Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to 20*******@oc******.com">le*****@oc******.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/oOC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.

CIRQUE DU SO LONG

Matt Coker's criticism of the demonstration at the OC Fairgrounds protesting Cirque du Soleil's firing of Matthew Cusick because he was HIV-positive [A Clockwork Orange, “Now You See Him, Now You Don't,” Jan. 23] was misdirected. He should have directed his criticism at OC conservatives covering their ears and saying, “I love this show. I'm not listening to you, and nothing you say can keep me from having fun!” Or at the countless gay couples who exited their Hummers and Cadillac SUVs to hurry by protesters toward the tent to buy a $10 bag of popcorn and a Varekai CD. Gay patrons especially should be more aware and less fearful, for they are the most likely to be discriminated against under circumstances such as Matthew Cusick's. The fact of the matter is if Cirque du Soleil hadn't fired Matthew Cusick, there wouldn't be any reason to protest the circus and patrons could enter the tent unhindered to watch Mr. Cusick dance, juggle, contort and sing his bloody arse off!

Kelly Wine
via e-mail

Editor's note: Matt Coker updates the Crise du Cirque in his column, Un Clockwork Orange.

TIN HORN TRAN

Little Saigon big-shot Van Tran's harassment of radio personality/critic Diane Vo [Gustavo Arellano's “'Radio-Free Little Saigon,” Jan. 16] smacks of fascist politics. Tran wants to silence Vo because she is “slandering” him and “causing division.” Any Stalinist thug would understand Tran's position completely. Some of Tran's fascist fellow travelers even insinuate Vo is a communist. In Little Saigon, such accusations have led—at least on a few occasions—to murder, in keeping with South Vietnamese/Operation Phoenix tradition. Combine the harassment of Vo with the riotous menacing of the man who had the temerity to hang a Ho Chi Minh picture in his own store, and one starts to feel that too many in the Vietnamese community are pretty clueless about freedom. Which reinforces the truism: being anti-Communist doesn't necessarily mean you are for freedom.

Ron Leighton
Fountain Valley

DADDY'S BOY

Thank you, R. Scott Moxley, for following up and writing articles about Greg Haidl and his dad [“Dudes, It Can't Be My Dope!” Jan. 23]. I hope there is justice for that young rape victim, but the way things are in this world right now, I don't know if that will happen. Your courage to report these stories will help, and I applaud you for your effort.

Bruce Finn
via e-mail

MEXIGO

I read Gustavo Arellano's article “Answer: Because Mexicans Never Return to Mexico” [Jan. 23], which was posted on American Patrol's website. The piece made me wonder yet again why Mexicans will not fight for their country as we Americans fight for ours. I was born in hardscrabble Tennessee, where poverty was and is a way of life for so many of its natives—but we are known as the Volunteer State because our men (and women) have volunteered in such great numbers for every war, every fight for our country.

Donna Locke
Tennesseans for Immigration Reform

Editor responds: Donna, you touch on a sensitive issue, so let's be clear with our facts: people from Tennessee do not volunteer for the armed forces to fight for Tennessee; they volunteer to leave Tennessee because even the possibility of dying in some far-off desert nation is preferable to living in Tennessee with dopes like you who use grotesquely quaint terms like “hardscrabble.” Anyway, good luck with your big push for immigration reform. I imagine you have your hands full with all those fucking Kentuckians sneaking over the borders.

Gustavo Arellano states there are beautiful, modern villages in Mexico sitting all but deserted while our neighborhoods and schools “el Norte” are severely overcrowded, with some houses home to a dozen or more “migrants.” It sounds as though Mexico is more than ready for the repatriation of millions of illegal aliens. Now, if only we could get the Feds to enforce employer sanctions. A few high-profile business owners on a “perp walk” for violating immigration laws would dry up the illegal alien job market in no time! Americans would then start doing “the jobs Americans don't want,” and employers will be forced to pay living wages. Problem solved!

David Kendrick
Buena Park

I would like to know when Gustavo Arellano is going to stop pushing his biased views of his culture on the readers of OC Weekly? I am sick and tired of hearing about the “plight” of the poor little Mexican! Why doesn't he report on issues that pertain to your readers? Issues such as how illegal immigrants are taking billions of dollars from American workers and out of the U.S. economy. Hey, Gus, immigrants don't just pick lettuce anymore, as the picture above your article depicts. How about mentioning how our social services are being sucked dry by these same illegals. I guess it would be out of the question to report on why the market value of real estate has gone up dramatically! Simple rules of supply and demand. With such an influx of immigrants since 1990—filling vacant apartments, pooling with other family members (uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.) to buy up affordable housing—the housing market was bound for nowhere but through the roof! If it wasn't for your mother calling Salvador Barrios on the “town phone” to tell all of her friends how the streets are paved in gold here, I would probably be paying $400 less per month for rent! Thanks, Gus' Mom!

Larry Leon
Costa Mexico

Editor responds: As to your first question about how long Gusto will be pushing his biased views—we figure he's got another six months to pick all the lettuce in the back 40. After that, yams!

DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS

On our Jan. 30 contents page, the wrong writer's name was attributed to The Battle of Algiers review. As correctly noted on the Film page, Ella Taylor wrote the review.