Speak Out
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James Gordon May 20, 2013 at 02:18 pm
Stephanie:
I don't recall asking for examples of licensees who made bad choices. I do recall asking…Read More if "you have an objective basis for your concerns?" You responded by identifying some anecdotal (as opposed to statistical) evidence that some licensees made bad choices. Your evidence fails to support your position. Here's a brief article discussing the number of licenses that Florida has revoked because of gun related crimes: http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2012/07/25/florida-approaching-1-million-concealed-weapons-permits/
Regarding your questions about G. Zimmerman. (1) I've already pointed out mistakes ziimmerman made, including following Martin. So, no, I would not want him to be the neighborhood watch captain. (2) I can and do avoid places where there are increased risks of violence (ATMs at night, check-cashing stores, prostitutes, drug dealers). That being said, I cannot accurately predict when/where I will need a gun. People are robbed in grocery store parking lots as well as coffee store parking lots. So, I believe the desire to have a gun in those locations is not unreasonable. More importantly though, I don't think people who are licensed to carry guns should repeatedly take their gun on and off all day long. This needlessly increases the risk of a negligent discharge. (3) The forensic evidence strongly supports virtually every element of Zimmerman's account of the incident. The significant element that is unsupported is whether Martin saw and attempted to grab Zimmerman's gun. Given that Zimmerman was already sustaining serious bodily injuries, this element isn't really necessary to believe the propriety of acting in self-defense. As to the two lies you reference, the first related to Zimmerman's finances. It was his wife who made the representations to the court. Zimmerman sat there "like a potted plant" in the words of the court. This obviously reflects poorly on him, but likely will not be presented to the jury. The second lie relates to his passport. A second passport was issued to him after he reported the prior passport had been stolen. The court itself did not believe Zimmerman was lying about the second passport, but that there were more innocent explanations. You apparently believe I think Zimmerman is innocent. I am waiting to see all the evidence before I make up my mind.
Stephanie May 20, 2013 at 02:39 am
You asked for some licensees who made bad choices with their concealed weapons and I gave them to…Read More you. Why don't you ever answer any of my questions? Knowing what you know now about George Zimmermans arrest record (before he killed Martin), would you want him in charge of your neighborhood watch? Does one need a gun to go to Starbucks? The grocery store? How can we believe anything Zimmerman says after he lied TO A JUDGE TWICE?
James Gordon May 18, 2013 at 09:51 pm
I dislike this new system. It allows for no formatting of comments. Leading to ugly "wall of…Read More text" posts.
Monica G May 16, 2013 at 01:36 pm
I have also encountered similar such LACKS in service on my street...however, I do NOT excuse even…Read More ONE missed day because I am being charged for the service to be completed on a weekly basis, and I shouldn't have to go out of my way to call to have that service carried out. Street cleaning is another CHARGED service that is now routinely carried out bi-monthly instead of weekly (supposedly due to furloughs and budget cuts), yet I am still being charged the same monthly fee. If the city expects us to either do the service ourselves (i.e. sweeping the street on their furlough days) or find ways to carry out city-provided (and charged) services ourselves, then they had better give us a refund, or offer us the option of privatizing the service. Most unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County (such as Rowland Heights, Whittier, etc) have outsourced their city services such as trash collection. There are many limitations, such as bulky items are only picked up on one city-wide scheduled day per year, however, how many times per year do we use the bulky item pick up. The service is also not much cheaper than what we now pay...however, it IS consistent, and rarely to never miss a day. I think there are certain cases where your entire block can privatize it's services, such as trash, but I'm not sure how to go about it.
LA Momma March 5, 2013 at 01:32 am
I met Steve Zimmer a few months ago when he was feeding homeless kids. There was no press, no major…Read More donors around, much less parents - these were throw away kids and Steve was there for them. I think that says a LOT about his character and how you can expect him to care about *all*of the students. Not jus a few, not just those whose parents complain the loudest, but those for whom NO ONE speaks. Plus, he was a teacher. If goodness and public service don't earn your vote, then public education is really in trouble.
Deborah Lashever March 4, 2013 at 05:25 am
Read this about why billionaires form other cities are funding Kate Anderson:…Read More
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/los-angeles-public-education_b_2798894.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#.UTQc_h3Jamc.facebook
JustUs February 27, 2013 at 03:31 pm
"I'd rather see a resident teacher in every maternity ward than a hundred overpaid guards at a…Read More prison"
Ok, Larry S. You arrange for the termination of hundreds of overpaid prison guards and I will consider your proposal.
