Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this
postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to
mail@austinchronicle.com. Thanks for your patience.
RECEIVED Wed., Jan. 25, 2006
Dear Editor,
Thank you for the recent articles on KUT-FM [“KUT by the Numbers,” News, Jan. 20]. I have been a member of KUT for years now and listen almost exclusively to them. I feel that my reasons for listening are the same as most members, the lack of commercial interruptions and the world-class local programming. But for the past few years I have been growing increasingly unhappy with the direction the station seems to be going in. Your articles have helped to illuminate the situation.
Like most members, I contribute during the annual pledge drives. Sometimes I do this once a year, sometimes twice. But the additional requests seem to keep coming. Last week I started receiving calls at my house from telemarketers asking for additional funding. These obviously weren't the friendly volunteers that man the lines during fund drives, but bored marketers making cold calls from a list. I sent an e-mail complaining about the practice and received a response from Sylvia Carson stating that the income from telemarketing was vitally necessary.
I truly feel that KUT has lost its grasp on what made it the station that it has been: the close relationship between station and community. I will be watching closely to see if this trend continues, and weighing my decision on whether to continue sponsoring such a decline.
Thank you,
Jim Vest
RECEIVED Wed., Jan. 25, 2006
Dear Editor,
Your article appears to find our NPR station guilty of, well, guilty of being successful [“KUT by the Numbers,” News, Jan. 20]. Those of us that listen to NPR and public radio nationwide can attest that few other stations combine the popular and informative NPR news programs in the morning and evening drive-times with an in-station news department as well as real local, eclectic music programs, hosted by genuine long-term Austin on-air personalities. In addition, KUT features excellent drive-time traffic reports and also wonderful features like the Austin Music Minute. David Brown already has begun to produce features on Texas music. He came from Los Angeles, with a nationwide reputation.
What other Austin radio broadcasting outlet carried the entire Supreme Court hearings of Judge Roberts and, currently, Judge Alito?
As a regular listener and supporter of both KUT and KMFA, plus a fan of the local music programming and promotion on KGSR, I think we need to encourage, not denigrate, local broadcasters.
If you want to get on a high horse, then let's talk about the inexorable trend of commercial broadcast consolidation nationwide, so that one can be in any part of the country and the stations sound more or less the same. Satellite radio is growing fast based on unique content as a direct result of this mass radio conglomeration courtesy of the FCC rulings that now allow giant corporations to own large numbers of stations, plus other media, in a particular market. Hello, Big Brother calling?
My wife and I have long contributed modest financial support to KUT, and following my retirement, I now serve on the Board of Directors of Austin public radio and KUT. However, I write this letter as a private citizen. If KUT is guilty of anything, it is the willingness not to be satisfied with the status quo, to add local news, to seek excellence. Your article seems to blame the community for liking and supporting this. The fact that KUT has a larger share of the audience in its listening area than practically any other public broadcasting station in the country should be a source of great pride, celebration, and recognition, and not some dark conspiracy theory that the station is forsaking somehow a vow of poverty and failing to run on a shoestring!
James George
RECEIVED Wed., Jan. 25, 2006
Dear Editor,
I am appalled by the article about KUT's highly questionable fundraising (or more to the point, spending) as delineated in your article [“KUT by the Numbers,” Music, Jan. 20]. I was confused and anxious when the schedule of the incomparable Larry Monroe, who provides some of the greatest radio programming in America, was shifted around to accommodate nationally syndicated "roots" music shows whose value to Austin, with its own internationally renowned native music, was quite questionable. Larry is still on the air, thank goodness, but is he being paid what he deserves for his inestimable contribution to our culture and our city? Likewise, the brilliant Paul Ray, host and source of so much of Austin's soul – which gave KUT its creative identity in the first place? I don't know, but I would lay odds they're getting woefully less than these pikers.
We would, truly, be culturally lost without Paul Ray and Larry Monroe, not to mention Tom Pittman, Dave Obermann, Ed Miller, yes, John Aielli (whom as you say, it's doubtful gets paid any large portion of the more than $100,000 "budgeted" for his show); and all the other great KUT announcers (who also do their own programming – and thank God they do).
