The true legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; tea party contradictions; college grade inflation

King’s real message

Re “Obamas mark King’s birthday by doing something for others,” Jan. 17

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a day of service shows that we’ve forgotten King’s true legacy.

King was an activist, not a direct service volunteer. Activism and service are both good ways to help somebody else, but they’re not interchangeable. In service, we deal with the results of the system: When our neighbors are hungry, we feed them. In activism, we aim to change the system itself: When our neighbors are hungry, we demand a fairer economic structure.

King protested and led marches; he changed people’s minds and put his life on the line. He was the epitome of activism, and he showed that activism achieves great things.

His day should be an official day of activism. Service makes a strong society; activism makes a strong democracy.

Edwin Everhart

Los Angeles

Tea partyers who live large

Re “Accepting federal help while calling for cuts,” Jan. 15

Tea party conservatives in South Carolina maintain the same hypocrisy as their cohorts nationwide: They live off federal dollars from entitlement programs and military expenditures but say they want to reduce government spending.

The solution would be for them to refuse Social Security and other federal benefits. Then they should force their tea party representatives in Congress to move military installations to other states.

That way, they could live the lives they preach about: You’re on your own.

Mike Lockridge

Mission Viejo

The Times states: “For every dollar South Carolina pays in federal taxes, it receives $1.35 in federal government benefits. By contrast, California receives only 78 cents for every dollar it pays in taxes.”

The idea that federal taxes paid by Californians are being transferred to South Carolina is misleading. Last year, Washington borrowed about $1.6 trillion; this represents a huge part of the federal budget.

The correct statement is that South Carolina is receiving a higher per capita amount of borrowed federal money.

Robert W. Day

Solana Beach, Calif.

Thank you for noticing the contradiction so close to the heart of Republican rhetoric.

The inability to recognize this is hardly just a Republican problem; Americans seem to have lost the will to think critically about what politicians say. Until we regain it, we’ll be plagued with

representatives who recite incoherent nonsense.

We still live in a democracy, and at the end of the day it’s our responsibility to make it work for us. We need to listen, think and vote.

Renee Leask

Glendale

Grades, grants

Re “Prospective students fear aid cuts,” Jan. 15

I applaud Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to raise the minimum grade-point average for Cal Grant recipients. Too many students waste time and money in college when they could be learning far more in the job market.

However, students’ GPAs should be adjusted to reflect the average grades in courses they take. It’s not hard to do; the University of North Carolina will adjust its transcripts starting in 2012.

At Cal State Northridge, in fall 2008, 80% of upper-division and 58% of lower-division grades in political science courses were As or Bs. The comparable numbers for economics students were 35% and 23%, respectively. The CSUN economics department has held the line on grade inflation.

Without adjustment for average grades, Brown’s plan will encourage further grade inflation and encourage low-income students to pick a major for the wrong reasons.

Shirley Svorny

Northridge

The writer is a professor of economics at Cal State Northridge.

The Keystone catch is a doozy

Re “Oil demand boosts odds for Keystone pipeline,” Jan. 16

It’s interesting that foreign oil demand increases the likelihood of the Keystone pipeline’s construction. The reason to pump that corrosive ooze from Canada to Texas is to make it easier to

export it from there to Europe and Latin America, as opposed to marketing the refined products in the United States the way they are now.

Just think: We get the pollution from pipeline spills and refineries, and other countries get the gasoline. Not surprisingly, the oil interests like that option: It introduces competition for their products, driving American prices up, not down.

Such a deal — a lose-lose situation for America.

Lawrence Carleton

San Diego

It is ironic that the same folks who would have us drill for oil off our lovely shores are the same folks who object to the Keystone pipeline running through their states.

Jan Ludwinski

Santa Monica

Primary case

Re “Huntsman to end his campaign,” Jan. 16

Many pundits say that if Mitt Romney should score a decisive win in South Carolina on Saturday, the race for the Republican nomination will or should be over.

If that’s true, then two mostly white states — Iowa and New Hampshire — and one racially diverse state (but one practically as white as Iowa and New Hampshire when it comes to the GOP) will have determined the Republican nominee long before “Super Tuesday” next month.

We need a national primary system that doesn’t eliminate candidates after only a few states have voted. The system that worked decades ago, when the media consisted mainly of black-and-white TV and newspapers, needs to be changed to reflect the digital age and our multicultural society.

Set aside your party affiliation for a moment and ask yourself: Does the current system make any sense?

Charles L. Freeman

Baldwin Hills

ADHD moms

Re “Mother’s new little helper — Adderall,” Opinion, Jan. 13

As a recently retired family physician, I was not surprised to read that more women are using their children’s attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs.

Most primary care doctors do not have the training and expertise to accurately diagnose adults with ADHD. I always insisted that patients who claim to have this diagnosis and want stimulants have a formal psychiatric evaluation, and that the first prescription be written by a psychiatrist. Most of these patients did not follow through.

It is different for pediatricians. Many of them do have the training and expertise to diagnose ADHD in children and to prescribe appropriate medication for them.

Linda Dow

Claremont

High interest

Re “U.S. to look at Buy Here Pay Here dealers,” Business, Jan. 13

So some auto dealers are charging more than 30% for lending money. Who do they think they are, credit card companies owned by big banks?

The problem is our lack of a national usury law putting a cap on interest rates for all loans. But that would require an act of Congress — like that will ever happen.

Steven Fondiler

Oak Park

A ‘mistake’?

Re “Perry says Obama overreacted to video of Marines,” Jan. 16

According to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the Marines who were videotaped urinating on Taliban corpses only made a “stupid mistake.” This wasn’t a mistake. It was a choice.

A mistake is when you subtract a check amount incorrectly from the balance — huge difference.

Doreen Lorand

Downey