Letters for December 20, 2007

Scooby dooby dooooo!
Re “The Real Warmongers” (Right Hook, Dec. 6):

The RN&R may have a true masterpiece of Mike Lafferty’s signatory methods of wasting space.

Lafferty claims identity as a capitalist, despite a consistent and pronounced affinity for Bolshevism. (“Capitalism” implies free-enterprise. Impositions of limitation to enterprise and interferences against rewards for superior performance have no place in capitalism.)

Next, the statement, “conservative and conservation go hand in hand,” is a solid admission that most “conservatives” are therefore conservative in name only, but it bears no connection with the rest of the subject matter.

The mention that Abe Lincoln “freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation” is merely a forgivable misconception picked up in public school. The wording of the Emancipation Proclamation required that it could only be enforced through victory in the Civil War.

Next abrupt turn of topic: Lafferty provides a litany of Democrats who were necessarily drawn into defensive roles in wars. Lafferty builds an impressively strong case for Democrats as essentially protectors against warmongers. In an equally impressive piece of irony, Lafferty includes Truman, failing to mention Truman’s initiation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1941. The inclusion of the nuclear submarine commander James Earl Carter on the list was especially instructive. Even Saturday Night Live could only ridicule Carter on his weird excess of knowledge. As for the Persian Empire, even literate people are reluctant to prognosticate upon its meanings; it’s good that Lafferty didn’t even try.

He moves on to the next abrupt change of topic: “Ronald Reagan, who helped shape me…” Since Lafferty’s reputation far and wide is based on stretching narcissism into overlap with coprophilia, this is like calling Ronald Reagan an asshole, which is just plain discourteous.

And, predictably, Lafferty gives up altogether on coherency and brackets the start and the end together. ("Perhaps that brings me back to…"). If the writers of Scooby Doo ever tried anything this formulaic, they would be fired.

Flombaye Ellison
Reno

Times are hard
Re “The food stamp diet” (Feature story, March 22):

This was a beautiful story. Sad in nature but so honest. More people need to understand how life is on the other side for the less fortunate. After all, in this rocky economy, I’ve found that one can go from doing very well to being on food stamps in a matter of weeks. Thank you for taking up this lovely experiment and sharing with all of us the kind face of some of those less fortunate. I don’t believe that everyone on assistance is abusing the system. It pains me to hear that. Instead of condemning those on assistance, we who don’t require help ought to just be thankful that homelessness or poverty haven’t yet knocked on our doors.

Angel Puffer
Grand Rapids, Mich.

Burning planet
Re “The view from Kyoto” (Feature story, Dec. 6):

Thanks for covering the anniversary of the Kyoto policy. I may just be some music- and art-loving 18-year-old, but one thing I do care about is our environment. I ride a bike, take public transit, and the only time I really use a car is to get up to the mountains in winter. As our mothers, fathers, teachers and whoever else have told us, it’s the little things that count, and if we all do these little things then we stand a chance of making the littlest or the biggest impact in an effort for us to better ourselves as well as the environment.

Nate Laird
Reno

False advertising
Re “Ron Paul for healthcare” (advertisement, Dec. 6):

Whoever is behind the two-page Ron Paul advertisement is an ignorant coward. Ignorant because the ad says, “Our country needs a doctor, not another lawyer.” Bush is not a lawyer. His application to enter the University of Texas law school was rejected for reasons that should be clear to all of us now—Bush doesn’t have sense enough to be a lawyer. Further the ad states, “[A]ll [attorneys] have the same basic philosophies about government.” Yet most of the Founding Fathers were lawyers. Only three of the 56 or so delegates to the Constitutional Convention were doctors. And Ron Paul claims to share the Founding Father’s view of government?

A coward, because he (or they) didn’t have the courage to sign the ad. Nevadans For America, if it’s the same outfit, doesn’t even list its officers on the Nevada Secretary of State’s website. If this group represents what Ron Paul is all about, and I surely hope not, Nevadans should do the country a favor and end his candidacy in January.

John White
Reno

Correction
Re “Hope for America. Hopefully.” (Notes from the Neon Babylon, Dec. 13):

In Notes from the Neon Babylon, we said, “After Michigoons do their thing, the next action is right here in Nevada, with party caucuses taking place on Saturday, Dec. 19.” This is incorrect. Nevada party caucuses will take place on Saturday, Jan. 19. We regret any confusion our error caused, and the mistake has been corrected online at www.newsreview.com.