Mailbag: Americans will miss out on health care

Both the Senate and House are finally getting ready to debate and vote on separate versions of health-care reform. Both bills fall short of what President Obama promised and the American people voted for last year.

President Obama repeatedly called for bipartisan reform that reduced Americans’ health-care costs. He called for a bipartisan, open process that included televising the entire process on C-SPAN. This, he said, would make the process transparent.

Unfortunately, the Senate majority leader and the House speaker rejected the president’s leadership. Instead, the two legislative leaders decided on a closed-door, partisan process. Now, two versions of health-care reform are on separate tracks for an ultimate bill that will not meet the bipartisan, cost-reducing goal set by our president.

Yes, President Obama, elected by a popular majority, will suffer a major political defeat at the hands of the Senate majority leader and House speaker. More importantly, Americans will miss another opportunity for meaningful health-care reform.

LYNN MCGINNIS

Glendale

City Council used clear thinking

The case of the missing water (“High water bill rescinded,” Nov. 5) should be added to Sherlock Holmes’ mystery series. But it is no mystery that clear thinking reigned on the council with regard to Escott Norton’s unbelievable water meter reading.

Councilman John Drayman and Mayor Frank Quintero really “get it,” but the director of Glendale Water & Power and the assistant city manager could use a refresher course in basic science.

Both of these highly paid city managers start from the premise that the water meter is accurate, and therefore the task is to identify where the missing water went. In what is often portrayed as a typical bureaucratic mind set, the resident is guilty until proven innocent. These senior city officials won’t question their basic premise.

During the Glendale Water & Power Commission meeting, Norton also presented his case, but it was to an unresponsive board that was too meek to challenge the utility’s director and his staff on different ways to tackle the puzzler.

Kudos to Drayman and Quintero. They just saved the city from becoming the laughingstock at a local radio talk show.

HERBERT MOLANO

Tujunga

Society turns blind eye to awful acts

What a sick society we live in here in America!