Letters to the Editor

What You Say

Surge and General Warning

When I saw those four stars and heard General Petraeus' words I had a strange sense of deja vu; it was 1967 all over again. General Westmoreland said we were "winning" in Vietnam, and Congress bought it. I hope we are all just a little wiser now. Let's not be steamrollered by another administration shill [Slant, "Surge Protectors," David Faris, Sept. 6, 2007].

Westmoreland told Congress what LBJ wanted them to hear. The same applies now. Gen. Petraeus is using faulty statistics to sell the surge. According to the Petraeus numbers, fatalities occurring as a result of a gunshot to the face do not count. One must be shot in the back of the head for the good general to consider it as sectarian violence. When one is able to perform this type of manipulation, one can make the numbers say anything the president wants them to say.

The "surge" is flat-out not working. The recent GAO report says as much. It, and many other sources (reported by The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times), contradict the Petraeus fairy tale.

It's been four and one-half years. It's time to face the truth, not bend it. Bring the troops home — now.

Joe Randazzo
Marlton, N.J.

[Music, "The Lost Cause," Deesha Dyer, Sept. 13, 2007] made a lot of valid points and gave great examples, but you must understand "beef" is unfortunately the subculture inside of the subculture of Philly hip-hop. It's partly the fault of mainstream hip-hop — which I call "hip pop" — taking cues from the likes of 50 [Cent] and countless others. It's up to us as the editors, producers, writers and so on to do what we can to advance the state of this art. I really don't think it's such a "lost cause."

Jonathan "Runn" Cofey
Executive producer, Freestyle Fanatics DVD

[Arts, "The Dark Arts," Robin Rice, Sept. 13, 2007] [states], "Harry Potter fans will go to great lengths to find the British Bloomsbury editions in order to read author J.K. Rowling's words in the original Queen's English — not Americanese." Huh? By great lengths do you mean "type in amazon.co.uk instead of amazon.com"? Well, I guess that is two extra characters to type. Whew! I'm exhausted from that extra effort it took to track that British version (after shipping and conversion, it cost $38 bucks American).

By the way, while I did choose to get it for the cool adult cover and a preference for the original British English, the one downside was the absence of Mary GrandPré's illustrations, which were a wonderful teaser at the beginning of each chapter.

Peter Bromberg
Barrington, N.J.

[Food, "Small Bites," 'Joie de Vivre Eggcessories,' Eileen Talone, Sept. 13, 2007] stated, "These eggs were looking to make a little money, they compromised their morals, and before they knew it, their mouths were full of their friends." Anyone who can write about cooking accessories so brilliantly deserves a raise.

"Neon Golden"

So one of those Egg Council creeps got to you too, huh? I have the feeling I will be seeing Wedgey in my nightmares, where he will play the part of accuser and accused.

"Tiny Montgomery"

The FACT group is a phony group [News, "One-Fisted Bandit," Doron Taussig," Sept. 13, 2007]. How many of the FACT "members" received checks from SugarHouse for appearing at these events? No one is fooled.

"Marty"

All I know is that I would never live in a neighborhood with a casino. There are better ways to generate jobs for a neighborhood.

"Aaron"

I'm the Dan Roth mentioned in the story. I'd like to add that I also said that jobs are a genuine need for our neighborhood, but that slot parlors destroy more jobs than they create.

Dan Roth

FACT is a SugarHouse advocacy group. They are not a democratically elected civic association, yet SugarHouse is pressing for FACT to represent Fishtown in any negotiations. If that doesn't strike you as slightly bizarre, I suggest you reread. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

"Beethoven"