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I bought bumper stickers that said: "I Had a Job During the Bush Administration." But I don't know anyone to give them to. LYNDA KING Orange

SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court, protecting providers of risky recreational activities from lawsuits, decided Monday that bumper car riders may not sue amusement parks over injuries stemming from the inherent nature of the attraction. The 6-1 decision may be cited to curb liability for a wide variety of activities - such as jet skiing, ice skating and even participating in a fitness class, lawyers in the case said. "This is a victory for anyone who likes fun and risk activities," said Jeffrey M. Lenkov, an attorney for Great America, which won the case.

Has it occurred to anyone else that the computer superhighway is the '90s version of that wonderful carnival ride called bumper cars? ANNE PLOURDE Inglewood

DAVIS — The California Supreme Court grappled Wednesday with whether to hold amusement parks liable for injuries that occur during a ride's normal operation. Meeting for oral argument, the state high court considered a lawsuit filed by a woman who broke her wrist while riding a bumper car at the Great America amusement park in Northern California. She claimed the park had operated the ride negligently and should compensate her for the injury. Cedar Fair L.P., the company that owns the park, countered that riders assume responsibility for themselves when they knowingly hop on an attraction with inherent risks.

Here's the good news: For once, people are getting their money's worth out of their presidential bumper stickers! TIM I. MARTIN Corona

California 78 traffic builds up and cars are bumper to bumper, creating pollution, crowding, waiting. Then they widen it to three lanes on each side. Traffic builds up and cars are bumper to bumper, creating even more pollution, crowding, waiting. Then they widen it to four lanes on each side. Traffic builds up and cars are bumper to bumper, creating even more pollution, crowding, waiting. Then they put in a trash-to-energy plant that needs to burn 40,000 tons of garbage per month.

I can sympathize with Kimber Jerrils' experience with a pro-choice bumper sticker, but not with her reaction: removing the sticker. We brave people in the pro-choice bumper-sticker crowd have been followed to our cars in public parking lots, had our cars keyed, epithets screamed at us and the finger flipped at us by "Christians" concerned about our morals. We have also had people wave at us, honk encouragement and give the thumbs-up sign. It's unfortunate that Ms. Jerrils ran into two hateful fanatics on the first day of her bumper-sticker use. I would encourage Ms. Jerrils to get another pro-choice bumper sticker and display it proudly.

In regard to the proposed new sports arena: As a native of L.A., I cannot understand how anyone in his/her right mind could even suggest the thought of adding this nightmare to the already overcrowded, bumper-to-bumper traffic, air-polluted, crime-ridden, poverty-stricken metropolis of downtown L.A. Greed and the love of money must certainly be the motivating forces in this decision. God help us all. ROBIN RUSSELL Pasadena

Blue Line, Shmoo Line! Nothing short of public transportation "at gunpoint" is going to get cushy Angelenos out of their cushy cars. I know that added bonus of being shuttled through gang-infested turf is tempting, but hey . . . I'll pass. Give me bumper-to-bumper gridlock any day. At least I can crank the stereo and talk on the car phone. Why didn't those know-it-alls spend those millions on the homeless! PATRICK CERVANTES Los Angeles

There are several trendy restaurants on Sunset Boulevard situated within view of a sign that reads: "Secondhand Smoke Kills." Outside those restaurants, tables are set up on the sidewalk, some as close to the curb as four feet. On one particular evening, as I was driving in bumper-to-bumper traffic down Sunset at the dinner hour, I noticed that most of those outdoor tables were filled. To be sure, there wasn't a cigarette in sight. But I wondered how many of those alfresco diners were aware of the auto exhaust poisons they ingested and inhaled with every bite and breath.

ABC's Emmy-winning hit series “Modern Family” is a point of pride in Los Angeles, where it stands among the growing crop of comedies filming locally in a region buffeted by production flight. Local drama production has fallen off dramatically due to the proliferation of film incentives offered outside of California. Notably, the other big winner from Sunday night's 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, the Showtime series “Homeland,” is actually produced in North Carolina. But production in Los Angeles of television comedies has been on the rise, climbing nearly 30% to 718 production days January through June compared with the same period a year ago, according to FilmL.A.

