Letters for November 23, 2006

Struck by ‘Sara’ story
Re: “The third sex” (Cover story, by Mandy Feder, CN&R, Nov. 16):

I want to compliment you on your article. It was very moving, and I felt a lot of compassion. It was one of the few articles I’ve read so intently from start to finish. Thank you for raising people’s awareness in our community.


Diane Reinert
Forest Ranch

I would like to compliment you on the wonderful job that you did in presenting Sara’s life and struggles. I am sure that she did not use her true name, and I can certainly understand why.

Please let her know that she is not alone. There are actually many more transsexuals in Butte County than she might realize. I myself am a post-operative transsexual living here in Chico who just started back to college after a long absence. I have a great understanding for many of the trials that she has gone through.


“Marie”
Chico

Exercising his freedom of speech
Re: “ ‘Idiotic things’ “ (Letters, by Danielle Watts, CN&R, Nov. 16):

I can agree with her that comparing George Bush to Saddam Hussein is ridiculous; however, I take strong exception to her assertion that our troops in Iraq are fighting for our “freedom of speech.” Does she honestly believe that had we not gone to war in Iraq we would have lost our right to free speech?

When oh when are we going to face the fact that this war in Iraq was not necessary for either our security or our freedom, and it most certainly is not a fight against terrorism directed at America. Saddam Hussein had no WMDs, he was not aligned with al-Qaida, and he quite apparently was not plotting any sinister moves against the U.S. Why should he? He was having too much fun looting and pillaging his own country. Why pick a fight with the world’s greatest superpower and lose everything?

At this point in time, it is becoming abundantly clear to all but the most blind of Republican Party loyalists that the Iraq issue has simply boiled down to a sectarian war between two religious groups who both despise us for invading their country. Our fight was in Afghanistan. Why we left to start a war in Iraq remains a mystery to me.


Charles W. Bird
Chico

Different memories
Re: “Building on a legend” (Cover story, by Emily Brannen, CN&R, Nov. 9):

Split Reed
Re: “LaPado vs. Lou” and “Expectation and spontaneity” (Days of Lore, by Mark Lore, and Culture Vulture, by C. Owsley Rain, CN&R, Nov. 9):

Although like Mark Lore I would have loved for Lou Reed to have rocked out a little more often, I more strongly agree with C. Owsley Rain that it was an amazing show. You just can’t play really loud rock in Laxson without it turning into an echo box that sounds a little like an ancient transistor radio, so Reed’s sound crew deserves kudos for their clear presentation of the complex harmonies created by Reed on guitar or Moog, the incomparable Rob Wasserman on bass, and Fernando Saunders on bass, guitar, or usually what seemed like an electronic cello.

Still, the highlight of the night for me was the encore with the brand-new, very-hard-rocking song “Gravity!” It was just as strong as his finest Velvet Underground tunes. Get thee to the studio, Lou!


Jim Dwyer
Chico

News déjà vu
The morning news gives Thanksgiving travelers the message: gas prices going up. Before the election, the opposite—we were treated to the lowest gas prices we’d seen for a long time, ever since Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco and the other conglomerates had pushed up gas prices to where they were making profits in the untold billions of dollars.

What might we surmise from all of this? Is it possible that the low prices before November’s election were set to give the voters a sense of euphoria regarding the party (Republicans) in power? And is it possible that, with the election lost, the bloated energy monopolies figured they might as well return to business as usual?

“The public be damned” is an old aphorism for Corporate America. We’re seeing the results of allowing energy companies to control public policy in America and beyond. Our tragic and unnecessary war in Iraq was primarily for the oil beneath the desert.

We fervently hope that the new Democratic Congress can exert enough power to reinvigorate our antitrust laws over the energy monopolies and assure that the forces of competition give the public an even break.


Robert Woods
Chico

Disturbing message
If you missed the Glenn Beck show “Extremism Exposed” that was on CNN Nov. 15, you missed a lot. This program was dedicated to reviewing the propaganda of hate that constantly fills the airwaves in the Arab world. This was raw footage seen for perhaps the first time by average American viewers.

The imam screamed above the cheers of a massive rally against Israel and the United States, “Even the stone shall say, ‘There is a Jew hiding behind me, cut off his head!’ And we shall, by Allah, we shall cut it off. Jihad for the sake of Allah!” And so opened this expose and the first of many threats in many hate speeches that followed.

Who is standing up denouncing this outrageous extremist bigotry? The massive peace community around the world that regularly occupies itself with rallies deriding U.S. foreign policy or the war in Iraq has never held a rally to denounce the bigots in Muslim extremism.

Here’s a reality check: Sooner or later, we all are going to deal with it whether we like it or not. And the price of our apathy and delay may be counted in the deaths of blacks, whites, Christians, Arabs and Jews by the millions. Has there ever been a cause more worthy that your own self-preservation? Then stand up, use your free speech and resist by all peaceful means this bigoted Arab extremism and all extremism, where and when you find it.


Jack Lee
Chico