Freedom

In an ongoing effort for weeks, even months now, to stop a Walmart store from opening in Burbank, a select group of protesters has been waging an ongoing battle by demonstrating in front of City Hall and voicing their hatred with repetitious rhetoric in front of the Burbank City Council, week after week after week. One can't help but wonder, why do these people hate Walmart so much? What has Walmart ever done to them? Their rhetoric covers all the same bases: traffic, Chinese-made products, low wages and lack of benefits for workers.

Mark R. Madler When Mike Schirm was serving with the U.S. Army in Europe in the years immediately following World War II, Memorial Day was not observed there. "Memorial Day is an American tradition," Schirm said. "It's wonderful, really and truly, for our citizens -- the old, the young and very young -- to come to the remembrance day every year." Man's history has always been filled with war, Schirm said, but he remains hopeful that there will come a day when the fighting stops.

As the night sky crackles with the sounds of fireworks this weekend, listen close, and you'll hear freedom ringing. The celebration of our nation's independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, is alive and well in our community. In the foothills, Crescenta Valley High School on Monday will continue a rich celebration. A few miles to the east, the Rose Bowl will host a pyrotechnic spectacular and to the west, the Burbank skyline will light up from festivities at the Starlight Bowl.

Michael A. Caggiano When Congressman James Rogan made his articles-of-impeachment speech, I was standing in a local electronics store, at a wall of TV screens. Thus began the process that led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. As Rogan spoke, a guy standing nearby asked, "Is he crazy? Clinton's Mafia will bury him." I've often thought about those comments and the threats of reprisal, most of which have come from the "Hollywood" community. (Now there's a real subject for a sanity probe)

What in the world gives the right to one dictator -- I mean judge -- to overturn what we the people vote into law? This trend has got to stop. "We the people" pass propositions and measurements and one dictator -- I mean judge -- can say it doesn't matter. I vote "no" on every judge on the ballot. I figure, what gives him the right to judge people and our laws. Personally, I think our local congressman should appoint all judges. That way, someone can be held accountable for these dictators -- I mean judges.

I don't think the "wild bunch" that raises so many questions about their freedom of speech at the council meetings really get it. The controversy isn't their subject matter so much but how they present it. Instead of showing civility, courtesy, protocol, propriety, decorum, etiquette, courteousness, politeness, congeniality and pleasantness, they are ill-mannered, impolite, discourteous, impertinent, insolent, uncivil, ...

Rep. Adam Schiff, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press, sent a bipartisan letter on Friday to the president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, calling on China to improve press freedom in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics. “We request your commitment to improving freedom of expression in the People’s Republic of China before the Olympic Games,” the bipartisan group of congressmen wrote in the letter.

Sadly, we weren't surprised when our first Kerry/Edwards sign was taken off our lawn last week. We are American taxpayers. We believe in the Constitution, which among other things, allows us the freedom to practice our own beliefs and the freedom to speak our minds. We believe in democracy, which supports multiple parties and free elections. Democracies didn't exist in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Democracies don't exist in Cuba or Iran or even Iraq, which after its election of Saddam Hussein in the 1960s, never held another election.

One of the silliest things you'll hear as a new graduate is "now you're entering the real world." High school is the real world. There are real pains and struggles, as well as love and triumph. What graduates are entering is the real world without a safety net. Even bad parents and teachers are supposed to make sure kids have enough to eat and a place to sleep. After graduating, kids suddenly are responsible for their own everyday lives, not to mention their futures.

Perhaps this image says more than any other about the local effect of the devastating events of Tuesday morning: At 10 a.m., dozens of parking spaces were available on Brand Boulevard in Glendale, which normally is packed by that time of the day. The same sort of civic stillness was evident in Burbank and La Canada Flintridge, in Sunland and Montrose, in Tujunga and La Crescenta. Our communities, like others across the nation and the world, sat in stunned silence Tuesday as the images rolled across our television screens, images of violence, confusion and fear.

In an ongoing effort for weeks, even months now, to stop a Walmart store from opening in Burbank, a select group of protesters has been waging an ongoing battle by demonstrating in front of City Hall and voicing their hatred with repetitious rhetoric in front of the Burbank City Council, week after week after week. One can't help but wonder, why do these people hate Walmart so much? What has Walmart ever done to them? Their rhetoric covers all the same bases: traffic, Chinese-made products, low wages and lack of benefits for workers.