So my question is why does KUT need five (by my count) "executives" earning $50,000 to $100,000 a year, and why isn't that money going to the people who have well-earned and deserve it? I've never asked Larry, but I strongly doubt he is paid anywhere that much and he's on-air more hours than many of us work our day jobs, and contributes more to KUT, and to Austin than anybody mentioned in your article.
I've written checks faithfully as often as I could for as long as I can remember, to keep people like Larry Monroe on the air. And that's certainly the impression I've been given in every pledge drive and request for funds – pay up or lose Larry.
Heck, I'm ready to file a lawsuit myself. I thought my checks were going to (real, Austin) deejay salaries and equipment and stuff – not some station executive's husband who wants to have a show. Boy, am I steamed. Thanks for a great article.
Regards,
Mandy Mercier
RECEIVED Tue., Jan. 24, 2006
Dear Editor,
In reply (and this will be my last … promise) to Mr. Raymond Slade’s letter [“Postmarks Online,” Jan. 23], I offer the following. My letter does not state that all recharge from Williamson Creek discharges to Cold Springs. I am merely summarizing the results of the referenced study (www.bseacd.org/graphics/Report_Summary_of_Dye_Trace.pdf), specifically that, “Cold Springs is hydraulically linked to surface water recharging from the upper portions of Williamson and Barton Creeks on the recharge zone.” Table 1 of the report shows that dye injection at sites A, F, and G (all of which were recovered at Cold Springs, not Barton Springs) were conducted under high, moderate, and low flow spring conditions. As for “misread[ing] and misinterpret[ing] the dye studies,” I again refer to Figure 4 of the report, which shows the outline and inferred flow direction of the Cold Springs Groundwater Basin of the aquifer. I have not found any study at odds with the results of this report and would gently suggest that Mr. Slade take issue with the authors of that report regarding any perceived errors in their methodology or conclusions.
The impervious cover numbers quoted by Mr. Slade are muddled, inasmuch as the current 3.3% value is for the entire contributing zone and the projected 14.9% represents only the city of Austin’s jurisdiction (p.11 of his referenced report). Even a cursory review of aerial images (Google Earth, for example) of the Southwest Austin area shows the existing extensive commercial and residential development directly over the aquifer.
My point of all this is merely to suggest that incremental development at AMD’s Lantana may not spell the demise of Barton Springs. As for the thinly veiled suggestion that I represent “somebody who wants to ignore the truth,” as a fellow scientist, he should know better.
Douglas Watkins
Exploration geologist
RECEIVED Tue., Jan. 24, 2006
Dear Editor,
William Shatner has his own movie awards now: www.goldengroundhogs.com. I know since my film Sunnyvale (www.sunnyvalemovie.com) was nominated.
James Ricardo
Torrance, Calif.
RECEIVED Tue., Jan. 24, 2006
Dear Editor,
It's a shame the Chronicle is so liberal! You portray the Republican Party, especially George Bush, as evil and not for the people. However, with all of the terrorism and threats of terrorism, could you imagine if Al Gore or John Kerry was in office? Either of them would have ignored September 11 and what happened that day, causing more terrible things to happen to this great country. With bin Laden threatening more attacks, Bush is doing everything possible to prevent these attacks from taking place. Gore said the phone-tapping is against the law, but wouldn't you want potential terrorist plots to be uncovered and prevented before anything bad happens? Me too. If you have nothing to hide, you should have no reason to be against phone-tapping. Terrorism is a very real fact of life and the government should do whatever necessary to prevent more attacks from happening. Plus, the majority of America supports Bush and what he is doing to keep us safe; we should appreciate that car bombs are not exploding down the street, or North Korea is not firing nuclear weapons at the western half of the country. So in conclusion, it is time we get on the same page and realize that without this administration, we might not be here right now.
Jeremy Bishop
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
Has anyone noticed the dozens of street signs that are planted between South First and South Lamar on the new Riverside scenic boulevard?
