Government

I read with dismay Dan Kimber's column supporting a ban on plastic bags ("Education Matters: Antonovich's arguments are short-sighted," Nov. 26). I am disappointed only one of the five county supervisors resisted the left's relentless interference with our lives. A government that can decide whether you can smoke in your own apartment, what days you can water your plants, and the material your grocer bags your purchases in can eventually determine every other aspect of our lives.

In regards to the editorial “Smoking issue will linger for a while,” Sept. 29: Without government getting involved in any way, people can decide by themselves if they want to live in non-smoking apartments or hang out in smoke-filled dive bars. Every time citizens cede such choices the government becomes more intrusive, powerful and expensive. Unless we want politicians like Dave Weaver to also run every other aspect of our lives, we should vote for politicians this November who believe in limited government.

I read in the News-Press an article (“Smoking restrictions back to dais,” Sept. 25) about the Glendale City Council considering a law that would make it a violation to smoke in your apartment. I do not see why this a government problem. When someone rents or leases an apartment they sign a contract. If in that contract is says “no smoking,” they agree to it with a signature. It is the duty of the landlord, not the government, to enforce that agreement. If someone who lives next door does not like that person smoking in their own home then they should notify the landlord, not some government agency.

Gretchen Hoffman For Libertarian Randall Weissbuch, it isn't whether he wins or loses -- his main goal of running for congress in November is to get his message across. Voters in the 26th Congressional District, which includes La Crescenta, Montrose and La Canada Flintridge -- will choose between Weissbuch, who is a physician; incumbent Rep. David Dreier (R-Covina); and Democrat Marjorie Musser Mikels, a constitutional attorney from Upland. Weissbuch, 59, said his philosophy is aligned closely with that of the Libertarian platform.

Lost among the statewide propositions concerning Indian gaming and the greater national race for the presidency of the United States is a little known proposed amendment to the state's Constitution known as Proposition 59. While it has been overshadowed by bigger and sexier campaigns, the truth is this initiative strikes a blow against those who would deny the people's right to know what government is doing. Proposition 59's passage would strengthen the Ralph M. Brown Act and the California Public Records Act and make it the state constitutional right for the public and journalists, acting on behalf of the public, to access governmental meetings and governmental documents.

For the next year, Clark Magnet High School government teacher Edit Khachatryan is getting a civics lesson of her own. As one of five Teaching Ambassador Fellows at the U.S. Department of Education, Khachatryan is living, eating and breathing policy. She's in congressional meetings and hearings one day, and think-tank sessions and policy deliberations the next. And this is just her first month in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. "I'm in an office that works with Capitol Hill, and basically all the stakeholders, to make laws and policy happen," she said.

Bailiff had something against Capri pants I had an appointment on Sept. 27 to appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Glendale. The "why" of it doesn't matter. On the courtroom door was a sign indicating that appropriate attire must be worn in court. OK, fine. I was wearing a tailored shirt and calf-length Capri pants. Upon entering the courtroom, the bailiff asked me to step outside. Whatever for, I wondered. Well, he asked me where I Iived.

America needs the Libertarian Party if we want to protect our personal liberties and economic freedoms. The presidential debates made it clear that Bush wants to expand government programs, while Gore wants toexpand them more rapidly. Campaign flyers from Rogan and Schiff show that each wants to expand the role of government in our lives. For those who believe in less government, the choice is not the Republican Party. It has been in control of Congress for six years, and government has grown steadily each year.

I don't know why it seems that liberal Democrats like state Sen. Adam Schiff always go to big government agencies to solve problems that are best handled at the local level. Point being the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport issue. While he tries to get things from big government agencies that we're not going to get anyway, Schiff continually seems to snub his nose at the power of the people. Probably thinking as most liberals do, that government knows what is best for the people.

