Obligations

If the horrific garment factory collapse last month in Bangladesh has any silver lining, it is the response from more than 30 of the world's leading apparel companies - including Benetton, PVH, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M, Inditex (Zara), Marks & Spencer and Tesco - to sign an agreement to protect the safety and lives of that nation's workers, who make the companies' products. The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh is a historic advance over the voluntary private factory monitoring that has tragically failed to prevent the recent disasters in Bangladesh and in places around the world where clothes are stitched for the global market.

Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. say they have satisfied their obligations to help troubled borrowers under last year's landmark mortgage settlement with state and federal officials. Another bank that signed the settlement, Wells Fargo & Co. said it is "90% of the way" to meeting its obligations, while Citigroup Inc. said it "remains committed to fulfilling the terms" while declining to characterize its progress. The self-reported information will not be credited officially until Joseph J. Smith Jr., the national monitor for the settlement, reviews the data.

There are a great many obligations that elected officials must meet in serving the people. Perhaps the most important, and the most elementary, is to listen and learn exactly what people want from their government, and then make every effort to provide it. No man or woman should ever be allowed to hold such a position of trust for the purpose of self-gain. To find satisfaction in a job well done and to receive the recognition that accompanies having served well is all that should be expected by a public servant.

A new government report singles out Los Angeles County's Twin Towers as having one of the worst rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault of any men's jail in the nation. One in 20 inmates held there reported that he had been victimized by another inmate while in custody, far higher than the national average of 1 in 60, according to the Department of Justice. The report is just the latest reminder that sexual abuse remains an intractable reality of incarceration in this country. Congress took a first step toward confronting this behavior in 2003 when it passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The landmark legislation required the Justice Department to adopt new detention regulations that are expected to take effect in August.

JOHN BROESAMLE, Professor of American political history, Cal State Northridge The framers of the Constitution had a strong sense of civic (duty); (but) especially over the past 50 years, a sense of entitlement has displaced obligation. In fact, the Bill of Rights is an overwhelmingly negative document--a set of "shall nots" and the main institution that "shall not" is government. That reflects our national view of democracy. Over time, Americans have tended to think of freedom as freedom from responsibility.

Victoria Station of Larkspur, Calif., said its negotiations with lessors, lenders and other parties to restructure certain obligations are taking longer than hoped and probably won't be wrapped up in the near term. Victoria Station, which has posted losses during the last three years, said that revenue has continued to decline. The restaurant company said it might have to consider "other alternatives" if progress isn't made on the restructuring and if revenue doesn't improve.

Re "State Seeks to Reopen Done Deals," March 22: It is the height of irresponsibility for the state Legislature's chief attorney to cast doubts upon the enforceability of multiyear pacts with labor unions. If California lacks the authority to enter into multiyear obligations to pay its workers, then it also lacks the authority to enter into multiyear obligations to repay bonds -- and presto, we're back in the most desperate fiscal crisis in this state's history. Michael W. Boggs Los Angeles

Re the article (Nov. 25), "Lottery Can 'Pay Off' With a Bad Feeling, Too": The article said, "Several $1,000 and $5,000 winners have lost every dime" to the controller's office. It seems to me the winners lose nothing. Instead, they won the ability to repay student loans, past state income taxes, child support and other unpaid obligations--obligations each has consciously made. They won their money in the form of debt relief and their creditors received past due payments in the bargain.

Regarding "United Airlines Cleared to Shed Pension Plans" (May 11): After tightening bankruptcy laws for ordinary citizens, our government apparently is going to aid a major company's mugging of its personnel. By defaulting on its pension system, United Airlines suddenly has a huge advantage over airlines that are trying to meet their obligations to their workers. Meanwhile the U.S. government will pick up the tab -- in the billions -- to pay pennies on the dollar to United's employees.

