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 [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I have no statistics, but 20 years ago I flew head first over my handlebars onto pavement while trying to avoid a motorist. I came down on my head – encased in a helmet. Cracked the helmet in half, but no brain damage (insert your joke here). I'm not for legislating riders to wear 'em, but I probably wouldn't be able to type this note had I left my helmet home that day.

Dear Editor,
    Thanks to Patricia Ruland and the Chronicle for shining a light under the dark rock WilCo officals tried to bury this story under [“The Cat Did It: WilCo off the Hook in Shelter probe,” News, June 13]!

Dear Editor,
    I don't know what Hillary Clinton has up her sleeve, but it's most likely a knockout punch. Being that I am a Hillary supporter, and a bit crazy, I am trying to read between the lines of her wording. I heard today she is like the Black Knight from Monty Python, "'Tis but a flesh wound!" I see her more like Rocky, getting pummeled on the ropes and refusing to stay down. If she doesn't get the nomination in August, and she doesn't run as an independent: With all this talk of unifying the Democratic Party and running as Barack Obama's vice president, I think she should do one better and run with John McCain. Yeah, that's the ticket! They say most of her supporters will vote for McCain if she doesn't get the nomination regardless, I myself probably being one. It seems that the vice president is doing all of the thinking in the current administration. So more power to her! I never thought I would take Bush's advice, but we should reach across the lines between Republicans and Democrats and work together!
    Clinton/McCain '08! Yo, Adrian.

Dear Editor,
    Concerning the Webberville landfill proposal [“The Webberville Conundrum,” News, June 6]: Have the city and state done cost comparisons of current methods of waste collection and transport vs. using rail transport to a regional waste processing facility, perhaps located in the strip mines at the Alcoa facility in Rockdale?

Dear Editor,
    Last week's Chronicle featured an article on a possible new city of Austin landfill near Webberville [“The Webberville Conundrum,” News, June 6]. Newly elected Council Member Randi Shade is quoted as saying, "I'm more worried about the mixed message of creating a landfill at the same time that we're trying to reduce waste" [“The New Council Weighs In,” News, June 6].
    Shade's logic is perfectly applicable to the city's plans to spend almost half a billion dollars (of our money) on a new water treatment plant at the same time the city is implementing water conservation measures.
    If we are even moderately successful at conserving water, we don't need an additional water treatment plant for decades to come, according to the city's own data.
    Austin Energy, our rate-payer-owned electric utility, has a policy to invest in conservation before building new power plants. This policy saves us money while reducing pollution.
    Why can't we have a similar "conservation first" policy with water?
    Last summer, the Chronicle was a big promoter of Austin Energy's Kill-a-Watt contest that promoted increased energy conservation from all types of rate payers. To kick off summer water conservation efforts, how about a water conservation contest to see how much individuals, families, small and large businesses, and governments and institutions can reduce water use?
    Our neighbors in San Antonio use far less water per capita than we do in Austin. If we catch up to San Antonio on water conservation, there is absolutely no reason to build the boondoggle known as Water Treatment Plant No. 4. It's only if we continue our water-wasteful ways that we "need" a hugely expensive new water treatment plant.
    Let's stop the mixed messages and stick to "conservation first." We'll save water and save money.

   [Editor's note: The Kill-a-Watt Challenge to which Clark refers was not actually an Austin Energy contest but rather a contest that The Austin Chronicle put together entirely through volunteer efforts, and with which Austin Energy generously assisted.]

