Letters to the editor

LAX snafu hints at larger problem

Re “Customs blamed for clog at LAX,” Aug. 14

In 40 years of studying computer reliability, I have not seen more apparent incompetence than the 10-hour search for “a faulty hardware switch” at LAX on Aug. 11. Fault-tolerant commercial computers, like those controlling ATM machines, routinely detect faulty hardware and recover in seconds, invisibly to the customers.

How can we trust U.S. Customs and Border Protection to protect us when it takes 10 hours to find one faulty switch, and why did they buy such inferior hardware?

Algirdas AvizienisUCLA Professor Emeritus of Computer EngineeringSanta Monica

The fact that a computer glitch can keep planes from landing and taking off, can keep U.S. citizens detained for hours without probable cause for suspicion of criminal activity and impede critical commerce for the whole region speaks to me of utter and total incompetence.

The fact that no Customs administrator had the authority to release people or planes tells me that the whole system is over-managed to the hilt.

Concentrating power in Washington is not working. It’s time to do some things differently. I want to know that federal, state and local government entities are equipped to deal with real emergencies as well as the occasional bolt of lightning that fries a local computer. But with all this political attention focused on George Bush’s revenge in Iraq, I don’t expect any improvements anytime soon.

Patrick SullivanReseda

Steamed about climate change

Re “A mixed message on CO2,” Aug. 12

Nero famously fiddled while Rome burned. But he had nothing on the Bush administration and its fossil-fuel allies -- they keep fiddling while the whole planet slides into the sauna. Are they resistant to action because they will be gone by the time the worst effects of global warming occur?

That leads to another question: Don’t they have children and grandchildren they are concerned about? Obviously they do, because they devote considerable energy to fighting the estate tax. Maybe they think their descendants will be able to buy their way out of a world in upheaval.

Grace BertalotAnaheim

Would anyone disagree that the Bush administration’s behavior as described in this article constitutes crimes against humanity? The scope of these destructive actions taken without concern for their effect on millions of people and the survival of the planet is truly unimaginable. There are those of us in many parts of the world who do not expect to be risen up in the Rapture, who would still want to save our planet for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, and our civilization. I would like a follow-up giving more information about the lawsuit against the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and legislation pending in Congress.

I still believe this critical information belongs on the newspaper’s front page, as it did this time.

Rita SokolowMar Vista

Our convoluted campaign laws

Re “Campaign finance bills draw criticism,” Aug. 13

This was a good attempt to explain the unexplainable. If nothing else, it showed the convoluted condition of our campaign laws, loopholes and all. Will the electorate ever realize that it’s all a game of politics, and politicians and their big-money supporters have a great fear of real public financing of elections in California. As the governor once said, “The money comes in and the favors go out.” Where does that leave the rest of us?

The electorate continues to sit on its hands and let it happen. Public financing has done wonders for Arizona and other states that are beginning to see the light. Let’s get started and throw the rascals out so that we can elect people who are beholden to us and will represent us instead of big-money interests.

Lou Del PozzoPacific Palisades

Rove fades into the mist

Re “Rove leaves imprint on campaign strategy,” Aug. 14

Karl Rove is officially resigning his White House position. This move is obviously designed to deflect well-deserved criticism of the president. Is there anyone anywhere in the world who really believes that President Bush can run the country without Rove?

He isn’t gone, he has just faded into the mist of secrecy that surrounds the Bush administration. The propaganda, the lies, the indifference toward human suffering and environmental degradation, the dirty campaigning and electoral process interference and the arrogance of the executive branch will continue unabated.

The private-citizen mask will be a poor fit. Rove’s face will be visible in every action taken by Bush.

Adele ZimmermannEmbudo, N.M.

Apparently, Rove plans to hunt doves in Texas. I’m just not certain if he’ll be aiming for the kind that fly or the kind protesting this illegal war. Assuming it’s the former, he’s looking forward to shooting an animal that is symbolic of peace. He’s nothing if not consistent.

