I’m busting my ass to secure rights for all Americans, and here is this cat in your paper writing a letter to the editor (“Peace Out,” issue of March 29-April 4) talking about black people looking out only for black people and a bunch of other divisive crap. I must admit I’m a little ticked.
It is going to take more then just black people to get Over-the-Rhine out of that drug-dealing, man-killing, thug-loving place it is right now, and no group acting in a racial vacuum is going to solve any problems at all. I appreciate the writer’s sentiment about “ending the madness” and all, but there are many types of madness — most of which must be dealt with at least in conjunction with the violence, if not before, such as sorting out a legitimate income to take the place of dealing drugs or increasing the literacy levels of the single moms out there or getting someone to drop some “40-mil-to-move-the-fountain-100-feet” money for some OTR urban renewal.
Those are initiatives that require impassioned coalitions and soulful community effort rather than exclusive and divisive rhetoric. But then why listen to me?
I’m just a white Jew with a nose like Sitting Bull and horns growing out of my head. I can make a phone call and shut down all the banks in America while at the same time counting the vast stacks of cash I have stuffed in my mattress, all of my mattresses, all the while cursing Pharaoh for enslaving my people thousands of years ago and Hitler and Stalin for killing millions of my ancestors.
— Denizen Jew, Cincinnati
Money and Politics
Thank you for covering the story on what is going on with Paul Hackett (“Hackett’s Happy,” issue of March 29-April 4). I wish he would have stayed in the Senate race.
The shame of it all is that people like myself who can’t donate to political campaigns because of a lack of extra money outside of living expenses will never get the chance to elect great people who run for office who can’t raise the big bucks to compete in the race.
Elections almost feel like the candidates have to buy our votes. This is wrong.
I was going to vote for Hackett. Because I could not afford to donate, I’ll never get that chance.
— Virginia L. Ramirez, Middletown
Support Censure
This isn’t about terrorism, it’s about accountability. The president already had the authority to wiretap suspected al Qaeda terrorists and get a warrant days later. But he went around the court set up to prevent abuses and protect innocent Americans — a court that approves virtually all of the wiretapping requests it receives. When the president breaks the law, he must be held accountable.
Censure is a reasonable first step to holding the president accountable. Even Republicans have acknowledged that the president broke the law, and now they’re discussing plans to retroactively make his program legal.
This isn’t about partisan politics, its about the rule of law. If Congress doesn’t support censuring the president, they’re saying its OK for the president — any president — to break the law.
All of Congress should be standing with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) to protect the rule of law. He’s standing up to the Bush administration’s attack on our Constitution, and he shouldn’t be fighting alone.
This is a crucial moment for Congress. They must hold the president accountable and preserve their role as a check on the power of the presidency, America is watching to make sure they do.
— Liz Lanier, Covington
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2006.