For a plan that is supposed to make the Golden Gate Park whimper in comparison, it is strange to see at least 50 standard street signs in an otherwise desolate quarter-mile stretch of roadway.
As I drove through this morning I followed two cars, each holding their own side by side of each other in their respective lanes. Ironically there is no street sign warning the drivers that just ahead, one of the lanes would abruptly dead-end into a rubber-stained curb.
Luckily for both of them, it seemed both drivers had had their morning coffee.
Loren Schooley
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
I invite the editors of The Austin Chronicle to support those who act in solidarity with the progressive principles espoused by this paper. On Jan. 31 at 7pm, the World Can't Wait movement will rally at City Hall calling on the Bush regime to step down. Simultaneous rallies are being held in more than 70 cities nationwide.
Time for talk is long past.
The Chronicle endorses progressive candidates. Will the Chronicle also endorse the citizens who are taking the only action that has a chance of succeeding against Bush and the dark future ahead?
Ben Hogue
WCW Austin Organizing Committee
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
Roky Erickson truly is the comeback king, and Margaret Moser's Dec. 30 piece is sweet [“Starry Eyes,” Music]. Moser is, however, understandably misleading about Erickson's “vicious battle with schizophrenia, all but doomed to a lifetime of substandard living and mental illness.” Roky's biggest battle was not with “schizophrenia,” but with those who called him that and treated him accordingly. Schizophrenia is a psychiatric garbage term for disturbed or disturbing behavior that is considered beyond the pale. The label “schizophrenia” is a justification for actions which almost destroyed Roky – in Moser's words, the "forced hospitalization ... that destroyed the band and began Erickson's descent into three hellish decades of mental instability.” To really understand this sentence, the reader needs more information, which I will share, as it has already been made public. For an estimated 1.5 million Americans each year, forced treatment means an immense violation of liberty – unwilling incarceration in a psychiatric hospital. For the vast majority, including Roky Erickson, it also means forced drugging. For so-called schizophrenia, that means with neuroleptic drugs, which are known to have caused the largest epidemic of neurological disease in the history of the world – tardive dyskinesia. In Roky's case, another standard psychiatric treatment, electroshock (also known as electroconvulsive treatment) was forcibly administered, repeatedly. By all rights, Erickson should have been destroyed by psychiatry; his recovery truly is miraculous.
Another Austin music legend has been the subject of much recent attention in the Chronicle. Margaret Brown's documentary, Be Here to Love Me, about Townes Van Zandt, is magnificent [“Life and Work, Light and Dark,” Music, Dec. 9]. In one moving scene, Van Zandt's sister tells the audience of their mother's regret that she had trusted the best medical help she could find for her son. Like Roky, Townes was a victim of psychiatric electroshock treatment. As the film revealed, Townes lost a big part of the precious memory images of his childhood as a result.
As a steering committee member of the Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas, I am working now to stop the two Austin hospitals that still inflict electroshock on their patients – Seton Shoal Creek and St. David's. Visit the CAEST Web site at www.endofshock.com to learn more, or call 800/572-2905 to tell us your ECT story.
Thank You,
John Breeding, PhD
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
Vance McDonald opines that the Jan. 6 Chronicle cover is "seditious tripe" and then goes on to tell us that "America is the only beacon of hope and freedom for the vast majority of humanity." Surely you jest? The executive branch of our government routinely tortures people who are neither regarded as prisoners of war nor have been charged with any crime, and they spy on Americans at only their own discretion, i.e., without obtaining (the constitutionally required) approval from the judiciary. Further, not only do they admit to doing these things, but they insist that these actions are necessary in order to protect us from terrorists. The rulers who conducted the Spanish Inquisition, torturing and murdering Muslims, Jews, and non-Christians (and those accused of being such) in manners too heinous to even contemplate, told workaday Spaniards that the inquisition was necessary in order to protect them from Satan. Then, as now, those who materially benefited and the sublimely gullible thought this sounded reasonable. But I digress. If we add to this the fact that the U.S. incarcerates a larger percentage of its populace than any other country in the world (including China, Cuba, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein) and that noncitizens are more often than not treated with contempt and disrespect at almost any official interface (customs, immigration, consulates, etc.), it shouldn't be too surprising that "the vast majority of humanity" regards us as bullies and oppressors. The only tripe in all of this is McDonald's profound ignorance of what is going on in the world around him.
