Newt Gingrich’s win in the South Carolina GOP primary; controversy over the Lap-Band; debating marriage in today’s society

That guy Gingrich

Re “Gingrich wins big in S. Carolina,” Jan. 22

Will the Republican Party, the so-called family values party, really offer up Newt Gingrich as its standard-

bearer?

Gingrich condemned President Clinton for his indiscretions while at the same time he was taking a parallel path. He denies his ex-wife’s claim that he wanted an open marriage. He committed numerous ethics violations as speaker of the House.

And this is the man Republicans in South Carolina voted for? Will the GOP really ask Gingrich to guide them and lead our country?

Paul McElroy

Laguna Woods

The Republican Party, at least in South Carolina, is quite perplexing. More than 60% of the voters identified themselves as evangelical Christians and questioned Mitt Romney’s candidacy because he is a Mormon. Yet these same Christian conservatives, who promote a faith-and-family message, voted for Gingrich, who has been married three times. Go figure!

It is no wonder that President Obama, in spite of his track record, still has a viable chance of reelection.

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

Romney’s “not insane” campaign lost South Carolina to arguably the least insane of his opponents.

Romney’s qualifications are his curse. He is a reasonable person who knows how to make rational administrative decisions, not very exciting for the base.

Romney’s attempts at fire-bombing rhetoric are timid and not heartfelt, which to a rational person might be a plus. Not so for the base.

Jim Ketcham

Malibu

Re “Gingrich rips into media, then his rivals,” Jan. 20

The glib Gingrich is a master of the fallacious ad hominem technique of guilt by association. When debate moderator John King queried Gingrich about his alleged request for an open marriage with his second wife, Gingrich replied, in part, “Every person in here knows personal pain.”

Gingrich, the alleged perpetrator of the personal pain that he alluded to, was able to associate himself with the recipients of that pain. He then stood vindicated before the applauding, partisan audience, who took him to be,

somehow, innocent by association.

Darrell Manderscheid

Fountain Valley

Life-or-death surgical choices

Re “Lap-Band probe urged in Congress,” Business, Jan. 21, and “Lap-Band suit alleges dire errors,” Business, Jan. 18

There’s no doubt that an investigation of Lap-Band marketing by specific organizations and patient deaths is warranted.

My point is simple: Lap-Band surgery performed in a certified facility by a skilled surgeon is a life-saving procedure. My surgery was.

The risks of remaining morbidly obese outweighed surgical risks. I have lost 250 pounds and have reclaimed my health.

When the health benefits of having weight-loss surgery outweigh the risks of the surgery, we need to choose wisely when selecting a surgeon and facility. Personally, my choice was more about skill and outcomes than it was about finding surgery at the lowest cost.

Sandi Henderson

Oxnard

As 1-800-Get-THIN continues its disreputable business with billboards promising the impossible and caveats in unreadable fine print, what a joy it is to hear about Dyanne Deuel and Karla Osorio, two former employees who exposed surgical practices in the death of patient Paula Rojeski.

I only hope Deuel’s and Osorio’s example will make a few more putative patients think twice about the “easy” weight-loss methods those billboards sell.

Spencer Grant

Laguna Niguel

Love, marriage and statistics

Re “Saying ‘I don’t,’ ” Opinion, Jan. 19

Even though I’m one of the growing number of never-married Americans, my status is not due to any unwillingness to marry or because there wasn’t anyone I thought I wanted to marry. Actually, there have been a number of men who wanted to marry me. That fact still astounds my mother.

Many single Americans have indeed chosen a life without marriage. And a good many others like me have let life’s many other choices get in the way of marriage.

I like to look at things this way: If everyone married, there would be no single people with wildly interesting lives for all of those “happily married” people to live vicariously through or provide the fodder for movies and sitcoms.

On behalf of single Americans everywhere, I will take the liberty to say that most of us are delighted to provide this service to our country.

Mary Stanik

Minneapolis

Courting and romance have no doubt changed over the last 50 years. But I for one was head-over-heels in love. Marriage was exactly the right thing to do. A cost-benefit analysis was not needed.

Sure, people get married for bad reasons or in bad circumstances. People change, and what once seemed perfect changes also. But occasionally the stars align for the hopeless romantic.

How can any researcher analyze trends in marriage without once mentioning love? It is a powerful, and primal, motivator. Has that changed?

Jim Benson

Altadena

For MegaUpload

Re “Feds shut MegaUpload site,” Business, Jan. 20

I used the file-sharing site MegaUpload multiple times, and I am sad to see it go.

Last year I was researching Argentine cinema of the early 1960s, hardly a popular subject because these films are very obscure. Many have no commercial viability and are thus very difficult to access for viewing. MegaUpload hosted several such films, and my access to them improved my research.

So yes, the site fomented piracy. But it also made available hundreds, and probably thousands, of cultural items that are simply not accessible elsewhere.

Patrick Frank

Venice

Bill players

Re “Too many bills?,” Editorial, Jan. 19

I agree with your editorial that the California Legislature produces too many bills. A solution would be to return to a part-time Legislature.

The “citizen legislator” concept our country was founded on works fine in most states and would work here as well.

A part-time Legislature would save money and reduce the number of “fully professional” legislators, as you call them, who have gotten us into the mess we are in today.

Robert M. Swinford

Wrightwood

On Paterno

Re “Winningest coach in major college football,” Obituary, Jan. 23

The last few months of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno’s life serve as a powerful reminder to all of us that no matter how old we get or how much prestige and stature we attain, we are never too old or too prestigious to learn new life lessons.

I’m sorry that Paterno’s lessons were so profoundly sad and painful, but I hope that they gave him meaningful new insights in his final days.

Art Verity

Sherman Oaks

It’s shocking

Re “Special Chevy Volt to qualify for state perks,” Jan. 20

Isn’t it great that our state cannot adequately fund in-home care for sick or disabled people but can find enough money to offer rebates to people who can afford a $40,000 “experimental” car?

Must any more be said?

Judy Sarkisian

Cathedral City