September 9-15, 2004

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Blue brawls

Boo-hoo, Nancy French [Slant, "My Blue City Blues," Sept. 2, 2004]. Now you know how liberals feel when we turn on talk radio, watch cable news or see our country and its reputation going to hell under the "leadership" of a smug, arrogant, dim-bulb president and a lockstep Republican Congress.

Rather than submitting such nonsense why don't you take the opportunity to enlighten us about your brand of conservatism "with kindness and logic in one glorious explanation" as you put it? How selfish of you to keep withholding this from all us benighted souls --and to then go buy ice cream!

No need to hide your conservatism in this town. If people assume that you are a homophobe, warmonger or racist, it won't be because you are conservative, it'll be because you are the type of person who would advocate for a homophobic, warmongering racist like Rush Limbaugh, who, by the way, is not a real conservative but merely a prick. On drugs.

Scott Andrews
Center City

I'm fine with conservative and Republican ideals. I probably share some of them. But when it comes to a president and an administration seen by many as the worst in U.S. history, that has created such controversy and division in the U.S., you need to defend why the president is a superior candidate.

Dave DiGiovanni
Philadelphia

French writes, "Oh, and I did decide on a T-shirt. It has a picture of Rush Limbaugh and reads, "Even on Drugs, Rush is Right." Yeah, and what drug is she on? "It's un-American, after all, to remain completely silent"? Tell that to your right-wing cohorts, since they're the ones who label anyone who has the temerity to disagree with them "un-American."

Terry M. Callen
Gloucester City, N.J.

Getting along

I just got finished reading "Civics, Lessons" [Naked City, Deborah Bolling, Aug. 26, 2004], and I must say that I think it should've been named "Racial Paranoia" or perhaps "Get Over It." This is just one in a long list of why racial unification will never happen, and not because of racism, but because of assumptions and lack of any real effort to solve problems. It's easy to point fingers and assume what the reasons are, but it takes real work and thought to find solutions and solve racial problems. If it had been a Nazi flag or an Italian fascist flag, I think Charles Baltimore's actions would've held a little more merit. But then again, that wouldn't have directly affected his own race, so perhaps not.

Brian Suhr
via e-mail

I am against slavery in any fashion and in any society, but to ignore that it has been a part of every civilization since man's inception and focus solely on the events of our own country's misdeeds is inappropriate, uninformed and ignorant. If you really want to get mad about shameful American history, start a Native American Indian College Fund.

Carol Moody
Birmingham, Ala.

Aww, shucks

I travel on weekdays, driving or taking the train from Claymont, Del., to Suburban Station. I read the Aug. 26 issue of your wonderful paper and want to congratulate you all, especially writers of the very informative and humorous articles on the flip side of contemporary, political and funny incidents. I think many people are like me: We need to lighten up the real world.

Michael Scorziello
Wilmington, Del.