No More Mystery
In response to “Man of Mystery” by Sam Boykin (Feb. 26), the writer not only gave the book Race Against Evil a personal review, he gave a complete synopsis of the book. OK, Borders, you can take the book off your shelf “cause Creative Loafing was kind enough to spill the beans on the entire book. A good reviewer would only reveal a snippet of the book to pique the public’s imagination.
What makes you think any government agency would reveal individual names of employees, let alone admit to their secret goings-on? We would all probably be afraid to sleep in our beds at night if we knew even a fraction of what our government does and knows. Did it occur to you to have a Korean speaking and Japanese speaking person present during your interview with Mr. Bannon? Would that have been too easy a way to find out if he could speak the languages as he says he can? Archangel did exist. What makes you so cynical about Mr. Bannon being a part of that? Who would write such a controversial book as non-fiction if it truly wasn’t? I believe there are laws protecting publishing houses against just this sort of fraud.
Give the man applause instead of pause. Could it be that the writer is jealous? I believe he is just dumbfounded that there are actually men (and women) who jeopardize their lives everyday in order to make our world safer — aside from comic book heroes.
— Stephanie Steinke, Charlotte
Atta Girl, Tara
I just read Tara Servatius’ latest column (“Give Me A Break,” Feb. 26). She sounded a bit burned out reading letters from local idiots who don’t even take the time to read and understand what she writes.
Don’t let the lemmings get you down, Tara! You are the best damn reporter in Charlotte and you have the courage to report what you believe to be true regardless of whose toes you may be stepping on. I admit I may be a bit prejudiced since I agree with most of your opinions, but even when I don’t agree, you present them in a well thought out manner which challenges me to re-evaluate my thoughts on the subject.
Anyway, I just felt the need to give you a big “atta girl!” and thank you for helping make Creative Loafing the best paper in the state. Keep giving those money and power grubbing politicians on both sides of the fence hell! We need your voice!
— Billy Warren, Charlotte
Who’s Not Credible?
John Sugg is clearly biased against the possibility of war in Iraq, and it shows (“The War Party’s Huckster,” Feb. 26). He calls Colin Powell’s credibility into question over issues that are in themselves questionable:
April Glaspie’s comment that the US had “no opinion” in the Iraq-Kuwait dispute cannot rationally be interpreted as permission to conquer; it just meant that we took no side in the argument, and, in any case, has nothing to do with Secretary Powell now, as she worked for James Baker.
Likewise, the satellite photos in 1990 that show “no Iraqi military buildup on the Saudi border” were purchased from the Soviet Union (the enemy of the US who opposed our intervention). The pictures Chairman Powell saw are still classified today. Regardless, the photos were not used as Sugg claims, to “justify war.” They were used to justify Operation Desert Shield, the military buildup to protect Saudi Arabia from possible Iraqi invasion.
Finally, Sugg cites former CIA official Vince Cannistraro as his source to prove that Powell is lying now. What Sugg neglects to mention is that Cannistraro is the same man that ran the CIA’s extralegal Contra operation in Nicaragua in the 1980s, has himself been accused of involving the CIA in drug trafficking, and, in 1995, told ABC, who employed him as an “expert” on terrorism, that Timothy McVeigh’s crime was obviously the work of Arab terrorists.
If you’re going to attack credibility, you need to at least be credible. Sugg fails this test by a wide margin by merely repeating some of the worn rhetoric used to attack the previous Bush administration. This is both intellectually lazy and dishonest, and it renders his opinion worthless.
— Roger Simpson, Jr., Charlotte
Don’t Exclude Girl Masturbators
Lucy Perkins deserves great kudos for writing about such a taboo topic as masturbation (“The Greatest Love,” Feb. 19), and she makes some good points regarding the potential hazards for teens who engage in unsafe sexual practices. Unfortunately, Perkins stuck to a safe group in her discussion of masturbation: boys. True, she does refer to “kids,” but when making the link to aggressive behavior, all references were to boys. Perkins would likely agree that boys have it made when it comes to masturbation. Physically, everything’s right there. No mystery on that end. Nor is it difficult for boys to find “inspirational material” to assist in their masturbatory quests. And socially, our culture has a much easier time joking and talking about boys and masturbation.
Where does that leave teenage girls, then? All necessary body parts are almost totally hidden; their own bodies can be a mystery. And aside from occasional Q&As in teen magazines, discussion related to female orgasm rarely meets with society’s approval.
Young girls lack accessible, safe forums for real discussions about their bodies, masturbation and sex. And too often, this leads to experimentation with whatever or whoever is handy. Ask any emergency room worker and they’ll have frightening stories to tell. Let’s bust open all the taboos and encourage healthy masturbation for girls and women, too.
— Laura Neff, Charlotte
Responsibility Is In Your Hands
In response to two Lucy Perkins columns (“Cat Got Your Bird?,” Feb. 5; “The Greatest Love,” Feb. 12), let’s start with the kitty thing. That cute, furry bundle of love is probably the most efficient killing machine on the planet. Cats kill everything that moves and piss on everything that doesn’t. It is natural for cats to roam and hunt. It is not natural to have 20, 30, 40 or more cats living on one street. We don’t live in the wide open countryside, we live in a tight urban community. Control your pest, oops, I mean pet.
Now on to masturbation. I don’t know where you grew up, but things were different for me. As a teenager, I was popular and had lots of girlfriends and I still masturbated three or four times a day. Most of my friends claimed the same. Masturbation cures nothing but horniness.
We are responsible for our pets and our actions. If you want children to be responsible, you have to teach them responsibility. Their energies need to be channeled into something constructive. This is not an easy task, and if you are not up to it, don’t have children. The same is true for pets — if you don’t have time or can’t control them, don’t have them. You are only passing the responsibility on to someone else.
— W.F. Elmore, Charlotte
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This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2003.
