Narrow Minded

It appears that an elected person has no place in David Mora's dynasty. Even though the retreat was tabled, he is going on with it anyway and is still excluding Mabi Plisky (city clerk). Now, Mr. Mora says it is because she is a spouse of a councilman. This is just more of Mora's narrow-minded thinking. It is time for the Oxnard City Council to do its job and fire David Mora. His narrow-minded ways have no place in Oxnard city government. He must be replaced at once! DENNIS SMEDLEY Oxnard

Re "Politics cited in school naming," Dec. 23 Naming a school after slain Officer Randal Simmons is a great tribute to a person who offered so much to Carson and to Los Angeles. To rescind the proposal, only to name the school after Cesar Chavez because the school is in a heavily Latino community, shows how narrow-minded politicians can be. We already have Cesar Chavez Boulevard in East Los Angeles, a Cesar Chavez holiday on March 30 and Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Los Angeles.

The article "Mandela Talk Draws Cheers From Congress" (June 27) by Times staff writer Edwin Chen was indeed inspiring. It is too bad that Republican Congressman William E. Dannemeyer from Fullerton had to show his narrow-minded attitude when he likened Mr. Mandela to H. Rap Brown and Willie Horton. Perhaps Rep. Dannemeyer has been too long in office and needs a long, worthwhile rest. JAIME B. VEGA Santa Ana

It's become an article of faith among many Americans that Hollywood hates God. So it's not really surprising that, hoping for big box-office returns this holiday season, New Line Pictures decided to mute the religious content in its $180-million adaptation of "The Golden Compass," which opened in Los Angeles on Friday. It's a conciliatory move, but one that hasn't made anyone happy.

Mike Downey, I don't know whether your commentary about Marquette University changing the nickname of its teams form Warriors to Golden Eagles was tongue in cheek. However, as part Indian, let me state another point of view. Of course, because I am only part Indian, my views don't count with some Indians. However, my full-blooded relatives, who are Apache, think it is a great compliment to the Indians when a university adopts an Indian nickname. They think it is a tribute that they are associated with warriors and braves and chiefs.

Re "Parents Tell of Grief in Lawsuit Over Harvest of Son's Cornea," May 13: It would seem a lawyer got to Richard and Sandy Baltierra. If they ever receive money from the lawsuit, and I hope they don't, they can prove the sincerity of their grief by contributing it to some charity specializing in aid to the blind. One must be very narrow-minded to deny the dead their last chance to aid a disabled living person. PETER R. McGOWAN, Long Beach

IN "Oliver Stone's Ground Zero" [Aug. 8], Patrick Goldstein wrote, "I often get mail from conservatives saying they won't see a movie starring Sean Penn because they don't like his politics, which to me is just as narrow-minded as my saying I wouldn't see a movie directed by Mel Gibson because he hates Jews. Artists are not necessarily nice people, but it's their work that matters, not their politics or prejudices." What a dumb comment that is, the self-satisfaction that Goldstein obviously took in making it notwithstanding.

I don't know which is more disturbing, the racially motivated assault with a deadly weapon on Burton Street Elementary principal Norman Bernstein (Feb. 3) or Los Angeles school board President Victoria Castro's comments following the attack: "Yes, some parents were seeking a Latino principal based on previous conflicts they had had with the current principal. I do not think that is an unreasonable request. Any time there is a community that feels they are in a conflict and they are primarily Spanish-speaking, they'll ask for a Spanish-speaking principal and preferably a Latino."

Re "Politics cited in school naming," Dec. 23 Naming a school after slain Officer Randal Simmons is a great tribute to a person who offered so much to Carson and to Los Angeles. To rescind the proposal, only to name the school after Cesar Chavez because the school is in a heavily Latino community, shows how narrow-minded politicians can be. We already have Cesar Chavez Boulevard in East Los Angeles, a Cesar Chavez holiday on March 30 and Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Los Angeles.