In the meantime you are only throwing more fuel on the fire that will eventually bankrupt the state of California. Productive citizens will continue to flee the exhorbitant taxes and you will be left with illegal migrants, government workers and newspaper reporters. And we'll see how that works out.
"Taxpayers spend FAR more on each prisoner in California than on each child in a school."
So does that mean you want to rachet up the amount we spend on each child so that the State ends up with a budget deficit of $70B at the end of the fiscal year?
Get those $50,000 per inmate cost per year dropped to $25,000 and then we'll talk about your mandated preschool programs for children, Larry S. But not a minute beforehand. OK?
"If not, we become a 3rd world country that can't look to the future with any hope."
We already are a 3rd world nation. Haven't you look at LAUSD and Santa Ana's school districts lately?
Larry S February 27, 2013 at 02:02 pm
I'd rather see a resident teacher in every maternity ward than a hundred overpaid guards at a…Read More prison. Wouldn't it be better to start early and insure the success of a child rather than have our tax dollars go to prisons later? It happens. Taxpayers spend FAR more on each prisoner in California than on each child in a school. Time to reverse that inequity. This push for preschool education may be part of Obama's priorities but the movement has been around at least since the Reagan administration. The difference is Reagan was all talk...Obama wants action. This country is FAR behind other countries academically. If we want our children and grandchildren to be competitive we need to invest in them. If not, we become a 3rd world country that can't look to the future with any hope.
JustUs February 27, 2013 at 03:46 am
This is just another meaty bone that Obama and his liberal friends wants to throw to the teachers…Read More and their unions. They are turning school into a babysitting service. 5 or 6 is a plenty early age to start attending school. K-12 in California is already gobbling up 40% or more of the State Budget. We don't have a never ending supply of money. It doesn't grow on trees and we the people are overtaxed now as it is. Let the kids get acclimated to life in their family environments up to 5 years of age. Then they can enter the school grind for the next 12 years.
What's next? A resident teacher in every maternity ward throughout California?
Richard Landers February 12, 2013 at 12:40 am
Last piece...
From Ms. Anderson’s perspective, the issue in the District 4 election is better…Read More schools, whatever their organizational structure. She doesn’t see charters as some kind of silver bullet but recognizes that they have proved that they can be part of the solution. Voters should look for candidates who support the changes that will give every child a good education, whether they attend a successful traditional middle school in Palms or a successful charter school in South Los Angeles.
I think LAUSD is broken and needs political leaders like Ms. Anderson who are prepared to embrace change. Ms. Roos thinks it is doing well and supports Mr. Zimmer and its other defenders. You be the judge.
Thanks for reading. Richard
Richard Landers February 12, 2013 at 12:40 am
Third of four...
In addition to urging Patch readers to take the time to get acquainted with the…Read More realities of public education beyond the Westside, I also want to protest the ad hominem attacks on Ms. Anderson and her supporters that are often made by anti-reformers. It is truly reprehensible to assert that the fact that Ms. Anderson has supporters who have contributed to her campaign is proof of evil intentions. I am a supporter of Ms. Anderson as are many of my friends. All of us are committed to public education – most of us grew up in it, many are personally active in supporting it – and I have not met a single individual in this group who favors “a fractious system that would divide the education of our children into "separate but equal" camps”. Yes, just like Mr. Zimmer’s supporters, all of us want good educations for our children. (Indeed, many of us tried – albeit unsuccessfully – to get our kids into the highly sought after Lab School at UCLA that Ms. Roos’s children attended.) Further, as citizens, and, in many cases, business people in Los Angeles, we are acutely aware that we have large stakes not just in our own children’s education but the education of all of children.
Richard Landers February 12, 2013 at 12:39 am
Second of 4...
I have been a volunteer and supporter of five or six different charter school…Read More organizations in non-Westside Los Angeles and my view of LAUSD is very different from that of UCLA Lab/Palms Middle and Mr. Zimmer. In the Los Angeles that these charter schools serve, there is no “white-lining of certain schools where only a certain slice of society is allowed to matriculate”, there are only poor immigrant families whose only choices are the charters or indisputably failed traditional LAUSD schools. These charter schools provide a superior education to as many families as they can, limited not by any cherry picking - academic, ethnic or otherwise - but only by the resource constraints imposed by people like Mr. Zimmer, who see change to the status quo as threatening.
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