Dear Editor,
    Apparently the media still hasn't learned the fundamental lesson of the Iraq war – namely, don't mindlessly and unquestioningly repeat the statements of authority figures, particularly those with an agenda. Everyone from the Statesman to the TV news to now the Chronicle has dutifully repeated that "a new study from the University Medical Center at Brackenridge … found that cyclists are nearly twice as likely to suffer a brain injury if they are not wearing a helmet" [“New Study Raises Specter of Helmet Law,” News, June 6]. This is an outright lie – this "study" (I use the term loosely here) showed no such thing! Let's look at the actual numbers taken directly from the Brackenridge data (www.lobv.org/docs/bicycle_poster.pdf). Out of 70 helmeted cyclists admitted for emergency care, 22 sustained head injuries, while 49 of the 121 cyclists who were not wearing helmets sustained a head injury. It's fairly easy to show that 31.4% of helmeted bicyclists suffered head injuries compared to 40.5% of cyclists without helmets. This difference is hardly statistically significant, given the sample size, but once one factors in the obvious fact that helmeted bicyclists are by definition more safety conscious, it seems that, if anything, wearing a bicycle helmet increases the likelihood of a head injury. Dr. Pat Crocker claims that they need to collect more data to achieve statistical significance, but such a study can never achieve significance, as it is fundamentally flawed due to hidden variables. Not that this matters, as by all appearances, Crocker's interest isn't public safety but rather promoting the political agenda of his friend Bruce Todd. In a similar "study" done in 2006, Crocker inadvertently "proved" that bicycle helmets are 90% effective at preventing broken arms and leg injuries – the detailed analysis can be found here: www.lobv.org/nhlcrocker.html. Meanwhile, how safe is biking, really? Take the bicycle safety quiz to find out: www.bicyclinglife.com/SafetySkills/SafetyQuiz.htm.

Dear Editor,
    We are coerced into focusing on celebrities while the world as we know it dismantles. There is a growing rift between the ultrarich elitists and the rest of us. And it’s not just happening in Austin. We are being priced out of our hometowns and out of existence. Many of us will begin to endure severe lifestyle changes as we continue to suffer financial oppression through credit reporting, surveillance, corporate monopolies, an unregulated credit-card industry, commodity profiteers, slave labor, and big-business-run government. The superrich are in charge. We are provided a GQ posed, lukewarm, celebrity-endorsed, demographic-research-driven presidential candidate we are supposed to vote for simply because he is the only option next to the horrible alternative. Clearly, this leaves many without representation. This nonsense is spoon-fed nonstop to the mass population by the corporate-/government-owned media. It’s designed so no one notices when their hometown is snatched up by pseudo capitalism. Taking away our rights, our televisions, our Internet, our electricity, our ability to drive, and live modestly only provides us with continued awareness. And everyone is paying attention.

Dear Chron,
    Re: “AG and Dems Settle … Then Fuss” [News, June 6]. Thanks to Lee Nichols for covering this story.
    Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is correct to say, “Election fraud is a serious crime that undermines our democratic system of government.” However, he is grossly misguided to target the voters as criminals. It is not the voters but the electronic voting systems that are suspect, because our votes are counted in secret instead of publicly by the citizens.
    Our votes are cast and counted using secret proprietary software in electronic voting machines.
    “Naked City” [News] May 2 briefly reported about a recently released 45-page qui tam federal fraud lawsuit alleging serious security flaws in Hart InterCivic’s e-voting systems.
    Whistle-blower William Singer was a computer specialist for Hart, a former esteemed employee. He alleges that Hart knowingly misled the federal government by falsifying information about the accuracy and security of its voting systems.
    In 2004, Mr. Singer wrote the Texas secretary of state to alert him of Hart’s misconduct. Yet today, Travis County voters are still forced to use these risky voting systems.
    If Abbott is serious about “election fraud,” he should issue a recall and refund counties for all the e-voting systems used in the state, as one would do with any faulty product.
    The simplest and most accurate voting system is paper ballots, hand counted in full public view at the precinct level.
    Readers can learn more about this underreported issue on the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Hacking Democracy and through numerous publications including Hacked! High Tech Election Theft in America – 11 Experts Expose the Truth co-edited by local election integrity activists. Tune in to Vote Rescue radio on Friday nights from 6 to 8pm on 90.1FM and on the We the People Radio Network on the Web.
    Chronicle readers would really benefit from a regular feature about this issue.