If your radio dial has ever tripped across an easy-listening station promising all the best the adult-contemporary genre has to offer, congratulations. You have found the Lexus ES of the airwaves. Designed to please all and aggrieve none, this mid-size sedan from Toyota's luxury division has crooned its way into more than a million households since its debut in 1989. It's done so by playing it cool with reliably conservative comfort, docile performance and a solid value proposition.

At this year's L.A. Auto Show, carmakers are highlighting safety features that focus on preventing accidents rather than merely surviving them. Warning indicators for blind spots and rearview cameras have become common, but many manufacturers are taking the technologies a step further. Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds Inc., said the additional features were needed to act on the safety warnings when a driver fails to do so. “I think they are too easy to ignore,” he said.

The cherries are gone, the peaches are about done, and now Pat O'Connell has a chance to stand back and take stock of the summer of the fruit stand wars. For decades his family ran one of the few small roadside stands along beautiful, dangerous California Highway 152 through Pacheco Pass, the most direct route between the Bay Area and the Central Valley. It's a winding road many motorists travel, but few stop along the way. Then, a couple of years ago, reasons to pull off the road — in the form of fruit stands boasting heirloom tomatoes, fresh-squeezed orange juice and plates of pre-cut fruit — sprouted like a new crop.

These days, everyone and his uncle wants a farmers market in his neighborhood or shopping center. Dozens of new farmers markets open each year in the Los Angeles area, varying greatly in their operators, intentions and locales. Some are basically swap meets, dominated by prepared foods and crafts, and many languish and disappear after a year or two. Several more noteworthy markets, which have opened or will open soon in Thousand Oaks, Hollywood and Torrance, provide an object lesson in the complex motivations, economics and logistics that underlie the farmers market world.

After a relatively caution-free evening, the scramble to win forced two green-white checkered finishes. The most dramatic was a 15-car pileup, wreckage brought on by restrictor-plate madness. David Ragan, driving a Ford, became a first-time Sprint Cup winner, as he avoided the crunch of bumper cars at the end. Matt Kenseth finished second, followed by Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne. "This is fun, what better place to do it than Daytona?" Ragan said. "We've been so close so many times.

A 10-foot alligator resisted the efforts of an impatient driver to move it off the road, taking bites out of a front tire and bumper of the man's 1988 Pontiac Grand Am. Johnny Collins, 18, was driving on Highway 146 over the weekend when he spotted the alligator. He stopped about four feet from the animal and began blowing his car horn. But, instead of crawling away, the alligator bit down on Collins' front tire until it exploded and then bit a chunk out of his plastic bumper, officials said.

I wish somebody could give me one good reason why the Santa Monica Freeway east runs so smoothly at rush hour. I'm really getting tired of arriving at downtown appointments early after allowing a lot of travel time, expecting bumper-to-bumper traffic and encountering a free-flowing freeway instead. What's wrong with this city anyway? I'm ready to move to Seattle, where time management is enhanced by the fact that you always get a good traffic jam each and every time you expect one. JOHN WATSON Los Angeles

Rising commodity prices may be stoking inflation worries abroad and starting to pinch U.S. consumers at the grocery store, but for farmers strolling the grounds of the world's largest farm equipment show the good times are rolling. People good-naturedly jostled to be the first to test drive John Deere's new skid loader at the World Ag Expo, a 60-acre stretch of dusty earth and buffed machinery. They smiled as they flocked to place orders for new combines, cotton balers and top-of-the-line tractors.

The Verizon iPhone 4 is, for the most part, the same as the iPhone 4 model sold by AT&T. But it does sport a different antenna and its side buttons have been moved down ever so slightly. The performance of the phone might not be affected by these moves, which were probably made to accommodate internal changes so the iPhone 4 could run on Verizon's CDMA 3G network. But the button changes make it likely that iPhone users who switch from AT&T to Verizon will be unable to use many of their old iPhone 4 cases and bumpers.