Letters for February 5, 2004

In his recent popular satire, Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them, Al Franken nicely articulates the distinction between being critical of America and hating America, which appears to be a difficult distinction for many conservatives to grasp. To paraphrase: Conservatives love America the way a four year old loves his mommy; anyone who criticizes mommy is bad. Liberals have a more mature love for America. They recognize that honesty is the best thing for a relationship, and that it is required in order to move beyond mistakes. So they speak up.

What is it that makes people want to blindly regurgitate cynical party rhetoric designed to make speaking out seem unpatriotic? Boyd Zegers concludes with a plea for factuality and constitutionality, but these are sorely lacking in his claims about WMDs, Iraq, Bin Ladin and the unconstitutional “Patriot” Act.

In fact, only Kucinich among major party candidates was right on all these issues.

Jeb Bateman
Reno

Cover up them boobs
CBS demonstrated Sunday, through its approval of the Super Bowl Half-Time Show, that it is no friend of the family. The entertainers are all known for their sleaze factor, and CBS purposely chose to approve of and reinforce that image by inviting them to do the show. At the end of Justin and Janet’s “dirty dance” he pulled off her bra. Sports fans choose to watch football not sex. I was embarrassed and appalled by the shameless sexual display. That half-time show, to the apparent delight of CBS, deserved an “R” rating. Even one of the approved ads showed a monkey asking a girl to engage in sex.

Johnny Zapara
via e-mail

Your bias is showing
Re “Harsh challenged for council seat” [RN&R, News, Jan. 29]:

Deidre Pike’s succinct article on Zack Gilbert’s hat in the ring tossing for the Ward 1 council seat had me amused and confused.

It came across to this reader as a poorly veiled endorsement for Toni Harsh’s incumbency.

If I were running I would not want Pike to pen my announcement, and if I were Gilbert, I’d want a re-write—preferably by someone that does not sound like a staffer on Harsh’s reelection campaign.

Neil Brown
Reno

Equal marriage rights for gays
I am deeply concerned over efforts of homosexuals to gain the so-called “right to marry.” I have learned recently that homosexual activists actually have a hidden agenda in their effort to gain legal status for same-sex relationships: They want to destroy the concept of marriage altogether.

The Traditional Values Coalition has recently published a report that quotes homosexual activists about this real agenda. One of them is Michelangelo Signorile, who says homosexuals should “…fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely.”

TVC also quotes from the 1972 Gay Rights Platform Demands where homosexuals demand “Repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit.” In other words, homosexuals want to legalize polygamy and polyamory (group sex) as “families.”

Darryl Hoenshell
Reno

See ya there
Re “You really can’t beat Wal-Mart’s low, low prices” [RN&R, View from the fray, Jan. 29]:

If you don’t like Wal-Mart, don’t go there. That way, when I’m shopping at the new store, I won’t have to listen to you bitch and moan.

James Kadokan
Reno

You don’t know us
There is an 0n-line place where wommen go to look for men that they just want to meet for a goood time, and nothing more. They get to signnn up for n0th1ng so this place gets loaded with them. There is one of three things that they want to do. To get it onn with a guy to do itt with him raww and nassssty. Or to get it to gether with him to cheeet on her hhuusband, boyyfriend, lover, whatever. Or to find someone to be abused by and submisssssivve with. It’s organized town by town, so it should really be very local to you. We think that you will find that this is the place that you need to go and that you will really dig this place. So if the llliiiinnnnkkk does not come up for you when you hit on it then you should just ut and aste it into your br0wzer or keyywordd bar.

Gloria
via e-mail

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