Anti Democratic

Only sleepwalkers and fanatics slide through life without reconsidering their values and philosophical outlook. Still, I never expected to be challenged quite so fundamentally by a writer of vampire stories and bisexual erotica. Enter Anne Rice, the 68-year-old author of bestselling novels about the sexy undead and, pseudonymously, of various sadomasochistic-inflected tales. Since returning to her girlhood Catholicism more than a decade ago, she's also written a string of devotional volumes and "a spiritual confession" that might best be characterized as rhapsodic.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is a popular leader. He's been tough on rebellious Chechnya, making Russians proud of their military might. Pensioners are getting their checks again, and the economy is looking up. That counts with most Russians for whom the collapse of the Soviet Union meant uncertainty and poverty.

Opponents of the massive Playa Vista development near Marina del Rey were thwarted Friday in an attempt to appeal an initial city approval of the project when they learned that the appeal would cost them $64,000. Apiece. State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), the city of Santa Monica and the homeowners group Friends of Sunset Park were told that the fees are required under a Los Angeles city ordinance approved this spring.

With little fanfare, President Obama on Wednesday signed an executive order that was the basis of a deal struck with anti-abortion House Democrats, whose votes were crucial to passing the landmark healthcare overhaul. Obama, coming off a day on which he made full use of White House pageantry to sign the healthcare bill, took a conspicuously low-key approach. No news photographers or reporters were allowed into the signing ceremony in the Oval Office. Nor did the White House circulate a statement confirming that it took place.

Over the next three months, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to end affirmative action, whether to overturn part of one of the most important civil rights laws in our country's history (the Voting Rights Act) and whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to the same marriage benefits as heterosexual couples. In almost every term, the justices exercise veto power over fundamental policy questions such as abortion, gun control and freedom of speech and religion.

Q: When a President is under fire for endorsing anti-democratic violence in one country--China--how can he turn off the heat? A: By sending troops to another country--Panama--to engage in pro-democratic violence. HAROLD WATERHOUSE Pacific Palisades

I urge the United States government to support the fledgling democracies of Slovenia and Croatia. The attempted coup in the Soviet Union reveals, again, the corrupt and anti-democratic nature of communist regimes. A similar situation is happening in Yugoslavia where a communist government is suppressing democratic aspirations. The United States should endorse freedom and self-determination for Slovenia and Croatia. PAUL BARKIGIA, Los Angeles

Mutinous soldiers and police in Asuncion, Paraguay's capital, fired at the legislative building from armored personnel carriers before surrendering later. President Luis Gonzalez Macchi went on national television to assure citizens that the "anti-democratic" forces believed to be loyal to a former coup plotter had been defeated. Three congressmen and 12 police officers were detained. Interior Minister Walter Bower said the rebellious soldiers were sympathetic to former army Gen.

About 7 million Serbians in Yugoslavia's largest republic voted in a referendum on their next president. Nationalist Slobodan Milosevic was expected to win the most support. The voting is similar to a public opinion poll. The Serbian Parliament will select the president of the republic from the two candidates who get the most votes from the electorate, the state Tanjug news agency said.

Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou pledged after being sworn in to overturn the privatization program the conservatives had set in motion before losing power in a general election. Papandreou, 74, told a televised Cabinet meeting that his first target would be to scrap all the "anti-democratic" laws voted in by the previous, conservative-controlled Parliament.