Letters to the Editor - May 16 2007

DRUGS, MURDER & DECEIT:

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Mara rox: Within the 2nd paragraph I scrolled up to see who wrote this, cause it was just that damn good.

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-- roxie

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But...: Ooh. There are a few sentences here that, I don’t know?... scream of bias, or sensationalism, or glittering generalities, or something? I’m not talking about the story. I’m talking the STORY.

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-- tribalecho

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that’s nothing new: It heard all before. Our black men bring the news in all cases, this case is just how they all seem to make people read about them, if they do crime and stuff. Bring me successes.

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-- LaWanda Williams

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You go, mara: This is what journalism is all about. Congratulations, Mara. Kick ass...take names! Creative Loafing should give you money and other fine things!

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-- tator tot

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Stand by your man?

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Well, john...:..this is Atlanta. You aren’t allowed to criticize African Americans. They can do no wrong, and even if they do, who cares? They were slaves, remember? This absolves them of any sort of criticism and wrong doing. I don’t care how many facts you bring up, you’re just being racist.

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-- NRB

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Massacre at Virginia Tech

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Well...: Rush has a far more valid theory than the weepy liberals who keep blaming guns.

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-- NRB

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Does your life suck?

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It Fits: It fits that, of all periodicals, CL would post an editorial praising pessimism. I feel depressed every week I read. — MC

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Of course it fits: Some pessimism is healthy. Some optimism is healthy. Everything in moderation. The point of the article is that sometimes, you have to look at things in the negative aspect as well as the positive. This provides you with a balanced view - rather than always hoping for the best and getting disappointed when that isn’t achieved. — ray

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My magical thinking: Does this mean I have to give up my chronic fantasy of skiing behind a vintage Chris Craft, kinda retro Bad Nancy Drew with a killer tan, in a hot white bikini along the Intercoastal Waterways while James Blunt drives and Morrissey mixes my martinis in a glistening silver shaker? I’m, like, totally bummed now. — SpaceyG

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no way! You attract what you constantly talk, think about, and most importantly accept. I know this from my personal experience. And for the article: “The hospitals numbers would have been down to 0% had everybody thought positive.” Have a great day! — Yanik

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We’ll never know the real reason: Cho is really the only person who can explain his actions during the shootings, but unfortunately he’s dead. Without his reasoning for his actions, it’s pointless trying to ride the merry-go-round of possible causes.

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Rush and Gingrich blame everything bad on “liberalism” and its perceived evils. They prattle on with the same argument for everything, so why even cite them? They offer nothing intellectually stimulating to debate, especially with Rush yelling at and intimidating any form of opposition to his sometimes-incoherent thought patterns.

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I say — we write the VTech shootings as the unfortunate and traumatizing event that it was, and stop wasting the mental energy with “what-ifs” and “should-haves”. The families are suffering, their classmates are traumatized, and the community is reeling. They need our prayers, not our speculation.

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-- ray

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Out of touch: Paglia’s comments are those of the out of touch and ignorant elitist. She seems to think that these things would not happen if us testosterone fueled rage machines could go work our frustrations out in some physical labor or escapism. Beyond that condescension, she seems unaware that there are plenty of such avenues, such as offshore oil roughnecking, commercial fishing or building high rise condos in Midtown.

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So women have a lot more sex than they used to, but men are enraged now because they are spurned more often? That logic is beyond my understanding.

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Congratulations, Camille Paglia, in a mob of idiots, you have managed to become their leader.

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-- Dale

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Clamping down:

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No clear solutions: We’re all immigrants to this country, if you go back far enough. I don’t think that the solution is totally open and free borders, but there needs to be some kind of worker amnesty program so that we can track individuals and provide some social services. If we continue to have a situation where there are many ‘illegal’ persons here in Georgia, what happens when they get in a car accident? Isn’t there more incentive to hit-and-run knowing what might be at stake (deportation)? I don’t want to jump to that conclusion, but there are so many negative side effects to the current situation.

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-- Daniel

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more scrambling needed: “Many immigrants - both legal and illegal - are scrambling to decide what to do”. Oh, come now, legal immigrants have all of the papers they need, and they have demonstrated a respect for our laws. Illegal aliens should be doing more than scrambling; they should leave the country. Today Oklahoma passed an even tougher law, which is to go into effect on January 1. Americans are finally fed up with this lawlessness, despite the “pretty face” you put on such crimes, including felonies (use of a false ID, and that includes carrying false ID, is a felony). We already have the most generous immigration policy in the world: we admit more than 1 million legal immigrants per year (that is more than all of the other countries combined). As for the unscrupulous employers, they should be fined and jailed for their crimes.

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-- Flavia

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Stop the madness: I vote democrat every chance I get... I am by no means a conservative... But this problem transcends political party. And your calling people who enter our country and break our laws “immigrants” is a joke and an affront to real immigrants. By the way, stolen identities is a huge problem in this country. A problem exacerbated by the likes of Mr. Gonzalez. He bought an SSN card and a birth certificate... Who’s? Is that person aware their identity has been stolen by an illegal immigrant? And if they sold it knowingly, do they know that too is a crime? This madness needs to stop.

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-- Yikes

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A straight face:

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Yes. Yes. Yes: God, I love it when overindulged children are put into their place. I’m a Sunday School teacher/camp counselor/general kid wrangler, and so when I come across a kid who won’t listen because of no discipline at home, the thing to do is take them to task. You can’t be weak, you can’t be easy; you have to hold the hard line. I always enjoy your columns, by the way. — Barry L.

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Conventional discipline: So doing nothing is actually a form of discipline now? I’m sorry - there are sometimes when it is not only warranted, but applauded, to beat your children. This is one of those times. — ray

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the parable of the green-haired avatar: Sometimes wisdom is given by the oddest means. From the mouths of babes... and green-haired punks. — Average Joe