Mailbag:

I read with great sadness the frustrated rant on the health-care-reform opposition written by Jamshed Dastur (“Time to honor what we fought for,” Wednesday).

I would like to encourage him to consider for a moment that many of those who disagree with him on the current health-care-reform proposals might actually have honorable motives. Although it may be too late to convince Dastur that not all Republicans are evil, it should be noted that not only Republicans are resisting this effort. Many Democrats, Independents, Conservatives and Libertarians also disagree with the proposed health-care overhauls being debated.

Furthermore, they have several valid reasons for doing so, none of which are malicious.

Is it really so surprising that many of us are concerned about the prospect of adding another trillion dollars to our already unsustainable deficit? Some of us fear that out-of-control government spending is going to have a very negative effect on our children’s ability to live anywhere near the kind of lifestyle we live today. Does that really make us evil?

And at what point did our responsibility to take care of the medical needs of every citizen now outweigh our responsibility to leave a viable nation for the next generation? There is no honor in borrowing from our children and grandchildren, especially in order to support a standard of living for ourselves that they may never be able to enjoy thanks to the astonishing deficit spending we have all accepted so blithely for so long.

JILL BYERS

Newport Beach

Better stories to cover in community

Your choice to run the article “Resident’s member is saved from ring” was questionable.

Running it on the front page was a poor choice. Sell this story to the tabloids, but please spare us and our children from exposure to such bizarre behavior.

There are so many positive events happening in our community that could have benefited from the front-page exposure.

Of course these isolated incidents will always be of interest to some readers, but our community is not made greater by publicizing such an incident. Think a little harder next time.

CHARLES ROLLINS

Costa Mesa

Should ‘member’ story have gone A1?

I always thought I liked the Daily Pilot — it’s the first thing I read in the morning for the local news. But putting that story (“Resident’s member is saved by ring,” Wednesday) on the first page has put another perspective on my thinking.

Gwen Johnson

Newport Beach