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DOUBLE DIRTY
The shoving match between Elias Martinez [Letters, Oct. 18: "
"] and Sialia Rieke [Letters, Oct. 25: "
"] is like watching 5-year-olds square off for sandbox bragging rights. While any suggestion that the market-corrupt and brazenly manipulated-be allowed to set wages is a disgrace, the parochial belief that "rent here now equals rent in big cities where people can easily make $15 to $20 an hour without higher education" is absurd. Abdication by the government to the flesh-eater Laissez-faire capitalism is, at least according to Mussolini, corporatism, a term he championed as an alternative to the less palatable fascism. Round one to Rieke.
But rents in big cities (Boston, New York, Chicago, San Diego, shall I continue?) are in many, if not most, cases twice what we pay in Santa Fe. And there is nowhere on the planet where a high school graduate can "easily make $15 to $20 an hour." Round two belongs to Martinez. Ultimately, the fight is a draw. While we have a sense of what America was, we have no way of knowing exactly what it has become. George W and John Kerry are members of a secret society about which they are forbidden to speak. By whom? There is evidence that Bill Clinton allowed the CIA to run cocaine through Mena, Ark. The laundry list runs the printer dry, but the truth is undeniable: dirty on the right; dirty on the left.
Kevin Threadgold
Santa Fe
TALK AND THANKS
So, I have a question for you (and I bet it has been asked before): Why is it that the SFR Talk photos are always so awful, unflattering, full-body, weird camera angle, big legs, pin-headed, cardboard cutout and just plain bizarre? Isn't the point of Talk to introduce us to interesting and great folks who are moving and shaking and making a difference in our community? Why photograph them in such an odd way? I hope I never do anything noteworthy enough to be interviewed…I would insist on a head shot and wear a fabulous hat at that!
Also, while I have you, thank you for printing the letter from Valerie Giese [Nov. 1: "
"]. Valerie, you are not the only one who takes offense! The whole Minutemen thing is, of course, an unhealthy outlet for a bunch of testosterone-crazed men (and women) who want to feel important and powerful at the expense of a few poor people. Yes, I know the USA is having a population boom like never before, and mostly because of immigration, but to build fences and support vigilantes is certainly not doing a thing to go to the root of the problem.
I am so sick of getting e-mail forwards from folks (well intentioned, I am sure) encouraging signing petitions to prevent immigrants, mostly Mexican, from stealing our Social Security. Give me a break. We all know they work harder and longer and with more expertise at whatever menial job for which we can't live without them. I say hurray to those who made it here. With a little education, basic needs and money, maybe these new Americans can encourage and support the changes that are so needed across the border.
Shelley Oram
Glorieta, NM
ROYAL OOPS
This e-mail is in reference to a review of
The Queen
[Movies, Nov. 8: "
"]. The review's author makes reference twice to the royal family staying in "Balmorrow Castle." I believe the correct name of the dwelling in Scotland is "Balmoral Castle." Otherwise, it was a most enjoyable movie and an accurate review.
Dick Reynolds
Santa Fe
PHONETIC FLUB
Personally, I have to question the reliability of a review of this film [
The Queen
] by someone who can't spell "Balmoral," the famed Scottish residence of Queen Elizabeth II. Balmorrow?????? A reviewer who is too lazy to look up something s/he isn't sure of, and instead takes a phonetic stab at it, should be taught better work habits. How VERY embarrassing! I do hope none of my London friends are reading this review and laughing their sides off…
Kaaren Boullosa
Santa Fe
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