MAILBAG:

The district must have spent a fortune developing the propaganda and talking points used in the article on special education (“District plan worries parents,” Nov. 26). All those funds could have been spent on the students instead.

POITA CERNIUS

Newport Beach

Border letter rubbish; Gray thoughtful

I had hoped the John Birch Society was long gone and forgotten — must you publish such rubbish as the letter by Ed Nemechek (“Call and do your part to secure our U.S. borders,” Nov. 25)? This is an example of fear mongering at its best.

On the other hand, I really appreciate James P. Gray’s thoughtful columns (though I suppose Nemechek thinks going metric is also part of a sinister plot of some kind).

Betts Harley

Pay more for less hours in a day with metric

Yes, let’s go metric (“Times a-changin’, let’s go metric,” Nov. 25), the measurement system based on the inaccurate, ever-changing distance from the equator to the North Pole, rather than the decimal system based on the 24-hour day ( a.m. and p.m., 12 hours each).

The metric system developed during the French Revolution in 1790 for the control and benefit of the uneducated French masses to give them less for more, a “New World Thought.” So why not continue this great intellectual thinking and go to the new world thought, 20-hour days, 10-hour clocks. Divide everything by 10, although I would still expect to receive the same wage that is based on 12 hours, thus getting more for less.

JACK VALLEY

Costa Mesa

Bible says killing is wrong, regardless

This is in response to the letter (“Just, humane society possible with penalties,” Nov. 23).

I can’t help but chuckle and scratch my head at the irony of the sentiment “we don’t need to build more jails, we need to eliminate the hard core convicted criminals no more slaps on the wrists, you will lose your life” is followed by “the only just system is based on God’s Commandments. And we, as a nation, are not living by those commands, we are in fact doing everything to remove and destroy those 10 simple reminders for what true liberty and justice is.”

I am just wondering if Russ Niewiarowski and I learned the same 10 Commandments. Because in those Commandments there is one that says, “Thou shalt not kill.”

The Commandments are not multiple choice. You don’t get to pick among “never kill,” “you can kill just this once, but then you have to feel remorseful,” or “it’s OK to kill the criminals, they aren’t as important to me as you are.”

So while there may be instances where someone accidentally dies by use of a stun gun, killing people on a regular, premeditated basis so we can cull the herd is a another issue. I doubt God was kidding when she wrote the Commandments and I doubt Niewiarowski’s logic would change her mind.

MEG TWEEDY

Costa Mesa