Letters
07/02/2009
Now that’s funny
Re: "Rethinking free speech," April 23, and the proposed Pasadena anti-handbill ordinance.
Oh, my! If just anyone is allowed to hand out fliers, circulate petitions and opine in print willy-nilly, the city of Pasadena runs the risk of letting a revolutionary like Thomas Paine plant radical ideas, you know, like the “Rights of Man” and “The Age of Reason,” for goodness sake, with mere pamphlets, mind you, named something improbable like “Common Sense.”
Tut tut.
Thanks for the laugh, Pasadena.
~PAMELA ROYCE, PASADENA
Set it free
You thought this was a metaphor, didn’t you? No. If you have a bird, let it out, let it fly; God gave that creature a great gift and you want to take it away and view it like guards see prisoners? Through iron bars!? Let it out; let it soar, just like the Pasadena/South Pasadena/Alhambra and San Gabriel parrots! Those green and red screechers screeching “freedom” all over town, the survivors of that “pet store fire,” as the legend goes.
They are beautiful and legendary to me, like French patriots storming the Bastille, but thankfully not as violent.
I let my dad’s bird out and with clipped wings it couldn’t go far before it was fatally wounded by a cat. A fiasco was my attempt, but I’m glad I tried and I urge all bird “owners” (don’t they belong to nature?) to let their birds wings grow, train them and free them. It ought to be illegal to cage a bird, so should throwing your cigarette butt into the street or sidewalk. Oh, wait. That is illegal. But smoking isn’t. It’s just insane.
Freedom!
~BILL WATKINS, PASADENA
Give credit when it’s due
We would do well to heed the Vision 20/20 warning of increased street and gang violence this summer. It is well known by the Pasadena community that the long hot summer and the challenge of lacking viable programs, jobs and activities for our youth can often lead to an increase in violence. Our City Council has not sat on its hands on this issue. Let’s give credit where credit is due. The City Council has:
1. Increased funding this year to the Neighborhood Outreach Worker (NOW) program that works directly with youth in gangs and neighborhoods with gangs to intervene and prevent violence.
2. Added 50-plus summer youth jobs and partnered with businesses to pay 50 percent of the salaries of some (thank you, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and business community).
3. Endorsed the Youth PROMISE Act, which would fund prevention, intervention, mentoring, education and police training for communities impacted by gang violence and youth crime.
I am sure that there are some people out there that might say this is not enough. I agree. But, thank you Jacque Robinson and Vision 20/20 for your tireless work and thank you City Council for doing more than giving lip service to supporting our youth.
We need to think outside of the box if we are to attack violence head on. We can no longer take the usual road of tougher policing and harsher penalties to deter youth from crimes and gangs. We need evidence-based, community-based solutions that attack the roots of the problems, and that have been shown to work in reducing youth crime and violence. We need total community involvement to support our youth!
Thank you City Council for taking a step forward for youth and let’s take a few more steps together and then break into a run to support our youth!
~MARTIN A. GORDON, PASADENA
RE: “Above the fray,” April 12
Congratulations, Patti. It’s really important that the reality of children losing their fathers in their lives is highlighted to the public.
We are a long way off from reaching a goal where children are entitled to be parented by both parents.
~JOHN DUNLEAVY, DUBLIN, IRELAND
I just read your response to Brian, a potential victim of PAS. I would like to compliment you on your honest, no-nonsense approach to his dilemma. Despite the natural instinct to retaliate, your guidance to monitor his own behavior is most insightful.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and the effects of PAS on non-custodial parents ... and the children they love.
~MARK TOMECK, NEW YORK CITY
First I would like to show my deepest respect and admiration for your article. It takes a great amount of wisdom and experience to make the statements you made even though you are a professional in the area. I surely wish we had more ladies of your ilk out there that could see things your way.
Second, I hope you continue to help those lost souls that do not understand what alienation is all about. It is one of the most difficult situations to combat and, unfortunately, very successful for the perpetrator in most cases. I sincerely hope that someday our uneducated or uncaring judges and court systems will begin to hear the message you portray.
Third, I am a member of the following of Glenn Sacks and really support his efforts to assist parents and promote fairness and children's rights.
RON NERDING, MARTINSVILLE, IND.
My ex used the same tactics to interfere with access/alienate my son.
What a great article. Thanks for exposing a growing epidemic in our society. Please keep up the good work.
~NORBERTO MENENDEZ, VIA EMAIL
Thank you, Patti. They are more we confront this unfortunate outcome of one parent hurting their children by being critical about the other parent the better.
I am unfortunately in this situation myself and it is heartbreaking seeing your child exposed to this; not to mention the heartbreak of Mum not allowing contact to occur.
~DARYL BAUMGARTNER, VIA EMAIL
FROM THE WEB:
RE: “Will the real Dalai Lama please stand up?” Feb. 7, 2008
Oh please. This is propaganda of the worst sort. The Dalai Lama is as transparent as he can be about his intentions for the democracy and autonomy of Tibet. His teachings over many years are plain as day. He gives speeches constantly recommending good things and understands how complicated the world is. He makes no supernatural claims for himself. So we are supposed to disregard nearly everything he’s said in 50 years and hold him accountable for what his predecessors have done. (Not that I see any advocating by any Buddhist for enslavement). If you read the Tibetan Buddhist texts, then you can only conclude that they are peaceful. Make no mistake; the Chinese have a full force brigade attacking DL as often as possible.
Clearly if Tibet was as bad as stated, the Tibetans would have welcomed Chinese rule. Fortunately we have plenty of Western documents from Tibet well before the ’50s and the picture of Tibet is not slavery by the ruling class.
If readers care about this issue at all, you’ll do real research and find this article is smearing with
an agenda.
~Posted by mikePasadenaTemp
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