Uncle Fred was larger than life
A special thanks to Tim Wheeler for his article about my uncle, Fred Gaboury. Tim’s family knew Fred well. Uncle Fred was definitely larger than life. When I was growing up I was afraid of this big man. It was not until my late teens that I really saw the other side of him. Uncle Fred always stood up for what he believed in and will be missed by many.
Thank you again.
Caren Sherwin RatnourVia e-mail
Keep fighting in Fred’s spirit
To all who worked with and knew my Uncle Fred (Gaboury), I would just like to say thank you for the piece written by Tim Wheeler regarding my great-uncle’s prolific life and his recent passing (PWW, 2/14-20).
May you all continue to be true to the PWW’s slogan, “We take sides …Yours!” and always remember how important your jobs as journalists-writers are.
It takes a lot of courage and strength to speak up against social injustices and inequality and thank goodness there are people out there who find that courage and strength on a daily basis.
Christine Ratnour-OrtizVia e-mail
Reject ‘attack politics’
Please remember that during the election season both parties will viciously attack one another, and it is up to you to separate fact from fiction. At the moment, Bush seems to be on the losing end with there being no WMDs, no jobs, and a patchy military record, so in defense he’s planted a rumor about Kerry and an intern. This to me is beyond disgusting. Please remember how important your role is to the average American, and don’t give in to innuendo or gossip. The media is losing respect daily, and you can stop this by reporting the truth.
Steven FishmanNew York NY
A Sunday afternoon in Florida
After a minor lapse in handing out copies of People’s Weekly World, I felt Sunday would be a great chance for me to start distributing a bundle of PWW newspapers.
For such a task, I now wear my de rigueur Cuban Five red T-shirt, with “Prisioneros del Imperio” on the front. I prefer to load my bicycle into the van, park the car in a convenient location, and to work the streets and neighborhoods on my bike, handing out PWW papers at random.
I selected the usual routes as before – the labor pools, grocery stores, laundromats, and convenience stores scattered around the poorer sections of town. I no longer have any apprehension about approaching complete strangers on the street. In most cases, they are quite happy to receive a free copy of the PWW.
Passing by a newspaper stand, I read the headline: “Heroes welcomed back in town!” How is it that we can create “heroes” in this manner, after we easily overthrow a poor, impoverished country with overwhelmingly superior firepower in a matter of months, if not in weeks or days?
No, I thought to myself, the real heroes have been living here all along, the American people with whom I came into contact today, the ones who must struggle in the daily battles of human survival, without having a job, without any money, without any hope of finding a permanent home to live in. For the most part, the enemies in this very real war are unemployment, homelessness, poverty, racism, lack of medical care and insurance. And who will choose to fight on their side?
At least I hope I have given them a little bit of encouragement with the PWW, a newspaper always dedicated to defending the interests of the working class.
Nathan M. GantSanford FL
Tackle Minnesota poverty
Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) should be asked what he intends to do to help reverse impoverishment of working people in Minnesota.
Four remedies come to mind: To drastically increase the minimum wage to a living wage; for organized labor to take up the question of organizing the unorganized; to restrict the work week in the industrial sector to 36 hours with 40 hours’ pay so many more people work in well-paying jobs; and to restrict the hemorrhaging of our jobs to low-wage areas overseas.
Another thing that would go a long way toward alleviating poverty is for the U.S. to implement a universal, comprehensive, single-payer health care system. Many working people are thrown into poverty when confronted with huge medical bills.
This dirty war in Iraq is not only causing senseless human misery, but the financial costs will continue to mount … these resources could be used to alleviate poverty. Instead, those programs that assist the poor will be cut to pay for Bush’s war for oil.
Hopefully with a new president in November, UN peacekeepers will go into Iraq as U.S. troops are pulled out.
Alan L. MakiWarroad MN
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