Bicycling in L.A.; paying for Medicare; debt-ceiling talks

Road rules for all

Re “ ‘Share the road’ a 2-way street,” Column, July 15

I have been biking in the San Gabriel Valley for the last 40 or so years, and I have pretty much seen it all. Roughly 5% of car drivers need decaf, but 95% respect cyclists.

I wish I could use those ratios for cyclists. I have seen too many peloton groups reluctant to stop for a red light; too many cyclists riding on the wrong side of the street; and far too many without a helmet. Still, my experience with cycling moves me to cut some recreational bikers a little — if undeserved — slack.

Both sides of the issue need a little work, but I do have a suggestion for the 5% of drivers I cited: Go to the garage, dust off that unused bike and take a ride. You may come back with a better understanding of the real-life drama of urban cycling.

David Strauss

Arcadia

Hector Tobar’s column got me thinking. If both drivers and cyclists must obey the rules of the road, then why does the state hit only drivers with registration fees and tests? Bring bicyclists into the financial picture and have them register their bikes and prove their knowledge of bike riding by testing them.

If you want to ride, then you should pay as drivers do. Liability insurance, Mr. or Ms. Bicyclist, for running that light and hitting that pedestrian?

Eric Saudi

Altadena

Yes, fine idea to share the road, but not the sidewalk. I can’t drive my car on a sidewalk, so why are bicycles allowed to do so in many cities? If it’s against the law, it needs to be enforced.

Pedestrians vulnerable to cars and unseen bicycles bearing down on them from behind are often forgotten when it comes to safety in vehicle-centered

Los Angeles.

Alan Kishbaugh

Los Angeles

Mending Medicare

Re “Paying more for Medicare?,” July 15

Higher out-of-pocket expenses may soon be a reality for seniors because of Republican proposals to cut healthcare spending. Higher costs punish those who seek preventive medicine, resulting in sicker patients and increased long-term costs.

As a student of economics and public policy, my perspective is that our country needs to make an immediate transition to a single-payer healthcare system. What people don’t realize is that our administrative costs are several times the amounts of other industrialized countries with universal coverage.

Let’s reduce the scope of private health insurance and eliminate the emphasis on the bottom line.

Julian Bernardino

Berkeley

One way to contain Medicare costs might be through means tests for those of us receiving benefits. Currently, I receive a small pension from which part of my Medicare insurance premium is deducted; I also have an amount deducted from my Social Security check.

My annual income is less than $25,000, and without the checks I receive each month, I would not be able to pay rent on my one-bedroom apartment. I am guessing that others who receive similar benefits could easily afford to pay higher premiums.

Carol Marshall

Anaheim

Compromise isn’t a dirty word

Re “House braces for a painful compromise,” July 16

I wonder how many “tea party” activists realize just how successful they’ve become in changing the political narrative? Raising the debt ceiling, until now a routine matter, results in a “negotiation” in which the president and Democratic leaders mostly agree to what the tea party wants.

So how is the mood on Capitol Hill reported? The Times’ article devotes more than 20 paragraphs to anger among freshmen and other Republicans in the House, who just might have to learn what the word “compromise” means and accept only 98% of

the pie.

Discontent among Democrats, on the other hand — who are watching in astonishment as President Obama morphs into someone far to the right of candidate Obama — merits comment in what amounts to a footnote in the story’s two final paragraphs.

James McFaul

Carpinteria

I wish the entire Congress had attended Betty Ford’s funeral. Hillary Rodham Clinton was ushered to a pew where she was seated next to George W. Bush. It was awkward for a few minutes. Then a remarkable thing happened: Clinton and Bush started conversing.

If these two political polar opposites can get along for an afternoon, why can’t Congress?

Ray Smythe

Cathedral City

Eating right

Re “Debunking the supermarket myth,” July 17

The article on an Archives of Internal Medicine study fails to highlight evidence showing that low-income men changed their eating habits when they had greater access to healthful food. This finding echoes what recent studies have repeatedly shown: Increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables in underserved communities changes residents’ eating habits.

One multi-state study found that African Americans increased their produce consumption by 32% and whites increased theirs by 11% when given healthier options.

Most problematic is that the report’s data are from 1985-2001, before obesity became a

21st century national epidemic. It doesn’t capture the dramatic decline of grocery stores in low-income areas and communities of color, where obesity rates are highest.

Comprehensive strategies are needed to combat America’s obesity crisis. Expanding access to fresh food is one of them.

Judith Bell

Oakland

The writer is president of the nonprofit advocacy group PolicyLink.

UC targets

Re “UC regents OK 9.6% tuition hike for this fall,” July 15

Many articles about the continuously increasing tuition for our universities and colleges have been accompanied by pictures of students protesting administrators. They have the wrong targets.

They should picket at the offices of every state legislator who has signed a pledge never to raise any tax. Their philosophy to “starve the beast” refers to our government.

Not only should these students be protesting, they should register to vote and encourage their families to do likewise so that all enemies of education are kicked out of power.

Emil Lawton

Sherman Oaks

Religious law

Re “Ban on mosques is OK, Cain says,” July 18

I hope we all can see how utterly stupid it is for anyone to think that Islam is both a religion and a set of laws while Christianity or Judaism are somehow not. Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain’s statements can only be described as fear-mongering, implying we should not allow mosques to be built because Sharia may become law if we did.

I’m sure Cain believes in our Constitution to protect him from that possibility — just as we all believe in the Constitution to protect us from the unfair, ancient, misogynist, racist and homophobic laws found in the Torah and the Bible.

Daniel J. Chaney

Los Angeles

The survivors

Re “Jaycee Dugard and the feel-good imperative,” Opinion, July 14

Yes, it does make a great story, but in the same way as “man bites dog.” Whether the Holocaust, cancer or natural disasters, we often find such calamities easier to deal with by lionizing those who at least appear to be resilient.

Atrocities are well known to induce terrible physical and emotional consequences in unpredictable ways. Those who respond with anger, sadness or cynicism are too often made to feel they have a bad attitude when they really deserve every bit as much respect as more optimistic survivors.

Hyman J. Milstein

Studio City