LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[December 22nd, 2004] ANOTHER TOUGH MOTHER

Perusing your Top 50 Women "Power List" [Dec. 8, 2004] was very enlightening...especially your last 18, some of whom deserved a tad higher ranking. But noticeably absent was Judy Cushing of Oregon Partnership, a tireless crusader for the druggies and alkies of the world.

All right, she's my mom. But she has been working in the prevention/education field for 25 years, and she even talks about the issue at holiday parties (she just doesn't know when to stop!). She's in D.C. every month and actually on a presidential commission for drug policy (don't worry, I am a STAUNCH Democrat beer-drinker), and she, too, functions on very little sleep. So, yeah, she deserves it, too.

Tim Cushing
Southwest Marigold Street

FOIE GROSS

Seems someone got their feathers a little ruffled due to having to find an alternate parking spot [The Nose, WW, Dec. 1, 2004]. But protesting the protesters? That's worse than road rage. One of the last great liberties in this country is the right to protest (at your own risk). What does the Nose have against people wanting to put a stop to torture and abuse of animals? Can't he find a worse thing to complain about?

And what about that part about saying that booking reservations and not showing isn't classy? Is it more classy to shove a tube down a goose's throat and unnaturally force its liver to expand three times its size? Is that classy?

Apparently, by the Nose's standards, "Joe and Jane Twelvepack" are the only people who would disregard the need for foie gras. But what about the educated people who look past the taste? Perhaps cow dung tastes good, but I would never be stupid enough to find out. Anyway, I agree with the fact that fur is a cruel and (these days) unnecessary "luxury." My dog would make a great fur coat, but that doesn't mean I want him skinned. I'm sure other animals don't need to be, either. I wonder why the Nose suffers such a lack of empathy for animals.

By the way, organically grown soybeans do NOT plow under whole ecosystems. Cattle farming, however, does.

Suzanne Mark
Southeast Nehalem Street

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

In 1984, my good friend Tomas Sedlacek defected to the United States. A professor at Charles University in Prague, he took advantage of a holiday allowed to him, to travel to Ankara, Turkey. He went to the American embassy and was subsequently delivered to an emigrant facility in Istanbul. For nine months he waited there, until the Catholic Migration Commission effected his entry into the United States. He is now an engineer at a Boston laser-research laboratory.

While a science professor at Charles University, being under the aegis of a Communist government, he was instructed, in no uncertain terms, to instruct, in no uncertain terms, the beauty of Communism and how it applied to the teaching of science. Because of this and certain other government activities, Tomas made his decision to defect.

I mention this because what he was forced to do sounds so much like what religious schools and evangelical organizations are doing on a daily basis ["The J Crew," WW, Dec. 1, 2004]. It is all about indoctrination, and the difference between what was occurring in then-Czechoslovakia and the present-day religious organizations seems very small.

One man's religion is another man's cult is another man's socialist system.

Thomas Nash
Southwest Caraway Court

PASS THE DETENTE

As an agnostic liberal raised in a conservative evangelical household, it's nice to read an article that portrays these people, my family, as individuals rather than reducing them to faceless cogs in a backwards voting bloc ["The J Crew"]. While the political factors are real, it's important to remember that people are more than the sum of their politics, a fact that has often been lost in the news coverage leading up to and following the election.

If we want an informed, thoughtful society, we must be willing to listen to contrasting views while giving each other the benefit of the doubt. I admit this can be a challenge in these heated times, but the alternative is a blinkered society devoid of understanding and real debate.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, this ideal was one of the few subjects upon which my extended family, an even mix of red and blue sensibilities, could agree. This leads me to believe that there are many more on either side of the cultural divide who feel this way, even if it's sometimes hard to hear them over all the extremist shouting.

Matt Wright
Southeast Morrison Street

Editor's Note: Wright is a WW music freelancer.

THE LIONS NEXT TIME

Christians are fine ["The J Crew"]. My family is Christian. I wouldn't have a problem with them if they would learn to mind their own damn business and leave the "other" believers to themselves. There will come a day when the "others" will push back and feed them to the lions again. I hope I'm still around then.

Greg Hancock
South Pierce Road