The Swiss and Islam; making money from bank bailouts; student absenteeism

Why does Switzerland set this agenda? Why does Saudi Arabia get, at this very late date, to further its delay of human rights to its citizens and legal immigrants because of a tiny European country's bad behavior? The center of Islam doesn't forbid just church towers -- it forbids churches and synagogues and temples of every sort.

By all means challenge Switzerland, because what it did was exclusionary and wrong. But don't give us insipid excuses for the Saudis to delay doing what is right. Their behavior is even more offensive than the repugnant behavior of Switzerland, which at least permits Muslims to worship publicly without their minarets.

Fr. J. Patrick Mullen
Camarillo
The writer is a professor of biblical studies at St. John's Seminary.

Things you can bank on

Re “Bank bailouts appear to be paying off,” Dec. 4

So big banks are repaying Troubled Asset Relief Program loans more quickly than expected.

That's good. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much trickle-down benefit.

The banks have used the money to acquire other banks, increase cash reserves and repurchase stock. They have not provided loans to other businesses, big or small, so that they can stay in business, keep or hire employees and keep communities together.

It just proves the old business adage: We're here to make money, not friends.

Stefen Malone
West Hollywood

I do not see how The Times can write an article about the TARP bailout without mentioning TARP Oversight Panel Chair Elizabeth Warren's comments on the behavior of some of these now taxpayer-owned institutions.

The only reason they are paying us back is to avoid public scrutiny of their operations, which brought us to the brink of financial ruin. It is incomprehensible to the middle-class taxpayer that any executive would even consider a salary, let alone bonuses, for such lackluster performance.

As Warren has noted, TARP has created a new win-win business model for Wall Street: Make a high-risk investment. Should it pay out, great. If not, the taxpayer will cover the losses.

Sounds like it's lose-lose for middle-class America, unless serious reform and regulation take place.

Jason Calizar
Torrance

The missing, the tardy, the data

Re “Tracking missing students,” Opinion, Dec. 2

This opinion article is yet another example of bureaucrats in quest of data streams to justify their out-of-the-classroom positions.

Ask any diligent teacher whether she knows about her students' attendance patterns, and she'll give you

any answer you need. Students are chronically absent for many reasons. The slightest sniffle, and some children are kept home. Other parents need the children to serve as caregivers. In LAUSD, with our large immigrant population, students or parents frequently notify a teacher that they are returning to their home countries for weeks.