Public Discourse

Defense of Liu simply won't wash Suzanne Reed, Assemblywoman Carol Liu's chief of staff, gave a rebuttal to Dave Wilcox in last week's paper that is too apropos of those whose belief in big government is unending. That belief is based on the assumption that no one is responsible for anything except big evil corporations. Therefore, why should Ms. Liu be responsible for filing misinformation or making sure amended fillings are part of the available public record?

CITY HALL — A budget proposal from Councilman Bob Yousefian to renegotiate city employee union contracts and allow the Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council to use an outside auditor to review the city’s numbers fell flat with his colleagues Tuesday. It also touched off fears of a premature start to the 2009 election season when a full-page advertisement appeared in the Glendale News-Press Wednesday promoting Yousefian’s budget stance. Vanguardians Inc., created and operated by frequent City Hall critic Barry Allen, paid for the advertisement that listed 520 city employees making more than $100,000 in gross pay, including overtime.

There has been much written and said about Councilman Dave Weaver’s comments in the June 26 issue of the Pasadena Weekly regarding the proposed smoking ordinance and his alleged stereotyping of the Armenian American community. This sort of behavior has unfortunately become a repeating pattern witnessed all too frequently, whether it is during City Council sessions or in the letters to the editor section of the Glendale News-Press. It is important to clarify why the Armenian National Committee Glendale Chapter has expressed outrage over Weaver’s words and behavior.

When “Freakonomics” came out in 2005, I figured it was a watershed moment in public discourse. At last, I thought, someone with a big, loud platform was casting light on an all-too-common practice in which scientists and science journalists peddle correlation as causation. The game goes like this: Count how many sesame seeds fat people eat, compare them to how many sesame seeds skinny people eat, spin the disparity into a press release with the headline “Sesame seeds may cause obesity,” then rest assured that the news media will throw gasoline on the fire with a headline like, “Sesame Seeds Linked to Obesity,” or “Sesame Seeds Make You Fat?

My email inbox has been a little light lately. So I thought I'd bring up two things one should never discuss in civilized company: religion and politics. If you're still reading, count yourself uncivilized and, I hope, in good company. It's also my hope to end up in a place you didn't expect when you saw such hopelessly divisive subjects introduced. That said, I'd like to share a personal anecdote. I go to church. A Christian church. And I sometimes differ with the opinions and tactics of others who share my faith.

A Los Angeles City College student sued the college recently after his professor allegedly called him a ?fascist? and refused to let him finish an in-class speech opposing same-sex marriage. According to the student, who is a Christian, the professor told him to ?ask God what your grade is? and threatened to expel him when he complained to campus authorities. Some of the students? classmates were reportedly offended by the speech, however, and the dean quoted one of them accusing the student of ?

I?ve written before about my old friend and now-retired colleague, Pierre Odier. He has written a book titled ?Some Last People,? which is all about vanishing tribes of Bhutan, China, Mexico, Mongolia and Siberia. In past years he has lived among each of these tribes, documenting their stories, their customs and traditions, their religions ? and relating their tenuous existence in a world that inexorably encroaches on their existence. In the introduction to his book, he writes, ?

I've written before about my old friend and now-retired colleague, Pierre Odier. He has written a book titled "Some Last People," which is all about vanishing tribes of Bhutan, China, Mexico, Mongolia and Siberia. In past years he has lived among each of these tribes, documenting their stories, their customs and traditions, their religions — and relating their tenuous existence in a world that inexorably encroaches on their existence. In the introduction to his book, he writes, "It is man's inner self that remains both the central enigma and the greatest challenge of existence.

JEFF KEATING Forty years ago, as a nation wept, I probably was taking a nap. President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, stunned a country that had elected him by the slimmest of margins in 1960 but that was noticeably less conflicted about him three years later, at least as far as his leadership skills were concerned. The young president by then had won over many of his harshest critics and political opponents, not because of his legislative successes, but because of his personal charisma, and his ability to galvanize public discourse with his words and ideas.

The City Council on Tuesday moved to ban smoking at all outdoor dining areas and on all city property, directing staff to include the regulations in a revised draft ordinance. While the regulations would significantly increase smoking restrictions in Glendale, they would be less than the original proposal to ban smoking on nearly all publicly accessible property in the city. Twenty-five speakers, bolstered by strong support from the medical community, spoke in favor of the original all-out ban. But it was not enough for Bob Yousefian and Ara Najarian, councilmen who said some of the provisions would be too restrictive, unworkable and would incite a major backlash among the city’s smokers.