Letters to the Editor - Scary July 24 2003

The article by Marc Schultz really scares me (Guest Column, “Careful: The FB-eye may be watching,” July 17). I live in the Tampa Bay area and read the Weekly Planet. The only difference between Marc Schultz and me is that I have a light complexion and do not look like a so-called terrorist. I just hope the FBI will not check out the books I read from the library. I have read books by Noam Chomsky and Arianna Huffington, and the FBI may think I am planning to overthrow the government.

To get my news, I rely on World News International for what’s really going on in the world. In the United States, the news is nothing but whitewash. Fox News is the worst of the bunch. To hear them talk, you would think George Bush was Jesus reincarnated.

-- Roberta Hastings, Dunedin, Fla.

br>?All for naught
(In response to Guest Column, “Careful: The FB-eye may be watching, July 17): Holy mackeral! Is this what I fought in WW II as a Marine Corps machine-gunner for? I thought I spent two-and-a-half years in the Pacific jungles to protect America’s constitutional liberties. What the hell is happening to our country?

-- Albert C. Mezzetti, Manteca, Calif.

br>?The essence
Gregory Nicoll: Damn, what a fantastic article you wrote about the Woggles (Vibes, “Ragged glory,” July 17). As a product of the ’60s garage band scene, I think you absolutely nailed the essence of garagedom. I didn’t know that Montague was into old cars. Isn’t it ironic that so many surf/roots-rock guys dig the old Detroit iron?

-- Jack Booth, Smyrna

?Bob’s new nickname
I hope that I don’t ever see Boob Barr’s (yes, I mean BOOB) face or words in the pages of CL again (Flanking Action, “My week at United Nations,” July 17). I nearly choked on my coffee Saturday morning, when I was only halfway through his vitriolic diatribe against the U.N. He’s an embarrassment to the state of Georgia. While I am all in favor of free speech, let the AJC publish his nonsense and leave the pages of CL to someone else who will bolster our beleaguered liberal spirits, rather than remind us of just how awful conservatism is.

Thanks to Michael Wall for his depressing yet highly informative “Being Harold Reheis” (July 17). I hate to discover that Georgia’s environmental woes are only getting worse. But I thank Wall for reminding us that nothing resembling progress is going on under the Gold Dome, so that a few angry letters might be written to those bumbling crooks we re-elect every election year.

-- A. Heather Williams, Stockbridge

br>?Dirty, stinking rat
Cliff Bostock: The reason “Bush lied and nobody seems to care” (Headcase, July 17) is simple: He has 200 million accomplices. Don’t expect them to rat each other out.

-- Mitch Moody, Atlanta

?Own little world
The cell-phone user has established a new social norm (Headcase, “The noisy epidemic,” July 10). His behavior pre-empts participation in the here and now, permitting him to exist somewhere else than in the social setting he occupies — as self once-removed into the zenith of pretension. It suggests the scene in Fahrenheit 451 of the landscape populated by isolated souls strolling with the vocal reassurance of their internalized stories. If only our current condition were so poignant.

The cell-phone user’s stance is indeed nothing more than soliloquy, replete with the condescending sniffing and shuffling shoe leather. His refusal to engage leads me to want to not hold the door open for him when the occasion arises. My reasoning: He is not talking with or even to me; therefore, he does not exist. It’s sad for me, for him, for our collective selves, because I feel that I do not have to play his game, to confirm the score he chooses to set. So I opt out and look the other way ... pretending, isolated, fantasizing about my story.

-- John Evins, Atlanta

br>?Change of heart
(In response to “Southern by the grace of God,” July 3): Liberal Christianity has much to be admired in its motive to reach the world and make a difference. Their shortcoming — one that keeps them from being ultimately successful — is that they won’t admit that the problem of the poor, the sick, the homeless, etc. is not a result of external circumstances. The problem is internal circumstances; the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Unless a person’s heart is changed, changing their circumstances is fruitless.

Evangelical, reformed, fundamentalist or conservative Christianity should never compromise on the truth revealed to us in the Scripture. It is the inerrant and infallible record of God’s revealed will for his creation.

