Letters – April 5, 2008

Not the jobs we wanted

Dallas just received the news that we’re getting 140-odd new job openings over at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bad news is that they’re in the department that reviews bank failures!

Gene Lantz

Dallas TX

The ‘people’s surge’

Re Sam Webb’s op-ed on the “people’s surge” (PWW 2/16-22):

Please keep developing the understanding of the people’s surge taking place in the Democratic Party.

I remember the 1930s when everyone was being brutally educated about economics and the Republican Party. Dad had learned hard lessons about the AFL and was in the grass roots of building the CIO. The 1932 elections gave everyone the chance to vote for change. The aristocratic Franklin Roosevelt was an unlikely candidate. When mother and dad argued about the election, mother said, “But Herbert Hoover is such a good Christian man.” Dad said, “It’s not the man that matters, it’s who is behind the man.”

So, when millions voted for Roosevelt, we became a force he couldn’t help but recognize. We got public works, the Wagner Labor Act, welfare, Social Security.

Many of us stayed in the Democratic Party. More should have. As Wellstone said, “the democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” No one agrees with everything it does. But we should be there, pushing.

A big danger now is that the right wing has learned so much since those days — they are gathering all their ammunition, all their money, their newspapers and TV, their voting machine manipulation, even their assassins. If ever there was a need for left-wing savvy it’s now.

Keep up the good work.

Marie B. Cadenhead

Union City CA

Protect our youth from recruiters

Our work of local resistance to the Iraqi invasion and occupation goes right on. As this government ignores us and continues to violate international law and our own in perpetrating these tragic inhumanities, we can choose to do what is possible here, in enacting local laws, particularly concerning the lives of our young.

Right now in Eureka and Arcata there are circulating petitions which are initiatives to prohibit military recruitment of any person under the age of 18 within our city limits. It’s a beginning. If our young are counted as not fit to vote and obviously more vulnerable because of their limited exposure and choices in life, why is it worthy to teach them to kill and be victimized in turn, especially under unlawful command?

Jack Nounnan

Humboldt County CA

Tibet

I feel that as a subscriber of your paper I would be derelict if I were not to respond concerning Tibet (“Tibet: What’s behind the protests?” PWW 3/22-28). Although I often agree with the PWW on labor and social issues, this is where I must travel the road that would secure the people of Tibet basic freedoms. When the PWW chooses to ignore the outcry of a people I must not only question your judgment but also motives. Not all things supported by America are bad and not all things communist are good and I wish often that your reporting would reflect that.

Dale B. Johns

Westville IN

Flying is scary

Why only now are the airlines worrying about their planes? (“Flying the frightful skies, PWW 3/29-4/4.)

If Congress had not started an investigation on the Southwest incident no one would be the wiser, because the FAA was not going to make them take planes out of service because it would have made their numbers for delays and cancellations worse than it was last year. Why are we letting the fox watch the henhouse? The fox (FAA) doesn’t care anything about lives, only money.

Hope C. Gramlich

Coconut Creek FL

Great reading

Re “Blogging from India # 1 Hyderabad: Great advances, great challenges” (PWW Online Extra):

This is great reading. It makes a reader feel like you’re there. It should be a daily feature on the web site.

Armando Ramirez

El Cajon CA

Nonviolence is the way

I’ve become a total pacifist. Violence is futile for stopping injustice. To prevent murder and stop it, only nonviolent methods should be used. I have made a promise not to kill nor wound anyone even in self-defense.

In the past there have been stories of fighting for just causes. However. now we must utilize all our strength to use nonviolent action to bolster our lives.

The Pastors for Peace U.S./Cuba friendshipment to send goods to defy the harsh U.S. embargo has given sustenance to socialism for Cubans. When deliveries of medicines, computers, school buses and food were held up at the U.S. border, civil disobedience was employed. Then the items flowed.

An Israeli of Jewish faith became a citizen in Palestine. In Costa Rica they don’t have an army or did not have for a period of their history. Provocateurs have sought to discredit the labor union movement, the most honorable component of countries.

Steven Goldberg

Philmont NY

Dirty campaigns

In Tim Wheeler’s fine article in the March 1-7 issue (“Corporate lobbyists drive McCain’s campaign”) he failed to mention that Lee Atwater, architect of the Willie Horton attack ad, did, on his deathbed — literally! — apologize to the American public for this “strategy.” Could not frequent reminders of his shame over his actions, in this dirty campaigning election year, serve a useful purpose?

Bill Ramsay

Clifton CO

Help free the innocent

I saw in the March 15-21 PWW a letter from an old cellmate of mine, Charles Solo Harris, now in Pontiac prison.

I sit in prison framed for a murder, armed robbery and burglary. On June 7, 1989, at the age of 19, I was taken into police custody and tortured by one of the same officers that tortured Aaron Patterson. I was made to confess to these crimes which I know nothing about.

In 2006 the Innocence Project (Barry C. Scheck’s office) in New York agreed to take my case pro bono. A DNA test would prove my innocence. I have been going to court in Chicago to try to get this DNA testing done.

There is no eyewitness or evidence against me, just a confession that was obtained by torture.

I want to hurry up and get out so I can enjoy my life with my two brothers — we are triplets. Help free the innocent.

Kevin Bailey

Menard IL

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