Re "Faithful Are Carving Niche in the Workplace," May 15: Corporate America is making a huge mistake by making concessions to evangelicals who, like all of their fundamentalist soul mates (including the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Saudi Wahhabi Muslims who perpetrated 9/11) will stop at nothing to spread their intolerant vision of how society should function. Anyone who thinks these fanatics will be content with the current workplace accommodations is mistaken. They don't want to be part of the mainstream; they want to take over.

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status. Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years. The bottom line first: The IRS hasn't done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity.

The state Education Department has ignored its obligation to make sure that thousands of students learning English receive adequate and legally required assistance, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. State officials said they had not studied the lawsuit, but insisted they are meeting their legal obligations. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, focuses on an estimated 20,000 students who are receiving no help or inadequate services as they work to learn English and keep up academically at the same time.

When American troops went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, they relied on local translators, drivers and guides to help them navigate incalculable risks. In exchange, the United States promised, beginning in 2006, to provide visas for those men and women whose work put them in danger. But nearly a decade later, it has yet to fulfill that commitment. Washington must live up to its obligations. A good place to start would be for Congress and the White House to move swiftly to extend the Special Immigrant Visa program, which is due to expire in the months ahead.

California school districts are slowly emerging from financial crisis, with the number in danger of running out of cash dropping by one-third over last year, state education officials announced Monday. "I can say with growing confidence that the worst of California's school funding crisis is behind us," state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said in a statement. The number of school districts that won't or may not meet their financial obligations this year and the two subsequent years dropped to 124 from 188 last May, according to the report released by the state Department of Education.

With the possible exception of that football team in Minnesota, the vikings have seen some fairly serious brand slippage over the years. Once the scourge of Europe, vikings have increasingly lost their mojo - the Wagnerian soprano in the horned hat and even the scraggly barbarians of Capitol One ads are actually Visigoths, although the Viking cruise line still proudly tours where its titular progenitors once conquered. So the time is right for an image refurbishment, and here is History, in the midst of its own makeover, to provide just that.

ALBUQUERQUE - The muddy Rio Grande isn't much to look at as it meanders through southern New Mexico to the Texas border, but its waters are a high-stakes prize in a new legal row unfolding between the neighboring states. This month, Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its complaint that New Mexico has been diverting water it is obligated to send downstream under the 75-year-old Rio Grande Compact. By allowing its residents to sink nearby wells and pump water from the river, "New Mexico has changed the conditions that existed in 1938 when the compact was executed," the Texas complaint charges.

Once again the annual jury summons has appeared in my mailbox. Each time, larger, longer, more complicated and with less flexibility. Financial hardship is no longer a viable reason to be excused. If financial hardship is to be given consideration, you must supply annual income and monthly expenses. I'm not applying for a credit card here! It appears I'm begging to maintain my existence and fulfill my financial obligations. I'm not looking for an excuse not to serve, I am asking our government to find a solution to this "fleecing" of American citizens.

Re "Documents Say Bush Got Breaks in Military," Sept. 9, on President Bush's National Guard service: It isn't so much trying to avoid going to Vietnam, or even using his father's connections to avoid what my own friends couldn't avoid. It isn't even losing interest in his obligation as a young man to serve his country in a time of war, or disobeying a direct order, which would have landed any other man in the brig and in the jungles of Vietnam. It is the moral cowardice he displays by not owning up to it for these many years.

Re "Charges unlikely for Mahony," Jan. 23 In response to the question of whether calling the police immediately about child abuse was the right thing to do, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's answer that involving law enforcement wasn't the way such cases were handled in the 1980s is telling. Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, appears to accept that the morality of an action or inaction is dependent on the societal framework in which it occurs. This contrasts with the Roman Catholic Church's stance that morality is fixed and independent of current cultural norms.

As parents attempted to wrest control of Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto under California's "parent trigger" law, school board officials repeatedly said they weren't trying to put up obstacles -- they were simply trying to follow the law to the letter. But the most recent actions of the Adelanto Elementary School District show that following the law is a very low priority indeed. Under the trigger law, parents can force one of several changes in their low-performing schools if half or more of them sign a petition.