I'd like to thank all the people and volunteers over the years that help save and run the Alex Theatre. What upsets me is that the state of California can take it away and sell it. We the people of Glendale and taxpayers to the state of California have paid for the Alex. People are the government and I think we forget that power. I made my opinion simple, instead of complex, like our government in California has become. We need to get back to simple government or lose what we have.

One of my first impressions when I called the San Fernando Valley my home nearly 30 years ago was that this vast middle-class enclave suffered from a bad inferiority complex, like it was populated by a lot of Rodney Dangerfields who just couldn't get respect. Respect - or the lack of it - is still pretty much the problem, through the failed secession movement and derailed efforts to make local government more responsive. The last vestige of a reform to change that is the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, a little-known and largely ignored three-year-old, quasi-governmental body that brings together the county, the city of Los Angeles and the cities of Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando and Santa Clarita.

The U.S. government, the largest purveyor of loans to colleges, does absolutely nothing to try to reduce the cost of the tuition they pay for on behalf of the student debtor. Our government should negotiate tuition by stating to any given college that their debtor will go elsewhere unless they lower the cost. The government would be able to dictate in part such change in lowering tuition because of its enormous buying power of education. Such is done in the medical industry through Medicare/Medicaid, and such can be done in the educational arena.

In regards to the editorial “Smoking issue will linger for a while,” Sept. 29: Without government getting involved in any way, people can decide by themselves if they want to live in non-smoking apartments or hang out in smoke-filled dive bars. Every time citizens cede such choices the government becomes more intrusive, powerful and expensive. Unless we want politicians like Dave Weaver to also run every other aspect of our lives, we should vote for politicians this November who believe in limited government.

I read in the News-Press an article (“Smoking restrictions back to dais,” Sept. 25) about the Glendale City Council considering a law that would make it a violation to smoke in your apartment. I do not see why this a government problem. When someone rents or leases an apartment they sign a contract. If in that contract is says “no smoking,” they agree to it with a signature. It is the duty of the landlord, not the government, to enforce that agreement. If someone who lives next door does not like that person smoking in their own home then they should notify the landlord, not some government agency.

As a practicing internist I would like to comment upon the state and federal government's existing and expanding penalty and fine system for local hospitals and physicians who treat elderly patients who may require longer hospital stays or readmission. (“Hospital readmit rate is too high,” Sept. 14). All of the local hospitals do an excellent job in caring for our elderly Americans. This system of fines and penalties has little to do with quality of care issues and more to with coding, compliance and rationing of healthcare dollars.

I'd like to thank all the people and volunteers over the years that help save and run the Alex Theatre. What upsets me is that the state of California can take it away and sell it. We the people of Glendale and taxpayers to the state of California have paid for the Alex. People are the government and I think we forget that power. I made my opinion simple, instead of complex, like our government in California has become. We need to get back to simple government or lose what we have.

Having been raised in a family where playing by the rules, sticking to principles and maintaining ethical values was the way you do things -- similar standards have served as my guide throughout my career. In the company where I've worked the past decade, I started in the Ethics and Compliance Department, which focuses on building an ethical culture and educating employees about standards of conduct expected of them based on the company's values. In that position I learned about the ethical challenges in organizations and the need to invest in constantly reinforcing a set of values.

Glendale leaders are set to review a proposal to place restrictions on who government officials can talk to on city time, a move 1st Amendment advocates say raises serious free speech concerns. The call for tighter controls has its roots in a long-simmering tiff between the City Council and some of its regular commentators. The tension increased last week when a group of residents alleged Barry Allen, who some call a gadfly and others a city watchdog, had been convicted of running a counterfeiting operation in the mid 1980s.

Three years ago, Angela Sanchez was living in a homeless shelter with her father, laboring over classwork and college applications while trying to keep her circumstances secret from teachers at Hoover High School. On Monday, Sanchez, now 20 and studying history at UCLA, will join seven other local student leaders in representing Glendale to the world by riding on the city's float through Pasadena in the 123rd Rose Parade. “Getting to see all the color and festivity, it is something you look forward to every year,” Sanchez said.