Million Lemmings March
What kind of history was being made in Washington, DC, last week has yet to be seen (“Largest in History,” Apr. 28). The way Creative Loafing and Allison Stevens reported it, we should want to “shout for joy” for all the women and men who exploited the media to express their views. Or is it the other way around, the media exploited these men and women to “express their views.”
Fair and unbalanced news reporting doesn’t exist. It doesn’t matter what FOX News wants you to believe, just watch it. If you can’t see the bias, then please try laser surgery, because you need it.
I am not going to express my view to the reader — that is not the purpose of this letter. However, I will say that this nation will go the way of all the others, if each individual reader does not decide what is right on their own. Letting a greedy, self-serving industry decide for you is like following the person ahead of you off the cliff.
— J.R. Wright, Charlotte
Value Women’s Lives
Thank you for the wonderful story about the tremendous, and uplifting, march in Washington. My sister and I went — this was my first march like this of any kind — and just being in the middle of that many hundreds of thousands of people who value women’s lives and women’s freedom and health was something I’ll never forget. As was pointed out by several speakers, the current attempts to whittle down women’s reproductive freedoms are just a warmup for trying to overturn Roe v. Wade. Don’t let Bush’s super-conservative judges turn back the clock on women and pack off those in desperate need to the back alley abortions of the dark old days.
— Karen M. House, Charlotte
False Fables
Jason Vest’s story, “Fables of Reconstruction,” (Apr. 21) illustrates the danger of relying on third-hand reports for your facts. In particular, it recites incorrect claims about Bechtel’s work in Iraq. It quotes an article by two other journalists, who in turn quoted an Iraqi plant manager’s claim that Bechtel had failed to supply needed parts to fix a steam generator. The fact is, as we told the original reporters, Bechtel specified what parts were needed, but the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was responsible for the purchase and delivery of those parts.
Mr. Vest’s story also recycles a quote from the earlier story speculating that work in the power sector was being held up because Russian, German, and French companies could not participate in the rebuilding of Iraq. As we and USAID have stated publicly, Bechtel is free to choose subcontractors from those countries. Indeed, our current list of subcontractors includes two German firms: Siemens and Standard Aggregatebau AG.
— Francis Canavan, Public Affairs Manager, Bechtel Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Program, Baghdad
Does Quinn Care for All the Unborn?
Since Quinn Cotton (“Stick to Your Own Skin,” Apr. 7) is so venomously opposed to wearing fur, can we assume that she also does not wear leather? She didn’t mention it. Since she was particularly disgusted by someone wearing the skin of an unborn calf, can we safely assume that she is against human abortions? Without answers to these questions, her argument is simply a rant, and quite possibly an insincere one.
— Paul Reali, Charlotte
This article appears in May 5-11, 2004.
