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Letters to the Editor
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To the Editor:
The Mardi Gras melee has once again shown how the SPD is utterly incapable of managing crowd control. Ever since the WTO when they got their new Darth Vader outfits, they seem to pass up no opportunity to use them.
While the crowds in Pioneer Square on Tuesday were generally boisterous but controlled, there were groups of thugs who worked their way through the crowd picking fights and beating people. There was also reportedly one man who was beaten to death in the area.
The police chief said he did not want to put officers in harm's way. So they were stationed outside the perimeter of the crowds and merely watched the fights. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but isn't the express duty of the police to be in harm's way? It's a difficult job but many would have applauded a few arrests of the thugs running through the crowds. The situation was essentially a crowd of 3,000 walking in the streets with no security personnel anywhere. If this had been a private party at a venue such as the Stadium Exhibition Center and no security people were present, event organizers would have been publicly criticized by the police chief and the mayor for poor organization. We should expect no less from a city-sanctioned event. Someone should also be asking the very obvious question: how can a city like New Orleans host an event with nearly a million partygoers without breaking out their riot gear?
If the police chief is afraid of being in harm's way, then maybe he should take lessons from the fire chief. Can you imagine the fire chief and his fireman reporting to a fire and watching it burn because they didn't want to get in harm's way? Harm's way is your job, Mr. Kerlikowske. You're the commander of harm's way. To protect and to serve means being in harm's way.
Patrick Kelly
Greens Did NOT Put Bush in Office
To the Editor:
Thank you for publishing Patti Good's misinformed letter blaming the Greens for electing Bush in your February 21 issue. It only serves to further buttress how ridiculous this argument is. Without citing any evidence, Good repeats the line coming from the Democratic Party that Ralph Nader and the Greens cost Gore the election, as if that settles the issue. A cursory glance at the facts demonstrates how absurd Good's arguments are.
Although she fails to mention his name in her letter, most Greens voted for Ralph Nader and DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH. This is another example of the Orwellian notion being put forward by the Democratic Party that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush." The Green Party does not have five members on the Supreme Court who abused their power by stopping the Florida vote recount. It is safe to assume that the Green Party is not very well represented in the law enforcement profession in Florida and, hence, can't be responsible for the police road blocks set up in African American communities for the purpose preventing them from voting. The last I heard, Florida Secretary of State Harris is not a Green but a Republican. The Green Party did not exist when our nation's anachronistic Electoral College was created two centuries ago. Finally, the Green Party did not champion every get-tough-on-crime measure that led to the disenfranchisement of so many African Americans in Florida and the rest of the nation. The two individuals most responsible for African American disenfranchisement are Good's heroes, Clinton and Gore.
If Good is the least bit interested in why Gore "lost" (I put the term in quotes because he not only won Florida but the overall popular vote as well), she should take a look at the exit polls in CNN's Election 2000 archive (www.cnn.com/election/2000/results/). Of the 13,130 respondents polled in all 50 states, 11 percent of Democrats voted for Bush and only two percent of Democrats voted for Nader. Yet Good isn't screaming at those Democrats who ACTUALLY VOTED for Bush for costing Gore the election. Implicit in this argument, given the reality that far more Democrats ACTUALLY VOTED for Bush than for Nader, is that Good would rather see Democrats voting for Republicans than see Greens voting for their own party's candidate. Good argues in her letter that we live in a two-party political system and, therefore, we Greens had better learn to live with it, or else!
Good may not know this either, but many Greens are a part of an organization called the Green PARTY, not the Green Caucus. Many of us are not members of the Democratic Party, and, speaking for myself, I don't give a damn what happens to your Democratic Party after eight years of right-wing governance by Clinton/Gore.
Rick Giombetti
Where to Find Meat The Press
To the Editor:
I can tell Walt in Wallingford [letters, Feb. 21] where Meat The Press is--at least most Wednesday nights.
It is in Murphy's Pub in Wallingford (Walt country) on open mike night. Go look, Walt.
Its artist gives cartoons to the bartender, and he gives some to other customers, including me, and they are great--really offbeat and not stupid like the crap in the Stranger and the Weakly, but sharp and grown up.
There is even a sidewalk musician who has some of the Seattle Press cartoons you used to print displayed in his guitar case. One is about Mark Sidran--you missed a great idea by not having Meat The Press do nothing but Sidran cartoons issue after issue.
Walt has it right about your other cartoons.
Why isn't Meat The Press famous? And why don't you contract with it before it is?
Jan Smiley
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