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.

Dear Editor,
    Another thing to add to your list of "things not to count on" could be negative ads. Voters are sick of sniping politics.
    Larry Joe Doherty ran a clean campaign, never once even mentioning Dan Grant, and the voters responded favorably toward the candidate who spoke about what matters to them: the issues, not the Democratic opponent.

Dear Editor,
    Re: Villa Muse: If Austin City Council messes this golden opportunity up, then it would be a serious shame. SXSW brings in low millions in revenue and is loudly honored through Austin leaders as well as media. Small change in the bucket compared to billions in revenue coming in all year long via Villa Muse.
    We for one ponder why council members want to play roulette with this endeavor. Maybe needing some pockets padded to make things happen? Can't help but wonder. A little freedom of speech there, not really accusations, just a little speculation.
    I say two thumbs up, and let's go for it!
    A win-win for everyone! Austin has elections as we know and the naysayers can be voted out. Thanks for the opportunity to voice our opinion.

   [Editor's note: For coverage of the Villa Muse story, see this week's "Point Austin," "Beside the Point," and "Developing Stories."]

Dear Editor,
    If you or I were to kill an unarmed man, and openly admit to it, we would receive at least 20 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or possibly the death penalty.
    But when former Austin Police Department Officer Michael Olsen admits to this, he loses his job (and probably gets benefits and unemployment along with it) [“Panel Upholds Olsen Firing, but Case Doesn't End Here,” News, March 7].
    Why do people have no trust in the police? Because they can kill you and then just get shipped off to another county or state to be rehired and do it again.
    Olsen deserves to pay for his crime what any ordinary citizen would have to pay. I'm against the death penalty, but maybe executing a few killer cops would send a message to other cops who kill hundreds of American citizens a year that there is a price to pay.

Dear Editor,
    What is happening to “News of the Weird”? I have been picking up The Austin Chronicle since 1990 and have always looked forward to reading this column. It used to be a page and a half. Then it was cut to a page, and this week's column is less than a page. This sucks. A big reason that I pick up The Austin Chronicle is for “News of the Weird,” the comics (especially Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comeek), and “Car Talk.” Easy reading stuff with humor I can check out over a quick lunch and flip through the ads. You do want me to read the ads, don't you? I think Austin's famous slogan was picked up because of the subconscious ties to this column. Most Chronicle readers I know read it. Please don't lose a big part of keeping Austin weird by losing “News of the Weird.”

Dear Editor,
    To all presidential candidates: Who among you will pledge to the American public that you will “support the teachers” with the same earnestness, patriotism, and commitment that you “support the troops”?

Dear Editor,
    I have to wonder whether Richard Whittaker actually attended the Ron Paul rally on Saturday, Feb. 23. In his "Ron Paul: Moses and handguns" article [News, Feb. 29], he states that some of Paul's statements "caused immediate and obvious division in the crowd." He also mentions "dismissive booing." There was a whole lot of cheering for Paul's policies, and yes, there was some booing. What Whittaker fails to note or is possibly just too naive to realize is that we were booing the bad policies that are currently in place (the Iraq war, the IRS, Social Security) when he would mention them. There will probably be no Social Security when I retire as it looks now, and it's not enough for the people who currently receive it. It needs to be fixed now or scrapped. We're mad as hell, and we want our country back. Damn right, we're gonna boo! Austin has a huge Ron Paul support base, which means second-rate reporting will not cut it here. As for congressional challenger Chris Peden, Paul is set to trounce him. The revolution has just begun and will continue well beyond Nov. 4.

Dear Editor,
    The United States Navy, on March 1, 2008, christened its newest assault ship, the USS New York. Using the greatest patriotic symbolism, the ship’s structure contains some of the steel recovered from the World Trade Center towers which collapsed on September 11.
    The sailors and Marines who serve aboard this vessel must always remember to tread carefully and cautiously, however. After all, the ship uses the same shoddy steel which collapsed under its own weight when exposed to fires ranging in temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. In the kinds of operations this ship will be involved, I would think that a higher heat tolerance would be required of the steel.
    Happy sailing.

