Sitting

We hear a lot about the New Hampshire primary's anti-Bush feeling due to the economy and jobs, jobs, jobs. Pessimists see a big threat to Bush, the sitting duck. We have short memories. Do you remember in 1982-83, a much worse recession than the present? We had a sitting-duck Republican then--Ronald Reagan. The next year, 1984, he received the biggest winning vote in history. Now what was that about a recession unseating the incumbent president? Not since Herbert Hoover and FDR in 1932 has that happened.

The season is over (and has been for some time). We should be looking toward the 1991 season. Now is the time to give the youngsters the chance to play so an evaluation can be made as to who can play at the major league level. Why is Mike Pagliarulo still starting? Why is Pagliarulo still in uniform? Why are Paul Faries and Joey Cora sitting? Why wasn't Eddie Williams called up? Why is Fred Lynn starting? Why are Gerald Clark, Darren Jackson and Shawn Abner sitting? Why wasn't Thomas Howard called up?

Re "Lockyer Broke Ranks, Voted GOP," Oct. 19: It is not mysterious why Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer voted for Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lockyer wants to run for governor in 2006. If Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante had won, he would have been the sitting governor in 2006 and Lockyer would have had a slim chance of beating him in the primary. Pure self-interest on Lockyer's part. Alex Magdaleno Camarillo

Tuesday [Dec. 23] was a day that reminded me how much I miss Jim Murray. Tuesday was a day I longed for Murray's account of the show for the ages put on by Brett Favre and his Packer teammates in honor of Brett's dad, Irv, who was watching from his new front-row seat in heaven's sky box. Of course, Murray was probably sitting alongside Irv, enjoying the show with two good eyes. Don Wood Ventura

Al DANIAL of Redondo Beach was in Rabat, Morocco, in July touring the 17th century Kasbah des Oudaias fortress when he noticed visitors sitting on a wall, facing the ocean. "We walked up to see what they were looking at," Danial says, "and there was this sea of people below." The temperature? Not particularly hot -- high 80s. Just another day at the beach.

I know I said I'd be back in the paper this week but I changed my mind when a cardiologist said to me, "You'll be ready for work after your bypass when you can have sex or climb 15 flights of stairs without passing out." I'm sitting at the foot of the stairs thinking about it. Next week for sure.

Why don't the Rams just sign Eric Dickerson. For the last two years he was almost half of the Rams' offense. He is just protecting himself and, if the Rams sign him, it will be better for them and not him. I would like to see Dickerson play and not be sitting at home. SLAVA SIDERMAN Los Angeles

I can't believe the diatribe you wrote regarding Jimmy Connors. Was this perhaps a tongue-in-cheek article? Jimmy overacting. Aren't you overreacting? Perhaps I should have been prudently sitting wearing white gloves while I watch, engrossed for hours by TV, instead of whooping and hollering? Better not sit near me, a rude Los Angeles fan, at any sports activity because I'll be screaming and yelling. MIM THAYER Los Angeles

On "The Timeless Thames" in Traveling in Style: I knew that area well about 25 years ago. Around 1960 the Old Tithe Barn attached to the Benedictine monastery at Hurley was a luxurious private home which was rented to U.S. service personnel from the nearby S.A.C. Base at High Wycombe. I spent many happy evenings there, sitting before a roaring log fire in the vast fireplace. GORDON SHADRICK Toluca Hills

In answer to Bill Hughes, the Reseda basketball coach who argued that the officials couldn't officiate from a sitting position: The official was reminding him that the rules indicate that he should remain on the bench. As a former official, I was told of an incident that occurred in a local basketball game. The official working the game was constantly being second-guessed by the coach. So he ran over and sat down beside the coach, who wanted to know why he was sitting on the bench.