NEWS
January 18, 1990 | LYNN SMITH, TIMES STAFF WRITER
David Paul Hammer was a prisoner at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester a few years ago when he bragged to a reporter for an alternative magazine that he had received at least $176,000 from 1,500 to 2,000 people he had duped into sending him money. "The trick is making them fall in love with you through letters and on the phone," Hammer told the Los Angeles-based magazine, the Advocate.
OPINION
May 19, 2012
Reacting to Eric J. Segall's Op-Ed article on Tuesday warning of a gay rights backlash if theU.S. Supreme Court overturns Proposition 8, reader Sara Wan of Malibu wrote: "It is wrong to suggest that pushing for civil liberties should be left to Congress and not include the judicial system. As long as discrimination is legal, it is harder to fight it. "Segall's analogy to past laws banning interracial marriage is incorrect. While there was not a specific push to legalize interracial marriage, the 1967 Supreme Court decision was the direct result of the civil rights movement.
OPINION
April 27, 2012
Re "Sisters of mercy and dismay," Column, April 22 Steve Lopez got it right. It's all about the Vatican letting those nuns know who's in charge - and it's not Jesus. I was a member of the Immaculate Heart Community of Los Angeles in the 1960s during the Vatican Council's call for renewal of religious life. We studied the documents and voted on the direction the community should go. All the while, Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, L.A.'s archbishop at the time, used every power he had to crush the community's efforts.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 20, 2011 | By Suzanne Muchnic, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Van Gogh The Life Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith Random House: 953 pp., $40 Vincent Van Gogh is an extraordinary artist about whom everything seems to be known. His brilliant work and tragic life, combined with a paper trail of letters to his art-dealer brother, Theo, have made him an irresistible subject for art historians, biographers, journalists, filmmakers, medical specialists and psychologists since his death from a gunshot wound in 1890. The Dutch painter of dazzling landscapes and searing portraits may be permanently engraved in the public imagination as a mad, self-destructive genius, but scholars continue to probe every last detail of his 37 years on Earth.
NEWS
January 16, 1990 | BOB SECTER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Poor Jeff Zaslow. In high school, some bully stole his favorite sneakers and wouldn't give them back. In college, his dream date confessed that there were only three guys she'd ever been interested in--and he wasn't one of them. He's painfully insecure. "All my life I've wanted to be liked," he confessed. "I'm not Willy Loman but I've always wanted people to think I'm a nice guy." This guy needs some advice. This guy needs Ann Landers. No, wait a minute, this guy is Ann Landers.
OPINION
May 16, 2012
Re "Brown lists new cuts to close deficit," May 15 In this era when compromise and pragmatism are dirty words, Gov. Jerry Brown stands out like a giant. His analysis of California's financial condition, and his recommendation of new revenue via tax hikes combined with deep budget cuts, is honest. It represents the most logical response to a problem that is far more serious than many politicians acknowledge. His statement that the state of California and government at all levels are living beyond their means is absolutely correct.