Patrick Goetz
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Mr. Black,
In your Jan. 20 “Page Two,” "Prayer for the Common Man," you are guilty of astounding ignorance “howling up from this country out of the confusion of cheap rhetoric, meaningless polemics, and secularly driven holy visions.” This is evident by you and your fellow travelers consistently advocating ideologies any rational person would find mortally reprehensible, e.g., “neoleftist utopians, moral-relativist Marxists, and suicidal pacifist, chic anarchists.”
Moreover, in your ideological delusions there is no “masquerading as equivocating, multicultural liberals/Democrats.” You are clearly self-described and mired in the fever swamp of pathological naiveté. History has proven these deviant neoleftist ideologies as genocidal. This brand of moral credulity is now aiding and abetting the most recent enemies of civilization – the followers of Islamist fascism.
All responsible Americans must accept that at this time we are in a world war with Islamist fascists! If we do not stand up to destroy this genocidal movement, humanity is in mortal danger of being reduced to an 11th-century existence. Their stated intention is to codify Sharia law establishing worldwide Islamist tyranny. In such a world, women, homosexuals, free-thinkers, and all non-Muslims would be subject to immediate execution or enslavement. Further, it is a glaring reality that America is the lone nation capable of annihilating this genocidal threat. This is the legacy of the post-September 11, 2001, world.
Most alarming, neoleftist moral blindness now infects a controlling faction within the Democratic Party. This was demonstrated when the virulent anti-American propagandist Michael Moore arrogantly sat with a former U.S. president at the Democratic Party convention in 2004. Unfortunately, this is but one of many examples of malevolent neoleftist influence within the Democratic Party.
Until Democratic Party members change course they can never be allowed to wield political power or influence. The supreme irony is that in the traditional America that so many of your neoleftist persuasion hate there is always an opportunity to redeem oneself. So any time you and your Democratic Party comrades wish to decry neoleftism and join the fight for the free world you are assured of a warm welcome to the struggle.
Truly,
Vance McDonald
[Editor's response: Honestly, no one can sling defamatory demeaning political labels more than those patriotic Americans who advocated invading Iraq for no real reason and are now looking around for someone to blame. I do believe them when they say we are fighting to bring democracy to Iraq because can you imagine a more respectful attitude to the Constitution and the vision of our founding fathers than: "Until Democratic Party members change course they can never be allowed to wield political power or influence?"]
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
Mr. Douglas Watkins' letter stating that all recharge from Williamson Creek discharges to Cold Springs is wrong [“Postmarks,” Jan. 20]. He misread and misinterpreted the dye studies he quotes. The dye studies have been done during extreme low-flow conditions. For each study, the dye was injected to a single fault, cave, or hole. The entire recharge zone for the creeks has not yet been tested. Additionally, three dye studies have been done in the Williamson Creek basin – for two of the studies, the dye discharged to Barton Springs rather than Cold Springs.
Furthermore, water-volume budgets conducted for Barton Springs and the aquifer prove that the recharge contribution from Barton and Williamson creeks to Cold Springs is limited to be only a small part of the total recharge from these two creeks (pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubs/wri/wri864036).
Additionally, the aquifer is not "extensively" developed, as Watkins states. The impervious cover in the recharge zone and contributing zone is only about 3.3% but is projected to be 14.9% in the future (almost five times higher than present), as referenced by the city of Austin report at www.cityofaustin.org/watershed/downloads/bart_inv4.2_.pdf.
Even with the minimal development, Barton Springs water quality has degraded substantially as shown in table 2 of the city of Austin report at www.cityofaustin.org/watershed/downloads/barton03_wq_update.pdf. For example, organic carbon has increased 180%.
