A Christmas appeal for withdrawal

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done…another year older and a new one just begun ...”

I take more pride in all the little things I do than anything else. Buying presents all through the year and putting them away finally pays off at Christmas. I have more time and fun.

In reality, Christmas and the holiday season are just a spectacular end and beginning to another year of our lives. Christmas is peace, and why not? Just imagine for one moment, maybe as you stare at the lights on your Christmas tree, China is booming because China spends nothing on war. She is not fighting with anyone, although she is also not yet helping with North Korea.

We, on the other hand, are losing valuable lives and spending billions of dollars on a deadly war that appears to be endless. This Christmas and New Year, it is time to get serious about getting out of there. It will not be the end of the world if America ends its sojourn in that unfortunate country! Bring everyone and everything home.

In the end, leave them to their fate, it is not going to matter who controls that land. Pulling out of Afghanistan will save future lives and billions in useful dollars.

Joseph Di Sante

Burbank

Shoppers can easily avoid the “tax”

The vote to ban plastic shopping bags in markets in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County by supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina and Mark Ridley-Thomas will decrease pollution and save consumers money.

Each market pays for these bags and includes this expense in the prices paid by everyone who shops at the store, including those who bring reusable bags. If more people bring their own bags, the store will purchase fewer bags, and can either pocket that savings or offer slightly lower prices.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich was the lone vote for continuing the practice for all shoppers to share the cost of these wasteful bags. His explanation of his vote (“Bag ban puts too much burden on consumer,” Nov. 23) defies common sense.

He wrote this ban “increases costs” and “the mandated 10-cent per-bag charge represents a new tax on the consumer.” Among the many points he managed to include — a time of economic uncertainty; people who don’t have jobs; education to ensure that these bags don’t end up on our beaches, rivers, parks and landfills; Big Brother — his letter left out the rather important concept that shoppers don’t have to pay this so-called tax if they simply bring their own bags.

Nancy Burnet Kent

Glendale