David Duke
It’s interesting how Memphis Flyer writer Chris Davis thinks
it’s okay to call David Duke “America’s most easily recognized racist”
(“White Noise,” November 13th issue) in a so-called news feature.
Davis went on to happily chronicle how Duke was harassed and booted
from various Memphis motels during his weekend here for the
European-American Unity Conference. Let’s be real: If Duke were leading
a conference for blacks or Jews, his activities would have been seen as
“activism,” and the media — and Davis — would have covered
it as straight news.
As Duke said in the article: “They’ve got free speech in Cuba, too.
Just as long as you don’t say anything bad about Fidel Castro.” Think
about it.
Walter Lewiston
Charlotte, North Carolina
Gay Rights
In his “Viewpoint” (November 13th issue), Jim Maynard makes the old
mistake of conflating civil rights with sexual rights. One is a
nationality/birth condition; the other, a chosen behavior. Even Colin
Powell acknowledged this fallacy and major error a few years ago.
It is also a slippery slope. Where do we draw the line? Why not have
men marry animals, birds, and insects? If evolution is true, we are no
different in a “civil rights” genus/category. Maynard gets his quotes
and statistics a bit blurred by leaving out many polls across the
nation: From yes2marriage.org,
African-American leaders and pastors show a 65 percent rejection of
homosexual marriages and civil-union rights.
A homosexual couple can cohabitate and get “married,” but they can
never consummate physically due to incompatible sexual organs, unless
they make drastic alterations. Maynard’s appeal to “separation of
church and state” has nothing to do with this issue. He says that
government should not impose laws upon others. That means we should
release all criminals in jail that had laws legislated against their
actions. All law is legislated morality. The question is: Whose morals
do we legislate?
Charles Gillihan
Bartlett
Who is Obama?
Bill McAfee is right on in his letter to the editor (November 6th
issue). I just never knew Obama was from Africa. Thanks for telling me
this, Bill.
Is Obama proud to be an American or is he proud to be an African
American? I am sure he would give an answer if asked. But none of his
supporters can tell me what qualifies him to be president. No one can
tell me his tax proposals, how socialized medicine will cure all, and
how, when he becomes president, he will become militarily inclined, and
how economics can become one of his strong points. That’s what he said
in the debates: “I am not militarily inclined. Economics is not one of
my strong points.”
What are his strong points?
Jeremy Scruggs
Memphis
Hopefully, everyone who did not vote for Barack Obama will pledge to
be just as respectful, trusting, unbiased, and supportive of him in the
next four years as the editors, writers, columnists, and contributors
in the Memphis Flyer have been of President Bush these past
eight years.
Herbert E. Kook Jr.
Germantown
Marijuana Talk
In the memphisflyer.com
article “Marijuana Talk at Rhodes” (November 6th), it seems to me that
the speaker asked the wrong question. The question should be: Should
marijuana remain completely untaxed, unregulated, and controlled by
criminals?
Because marijuana is illegal, it is sold only by criminals. And they
often offer free samples of more dangerous drugs to their marijuana
customers, thus creating the so-called gateway effect.
In a regulated market, this would not happen. Do Flyer
readers know of anyone who has been offered a free bottle of whiskey,
rum, or vodka when legally buying beer or wine? I don’t either.
If we regulate, control, and tax the sale and production of
marijuana, we close the gateway to hard drugs.
Kirk Muse
Mesa, Arizona
Regarding “News of the Weird” (November 13th issue): The first story
mentions a “.22 gauge shotgun.” There is no such thing. Second, how did
the stove shoot her? (The story said she was “shot in the leg” by her
stove.)
P.J. Trenthem
Germantown
Editor’s note: I don’t know. That’s so
weird.