Letters for February 14, 2002

Dear Mr. MacLean, laddie, I’da expected cooler thinking from a Scot. ’Tis proof that a bit o’ larnin’ can be a dangerous thing. The conflict, me laddie, is not aboot Jewish religion, nor Jewish folk living in Muslim lands. It isn’t aboot anti-Semitism.

It is about Zionism, considered by some Muslims to be a product of Western imperial arrogance, and the fact that the Israeli infrastructure is a fat and juicy target. It is about the destruction of the “Zionist Entity.” Not coexistence.

I suggest, Mr. MacLean, that you learn Arabic, and read and hear for yourself what they themselves say to each other. Go ahead and live among them. Even in a “progressive” Arab state such as the United Arab Emirates, the destruction of Israel is the “preferred alternative.”

I have no doubt that without the United States, Israel is doomed. In 10 years, in 50 years, in 150 years, Israel would become “magnificent ruins.” Even accepting Israel as the villain in this drama, why in the 20 or so years that Jordan held the West Bank, Egypt and Gaza, did they not build a just and viable society? Why did they keep their co-religionists in the “squalid camps?”

The answer to the Palestinian problem has been visible to them since the creation of Israel. Gandhi’s methods work. Martin Luther King’s methods work. Even today, massive nonviolent civil disobedience would shift the moral equation in favor of the Palestinians, something the killing will never do. Refuting factual data is a hard and rocky road.

It should be obvious that if coexistence with Israel is the goal, nothing the Palestinians have done makes sense. If the goal is the destruction of Israel and the removal of the Jews, it all makes perfect sense.

Richard Waller
Reno

‘Bye to open space
Am I the only person that sees similarity in the so-called process of approving Oil-Dri and the new northwest Reno Wal-Mart? As a lifelong resident of the northwest, I have yet to speak with anyone who favors the new Wal-Mart to be built on about the last piece of open space in the already overcrowded northwest. Despite overwhelming objection from the area residents (customers), it will be built. Then there is opposition to Oil-Dri. Can you guess the final result? Duh …

If the county won’t allow it to go forward, there’s a judge who will. Same for the unnecessary train trench that will line the pockets of out-of-state contractors, hiring imported workers only to shut down and hamstring the casino core for Lord knows how long. At least the monthly motels will be full of these transient workers.

Just when does the will of the people who pay property taxes have impact on how our back yard is developed? When our little valley is completely “built out,” the construction trades will suffer, gaming revenues will be lost to California and we’ll be sitting here in a valley full of empty super-stores and no open space. Can’t happen, you say? Just wait, but of course, by then it’ll be too late.

Mark A. Beguelin
Reno

I agree with Bob at least some of the time
Hey, Bob! I have read the RN&R since it appeared in the area. I love it, and I always read your column. I used to agree with you, and it was nice because I could rely on your reviews for a good flick.

But it all changed this year … I thought Lara Croft: Tomb Raider took the cake over The Matrix, which I thought was the all-time best movie. You thought it was the worst. Sometimes you are right on with my taste and other times in total disagreement.

So I can’t take your picks as my decision factor for a movie anymore and that’s a bummer. But I will continue to read it anyway. I loved Lord of the Rings. So did you. And I felt the same as you about Vanilla Sky and Ocean’s Eleven. But The Royal Tenenbaums gets a poor rating from me, although it was clever and the Gwyneth Paltrow deadpan character was a hoot.

About Adrienne Rice, I loved her article [“Cheap Thrills” RN&R, Jan. 24]. She made playing pennies sound so fun. I have wanted to do this for some time. Now I think that I will take a few bucks and live high this weekend.

Michelle Boyer
via e-mail