Jackie Kennedy; Israel and Egypt’s shaky peace; California’s carpool lanes

A candid Jackie

Re “Jackie Kennedy, warts and all,” Editorial, Sept. 15

Just four months after seeing her husband die before her eyes, and with her world turned upside down, Jackie Kennedy offered her candid and vivid observations of people and events that are of historical importance.

That she had some unflattering things to say about iconic figures whom history holds in high regard is a very healthy reminder that we all possess some flaws. For your editorial to refer to Jackie as “narrow-minded and unsparingly tart” seems heavy-handed and disregards the time and emotional place from which these observations took place. Grace under pressure was in full bloom.

I admire Jackie Kennedy now more than ever.

Sam Greenstone

Woodland Hills

Israel, Egypt and peace

Re “Keep the peace,” Opinion, Sept. 14

Despite Chuck Freilich’s pleas for responsible Egyptians to step forward to maintain peace between their country and Israel, there are probably not enough of them to make a difference. With massive Palestinian demonstrations ready to begin later this month in the West Bank, coupled with the maneuvering of Hezbollah and Hamas, the future of Israel’s existence is once again at stake. But Israelis are not afraid.

I spent 10 days there in late August, and Israelis went about their lives with a business-as-usual attitude. They seemed more concerned with their own demonstrations for lower rent prices and better pay.

While visiting the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, I noticed many Israel Defense Forces basic trainees in attendance. It’s part of every soldier’s training,

I was told.

The bottom line: If anyone thinks Israel is going to roll over for its Arab enemies, they are sadly mistaken.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

Who is to blame for the fact that Israel’s relations with Egypt and Turkey have gone sour? As Freilich indirectly indicated, Israel has used the peace with its neighbors “to devote its resources both to other fronts and, more important, domestically.”

Indeed, it has used the peace to strengthen its hold on the occupied Palestinian territories and increase its illegal settlements there.

For more than three decades Israel has used its peace with Egypt to advance its own agenda without doing much to advance the cause of peace in the region, arrogantly confident in its military superiority and U.S. support. Now it must decide whether it really wants the peace and justice that have historically been at the heart of Judaism, or whether it wants to further its religious-nationalist project.

Paul McDermott

Los Angeles

Crowded out of the carpool lanes

Re “A clash over carpool lanes,” Business, Sept. 14

If you think allowing people with money to buy their way out of traffic jams with the conversion of carpool and low-emission car lanes to toll lanes is the worst evidence of the privilege of wealth, think again.

The proposed toll lane on the 10 Freeway between Los Angeles and El Monte started out as the El Monte Busway, allowing the folks who couldn’t afford a car to get to work more easily. Then autos took it over. Now rich auto owners. As more vehicles squeeze in, everyone (including bus riders) slows down.

The construction of the freeways put the old Red Car system out of business. At great expense, this old system is now being re-created. Not many people know the Expo Line is being built on the bones of an old Red Car line.

“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Don Richardson

Rancho Cucamonga

Frequently I notice that traffic in some carpool lanes moves no faster than that in regular lanes. Allowing exceptions for hybrid or electric vehicles with only one occupant exacerbates the problem.

I might be mistaken, but I thought the purpose of carpool lanes was to encourage drivers to team up and take cars off the highways. Legislators should go one step further by defining an “occupant” as a licensed driver. Allowing toddlers and adolescents to count does nothing to remove vehicles from the highway.

John Anderson

Granada Hills

Library aides pay the price

Re “Help for libraries is overdue,” Column, Sept. 14

While the Los Angeles Unified School District taps the generosity of the wealthy to fund “a battalion of new senior executives,” we have the example of a wonderful member of our community, library aide Mary Bates, who makes $16 an hour and will soon have her hours and healthcare cut.

Steve Lopez laments the impending loss, because of cutbacks, of the magic such individuals bring. Yet why do so many of us accept this sort of inequity? Perhaps the blame falls on those who helped create our general indifference by furiously ranting against the “overpaid bureaucrats” who draw “Cadillac salaries and pensions” and took out their ire on the Bateses of the world while leaving the fat cats of management unscathed.

Barry David Sell

Glendale

What an interesting page layout.

Next to Lopez’s piece on laying off or reducing the hours of L.A. Unified library aides, one of whom earns $16 an hour, are several enticing ads. One is for a diamond and platinum bracelet (price available on request). Below that ad are two for watches (one from a collection “starting at $7,100”) and also some attractive stainless steel table forks that cost $12 to $16 each — an hour’s work for a library aide.

It is a skewed society in which some people can buy luxuries but schools can’t afford essential staff.

Harriett Walther

Santa Ana

Rocket science

Re “NASA unveils space vehicle with a stitched-together look,” Sept. 15

NASA is proposing to spend $35 billion to develop its new space launch system. Many believe it will cost far more and take far longer to construct than planned. NASA’s track record on new programs would certainly support that view.

The capabilities of the space launch system are close to those of the Saturn V, which lifted the astronauts to the moon. While a new space program may have many ancillary benefits (new jobs, technology and more), in these difficult economic times, why not simply build updated Saturn V rockets?

As someone in the aerospace industry (although not associated with either the Saturn V or the space launch system), I would be happy to see a new infusion of money into the industry. However, we also need to be prudent members of our society and not spend needlessly.

Martin M. Dresser

Palm Desert

A pretty Perry

Re “Perry’s sweet spot,” Opinion, Sept. 13

Like many political columnists lately, Jonah Goldberg evaluates Rick Perry as if the Texas governor were a candidate in the Miss America contest: How likable does he seem, and how does he look in high heels and a bathing suit?

Pay no attention to his willful ignorance on evolution or global warning when they suit his fundamentalist religion or right-wing economics. Ignore the very dismal state of healthcare in Texas and Perry’s misrepresentation of employment there. Forget about his record number of executed prisoners, regardless of their mental capacity or questionable trials.

No, as Andre Agassi used to say in touting Canon cameras, “Image is everything,” and the governor seems to be a poster child for a poster child.

David Eggenschwiler

Los Angeles

School daze

Re “UC tuition may rise up to 16% a year,” Sept. 15

It would seem to me that with high unemployment and low economic growth, this might be a time to hold the line on tuition at our state universities.

The universities help to grow our local economies with research assistance and educational support. They supposedly should provide opportunities to the largest possible number of state residents.

But apparently the administrators of the University of California system feel now is the time to make it harder to go to school.

Their actions prove the old adage that common sense is not all that common.

Oliver Cutshaw

Los Angeles