LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[March 22nd, 2006] LAND OF THE FREE, HOME OF THE BANKRUPT

I have two words for citizens: "boom, bust." Got "free market" capitalism? Then you've got a dialectic of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, regardless of popular equivocation. You will also have a rationality-defying cacophony by moral relativists such as Mrs. [Luanne] Stoltz et al. ["Payday Loans: Rich Man, Poor Man," WW, March 15, 2006] who may actually believe a "service" is provided to people who now live hand-to-Stoltz-to mouth.

Listen to your economic apologists on CNN for a good night's sleep, but in the morning the reality remains that any interest rate (including fees) that exceeds the GDP creates unserviceable debt and is, by definition, usury. But God Bless America, anyway.

Glenn McCarthy
Southeast 136th Avenue

N-WORD HISTORY

This message is regarding Vee Rucker's quote in last week's article, "Don't Use That Word."

I am so grateful that members of the community are taking a stance against "that word." I am tired of hearing anyone use it, regardless of context! However, I am a bit puzzled by Rucker's reference to the word "scoundrel." [Rucker, of Portland State University's Black Cultural Affairs Board, said at a Jefferson High forum that the word "nigger" derives from a word that originally meant "scoundrel."] I had always thought that "nigger" was a corruption of the Latin/Spanish word "negro," meaning "black." But if there is another etymology here, I would be most interested to learn of it.

Mary Kusaka
Northeast Senate Street

TALKING OUT OF SCHOOL

I'm fed up with newspapers like Willamette Week for jumpstarting another round of hysteria and frenzied debate about Portland Public Schools—students and their families at these schools have had no chance to hear from their own superintendent that closures are forthcoming ["School Daze," WW Web exclusive, March 15, 2006]. You failed to point out that the district will be allowing public comment on these closures. You also failed to point out that the plan you describe in "School Daze" is but one of SIX (yes, SIX) to address the issue of school closures and budgetary savings.

Your reporting reminds me exactly why we despise the media in times like these: Rather than helping the public make sense of the larger issue of inadequate funding for schools, you exacerbate everyone's collective angst at how educating our kids is a distant priority in this state. Way to go, WW.

Kathy Cooke on wweek.com