living for seniors, and you overlook the alternative costs to taxpayers for accelerated care that might otherwise be required.

Many retirees are dependent on Social Security or small pensions and savings and cannot afford expensive adult programs. Classes in everything from yoga to writing allow these people to continue to live healthy lives.

We cannot afford not to enhance the lives of our seniors. Perhaps they should be a priority rather than the other way around.

David Landy

Los Angeles

The concern that community colleges will become certification posts is already reality in North Carolina. The state is paying about $1 million to help nearly 400 workers develop skills specifically geared to the needs of Caterpillar Inc., which has invested $426 million in a new factory there.

Because the training is for the benefit of Caterpillar alone, the debate is whether the company should pay the entire bill. But it also involves questions about the interests of workers who are often left with a set of narrow skills that do not help them find new jobs.

Although training and education take place in community colleges, they have different purposes. The former deals with techniques, while the latter deals with concepts. Confusing the two is a disservice to students.

Walt Gardner

Los Angeles

The writer is the author of Education Week’s Reality Check blog.

Both my daughter and I graduated from UCLA law school, a fine academic institution. But “the times they are a-changin’.”

Instead of restricting enrollment at community colleges, why not encourage greater enrollment by allowing them to issue bachelor’s degrees? Why not divert funding from the elite UC system to the pedestrian community college system?

Robert Y. Nakagawa

Los Angeles

For Head Start

Re “Funding for local Head Starts at risk,” Jan. 10

This article mentions a 2010 federal study showing that “children in Head Start improve their language and literacy skills but that many of the gains disappear by the end of first grade.”

I worked for a Head Start regional office for eight years after the inception of the program. The implication of this oft-cited claim is that these results suggest some failing on the part of Head Start.

Wouldn’t it be appropriate to ask what is wrong with elementary schools that they are unable to sustain the gains made by children in this program?

Despite such initial setbacks, however, it should be noted that reliable studies have found favorable long-term effects on grade repetition, special education and high school graduation rates for Head Start children. Somehow, these findings rarely make it into the articles about this excellent program.

Sarah Edwards

Pine Mountain Club, Calif.

Addicted to oil

Re “Ignoring Deepwater,” Opinion, Jan. 10

In the last few days The Times has carried stories about riots in Nigeria over an end to subsidies that have kept gasoline prices artificially low there.

I wonder whether Americans would also riot if the artificially low price of gasoline that we take for granted were suddenly raised to reflect its true cost? The pump price of oil does not include numerous external costs including health issues, military protection of access to oil and deadly oil spills.

The latter was addressed in Richard G. Steiner’s Op-Ed piece, which details how American addiction to low-price gasoline has caused the Obama administration to pursue expansion of offshore drilling.

Such expansion ignores the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention other recent spills.

Benjamin Zuckerman

Los Angeles