Letters

Contact us via e-mail (le*****@oc******.com), regular mail (Letters to the Editor, OC Weekly, P.O. Box 10788, Costa Mesa, CA 92627) or fax (714-708-8410). Letters will be edited for clarity and length. All correspondence must include your home city and a daytime phone number.

GIVE PEACE A PUNK

Like Dave Barton, I have given up sign-waving anti-war protesting (“Anti-War Fun,” March 28). And I would like to add another item to the “effective things to do” on his list. Let's impeach George W. Bush and his entire War administration! I started by writing a letter to Representative Nancy Pelosi with copies to Chris Cox (my representative), Loretta Sanchez, Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and even President Bush (as a courtesy). After all, if the Republicans can impeach Bill Clinton over some sleazy sex scandal, it should be a no-brainer to impeach Bush over lying to Congress about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and waging a war in defiance of the UN charter. I am sure your readers can think of more “crimes and misdemeanors” Bush and his administration have committed. I have already seen my first “Impeach George Bush” bumper sticker, so this is an idea whose time has come! Write letters, wires and e-mails and phone. Let's bombard Congress with our messages.

Carl Mariz
Irvine

What can I say about Dave Barton's “Anti-War Fun”? While I can't argue with his impeccable, common-sense suggestions about how to more effectively wage peace, his tone is so condescending and vitriolic I'm tempted to buy a flag and give war a chance. I bet if Dave and Prez Bush didn't disagree politically, they'd be good friends because they have so much in common emotionally. My point is, to paraphrase feminists, peace isn't just political—it's personal, too. Get off your high (political-activist) horse and give peace a chance in your own life (and writings). Have a heart, Dave!

Leonard Baric
“Ineffective” Peace Protester
Long Beach
FIGHTING MAD

Steve Lowery's “Diary of a Mad County” (April 4) reminds us that if you just have a green card but aren't yet a U.S. Citizen, you can immediately serve our nation as the valiant Jose Angel Garibay and tens of thousands of other did. While the unsympathetic political rhetoric against non-U.S. citizens has been silenced for the moment, gay and lesbian Americans still languish in a haze of grievous discrimination that rejects our equal commitment and love for our nation.

Mitch Goldstone
Irvine
WHO WOULD JESUS KILL?

Given OC Weekly's anti-Christian bias, I wasn't surprised to find an article suggesting that hate-crime allegations against Lord Morder were unfair (Nick Schou's “A Case of Morder,” March 28).One has to wonder if OC Weekly would be as sympathetic toward a person who had a racist website and attacked black students at a black college. My bet is that OC Weekly wouldn't interview his family and friends to show the suspect was really a nice guy and didn't mean any harm; nor should OC Weekly do so in the Morder case. Let the courts decide.

I also wasn't surprised at OC Weekly's patronizing attitude toward the Christian lady in Steve Lowery's Diary of a Mad County (March 28). Somehow, OC Weekly feels that this type of attitude is justified as long as a Catholic is quoted or a non-offensive version of Jesus is presented. I would remind Lowery that “Jesus' radical philosophy of peace” didn't stop him from going to the cross for the sake of sinners, didn't exclude his command to fight wars and institute the death penalty in some circumstances (in his pre-earthly existence as God in the Old Testament), doesn't exclude his eschatological judgment (using the historic sense of word), and doesn't exclude his unpopular teachings while he was with us, such as: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

Brian Peters
Via e-mail
C'MON, SPELL IT

Our government has been bullying the Arabs for 50 years or more. First, Saudia Arabia for their oil; then Pallistine for Isreal. When I was growing up, it was President Roosevelt telling the Saudies they would stay in power as long as the oil flowed to America. After World War II, hungary and scared Jews from Germany were given land that beonged to Pallistine, not America. The united States supported with trillions of dollars in money and arms to terrorize the Palistinians. National Geographic recently ran a good article about Isreal and Pallistine. When the economy was bad during President zbush's term, America wrote off Kuwait , and Iraq invaded. America defended kuwait. This is Faschism. For those that don't believe it, I suggest they read Webster's Dictionary.

Thomas L. Rodgers
Seal Beach
SOLD

Please, for the love of all humanity, do not let Gustavo Arrellano write for your paper anymore. I love punk. I am extremely liberal. I want to smash racism. I want the war to end. I want Koo's Art Caf back. But when will Gustavo get that no one cares about Over the Counter Intelligence (“Show of Farce,” Feb. 7) because they're racist, stupid, sound like a dying cat, and—above all—are not leaders of my Chicano punk movement. My Chicano punk movement knows that music is colorblind, that you don't fuck shit up at a children's fair, that you don't threaten to kick a Mexican guy's ass because the name his parents gave him is “too white.” Gustavo once called himself the token minority on your paper, and frankly, I would rather not be represented at all if he's what people think of when they think of my ethnicity and culture. For a Mexican to call another Mexican racist and ignorant is saying a lot, and I am so embarrassed we share the same ethnicity. The only thing I look forward to reading in your paper now are Chris Ziegler's articles (which I think are brilliant) and new ways to prove Gustavo Arellanos is an idiot.

Janelle C.
Tustin Gustavo Arellano responds: I don't care if you hate me—just get the name right: it's “Arellano,” not “Arrellano” or “Arellanos.”

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