National Disgrace

Re "Shut Out on Healthcare After Storm," Oct. 9 First, many citizens with life-threatening illnesses died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because of the slow response by our government. Now, the jobless survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, who have been left without healthcare and have life-threatening illnesses, face the same fate. This appalling lack of concern for the most vulnerable citizens in our society will certainly be foremost in my mind during the next presidential and congressional elections.

Re "Failings at Walter Reed claim Army secretary," March 3 What can anyone really say to a wounded soldier when he or she returns to the United States for medical treatment? "Thank you for honoring your commitment to freedom and preserving our national liberties. Now, check yourself into the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and let a grateful country honor your service by providing you with the best care we have to offer." What a national disgrace that the good intentions of our citizens cannot be fulfilled because of the Bush administration's callous and insensitive attitude toward our wounded heroes.

In Russian, they are called nochney okhotnitsy, or zhena nanoch, even businessmenki-- night huntresses, wife for a night, business women. Soviet authorities have turned a blind eye to their evening patrols around the hotels used by foreign tourists. But now, in the atmosphere of glasnost, or openness, being promoted by Soviet leader Mikhail S.

This week in 1964, five Sioux Indians claimed Alcatraz Island under an old treaty and remained there for four hours, in a brief forerunner of the 19-month occupation that was staged five years later in an ultimately successful protest of U.S. Indian policy. Activist and author Helen Hunt Jackson staged her protest in 1884 with "Ramona," a propaganda novel she had hoped would "do for the Indian a thousandth part what 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' did for the Negro."

Puzzled whispers echo through the audience at Vienna's English Theatre, where Edward Albee's latest play, "Three Tall Women," is having its world premiere. "Surcease," the dying protagonist proclaims just before the curtain falls. "That's the happiest moment. When it's all done. When we can stop." "Surcease?" the Viennese wonder aloud, stumbling more over the unfamiliar vocabulary than Albee's notion that death might come as a welcome respite.

While much of the international community prepares to isolate Austria for including the far-right Freedom Party in its next government, the greatest offender to the memory of the Holocaust has quietly evaded punishment. On Monday, Syria became the world's first Holocaust-denier state.

At the entrance to this city's newest museum, visitors are given a ticket randomly assigning them a skin color, then ushered through one of two doors, marked "White" and "Non-white." Once inside, they file past enlarged copies of identity papers and into a so-called Hall of Classification. There, they confront a placard inscribed with a historic and central piece of South African legislation: the Population Registration Act of 1950, which categorized and segregated the people of this nation.

Paintings in Ireland's National Gallery are cracking and warping in damp conditions that one museum official called a "national disgrace." Wildly fluctuating humidity levels because of an antiquated air-conditioning system that can't properly regulate temperature have left pictures discolored by damp and paint flaking off canvases. Some major pictures, including a Murillo and a Titian, have been removed for restoration.

Re "U.S. to Launch Operation Dessert Storm," Dec. 16: Is this country crazy or what? The Times reported that we are dropping 46,000 pounds of cake on the Afghans to celebrate the end of Ramadan so they can share sweets with the family. Meanwhile, back here, our homeless wander the streets hungry and some in our military are on food stamps. This is a national disgrace! Herb Franck Coronado

Re "Housing Boom Has Left Them Out in the Heat," July 22 With 200 billion taxpayer dollars spent on the war in Iraq and no end in sight, it is a national disgrace that 15 homeless people have died on the streets of Phoenix. I guess the homeless are not part of the "culture of life" that the president was so concerned about when he pushed the Terri Schiavo special legislation through Congress. Elena House Los Angeles

Re "Shut Out on Healthcare After Storm," Oct. 9 First, many citizens with life-threatening illnesses died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because of the slow response by our government. Now, the jobless survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, who have been left without healthcare and have life-threatening illnesses, face the same fate. This appalling lack of concern for the most vulnerable citizens in our society will certainly be foremost in my mind during the next presidential and congressional elections.

I am glad to see that Rosa Brooks is publicizing the most egregious of the Katrina scandals: the large number of poor people who live in our midst (Opinion, Sept. 7). Brooks uses the disaster to assail the right, but I have a different take. Once the champion of the less fortunate, the Democratic Party, to which I have belonged for 35 years, has abandoned the poor in preference to abortion rights, gay marriage, political correctness and the placation of major contributors. Brooks should have pointed the finger at all levels of government, both political parties, special interests, black leadership and every one of us for not doing enough about this problem.

Re "Housing Boom Has Left Them Out in the Heat," July 22 With 200 billion taxpayer dollars spent on the war in Iraq and no end in sight, it is a national disgrace that 15 homeless people have died on the streets of Phoenix. I guess the homeless are not part of the "culture of life" that the president was so concerned about when he pushed the Terri Schiavo special legislation through Congress. Elena House Los Angeles

Re "U.S. to Launch Operation Dessert Storm," Dec. 16: Is this country crazy or what? The Times reported that we are dropping 46,000 pounds of cake on the Afghans to celebrate the end of Ramadan so they can share sweets with the family. Meanwhile, back here, our homeless wander the streets hungry and some in our military are on food stamps. This is a national disgrace! Herb Franck Coronado

At the entrance to this city's newest museum, visitors are given a ticket randomly assigning them a skin color, then ushered through one of two doors, marked "White" and "Non-white." Once inside, they file past enlarged copies of identity papers and into a so-called Hall of Classification. There, they confront a placard inscribed with a historic and central piece of South African legislation: the Population Registration Act of 1950, which categorized and segregated the people of this nation.

Usually reliable sources report that rural medical care is at a new low in quality, that our nation ranks 28th in the world in providing health care, that 40 million-plus of our citizens do not have access to medical insurance and that Congress is in thralldom to the pharmaceutical industry. Add to these sorry conditions news that the majority of our highways and bridges are rated inadequate to dangerous, that the crumbling physical condition of our schools is a national disgrace and our air traffic system is obsolete and dangerously overextended.

Automobile prices are a national disgrace. They have become a major burden to the citizen. The majority of people will not buy at these ridiculous prices unless forced into the market. This point is flagrantly obvious when the only time buyers appear at the showrooms is when large incentives are offered. Even with factory and dealer discounts, prices remain way out of line, taking an excessive share of the consumer's income. SHERMAN E. ROSS Los Angeles

In a prank that proved reality is in the eye of the beholder, the set of CBS' hit series "Big Brother" was sent into a state of confusion this week. The premise of the show, which has averaged 11 million viewers since launching July 5, is that watching 10 strangers isolated in a house for 100 days is entertainment. But for the guinea pigs inside, cut off from contact with the outside world, reality can be elusive.

While much of the international community prepares to isolate Austria for including the far-right Freedom Party in its next government, the greatest offender to the memory of the Holocaust has quietly evaded punishment. On Monday, Syria became the world's first Holocaust-denier state.