Dear Editor,
    Valentine's Day I get a call from an ex-girlfriend's brother, informing me she had passed away due to diabetic shock. Johanna and I started dating when I got back from a U.S. Army tour in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 1994. We met at the Globe in College Station, MLK weekend, when I got back stateside. When I met her brother Kenneth, he asked me to take good care of her because he would be out of town awhile. She came to visit me at Fort Hood on Valentine's Day that year, surprising me with a card, balloon, chocolates, and an Offspring ticket. I would rent horror movies like Phantasm and play like I was scared so I could cuddle up with her. I came down to Austin to visit her a lot; I had the speeding tickets to prove it. I lived in the barracks, and one morning my platoon sergeant conducted a surprise inspection. I tried to hide her in the shower, but he pulled the curtain back and she said, "Hello.” I asked her to marry me when I found out she was carrying my child several months later; she declined, but she became family at that point. Johanna miscarried, and that sort of tragedy is an immense hurdle to overcome. Even though we split up, we've kept in touch all these years. I would still take her out, and we would help each other through rough times. Our last unofficial date was at the Veranda. Dr. Kenneth White, her father, who was a professor of geology at A&M when we met, wanted to have a couple of drinks with dinner after the service. I told them about our last outing and suggested we go there. The family was as pleased as I was with the choice, thanks for the tip Rob Balon. I'm sorry I couldn't do a better job of taking care of her, Kenneth.

Dear Editor,
    I read Michael Fossum's Feb. 29 letter [“Postmarks”] with great interest. He states that Barack Obama will greatly expand the federal government into all aspects of our lives. Didn't Mr. Fossum notice the growth of government under Bush has exceeded that of Lyndon Baines Johnson? Bush's domestic-spying program is snooping “into all aspects of our lives,” and if Mr. Fossum thinks they are only spying on terrorists, he is very naive. Mr. Fossum also states that government is incompetent, citing the Katrina disaster. The government itself is not incompetent, but the leadership it has now is. Bush has appointed unqualified hacks to run our government, thus you get incompetence. Obama will bring competence back into government and clean up the mess Bush has created.

Dear Editor,
    Because Austinites care a lot about environmental concerns, I think they should know this.
    Two weeks ago John McCain was the only senator to duck a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America – dooming to failure the measure that would have helped make renewable energy more affordable and accessible. Now it turns out this missed vote is part of a pattern.
    Last week, the League of Conservation Voters released the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard giving Sen. McCain a score of zero. According to the scorecard, McCain was the only member of Congress to skip all 15 crucial environmental votes scored by LCV.

Dear Editor,
    I prefer Facebook to MySpace for two reasons:
    1) MySpace is a cluttered, cobbled-together mess, with too many ads, the most obnoxious features of websites from 10 years ago (like music that starts the second you load a page) and confusing organization. Facebook, at least before the News Feed, was much less abrasive.
    2) MySpace is full of porn and dating ads and spam, and that gets obnoxious after a while. Facebook isn't as overflowing with that.
    Your class comments are interesting [“In Your Facebook,” Screens, Feb. 29], but to me, the overriding feature of these sites is that whether highbrow or lowbrow, the vast majority of applications are utterly useless and frankly annoying. MySpace is good for bands at least, but that's about it. They're handy for keeping track of friends and maintaining easy communication, but it'd be nice if there were a site actually focused on building up useful networking functions, like car shares or babysitting co-ops or local volunteer opportunities. The sites that exist now are devoted to just pissing away your time, so maybe that is what actually unites the mainstream youth of America across classes and subcultures – egotism and self-satisfied complacency. I don't want to believe this is true, but it seems to be the logic guiding these sites.

