Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to 20*******@oc******.com">le*****@oc******.com, fax to (714) 708-8410 or send to Letters to the Editor, c/oOC Weekly, P.O. Box 10788, Costa Mesa, CA 92627-0247.

HAPPY DAYS

I can't tell you how happy I was to find out that Bob Dornan is back in politics and therefore back in OC Weekly. And thank you, OC Weekly, for running not one but three stories about Bob [“Evidence God Exists,” Dec. 12]. But I really must call you on your obvious sandbagging of Dornan's quote regarding Dana Rohrabacher in R. Scott Moxley's story “Blood, Sweat N Large Body Counts.” When Bob compares Rohrabacher's life to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Moxley puts it in the context of Mitty being a mouse of a man dreaming of great things. C'mon. Those of us in the know—and I know this includes you, Moxley—know exactly what “secret” Dornan is referring to, and it just goes to show how nasty this campaign is going to be.

People right now are getting all excited about the Democrats sniping at each other, but any political watcher worth his salt knows there is nothing more vicious than a Republican knife fight. These boys know how to bring it. Dornan says Rohrabacher wants to legalize drugs and Rohrabacher calls Dornan delusional. Wonderful. This may be our last chance to have this much fun for a long time, so enjoy it. I know I will.

Andy R.
Huntington Beach

SECRETS AND LIES

I'm glad to see that our district attorney, Tony Rackauckas, is in on the Don Haidl investigation [R. Scott Moxley's “'Our Little Secret,'” Dec. 5]. I just hope that neither Haidl nor any of the other officers involved in the cover-up contributed to Rackauckas' reelection campaign. If so, this case will be buried permanently!

Patricia A. Vinet
Irvine

HUNG ON A CROSS

I write in response to Gustavo Arellano's recent article “The Bawdy of Christ” [Dec. 5]. Personally, I don't know much about no priest sex crimes, but I think it's cool that there is an image of Jesus in a state of erection. I mean, he was human. He was bound to have become aroused from time to time. Don't get me wrong: it's bizarre that he's saluting whilst being crucified. That is f'd up, but what can you do? It flies in the face of so much tradition it's mind-boggling, and although that's cool, maybe a painting of Jesus merely bathing would've been a better place to start with some holy nudity rather than just tossing the big guy up on the cross in such a situation.

Still, the church might need to honor the sacred and holy erect phallus. I reckon if they had a more adult attitude to it, a lot of this ridiculousness wouldn't be happening in the first place. You and I both know what happens when one is spiritually forced to be celibate. That said, other religions do perfectly well (as far as I'm aware) in matters of disciplining the flesh in order to get closer to what they perceive to be a godlike presence. So why is it that Catholicism has so many problems with the little ones that they are supposed to treasure and protect above all else? As for me, I got nothing. Zero answers. Maybe Arellano needs to be dispatched to find out.

RT
Via e-mail

MUSICA

I just came across Gustavo Arellano's article on cumbia on the Internet [“The Cumbia of the Poor,” April 4] and was interested and amused by his analysis. Excuse me, did you know that among Latinos the terms negrito and negrita are endearments? As are chinito and chinita? In Colombia, 85 percent of the population is mestizo/Indian or mulatto/black. Chinito is a term of endearment for mestizos/Indians and negrito is a term of endearment for mulatto/blacks. Mi own mother called me chinito. My wife is black. I call her “mi negra.” Ain't nothing but love in it, bobo! In fact, do you think that Celia Cruz was racist when she sang in one of her biggest hits, “La negra tiene tumbao”?

I appreciate your coverage of cumbia. But come correct with it, homie. Study up on the subject matter and don't be spreading misinformation. Y que viva Colombia, carajo!

Martn Franco
Via e-mail

Gustavo Arellano responds: I do think Celia Cruz's lyric is racist—in fact, Latin America is racist at its conflicted heart.

Truth be told, Jenni Rivera's music never caught my attention, but I now have lots of respect for her after reading Gustavo Arellano's article [“La Malandrina,” Nov. 28]. I relate so much to this part: “'My generation was taught to be 100 percent Mexican,' Rivera says. 'We had to speak Spanish at home and listen to Spanish music. At the same time, though, we knew the “American” world. But we weren't Chicanos—that was just a fad. We were Mexican.'” That's exactly how I feel, and my Chicano friends don't understand why I don't consider myself Chicana.

Yuriana Velasco
Via e-mail

MR. BEANE

For the love of god, Joel Beers, in your review of our July offering of Titus Andronicus at the Insurgo Theater Movement you stated that the script was Shakespeare's shittiest—yet here we are with Troilus and Cressida in December and we find that this script is Shakespeare's shittiest [“Too Much of Nothing,” Dec. 5]. Dammit man, you can't have it both ways. Especially when it's patently and painfully obvious that Shakespeare's worst script was, in fact, The Odd Couple. I should not have to explain this to you. Felix and Oscar are the most crappily realized characters since, well, I've got to go back to Jan Michael Vincent in Airwolf. It was totally all about Borgnine.

John Beane
Via e-mail

UH, JIM, THE PAPER'S FREE

Recently, you released articles under the title “Where Have All the Blowhards Gone?” [Nov. 14]. Maybe you think that you represent a viable viewpoint, but you basically proved that you are completely biased and stupid. What you have done with your article is to further separate the left from the right and demoralize what the troops have been fighting for in Iraq! This IS NOT ANOTHER VIETNAM! When do you soakheads have to realize that? If you truly want people to respect your paper and quit laughing at the desperate attempts to show your ignorance, please put in some articles that build up America. Then I will consider buying your paper and products that your advertisers display.

James Bowles
The Toro Co.

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