Mailbag: Advice column was food for thought

The cooking tips from Elle Harrow and Terry Markowitz were terrific (“Cooking tips from Elle and Terry,” All About Food, June 21). Who knew, even me as a registered dietitian, that bell peppers with three bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating and peppers with four bumps are firmer and better for cooking? Thank you for the 18 tips. I will share your tips with my clients and will wrap my open chunks of cheese in aluminum foil to keep them fresher longer.

Melanie R. Silverman

Laguna Beach

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Vice crimes a waste of funds

A quick look at the 2011/12 Huntington Beach Police Department budget shows that there are nine persons assigned to narcotics and vice investigations and that 1,400 narcotics analyses are budgeted. Since most of narcotics and vice issues involve voluntary capitalist acts between consenting adults, I make the following suggestion:

Eliminate these specialty functions and restrict police activity associated with vice and drugs to only those involving violence or property crimes and handle those as part of normal police functions. This should provide significant help in the budget reduction efforts.

Ernst F. Ghermann

Huntington Beach

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One reader for Rohrabacher...

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) is a brave and patriotic leader who stands tall against the crooks and corrupt leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since 1947, Pakistan has played games with the U.S. and has received a large amount of money and weapons.

American leaders are unable to understand, then and now, how these leaders changed their tune. These crooks will say one thing, and they do something totally different than what was stated.

Finally, Rohrabacher found out, and understands that they are crooks and are still corrupt today!

In my opinion, the United States should not waste more of our taxpayer money and instead should take care of our fellow Americans. It makes no sense to borrow money from China and give it to those corrupt leaders, therefore leaving Americans with more debt.

I admire Rohrabacher and what he is doing for this country. I hope we will find other leaders who will follow in his footsteps and listen to his wise words.

Surat Singh Randhawa

Costa Mesa

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...and one not so enchanted

Last week or so, President Barack Obama issued an executive order to grant amnesty to illegal aliens under 30 or so, exclusively for work permit status. Did anyone hear any outcry from the Republicans? Did anyone hear any outcry from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa)? I heard neither from either. This being a fact, it is clear that Rohrabacher is an establishment Republican/RINO.

I have stated this in the past: The political left must be defeated. However, consider all the so-called “independents” who are holding back any commitment to this idea. It’s simple — the independents must move to the right, or we will continue on over the “edge of the cliff.” They hold more power than they realize, and it’s not being employed by them to pursue the defeat over the left. How long will America have to hang on like we hang on now? How much more suffering will innocents have to endure to appease the “independents”?

America needs numbers to defeat the left, and the independents hold the balance. The left controls the schools and courts; thus, for a majority, they control their minds, as a result of endless indoctrination to any and all that which undermines America. God help us, because I’m not sure we can help ourselves.

John Merzweiler

Huntington Beach