Burt WilskerManhattan Beach

One down, two to go.

Murray RudominNorthridge

Re “Stumbling out of the West Wing,” Opinion, Aug. 14

One must take great issue with Jonah Goldberg’s soft-selling of Rove’s villainy as merely a result of Rove not quitting in 2004.

Rove’s dark legacy began during his involvement in Watergate, as a peripheral player who slipped through the cracks because congressional prosecutors went after bigger fish.

Rove is seen by many as a villainous, dark shadow on the American political landscape because, for more than 30 years, that’s what he has quite gleefully chosen to be.

Robert OurielBrentwood

Oil is behind Sudan conflict

Re “Resettlement or land grab?” Aug. 12

So you think that what is going on in Sudan with the influx of people from Chad is about ethnic rivalries? It’s about oil.

Like the British before us, the U.S. is famous for creating straw-man conflicts to shield the corporate oligarchs from public view.

China has been giving lavish gifts and loans to African countries with oil and has particularly backed the corrupt Sudanese government while the United States has been backing the Sudanese Liberation Army and Chad.

This genocide has been a way for the U.S. to garner world support for overthrowing the pro-Chinese Sudanese regime so we can put a puppet government in place to support our oil interests.

The displaced and massacred Sudanese people suffer, all to make the corporate oligarchs richer.

Carole LutnessValencia

Can Gonzales be trusted with a life?

Re “Rule could ‘fast-track’ executions,” Aug. 14

Considering that they approved going to war with Iraq without reading the entire National Intelligence Estimate, only an “executive summary,” and adopted the Patriot Act without reading the same, it’s not so surprising that Congress would adopt an extension of the latter giving extraordinary powers to the attorney general, whose credibility, competence and apparent political motivations it decries. Not surprising, just embarrassing, and evidence that Congress needs to adopt something like NCLB (No Congress Left Behind) to help it with its reading speed and comprehension. Maybe time off from its lawmaking would save all of us.

John O’DonnellLos Angeles

It just never ends with this administration. I’m not writing this as an advocate for death row inmates. However, putting Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales in charge of their fate is truly a monumental mistake. Here is a man who clearly should not be in charge of the toilet-cleaning schedule of a public works, let alone being the decider of the demise of human life. He is nothing more than a Bush yes man and has repeatedly demonstrated his ineptitude. Putting him in charge of this project could mean the death of an innocent person.

Steven M. LevineManhattan Beach

The budget albatross

Re “Gov. needs wow finish to salvage flawed year,” column, Aug. 13

Here’s the perfect wow finish for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Start the ball rolling to put an initiative to allow a simple majority to pass the budget before California voters again so our people are not held hostage repeatedly by the Senate Republican obstructionist kings. Lead the charge, governor, to help bring this state into the national norm by ridding California of this archaic albatross of a budget requirement that dilutes every Californian’s vote and impedes our progress and growth.

Marianne FriedmanAlhambra

Third World without the charm

Re “Bush: No tax hike for bridges,” Aug. 10

Federal officials deem more than 73,000 U.S. bridges to be structurally deficient. Many are in need of repair or replacement. The consequences of the “starve the beast” mentality that has dominated the Republican Party since the Reagan era have never been clearer or more urgent. Raise the gas tax, if necessary, but fix the bridges.

Len GardnerLaguna Woods

You can’t help but get the feeling that this place is falling apart. It seems like the United States is turning into a Third World country without the charm or bargain travel prices.

Marty SchoenPasadena

Romney won

Re “Romney’s fierce fight for the right,” Aug. 13

It looks as if this headline was written before seeing the straw poll results. How can The Times honestly cite the results as evidence that GOP presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is facing a fight for the conservative vote? Romney won with 31% of the vote, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came in a distant second with 18%. How much better could Romney have done? The story notes that Huckabee and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) had more votes combined than Romney did alone. Now that’s spin.

David DeFrankDavis, Calif.