Dear Editor,
    Last week, President Bush visited Africa, traveling the continent, meeting with leaders from several nations, and viewing firsthand the courageous spirit of Africa's citizens.
    The president's trip is symbolic of our nation's ever-deepening commitment to Africa. Africa is a continent rich in culture, diversity, and potential. Unfortunately, some of this potential is not yet realized because of chronic poverty and populations sideswiped by preventable disease.
    Americans want to see Africa thrive. Since the president's departure, more than 100,000 Americans signed a petition, asking the president-elect to follow the footsteps of presidents prior and commit to going to Africa within the first term. These individuals are part of a grassroots organization called ONE. ONE is a movement of Americans who believe that our nation can lead the world in ending extreme poverty and preventable, treatable disease. We are asking our elected officials to find solutions to these problems and challenging the global community to do the same.
    Many of the world's poorest are currently living in Africa. President Bush has taken many steps to alleviate the problem of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, but we still have a lot of work to do. We must work now to make sure the next president builds upon the success stories already happening throughout Africa. It's time to help create the next chapter. Please visit ONE.org, sign up, and see what you can do to help.

Dear Editor,
    I saw something that had me laughing out loud in my car … so naturally I want to share. Passing through Beaumont, Texas, I veered off the interstate to avoid traffic and happened to pass an elementary school. From the road this school appeared to be in somewhat of a state of disrepair. It was clearly an old building, and needed, at the minimum, some cosmetic help. Across the front of the school was a banner stating that their partner in education was none other than one of our superhuge oil companies. You know, the one showing record profits in the $40 billion range.

Dear Editor,
    I have been in the throes of putting some events together on behalf of Alan Pogue in Albuquerque, N.M.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and out here where I am living currently, on the Navajo Nation, at the tribal college Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz. (It isn't on all maps – the local PO is a double-wide.)
    Thus, I have been studying publications that have adopted a similar layout style to that of The Austin Chronicle. Actually, I did the same when my wife and I were living in Seattle. I convinced a gallery owner to bring Alan up in 2001.
    I thought I should tell you that across the vast territories of the West, there is no publication that even comes close to being The Austin Chronicle, not even a smidgen.
    There is a lot about Austin that we all tend to take for granted and feel like is probably just as available elsewhere. Not so!
    I thought the Seattle Weekly was likely to be as good as the Chronicle, since the area – with more than 2 million people – prides itself in having lots of writing talent. Whatever all these people are doing, it ain't putting together a truly great weekly. I took to calling it the "Seattle Weakly," since I was so disappointed in it.
    The alternative pubs in New Mexico and Arizona make the Seattle pub look incredibly great. The media out here is pretty much as thin as the water supply. In Arizona, the dominant newspaper, The New York Times of the region, is The Arizona Republic, which is so biased it makes the Austin American-Statesman seem like a towering example of great journalism – and you know how I always felt about that paper.
    Your leadership over the years has made The Austin Chronicle what it is, and I just thought I should take a little time out and tell you that it is really a great publication. I miss it being my local weekly.
    You all have a lot to be proud of.

Dear Editor,
    Last week, an ethics complaint against the campaign of John Lipscombe, candidate for County Court at Law No. 8, was filed for illegally using Mr. Lipscombe's wife, sitting Judge Jan Breland, in his campaign. The Judicial Code of Conduct prevents sitting judges from publicly endorsing any political candidate. The Lipscombe campaign vigorously defended itself by saying they knew there was a problem and thought they had managed to find a way around the Judicial Code of Conduct by putting Judge Breland's name on one Web page but not another or by listing her as a judge in one place but not everyplace. This legalistic maneuvering strains the Code of Conduct.
    The dangerous effect of this maneuvering is obvious. Supporters, afraid of publicly endorsing the campaign of Mr. Lipscombe's opponent, Carlos Barrera, are fearful of retribution from a powerful judge if they have business in her court or even at the county attorney's office where Mr. Lipscombe works.
    Advertising their husband-wife relationship, a husband and wife who would control one-fourth of all courts at that level, in a Chronicle ad, should be a warning to everyone.
    The thing is that we abide by rules: running for office or serving as judge, just as we have to abide by rules when we drive cars or play a sport, and the rules state that a judge cannot do what Jan has done, even if she acted to support her husband, because no one is fearful because of Jan as a wife; they are fearful because Jan is a judge with power over them.
    The Judicial Code of Contact is there for a reason, and the Lipscombe campaign should abide by it. Maybe it would be better for John to wait until his wife was not a judge than to risk violating the integrity of the judiciary.