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., Sept. 21, 2011
Dear Editor,
If you can't enjoy the Austin City Limits Music Festival without a nice neat little setup involving your chairs, soft-shell coolers, and whatever else keeps you reminded of the comfort of your own home, please keep out. As I was observing this past weekend and previous years, not only do the chairs provide unnecessary barriers and cause bottlenecks, they also seem to represent a clash of cultures/demographics/grouping of people unwilling to truly kick back and have fun. ACL is not Blues on the Green, and you should not treat it as such by being more concerned about your territory than the music. So as I have done in the past and will continue in the future, I will be walking all over your blankets and barreling through your barriers. I would be scared of repercussion, but that would involve you getting up off your ass, which apparently is not your scene.
Colin Barth
RECEIVED Mon., Sept. 19, 2011
Dear Editor,
Garcia and Leary at forward, Owsley and Kesey at guard, "Motorcycle" Mike at center. St. Stephen now has the complete Dream Team. Not fade away Mike [“
In Memoriam
'Motorcycle' Michael, 1954-2011,” Sept. 16].
Kevin Klauber
RECEIVED Mon., Sept. 19, 2011
Dear Editor,
Hightower made some good points about the mix of jobs Rick Perry has created [“
Hightower Report,” News, Sept. 16]. I also agree that Perry is spinning a yarn. Like Obama, Perry is a career politician and, like Obama, thinks the ends justify the means and to hell with the truth. I was disappointed to see that Mr. Hightower resorted to the same spin tactics that he seemed to be railing against. The comparison of public sector jobs to private sector jobs in Texas is a valid approach. However, Mr. Hightower added federal public sector jobs to Texas public sector jobs to get his statistics to support his argument. If you torture the facts, they will confess to the truth. Perry is not responsible for the federal public sector jobs, military jobs, and so forth. So where do we go for the “no spin” truth. Well, not to the career politicians and not to Mr. Hightower.
Nathan L. Gibson
RECEIVED Fri., Sept. 16, 2011
Dear Editor,
1) These complex tax credits and financial games are all supply side, which does not work. If an electrician has laid off one-third of his workers and persuaded the other two-thirds to take 30-35 hours, a tax credit will not persuade him to hire. Demand for his services and products will cause him to hire. It's about demand. Build bridges and roads, put solar panels on every government building, run fiber to every household, hire 100,000 teachers. That is what will create jobs and taxpayers. Demand, not supply.
2) Be aware that for the upper-middle class who vote, contribute, and run this country, full employment is a bad thing. It means higher wages and prices. They are not on the side of reducing unemployment.
3) Social Security, Medicare, property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, and a host of hidden taxes ensure that the lower-middle class pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the wealthy. If only Social Security were a flat tax, it would be a great step forward. Stop the myth that Social Security is an insurance program. It is a tax on the middle class and the poor on the first dollar earned. And there are no deductions.
4) Reject the myth that this is or ever was a "capitalist" country. There never has been a laissez-faire large economy in the world. Socialism, taxing for the common good, is the foundation of all industrialized nations. Now define the common good.
5) The president should open the recruiting offices, enlist 14 million "soldiers," put them to work building, invoke the 14th Amendment, and borrow the money to pay them, and say "impeach me."
6) A society in which people who want to work are denied the opportunity to work is so corrupt, greedy, and unpatriotic that it is doomed.
Phillip Watts
RECEIVED Thu., Sept. 15, 2011
Dear Editor,
On Wednesday, Sept. 7, I submitted a letter ["
Not Proud of His Country Right Now"] to
"Postmarks" airing my dissatisfaction with the treatment of first responder firefighters in New York City on 9/11 (2001). The letter was posted one week later, on Sept. 14, and is retired to last week’s archives today.
In effect my letter was censored, leaving the least window available for anyone to read it; that is, the few people who bother with letters to the editor in the first place. It appears I have again been invited to stop submitting any letters, although it is assured that Louis Black will continue his misinformation/whitewash about “conspiracy hobbyists” periodically. Although I do not agree with everything Alex Jones broadcasts, I will close my last letter with the opinion that he is much more relevant than Black (which the latter silently, begrudgingly realizes), he has started a nightly news program on PrisonPlanet.com, and he is a true information warrior, unlike the dishonest establishment hack that is Louis Black.
Sincerely,
Kenney C. Kennedy