Dear Editor,
    As a long-term reader and fan of the Chronicle, I first say thank you for the many, many hours of information, enlightenment, and social guidance you have given me. I especially appreciate your coverage and support of my favorite part of living in Austin – the live music scene.
    Thank you for publicizing and promoting the Pachanga Festival, and thanks for this week's "Off the Record" [June 6] notes on the fantastic, nonstop day of Latin music. Austin Powell gave well-deserved props to our newest Latino Music Month event that I'm confident will be a long-lived success.
    Thanks to the organizers and awesome performers, and very especially to the driving force behind the event, Alex Vallejo. The only lapse in the article was in the photo ID that tagged A.J. as "Alex." Yes, they're twins, yes they're most often on stage together, but they are two uniquely talented artists. Please post a modest photo of Alex and give him the face time he deserves.
    In my humble opinion, Vallejo is the primero Austin band, and everyone who knows them can tell A.J. and Alex apart. But for the sake of those who can't, please honor Alex with the individual kudos he deserves by posting his singular “mug” in the "Postmarks" next week.

Dear Editor,
    The reason so many people are assuming what Laura Morrison thinks about development in general is because she hasn't actually told us what she thinks [“Going Negative: Galindo vs. the 'Green Home Tax,'” News, June 6]. Her campaign site talks about how she'll approach developing a plan to manage growth, but she doesn't say what she thinks the best ideas are.
    All we can do is reach a conclusion based on the effects her positions have had on the city so far. She has opposed density in Downtown (of all places), reduced the amount of affordable housing by making it more difficult to build in-law apartments, and supported the neighborhoods who tried to opt out of the Vertical Mixed Use ordinance. All of these actions contribute to more sprawl and more traffic, and I don't see any reason why a plan she comes up with when she is in office would be different. It doesn't even seem like she understands how density would improve our public transit, since she faults Cid Galindo for not addressing transportation issues in his plan. It is far easier to serve dense nodes with transit than it is to serve our existing sprawl.
    Cid Galindo has helped put together a plan that looks like it could work pretty well, and balances our need for increased density with many people's desire that their existing neighborhoods don't change much. This is a plan that we need to start implementing today if we don't want to end up being as sprawled as Houston but with worse traffic.

Dear Editor,
    No Louis Black column [June 6]? No! What will I use for birdcage liner this week?

Dear Editor,
    I am commenting on the “Postmark” [May 23] that Glen IIkka wrote in response to the ad in the May 9 issue on p.31.
    I just wanted to point out that this statement is very offensive to most women, whether they believe the Bible is the word of God or not (Genesis 8:17; Genesis 9:7). Inherent in this command is that man should be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Man cannot fulfill God’s plan for him on the earth unless he populates it.
    Additionally, God gave mankind a desire for sex, which would make the populating of the earth quick and likely. So, you can grow angry, or just accept that this will continue to happen and is God's will. We hope you become softer toward this issue.

Dear Editor,
    I have just listened to an informative program on public radio, Terry Gross’ Fresh Air. Two journalists were interviewed, a business columnist for The New York Times and an Afghani writer. The former discussed how discouraged he was at American stupidity in investing. (If you understand that we are in a crisis from the housing-market bust, wait until a majority of consumers, attempting to maintain a lifestyle they never could afford, max out and default on all their credit cards.) The latter detailed how terrorists are thriving in Afghanistan and Pakistan because of American involvement with lack of attention and follow-up, where drug lords who had been greatly suppressed now reign supreme.
    When you look at these problems with the concept that American leaders are stupid and incompetent, they are very complex issues, indeed. When you view it from the paradigm that all this has been done intentionally to cause the downfall of America, by traitors, it makes a lot more sense.
    Do those who do default on their credit cards think they will not go to a privately contracted debtor’s prison, the modern concentration camp? They’ll go in and never come out!
    The real fun begins when one cannot buy (ungodly expensive, scarce) groceries without a credit card and one has no credit, the cashless society.
    What more evidence do we need to immediately give up the delusion that our government is working for our benefit?

Dear Editor,
    If we as a society are truly serious about making the changes necessary to reduce our use of carbon-based fuel in order to diminish our dependence on foreign oil, and more importantly to mitigate the impact of global warming, then we should no longer allow events like the Republic of Texas Biker Rally to take place.
    The ROT invasion of Austin is a massive waste of gas and a concentrated source of unnecessary noise and air pollution. We, in Austin, should set an example for the rest of the country and impose a ban on all nonessential uses of oil products. Clearly, ROT is a nonessential consumption of fuel. If we in Austin are as “green” as we say we are, this will be ROT’s last year here.