The year 2010 will perhaps be remembered most for its growing pains. Reforms at the Burbank Police Department have been ongoing while at the same time the web of legal action in and out of the department continues to ebb and flow. A new $120-million transit center was approved for Bob Hope Airport, new bike lanes on Verdugo Avenue created a stir, and city officials sought to stall L.A. sewer upgrade plans under Pass Avenue — despite experience with a faulty pipe that burst on Nov. 2 and sent 30,000 gallons of sewage down Burbank streets, forcing officials to divert flow into the shared Los Angeles system while repairs were completed.

War veterans and U.S. history buffs filled a dirt lot bordering Bob Hope Airport this weekend to get a glimpse of a restored World War II B-17 bomber. More than 120 people signed up for a chance to take a 30-minute ride on a bomber named “Liberty Belle,” one of 14 remaining B-17s to still fly today. The rides cost about $400. “I figure it’s probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime kind of deals,” Burbank resident Don Fukumoto said Saturday, shortly before boarding the bomber with his two brothers and stepfather.

Oct. 7 was ?Blasphemy Day,? a day devoted to protecting a person?s right to ?ridicule, criticize ? even lambaste God,? according to a CNN article Friday. Started by Ronald Lindsey (who in his youth studied for the priesthood), the purpose of the day is to encourage freedom of expression for everyone, even those who would outright talk ill of the Lord. Lindsey believes ?a society is not truly free unless people can freely air their views on any subject ? including God.? What do you think of this day?

A Glendale man serving in Iraq is featured in a documentary film and book project that producers hope will give the public a better understanding of those who serve in the military. For Col. James D. McGinley of the U.S. Marine Corps, the film, “Warriors . . . In Their Own Words,” gave him the chance to talk about the challenges the troops faced in 2006 in Ramadi, which is in the Al Anbar Province in Iraq. “It was extremely dangerous,” he said, adding that it’s completely the opposite today, as shops are open and people are walking or driving freely.

It’s easy to forget amid all the partisan bickering, but election years in the United States are a time to count our blessings. Unlike some countries around the world that are barely holding democracy together, we have a system that works like a well-oiled machine — every voter gets to go to the polls and vote exactly how he or she wants, with no fear of retribution if the other side wins. And regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in office, we always welcome voices on both sides of any political issue.

Siran Kazanchyan and her two granddaughters laid out a plaid blanket Sunday on the lawn of Verdugo Park in Glendale to celebrate a historical cultural milestone —the 17th anniversary of Armenian independence. “The event is a great way to teach my granddaughters about Armenian culture,” Kazanchyan said. “Even though they were born here, I always try to help them learn about our history. Every time they come over to my house, we only speak Armenian.” Kazanchyan was one of an expected 5,000 people who filled Verdugo Park to take part in the 10th Annual Armenian Independence Day Festival.

Every year, Al Olivari moves further away from the two years he spent unloading bombs over battlegrounds in Europe inside a B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II. Sixty-three years removed from the end of hostilities, Olivari, 90, never misses a chance to visit a restored B-17 and regale visitors with tales of when he cheated death as a crewman on a plane nicknamed “Round-trip ticket.” Olivari was one of a dozen visitors Thursday to the Atlantic Aviation tarmac at Bob Hope Airport for the 19th annual Wings of Freedom tour, giving him a chance to spin a few yarns about the time he almost died.

Rep. Adam Schiff, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press, sent a bipartisan letter on Friday to the president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, calling on China to improve press freedom in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics. “We request your commitment to improving freedom of expression in the People’s Republic of China before the Olympic Games,” the bipartisan group of congressmen wrote in the letter.

Howard Wan is a hard person to twirl. For one thing, he’s very tall. In most dance classes, the 41-year-old Pasadena resident would not be spinning around a high-shine, parquet floor with a wide smile on his face, dipping under the arm of a male partner. But the chance to do just that is what’s kept him coming to Shall We Dance, the Burbank-based ballroom dance class that caters to gays and lesbians, once a week for more than a month now, he said. Wan feels free to dip, pose and swirl in a way that only women do in other studios.