I have studied the hydrology and water quality of Barton Springs and the aquifer for many years and authored about 25 reports on the subject. Mr. Watkins claims he is amazed at the lack of scientific logic applied to this issue, but maybe he either lacks the knowledge or represents somebody who wants to ignore the truth.
Raymond Slade Jr.
Certified professional hydrologist
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
In recent months, the Chronicle has extensively covered the Convergys/HHSC fiasco [“Naked City,” News, Dec. 16]. Well, the state is at it again. Right now the Department of Information Resources is poised to offer a contract to outsource many state services to a private vendor, including unemployment services (www.dir.state.tx.us/datacenter/index.htm). While the perception of many is that state employees are just feeding off the government tit, I can assure you that everyone at the Texas Workforce Commission works damned hard to ensure Texas citizens get their unemployment benefits on time, or ensure that someone looking for a job finds one. It is a job that I myself take very seriously. So I implore everyone to speak out against this consolidation plan. Contact the governor, your state representative, and your senator. Say no to privatization! Do not turn over state services to a corporation whose only concern is raw profit, not the welfare of the people of Texas!
Eric Harwell
Pflugerville
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
Well, my liberal friends, how do you like your arrogant, pompous Democratic leaders now? Ted Kennedy showed his true colors. What a buffoon! Oh, and Chuck Schumer, his vile attitude made me almost vomit. What a fine specimen of oratory excrement. And a big thank you to C-SPAN for showing the hearings at night when working Americans (the ones that pay all the taxes) are home and can witness firsthand what was said, by whom, without the media distorting the facts.
Sincerely,
Edward "EddieB" Bockholt
Round Rock
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
I'm not a lawyer, I hear the arguments concerning the wiretaps and I'm still left with a question.
It seems that the president broke the law in that he refused to notify FISA.
I found this on the Web (www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/12/us_wiretapping_laws/page5.html), "If these taps truly were aimed narrowly at 'bad persons talking to bad persons' why couldn't the NSA get a FISA warrant? The President and Attorney General have both opined that it would be impossible to do so because of the 'need for speed,' despite the fact that FISA allows warrants to be issued after the fact."
So the administration had no problem here; they could do the taps and just very easily report them after the fact. So my question is, why in the world would the president set such a precedent? He, President Bush, would not do anything terrible like Hitler did, but by setting such a precedent he weakens our checks and balances and some evil person could some day rise to power in our country and do terrible things with such license.
So, why is the president doing this? What could possibly be his motivation?
Ken Ashe
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
It is disconcerting to find in print an item about five words spoken at the only private party I have hosted in two decades [“Naked City,” News, Jan. 20].
In mid-December, we mailed invitations “to celebrate life” on Jan. 11 at Zilker Clubhouse. The invitation mentioned dinner by Threadgill's, Floyd Domino at the keyboard, no presents but your presence, and did not mention birthday.
One of the invited guests was the incomparable Sarah Eckhardt, graduate of UT's law school and LBJ School, and candidate for county commissioner, Precinct 2. Sarah attended the 5:30pm party briefly and departed for her young son's birthday.
About midway in the party, I was surprised to see an uninvited Karen Sonleitner, wearing her campaign name badge, mingling with the guests (who wore our preprinted name tags). As a supporter of Eckhardt's candidacy, I spent several minutes wondering what to do since my guests quite naturally would assume that Sonleitner also was invited.
After Sonleitner finally departed, I concluded there was no alternative but to tell my guests (at this nonpolitical event) that I was supporting Eckhardt and that Sonleitner had crashed my party. The next morning, I received a note of apology from Sonleitner and was quite ready to close the books on the awkward happening.
A week later, however, I received my In Fact Weekly and was saddened to find words about the unfortunate event in print. In retrospect, I can only say it does seem curious that no one else in Austin thought the gathering was open to the public.
If ever again I get the urge to host a party, I'll probably try to rent the convention center and pay for open invitation ads in the local press!
Shudde Fath
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
The Jan. 20 cover photo might well have carried this caption: Oh Shit for $200, Alex. Question: The cowboy in this picture is a former cheerleader and C-average graduate from Yale University. He might not be able to say nuclear, but as he demonstrates here – he has his hand on the nuclear trigger, and knows how to push it! Answer: Who is George W. Bush, Alex.