I see we are being subjected to yet another of the Rev. Louis Sheldon's self-aggrandizing crusades, this one in the matter of the David Wojnarowicz art exhibit. Good Lord, aren't there other, more important things that this self-proclaimed man of God could turn his hyperkinetic energies to? Like the homeless? Or the poor and the hungry? If those aren't exciting enough for the good reverend, how about turning his attention inward, and cleaning up the shameful shambles that organized religion has become under the influences of the Jim Bakkers and the Jimmy Swaggerts?

IN "Oliver Stone's Ground Zero" [Aug. 8], Patrick Goldstein wrote, "I often get mail from conservatives saying they won't see a movie starring Sean Penn because they don't like his politics, which to me is just as narrow-minded as my saying I wouldn't see a movie directed by Mel Gibson because he hates Jews. Artists are not necessarily nice people, but it's their work that matters, not their politics or prejudices." What a dumb comment that is, the self-satisfaction that Goldstein obviously took in making it notwithstanding.

The decision by Zion National Park officials not to issue permits to hike the Narrows from end to end [Briefs, May 31] is another case of rangers with too much power. Post the dangerous conditions and let people decide for themselves. The park is ours, not theirs. Bob Parsons San Clemente

Re "2 Literary Giants Written Off," March 18: I was astounded by the decision of the El Segundo City Council to reject naming reading rooms after Jack London and Agatha Christie. Quite frankly, I initially thought this was a period piece about the 1950s. To think that in 2005 such literary greats would be branded as unacceptable based on their political beliefs or country of origin is simply flabbergasting. The council should rethink what the phrases "traditional values" and "all-American" really mean.

Prime time is a cave dweller that must always be dragged kicking, screaming and rubbing its eyes into the glaring sunlight of diversity. So gay's the way now, thanks only to ABC's "Ellen," which begat NBC's "Will & Grace," whose popularity makes possible "Normal, Ohio," a new Fox comedy starring behemoth John Goodman as a self-outed homosexual whose ignorant father calls him a "big showgirl." Among other derisive epithets, that is, in a series that slings one cheap gay joke after another.

I don't know which is more disturbing, the racially motivated assault with a deadly weapon on Burton Street Elementary principal Norman Bernstein (Feb. 3) or Los Angeles school board President Victoria Castro's comments following the attack: "Yes, some parents were seeking a Latino principal based on previous conflicts they had had with the current principal. I do not think that is an unreasonable request. Any time there is a community that feels they are in a conflict and they are primarily Spanish-speaking, they'll ask for a Spanish-speaking principal and preferably a Latino."

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I am utterly shocked by the county feedback on Judge Robert Bradley. He has demons to fight, as has everyone--though they pretend not to. His horrors have been despicably cast in the light of narrow-minded opinion. Frankly, the inhumanity of those who have written in disgusts me. Judge Bradley--you fight, and you will win. Defeat the negativity of these cretins and show your strength. M. KATJA WERLICH, Westlake Village Everyone deserves a defense, don't they?

"A Neighborhood Flap in Laguna Niguel," seems to fairly present all sides of a local version of an all to common tragedy . . . human insensitivity to the other species who share this earth with us, which has resulted in the permanent loss of countless species of plants and animals to unnatural extinction. Selfish, uncaring human beings who place their individual economic gain ahead of the welfare of their neighbors, human and animal alike, are responsible for a worldwide ecological disaster of nightmarish proportions.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I am utterly shocked by the county feedback on Judge Robert Bradley. He has demons to fight, as has everyone--though they pretend not to. His horrors have been despicably cast in the light of narrow-minded opinion. Frankly, the inhumanity of those who have written in disgusts me. Judge Bradley--you fight, and you will win. Defeat the negativity of these cretins and show your strength. M. KATJA WERLICH, Westlake Village Everyone deserves a defense, don't they?

Re "Parents Tell of Grief in Lawsuit Over Harvest of Son's Cornea," May 13: It would seem a lawyer got to Richard and Sandy Baltierra. If they ever receive money from the lawsuit, and I hope they don't, they can prove the sincerity of their grief by contributing it to some charity specializing in aid to the blind. One must be very narrow-minded to deny the dead their last chance to aid a disabled living person. PETER R. McGOWAN, Long Beach