Seven Days Later
I LOVED LOVED LOVED your cover story "28 Months Later" (by John Grooms, July 20). I am so tired of incoherent right-wingers blindly towing the party line. Thank you for bitch-slapping Pat McCrory, Sue Myrick and Sean Hannity.
-- David Moore, Charlotte
"28 Months Later" was one of the funniest, in a sardonic way, articles I've read in a long time. I loved it. I'm glad to see Creative Loafing has the guts to run stories that tell the truth. I've been thinking along the same lines -- not zombies but about how the "support the troops" crowd will not admit that we are in a big fat mess (all the dead troops, so many more terrorists now) as a result of Bush's idiotic policy. Being patriotic takes more than putting a flag on your car, although lots of Charlotte drivers in guzzler89s with flags on them seem oblivious to how dependence on Middle Eastern oil is making us more likely to suffer another terrorist attack. I consider you a patriot for pointing out that our emperor and his lemming supporters are stark naked, and don't even know it. Please keep up the good work.
-- Paul M. Moss, Charlotte
John Grooms, let me be the first to welcome you back from your extensive trip through the ravaged country of Iraq. I for one am glad that you have taken the time to travel over there at risk to your own personal safety in order to pen such a decisive and unbiased article. Or is it that you were able to sit back in your swivel chair, perched precariously on the edge, surfing the internet for material to write about and cleverly disguising it as your supreme opinion and moral justification of your job?
I ask you this: At what point will the Creative Loafing get off this "Bush is the Devil and his followers shall burn for eternity in the depths of hell"?
We are all aware that the war in Iraq is a mistake that was made for many reasons. Can you or any of your fellow armchair columnists actually report on the truth?
Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11. True. Can anyone in their right mind look Saddam in the face and ask him if he will ever use or provide weapons for the mass destruction of a civilian population? We as a country made a choice, Republican or Democrat, civilian or military, to stand up and take the fight where ever it needs to go.
Here is a task for you: Come out of left field or, as you put it so many times in your article, come back to reality. Report the news. Print articles that will get people to think for themselves.
-- Chris Jakubczak, Charlotte
Things That Make You Think a Little...
1. There were 39 combat-related killings in Iraq during the month of January.
In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq.
2. When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following:
• FDR led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.
• Truman finished that war and started one in Korea; North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.
• John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962; Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.
• Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent; Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
3. In the two years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.
The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but it took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation.
We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.
-- Chip Hunter, Charlotte
Name DJ's Not Bad for Charlotte
I read Chris Parker's article "Nothing Fail Like Success" (Vibes, July 13) and understand where his point is about the big-name DJ superstars not really adding to the local underground scene. On the other hand, I waited to go to this event (Paul Oakenfold's performance) to reply to his article. The event was amazing, with over 1,500 people showing up. The dance music was incredible, the location at Velocity was fantastic and was just run really well.
I really appreciate the promoters bringing in the big-name DJs to Charlotte because I love the music and so does everyone else that showed up. That's all it's really about when it comes down to it.
I did check out about six of the local DJs that were spinning on the back patio who were also rippin' the decks up and actually playing, even some better music than in the main room at times. So those local DJs got a lot of exposure that night as well.
Hopefully these big events will lead people to seek out what there is to offer by our own local DJs and promoters. I just want the big events to continue, period, since it makes Charlotte seem like a more metropolitan city.
-- Dee Dee Davis, Charlotte
I found the letter from Jeff Jones of Rock Hill titled "Preserve U.S. Sovereignty" (July 20) well thought out and the way things are -- so admit to it. The vast majority of Latinos and Muslims (and people of all other ethnic backgrounds) that come to America and enjoy living here, come because it is America, not someplace that they can change into home. Would you please list for us all of the South & Central American countries and all of the Islamic countries in which the citizens are allowed to read a free press like Creative Loafing?
-- Mike Merims, Charlotte