Eddy Ames
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
Thomas Boggs' reply to my most recent letter ends with the proposition "Not all smokers are 'pigs'" [“Postmarks,” Jan. 20]. I said as much in my original letter [“Postmarks,” Jan. 13]. I don't doubt there are smokers who don't litter, just as I don't doubt there are smokers who would read my letters before responding to them, Mr. Boggs notwithstanding. My noxiously self-righteous, mean, pinch-faced puritanical bender was aimed at the smokers who casually throw their butts on the ground after they're finished satisfying their voluntary drug addiction. (For the record, I voted against the smoking ban.)
Upon reflection, however, I do feel my use of the word "pigs" was inappropriate. It is my understanding that wild pigs are among the cleanest and intelligent mammals to be found in the Western Hemisphere, and it is unfair to compare them to people who would throw their trash into my water supply (which is what littering is). If any porcine readers of the Chronicle were offended, I sincerely apologize.
Michael M. Simpson
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
As the former manager for the Nader independent bid for president in Texas, I am all too familiar with the answers to the Jackson's questions [“Postmarks,” Jan. 20], and it is a testament to whom we have running our state that 99.9% of the population is as stymied as they are.
You cannot vote in the primary at all if you wish to sign the ballot access petition of a third party or independent candidate in any statewide race – via petition drives following the primaries. By voting in a particular primary in Texas, you are "locked in" as a member of that party for two years following. (Wouldn't a notice at the polling place saying such be wise so you can choose not to be excluded from supporting others before it's too late?)
This serves to make it that much harder for such candidates to gain ballot access via the second most stringent access laws in the nation (OK, it's a tad worse in terms of number of signatures required, though Texas has an earlier and shorter window in which to gather them). Without a lot of money to pay petitioners it is extraordinarily difficult to make it, so the two-party system holds firmly onto their power. (Guess who makes these laws?)
You can vote for any such candidates in the November general election if they meet the requirements of their petition drives. If not, then they will probably opt to be a "write-in" candidate, which means they will get next-to-no exposure, thus votes.
Lastly, you cannot sign both Friedman's and Strayhorn's petitions. No joke. Independents cannot support all independents in the same race (you also couldn't sign two different “minor” party petitions). Call your state legislator if that offends your democratic principals like it does mine!
Debbie Russell
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
The National Association of Manufacturers is not “blaming workers” for the broadening skills gap in America, as Jim Hightower claims in "The NAM’s Mess" [“The Hightower Report,” Jan. 13].
The 2005 Skills Gap Report by the NAM, the Manufacturing Institute, and Deloitte Consulting cited by Mr. Hightower issues a call to arms for manufacturers to invest more in skills training (roughly 3% of payroll) if they want to stay ahead in today’s rapidly changing economy.
But even dramatically higher investments by manufacturers won’t overcome the poor quality of our K-12 educational system. Modern manufacturing requires employees with advanced technical skills and a solid background in math, science, and communications that many of America’s schools are not providing.
Another difficult hurdle is our industry’s negative image, which stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about the high-paying, challenging jobs in today’s cutting-edge manufacturing. Manufacturers must do a better job telling their story to potential workers if they want to have the high-performance workforce that three out of four tell us is the most important driver of future business success.
We need a thoughtful national debate that rises above finger-pointing if this country is to avoid a human capital crisis when the baby boomers retire with no generation of skilled workers in the pipeline to replace them.
Jerry Jasinowski
President
The Manufacturing Institute
(the research and education arm of the NAM)
Washington D.C.
[Jim Hightower responds: Thanks, Jerry, for noting that NAM’s report is “a call” for manufacturers to invest more in skills training. But are they answering the call? And, while you criticize “the poor quality of our K-12 educational system,” corporate members of NAM routinely demand that local school districts exempt them from school taxes when they move into an area. Sometimes it takes a little finger-pointing to get not merely a debate, but action.]
