Issues

The Australian Passport Office this month rolled out a new passport option for transgender travelers in transition or  those who don't identify with either gender: the "X" passport. The passport adds X, or indeterminate, to "male" or "female" choices. Now Britain also may be mulling the idea of gender-free passports, the Associated Press reports. The Australian Passport Office's website says the move aims to "remove discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or sex and gender identity.

Shame on Marc Litchman! In his article "A Balanced Budget Means a Surplus of Sacrifice," Feb. 4, he has the nerve to interject reality and a historical perspective into political issues. The mere suggestion that the balanced budget buzzwords are not going to resolve financial issues is alien to our Valley political culture. Doesn't he know that we in the Valley do now want to be troubled with a critical analysis of issues but only want our career politicians to save us from "them" by "term limiting" the other guy while we "decentralize" and "secede" from all these problems, while we vote down education and police bond issues, all the while enjoying our "flat tax" windfall?

Mitt Romney has a 59-point economic plan. Newt Gingrich promises "very big solutions. " But to a large and increasing extent, issues aren't driving the fight for the Republican presidential nomination. With Iowans about to cast the first votes of 2012, issues have declined in importance as a factor in the campaign, according to a recent national opinion survey of Republicans. Instead, the GOP contest reflects an intensifying search by voters for the candidate they believe has the strongest chance of unseating President Obama next November.

Evelyn Freeman, a pioneer in the field of aging who in the twilight of her life helped people cope with the challenges of getting older, has died. She was 96. Freeman, who was the longtime director of the senior counseling program at what was then called the Center for Healthy Aging in Santa Monica, died Jan. 14 of old age at her Brentwood home, her close friend Antoinette O'Connor said. Freeman was instrumental in adapting peer counseling techniques for seniors facing the difficult issues of aging, such as losing loved ones, isolation and stress from chronic pain.

WASHINGTON--Amid reports that Syria is shifting its chemical weapons arsenal, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday warned the Syrian government that the United States considers use of such weapons a “red line” that would force it into deeper involvement in the country's civil war. “This is a red line for the United States,” Clinton said in an appearance in Prague with the Czech prime minister, Karel Schwarzenberg. While she said she would not “telegraph in any specifics” what the administration would do if the government of embattled President Bashar Assad used the weapons against Syrians, “we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”             She said the issue was “very much on the minds of the administration and like-minded countries around the world.” She said that “there is a line between even the horrors that they have already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilizing their chemical weapons.” Clinton's comments echoed President Obama's public comments in August that use of Syria's large arsenal of chemical weapons is the one red line that would certainly prompt U.S. intervention. “That would change my calculus,” he said then.

Rep. Howard Berman crouched on a Sherman Oaks baseball field on a recent Saturday, striking a pose with two 4-year-old boys who had not yet had a chance to break in their uniforms. A few miles away, Rep. Brad Sherman clutched a boxed American flag that had flown over the nation's Capitol, to give to the players and parents gathered in Woodland Hills for the start of Little League season. The opening-day ceremonies were a far cry from the weighty matters that typically occupy the veteran Democratic congressmen: Iran's nuclear program, the staggering national debt, anxiety about the economy.

Re "County, Fired Officer Question Practices of Water District," Nov. 25: The Water Replenishment District of Southern California board has addressed and incorporated all 16 of the state auditor's December 1999 recommendations. The state audit report found no civil or criminal wrongdoing by the WRD, its board or its staff. Additionally, two pieces of state legislation adopted this year, AB 1834 and SB 1979, codify the audit recommendations into state law and, among other things, require competitive bidding on WRD contracts.

Question: My topic in stamp collecting is British royal wedding issues. Do the Princess Anne (1973) and Prince Charles (1981) wedding sets have good potentials for price increases in the long term? Also, I am thinking about assembling a set issued for the 1935 Silver Jubilee. Considering that most stamps in this issue catalogue for more than $20, does this set have investment potential?--R.K. Answer: If anybody could see the future, they would quickly become quite wealthy.

Again you have struck a responsive chord with your column on debates (Joseph N. Bell, Sept. 7). Debate is a misnomer for much of what we hear today. Much of what goes on is confrontational because this attracts an audience, a number of whom believe that whoever yells the loudest has triumphed. I like to hear true debates in which opposing views are presented in an intelligent manner. However, personalities rather than ideas become the issue. Even physical assault is not unheard of, as illustrated by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove)

In his bitter exit speech from the Democratic presidential campaign Friday, Gary Hart called for changes in the nation's political system--which he charged had destroyed his candidacy by slighting more significant issues and exaggerating the importance of his personal behavior and character. "For most people in this country," he said, "that's not what concerns them." Many scholars and political analysts, however, believe he is on the losing side of the argument.