MAILBAG:

With all the canyon fires we’ve had, and with Irvine Lake just north of the property, Lennar should encourage the Marine Corps and Orange County Fire Authority to lease their El Toro property. The Marines would bring in their aerial tankers and other heavy equipment for use in battling fires.

Anyone watching the recent fires can see how effective water drops from these huge tankers have been.

Lennar would not only be doing something for the greater good, but its balance sheet would improve from the lease of this property as well.

ANN WATT

Newport Beach

 

Our sexuality is the life we are born with

I have never written about an article in the paper before, but here goes.

As a straight woman and a strong proponent of no on Proposition 8 I was somewhat offended by the description a letter writer gave of the ever-smiling card carriers of yes on Proposition 8.

As the writer said, homosexuals do share with him the same civil rights, as well they should.

We are all the same, working hard and paying our dues. Is it so unreasonable that, also like the rest of us, they should be allowed to celebrate their relationship in the eyes of God and the law?

Being homosexual is not a choice one makes any more than one chooses to be a heterosexual.

Our sexuality is the life we are born with.

It was not so many years ago that according to law, whites could not marry someone of another race.

Like abortion rights, these are not things that should be a political decision; these are personal issues.

We are all people who hopefully want to live our lives in the best way possible.

We should all try to remember: Judge not lest you be judged.

NORMA FARMER

Newport Beach

  Bailout solution won’t work for everything

Regarding Jim Righeimer’s common sense column (“Let the free market work out economy,� Nov. 22) his example of oil prices and letting the markets work it out was refreshing.

If you recall, our congressional leaders made a lot of speeches, grilled the oil executives and tried to come up with solutions to fix the problem of gas way north of $4 a gallon.

Then what happened?

Gas prices came down on their own by more than $2 per gallon simply by way of supply and demand.

The bailout solution for everything is simply not viable. Washington politicians cannot run anything better than the private sector can.

Why didn’t we bail out typewriter makers or VCR manufacturers?

If you had to ensure that a letter had to be delivered tomorrow, would you choose FedEx, UPS or the post office?

It’s an easy choice.

So when the government comes up with a healthcare plan for all and needs a massive infusion of bailout cash, don’t be surprised.

TERRY JOHNSTON

Newport Beach

  That position actually isn’t on my résumé

To clarify a misunderstanding by letter writer Jack DeLuca (“Not-so-great use of funds will hurt us,� Nov. 16), I do not serve on the Orange County Great Park Board. I serve on several boards, commissions and committees. The city of Irvine (which is not in the Second District) controls the Orange County Great Park Board.

JOHN MOORLACH