However, we do need to be more aware of our need to become involved in this world. We need to minister to the needs of the poor — not just their heart, but their external poverty as well. We need to minister to AIDS victims regardless of how they acquired the disease and whether they repent for their lifestyle.

One’s doctrine naturally drives behavior. Unfortunately, it is so easy to get bogged down in the details of doctrine that we forget to live it. Your article should serve as a wakeup call to conservative Christians that there is work to be done.

-- Tom Chapman, Acworth

br>?War for souls
The photo of a Habitat for Humanity crew in your July 3 issue (“Southern by the grace of God”) made me curious what CL would promote as an alternative to the religious fundamentalism your writers routinely deplore.

Though Kevin Griffis praises the radical faith of men like Millard Fuller, he cannot understand how religious “progressives” could support causes their secular counterparts scorn — like opposition to abortion. Griffis seems to share the outlook of the ironically named Faith Fuller, who ridicules her father’s most cherished convictions even as she defends his Habitat construction projects.

Sadly, Griffis conflates such rootless do-gooderism with the spirituality that has guided African-Americans in their struggles. Though Martin Luther King may have admired committed humanists, he cautioned that purely secular efforts to remake society “are based on a kind of self-delusion which ignores fundamental facts about our mortal nature.”

Chief among those facts is our tendency to make wrongheaded personal choices that culminate in massive social problems. The Bible calls that inclination sinfulness, but the sense of it seems lost to self-styled progressives of all stripes today. Perhaps that is why the sin-focused Christian Right is winning the contemporary war for souls.

-- Ron Chandonia, Peachtree City

br>?Helping Santa difficult
(In response to Ruffled Feathers, “Atlanta can’t afford Santa Claus economics,” June 12): In preparation for my trip to Atlanta, I reviewed Creative Loafing and the AJC for news. The picture is not good for working families. CEO salaries of the top 36 public companies in Atlanta are up 17 percent. Unemployment, due to numerous layoffs, is the highest in years. And poverty is increasing for children.

The letters I read to help Santa Claus make his lists for Christmas 2003 are difficult to read. Children ask that a parent be home to help with homework and to read stories before bedtime. Those requests don’t fit in Santa’s sled. Parents should not be expected to work two or three jobs in order to provide necessities for their family.

As I view the U.S.A. from the North Poll, the richest country in the world should not have children living in poverty and missing the holiday gifts of games, dolls and toys because their parents cannot afford them. This government signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Article 23 (1): Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection from unemployment.

-- Mrs. Santa Claus (aka Anne Olson of Decatur)

br>?Education lacking
Education seems to be taking a back seat in some of Georgia’s schools. The Gwinnett Board of Education and the University of Georgia are engaging in Educational Deficit Disorder by wasting time and money on issues that have little to do with learning in the classroom.

In Gwinnett, the board voted for students to bring cell phones to schools. Their argument for mobile phones in class is that the phones will be turned off and be used in emergencies, and to keep in touch with friends and family. Who or what determines the conditions for an emergency is anyone’s guess. As for keeping in touch with family, I’m betting that the friends will win on this one. Anyone who knows kids knows that they will abuse their cell phones in school by ringing up their classmates from the soccer field to the cafeteria.

This ruling is both naive and detrimental to the education process. In addition to passing notes, Instant Messenging, playing with Game Boys, last night’s television programs bouncing around in their skulls and a myriad of social problems plaguing their minds, do students really need another distraction in class? When is there time for listening to the teacher?

There was plenty of listening the other night as the Bulldog faithful held a love-in for (supposedly) outgoing University of Georgia Athletics Director Vince Dooley. The love fest was proof positive that the university’s athletics program pays handsome dividends for the school — and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem here is that dedicated administrators, staff, students and alumni are pooling their resources to make sure the school does well on the field and court, instead of the classroom. Just think if that recent “Rally For Vince” would’ve been a demonstration for quality education and research.

This state’s education ranking, reputation and record is abysmal. These two examples only scratch the surface of what is wrong with this system.

-- Robert J. Nebel, Atlanta