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
While I agree with the tenor of Louis' comments about the agenda of those with much to gain from this culture of greed and disdain, I disagree that this is the majority opinion held by most conservative Christians [“Page Two,” Jan. 20]. I think you'll find that over the next several months hundreds of thousands if not millions of them will begin to desert the movement, or demand in louder and louder voices that it change to reflect their perception of what it is and how it's gone so terribly wrong. The defining issue will be the Jack Abramoff scandal. Ralph Reed is already feeling the heat. Watch his race for lieutenant governor of Georgia. So many conservative Christians, like most Americans, wanted a quick fix to all of our problems. They saw their salvation personified in people like Reed. Now that it is painfully obvious that Reed and his wife and all who are within his select circle are about nothing but money, the wall will start to fall. And won't that be nice?
Steve Hellyard Swartz
Schenectady, N.Y.
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
Quite simply, Raoul Hernandez has written the single best article that the Chronicle has published: “Renegade” [Music, Jan. 20]. I was bitten by the Thin Lizzy bug at 15; Black Rose tour; Beaumont, Texas. I will never forget Phil Lynott shining the spotlight reflection from his pick-guard into our faces, grinning that grin and asking, "You out there?" Well Phil, I still am and lord knows rock & roll still wishes you were. Thank you, Raoul!
Jeff Martin
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Dear Editor,
While the Chronicle lists the smoking ban as the No. 2 local story of 2005 we continue to disagree with the way almost all media frame this story [“Blue Lines to White Sheets,” News, Jan. 6].
It is not, for most of us involved in the resistance, about smokers' rights. For us is it about individual and business rights, private enterprises, personal responsibility, and free markets catering to legal products.
While many people think of this issue in the context of health and the sacrifices that are necessary by others for improving public health, many of us think of this issue in the context of freedom and how disturbingly easy it is that a majority of voters can be cajoled into imposing their personal preference on others.
The fact that almost every article about the issue features a close-up of a burning cigarette corroborates the intended or unintended bias of the press.
By way of a progress report based on sales tax reports most of the bars that formerly allowed smoking are down in sales approximately $2,000 per month. Two thousand dollars can be 10% of total sales or 100% of total earnings. Most of the bars that did not have smoking are up on average $2,000. There are many adjustments that have to be made related to patios, level of enforcement, types of entertainment, etc., but the trend is clear: The small business community of bar owners is hurt by this ban because new nonsmoking customers do not show up to offset the loss of smokers. Meanwhile, smokers merely relocate to bars with patios and the overall impact to Austin public health in negligible.
Paul Silver
Keep Austin Free
RECEIVED Fri., Jan. 20, 2006
Mr. Black,
I've just returned from a trip to East Texas and have a bit of news that I think shouldn't be ignored.
The somewhat cool, nice, global warming weather has created a nice atmosphere for clearing timber that has been damaged by Katrina/Rita. I just spent two weeks cleaning land near Woodville and hardly broke a sweat. My suggestion to the governor, the president, and whoever cares is that something be done now to prepare for the worst forest fires in U.S. history. Pronto.
I'm not one to bother with prophecy and the degenerate ignorance that comes with it, but my science-minded eye tells me that the Gulf Coast could go up like a Roman candle any day now. The past practice of the timber industry, coupled with the weather, has created a matchbox that I'm not sure anyone is prepared to deal with. I'm calling Gov. Perry on this one. Let's put it to work.
Peace out,
Todd Alan Smith
RECEIVED Thu., Jan. 19, 2006
Dear Editor,
Regarding the Music section in the Jan. 13 edition of The Austin Chronicle [“Ain't Nobody Real but Me”]: Let's get this straight once and for all, rap is not music! Music has melody and chord structure. Rap contains neither of those things.
It is my fervent hope that no one will have to explain this to you again.
Gary L. Zimmer
RECEIVED Thu., Jan. 19, 2006
Dear Editor,
You said Chicken Little wasn't good [Film Listings, Nov. 11, 2005]. Not uh! I saw it. It was good. It had a chicken in it.
Michael Bluejay