MAILBAG:

So it has begun! The two letters published Thursday by Jack Stratton and August Lightfoot were blatantly prejudiced and alarmist about what Obama is doing (“Cheap labor comes with some costs,” “Change not as progressive as hoped”).

It is to be expected that when one’s ideology is challenged, one needs to strike back no matter how ridiculous the argument.

Lightfoot was more subtle in that he appeared to champion equality, but his statement “An economic advisor to the president says he is concerned as many of you are, that no money from the stimulus package will go to ‘white male construction workers.’”

Why doesn’t Lightfoot just tell us who is this mysterious economic advisor to the president?

It is disingenuous for someone to put a statement in quotes without naming the speaker.

This sounds like Rush Limbaugh.

James Young

Newport Beach

Nostalgia for the days of the quieter broom

I wish [leaf blowers] could be banished, and we could go back to the old broom.

I watch leafblowers blow where there are no leaves. I think they also blow leaves out of bushes.

Could they not stay there?

And when used in parking garages the dust made makes a recent car wash a waste of money.

The noise should be a crime, and the spreading of pollutants a bigger crime.

Darlene Letnes

Costa Mesa