Face value
I believe the Statue of Liberty has already been nominated as the woman to replace Jackson on our $20 bills (Chicken-Fried News, “Native support,” Feb. 3, Oklahoma Gazette). If not, she should be. In order to add some humor and variety, other nominations could include Gypsy Rose Lee, Marilyn Monroe and “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, as all three have had a role in our history. One entertained millions of men, another not only entertained the general public but also one of our presidents and the last one was despised by more soldiers than any U.S. citizen in history. Of course, Hanoi Jane’s picture should be framed by a toilet seat. — Richard McBride Oklahoma CityWhose fault?
The Republicans can get by with destroying cities, states and our country with their 18th-century policies because their multibillion-dollar, right-wing propaganda machine is going 24/7, convincing the lemmings all their destruction and FUBARs are really the fault of Obama and the Democrats. Just witness the destruction of Oklahoma due to six straight years of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy, all done with promises of economic prosperity for all. And now with the state tanking, we are told, “Oh, that was only if we had $100-a-barrel oil. Sorry.” And remember our greatest economy ever (due principally to his tax increases on the wealthy) was during the Clinton presidency when we had eight straight years of $17-a-barrel oil. Really, how ignorant do the people have to be to believe this Republican BS? — Jay Hanas EdmondVegan/vegetarian resources
In regard to your Jan. 20 cover article “Vegan in the city” (Food, “Giving up,” Greg Elwell, Gazette), I would have thought you could have mentioned Nourished Food Co., a vegan and gluten-free grab-and-go, clean-eats food bar located downtown at 131 Dean A. McGee Ave., at Robinson Avenue, in the Carnegie Building (nourishedfood.co) or said more about The Red Cup, an all-vegetarian restaurant. Also, there are grassroots organizations like Vegetarians of Oklahoma (organized in 1993), Red Earth Vegans in Norman, the OKC Vegans Meetup group and PlantBasedOKC. You could have gotten plenty of quotes from people living the vegan life every day. And really, there are so many interesting restaurants in all different price ranges offering vegan options. — Liz MacBeen, secretary, Vegetarians of Oklahoma Oklahoma CityPolitically incorrect?
Many of us find political correctness to be offensive. In many instances, it amounts to arbitrary censorship imposed on us by those who want to take issue with history, political views or artistic or literary works. For instance, some of the works of one of America’s most beloved and respected authors, Mark Twain, have been banned from some libraries. When will the PC’ers storm our libraries and have book burnings like the Nazis did in the 1930s? In other cases, no one seems to care if whites are called “honkies,” “whities,” “crackers” or “peckerwoods,” but it is a sin to say the “N-word.” Does all this really matter? What is really troublesome is that many newspapers seemingly endorse a lot of the political correctness, especially if it falls within their particular agendas. Don’t they believe in the freedom of the press and/or free speech? — Mickey McVay Edmond`High-minded?'
I would not have known about the homelessness situation if I hadn’t read the cover story (News, “Giving change,” Laura Eastes, Jan. 13, Gazette). Maybe that’s another side effect of living in such a “privileged” community. I’m under the impression that children grow up in families that can provide for them abundantly as they learn to provide for themselves and to provide for the family in return (providing for new children who grow and learn to provide likewise, and so on and so on). Under that impression, panhandlers seem like “delinquents” — or whatever they’re calling young rebels these days — people who turned down the wrong path long ago and had no one to turn them right, but who we tell youngsters to stay away from because we don’t want our youngsters pulled off the right track along with them. And that’s why I would pass that advice down as the generations before have done. Haughty and snobbish and high-minded of me, maybe. Maybe this is a clue as to the reason why the homelessness problem isn’t eradicated. As the article says, some 90 percent of panhandlers are from out of state ... indicating that Oklahomans are “well-trained like me,” who would probably be homeless if I weren’t humble enough to move in with mom, using my traumatic brain-injury as sign-flying content. — Jay Hubbard Oklahoma CityOklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to [email protected] or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.
