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Letters To The Editor News

Letters to the Editor

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Do we need to invade Iraq?

marc cooper has it exactly right, and Paul Kellogg of International Socialists (IS) has it mostly wrong (NOW, January 9-15).Cooper’s “win without war” approach to the crisis in Iraq makes sense. Simply opposing a U.S.-led invasion (the IS approach) is, in effect, supporting the dictatorship in Iraq.

The dictatorship should go, for the sake of the Iraqi people and liberal democracy in the region.Unless the UN discovers that the regime is making nuclear weapons (in which case invasion makes sense), the U.S. and its allies, working closely with Iraqi opposition groups, should use other means short of a full-scale military occupation of the country to bring about change.And, yes, an invasion would also be about oil security for the world, as Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and others have noted.Liberal democracy and oil security are laudable — and linked — objectives, but do we need a U.S.-led invasion at this time to achieve them?

G.M. Cook, Toronto

Blind corporate paranoia

If you’re going to nitpick about something as innocuous as breakfast cereal (NOW, January 9-15), at least try to do it right.First, the lyric to the Las’ ode to the joys of heroin has it “pulsing through my veins,” not “coursing.”Second, There She Goes has been used in so many family-friendly venues (i.e., Disney’s remake of The Parent Trap) that the somewhat vague link to heroin has been just about detoxified from the song.Why not go after the tenuous link between J.H. Kellogg, inventor of Corn Flakes and noted anti-masturbation activist, and Sixpence None the Richer, whose remake of the Las’ original song is the version used in the commercial? They’re a “Christian” rock band! Gasp. Slow news day or just blind corporate paranoia? You tell me.

Edward Weiss, Toronto

Fantino’s gun point

Chief Fantino finally wakes upon the correct side of an issue, and you idiots complain (Now, January 9-15).

We’ve been paying for handgun registration for 60 years, yet it has neither solved nor prevented one single crime. You even admit as much by stating, “At least they will be traceable.”

Big fuckin’ deal. I’m sure gunshot victims care who originally owned the gun as much as car crash victims care who previously owned the car.

Why are you supporting giving computer contractors a billion dollars for nothing when our hospitals and schools are closing because of cash shortages? I’m almost tempted to think that fascist Fantino has a point when he whines about his media coverage.

dave chappelle, Toronto

Pot prohibition deadly

There is a big difference be-tween condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs (NOW, January 9-15).Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records.As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like cocaine.Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly. Canada should follow the lead of Europe and just say no to the American Inquisition.Robert Sharpe

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, DCRegent revamp won’t work

How much faith should Regent Park residents place in provincial and municipal government to revitalize their community (NOW, January 9-15)?Very little. After walking daily by Yonge and Dundas and listening to the roar of construction behind the wooden barricades awaiting Toronto’s version of Times Square, I wonder now that it’s been unveiled where the money went for the project and why it took two years essentially to pave a street corner.

Douglas Helliker, Toronto

Yoga not for pickup artists

christopher taylor jones suggests that men should attend yoga classes to ogle women’s breasts and pick up women in time for Saturday night dates (NOW, January 2-8).Mr. Jones has confused the yoga studio for a singles bar. Please go back to Richmond Street, where you are clearly most comfortable.

And kindly refrain from attending the studio practice, so that your misguided energy doesn’t contaminate mine or any other woman’s.

Ruth Warner, Toronto

Inspired by love

Wayne Roberts’s a city so full of Love (NOW, January 2-8) brought tears to my eyes. We are doing some things right!We human beings have so much potential for creativity and caring, and to see Torontonians in that light is inspiring.

Maybe a city full of love will elect a mayor who deserves the honour of leading this city. And maybe we can join other Canadians in being a country so full of love that we won’t back the U.S. in its addiction-driven mad rush to war. Great issue, NOW. Keep it coming.

Lyn Adamson, Toronto

Getting clubbed

RE Rude Revival (now, january 9-15). I would like to start this letter by thanking you for putting a portion of my response in your article about our party at Revival on New Year’s Eve, and the concerns raised by some ticket holders about admission to the club.

The doors opened at 8 pm. Advance ticket holders were admitted to the club first. It appears some who were complaining actually obtained their tickets at the door, which would have accounted for their wait.The article states that Revival will be closed until January 23. But we’re running our night at the Corner Pocket across the road. I am sure none of this will make it to print. But it’s important that you know the truth of the situation. Guilty until proved innocent. Please find some way of making an adjustment.

Mark Holmes, ModClub Promotions

Trite gobbledygook

Matt Galloway’s tired, overdone premise about how easy it is to “click and cocoon” oneself indoors thanks to the Internet (NOW, January 9-15) was a complete waste of time (and a brilliant exercise in Gallowayan alliteration).Furthermore, anyone who is able to type “g-o-o-g-l-e” has the resources to access his list of obvious and uninspired Web sites. How long did it take to research and pen this little gem, I wonder?Matt must have precious little time to write something worth reading now that he moonlights as a sports journalist/what’s-hip critic/music review contributor for CBC Radio. Proof that one day a jack of all trades is bound to churn out nothing but a lot of trite gobbledygook. What’s next? Matt’s own sex advice column in Martha Stewart Living? That said, I’ll still take the $43,500 pimp Jacuzzi with the built-in TV and DVD player.

John Perry , Toronto

Spiked Lee

NOW Magazine presents itself as the defender of the little guy and the great critic of the politically powerful and money-grubbing capitalists.

How, then, can NOW justify not reviewing certain movies, such as Spike Lee’s long-awaited 25th Hour? Instead, it blackmails readers into the inconvenience of going onto its Web site if they want to read the critic’s review. What if a reader doesn’t have access to the Internet?It says to me, “The hell with our readers. We don’t mind inconveniencing them because what we’re more interested in is more hits on our Web site so we can increase our Web-associated revenues.”

What I say to NOW magazine is, “The hell with you.”

John Beattie, Toronto

Editor’s note: Review screenings for 25th Hour were held on a Wednesday evening after NOW went to the printer.

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