The Art of Humanity
Many thanks, Hal, for your beautifully written, personally revealing essay on a visionary, and courageous, activist for the power and meaning of artwork (“A Fine Disregard,” by Hal Crowther, July 14). People like Kirk Varnedoe pass quickly from this world, and deserve to be remembered for their contributions to our humanity. I’m working on a Bud suit now. Thanks again.
— Alex Clark, Charlotte
Cameras = Greed
Revenue over public safety isn’t the only issue relating to the use of cameras (“Speed Camera Sham” by Tara Servatius, July 14). This system takes away our Constitutional right to face one’s accuser, and thus the court system. As for safety, the city has succumbed to greed over using sound engineering to correct intersections or speed limits in some areas to eliminate most of the problem. Using the money for schools is a nice ploy to try to gain acceptance, but if our schools need additional funding, and they do, the governing authorities should grow some balls and raise taxes to meet this need instead of violating their oath to uphold the Constitution and cross a dangerous line of separating police enforcement from revenue generation.
— Darryl Hall, Charlotte
WWJD
With respect to churches (“Holy Wars,” by Frye Gaillard, July 7), I always ask myself, what would Jesus do? What the rich churches in Charlotte appear to be doing is mostly worrying about money and bickering about their wimpy political missions in the community with a view as to how that mission affects the bottom line. Mere lip service is given to the actual work of helping the material needs of less fortunate people if “they are not like us.” The most striking example of this mentality is the lack of church concern about the plight of the homeless in this town…they are not like us and therefore are not due the common respect we give to those who are like us. “We give our precious money to umbrella groups that do care for the homeless — those not like us, therefore we do our part…,” is their insipid argument. I challenge anyone to find a church among the near 1000+ that we have around here that has a sanctuary open 24 hours, 7 days a week, for the care and well-being of homeless people, or anyone else not-like-us for that matter.
Jesus, of course, was himself homeless, and in my view he is walking the streets of Charlotte as we speak, trying in vain to find one of his churches to truly care for his well-being. That would include shelter of course, but also reaching out to all aspects of his well being including his psychological and spiritual needs. He will search a long time, I suspect.
— Joseph Fail, Jr., Charlotte
Churches Should Connect
Frye Gaillard’s “Holy Wars” was a thorough analysis of what ministers are trying to do in churches today. Unfortunately, they are looking in the wrong places for answers. Many churches are recoiling from a transient society and broken families. There’s a modern “game” called “What Comes In The Front Door” (divorce, alcohol and drugs, emotional and physical abuse, homosexuality, abortion, pornography, depression, etc.). Sixty years ago I saw little of this in our neighborhood. Churches still provide strong outreach ministries. However, many families are broken and the churches are not able to connect and help with the problem.
— H.A. Thompson, Charlotte
Bill James — Pillar of Salt
Why am I not surprised to read of petulant county commissioner Bill James elbowing his way to the pulpit, proclaiming himself a moral envoy to the debauched realm of Charlotte? His sneering self-importance and his bogus theology cannot be allowed to go unchecked:
1. If he would take the time to actually read the New Testament before sounding off, he might discover that “salt and light” (from Matthew 5:13. e.g.) are both positive attributes of a Christian: light in the sense of spiritual illumination radiating from within and salt in the sense of something that gives life flavor (or “savor” as most translations have it). It has nothing whatsoever to do with being an irritant to be rubbed into wounds, or the “change agent” by which Mr. James justifies his free-flowing condemnations. Consider, rather: “Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50)
2. Let’s restate an important fact of American life: Christianity is not the official religion of the United States. In fact, thank God, there is no such thing. We have a separation of church and state that allows anyone of any faith to freely exercise his or her beliefs. So when Mr. James makes an appalling statement that he and others are “. . . trying to rid society of behavior that is un-Christian and wrong . . .” I must challenge him: under whose authority? And what exactly does his “un-Christian” notion include? Judaism? Islam? Atheism? This incipient fascism cannot be tolerated in a public official charged to represent the interests of a religiously diverse constituency.
In my personal apocalypse, Bill James would be turned into a giant block of sea salt, slowly chipped away at, and used to season the trendy, upscale food of a million successful and influential liberals.
— Michael Miller, Charlotte
Destruction of American Dream
Regarding David Walters’ “Real Cities or Suburban Pipe Dreams?,” (July 14): Mr. Walters admits being an Englishman from a different urban culture, which explains why he rails against the American Dream. Americans expect the free market to provide them with choices without prescribing “development formulas,” some of which call for 20-22 dwellings per acre. This density, for people who aspire to the American Dream, is more like a beehive than a home.
Fellow citizens — Smart Growth is an Orwellian term, and is not smart! If you believe in the American Dream, you will recognize that David Walters’ “development formulas” are recipes for destruction of the American Dream.
— Suzanne Stallings, Charlotte
What’s the Difference?
In his column, David Walters condemns the Bush Administration for undermining our constitutional rights, such as through the PATRIOT Act (“And Justice for Some,” July 7). And I agree with him. However, this is the man who constantly bangs property rights in favor of the “common good,” as defined by him. Why is the threat of the PATRIOT Act to speech rights any worse than that of regimented land use to property rights? It’s all in the same Constitution.
— Rev. Christopher Cole, Charlotte
Gene, Thou Shalt Be Judged
At a time when thousands are risking their lives to end the barbarism that has spawned decades of global terror, Gene Lazo’s shenanigans don’t seem so amusing anymore. And the inconvenient facts that are a result of the war on terrorism show Lazo to be embarrassingly incorrect.
Brave American soldiers sacrificed themselves to rout al Qaeda, the fascist Taliban, and free Afghanistan for a good man like Hamid Karzai to oversee elections. The oil pipeline in Afghanistan that we supposedly went to war over doesn’t exist. Bush didn’t lie to the country about pre-war intelligence on Iraq, as the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded. Ambassador Joseph Wilson lied when he accused Bush of lying about Iraq seeking uranium from Niger, as the Washington Post recently reported. The US put Iraqi oil under Iraqi democratic supervision just as we said we would. Halliburton is losing millions of dollars in Iraq (war profiteering?).
Legitimate ideological dissent is welcome and refreshing. However, the solution-free, cheap, cynical carping of unserious people like Gene Lazo is not well-suited to the serious age in which we live. History will be the judge of men like him and the verdict will be unkind.
–James C. Signorile, Waxhaw
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2004.
