From You
Feb 11, 2004
Letters
From You
GET FACTS STRAIGHT
Although I think Margaret Cho is absolutely hilarious, I can't let her historical mistake slide. In your article about her last week [Jan. 28], you discuss how she has been merging her comedy with politics in her stand-up shows. Although I want to respect her political opinions as a "woman, an Asian-American, and a gay rights activist," it's very hard to take seriously the opinion of a comedian, especially one who can't get her facts straight. Cho says that "Southern Democrats would save this country. People forget that Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Montgomery, Alabama, the same place where they had the Ten Commandments controversy." Dr. King was actually born in Atlanta, GA, and since we only celebrated "MLK day" just days ago, I feel that this little blunder is at least worth a mention in your magazine. Maybe Ms. Cho should take a visit to the MLK center in Atlanta and learn a little more about certain Southern democrats of the past who certainly weren't champions for people of color. All I'm saying is that she should get her facts straight if she wants to be funny and political.
Suzy Dolan
Athens
ANYBODY BUT
I want to respond to Maurice Cobbs' vitriolic denunciation of the Democrats in last week's Flagpole [Jan. 21]. Rarely have I seen such venom spewed onto an editorial page. It is exactly the kind of partisan divisiveness that has characterized the Far Right take-over of our government more than three years ago. But a rant is not an argument, so allow me to answer heat with light.
Cobbs saves his most virulent hatred for Howard Dean, a man who has helped to reinvigorate the democratic process in this country. He trashes Dean for flip-flopping on positions, yet he offers not one single example. He distorts Dean's remark about wanting to be the candidate for guys with pickup trucks with Confederate flags on the windshield. That remark wasn't a criticism of Southerners. Dean simply meant that working- and middle-class Southerners ought to be voting Democratic because Democrats care more about core issues like jobs, health care and education. Regrettably, too many Americans everywhere fall for Bush's fear-mongering propaganda that distracts them from the real issues. Cobbs calls all Democrats communists. Joe Lieberman, a cultural conservative who supported the war in Iraq, is a Communist. Right. John Kerry, who served his country in Vietnam, is a communist. Sure. Wes Clark, another Vietnam vet, a four-star general, is a Communist. Come on.
Cobbs offers no positive reasons to vote for Bush. It's all attack all the time. Is this the way Republicans intend to get re-elected? By attacking and dividing us? He calls all Democrats liars but again offers no proof. Bush, however, has lied every day he has been in office. Go to The Daily Mislead (latest@daily.misleader.org) for proof. There are many books out there, like Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, that document Bush's lies. Just to give a few examples, Bush lied about the bulk of his tax cuts going to working people; he lied about the WMDs he never found and the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda he also never found. The list goes on. Another one of Cobbs' unsubstantiated claims is that Bush is growing in popularity every day. According to whom? The millions of Americans who have lost their jobs because of Bush? The additional millions of working Americans who have lost health care benefits because of Bush? Don't believe it.
The most misleading statement in Cobbs' letter is that the only thing Democrats have going for them in this election is hatred of Bush. Anybody who goes to the website of any of the Democratic candidates will find many detailed proposals, far too many to go into here, to fix what Bush has broken. To vilify Democrats for being angry is a classic case of blaming the victim. Republicans stole the last election, raided the U.S. treasury and gave almost all of it to rich people and corporations - thus gutting the balanced budget we achieved in the nineties - and ran up an astronomical deficit that we'll be paying off for years. They got us into us into a war we didn't need to fight, a war that has now cost about 180 billion dollars and will end up costing a lot more with no end in sight, a war most importantly that has cost the lives of over 500 Americans with thousands more wounded. They have responded to the good will and support extended to us by the rest of the world after 9/11 by alienating many of most important allies, Mexico and Canada, for example, and they have trashed every environmental regulation and arms agreement they could find. Don't blame us for being angry. Of course we're angry. We have a right to be angry. The question is how we channel that anger. One way is to get Democrats re-elected at every level of government. Go on-line, get involved. Take back the White House. I'm personally supporting Wes Clark because I think he's man of impeccable character and credentials who's the best man to beat Bush, but vote for Anybody But Bush. Let's take our country back from the Angry Right.
Jason Mosser
Athens
JOKE ON GEORGIA
Last month Merck & Co. chose North Carolina over Georgia for the site of a new vaccine manufacturing facility. The pharmaceutical giant cited the more highly skilled workers and better educational system of our neighbor in making their decision. Then earlier this month, the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) released drafts of the proposed science standards for K-12 public school education. These standards are supposed to be "stronger" and the foundation of a "world-class curriculum." Sadly they verge on being a joke. GADOE has gutted biology education by removing the very basis of modern biology, more than likely for religious and political reasons. Instead of enlightening opponents of modern science through education, GADOE will perpetuate ignorance through silence. We do not compromise history education for those who deny the Holocaust, why should we compromise biology education for those who deny evolution?
As the foundation of our state's draft standards, GADOE utilized the Project 2061 benchmarks, which were formulated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Instead of strengthening these national benchmarks to create a truly world-class curriculum, GADOE has weakened them by removing sections concerning the history of life, common descent, human origins, the role we play in the ecosystem, the Big Bang, the age of the Earth, etc. The pattern is clear, and the pseudoscientific sympathies our governor and state school superintendent expressed during their election campaigns now threaten our state's educational and economic future.
GADOE has even eliminated the mere mention of "evolution" in the biology standards and is sorely mistaken to think that entering college freshman are not expected to know what evolution is. The best biology teachers will still prepare their students properly for college, but the lack of proper standards means that, as most teachers choose to teach only the standards, the majority of Georgia's high school students will graduate with a weak science education.
What students know when they get out of high school directly impacts what they know when they get out of college. The more time that is spent in college learning things that should have been learned in high school, the less chance there is to succeed, and the less time there is to prepare for employment after college. Thus, compromising K-12 science education directly compromises the economy of Georgia. At a time when the state is desperately trying to court the biotech industry, these science standards encourage them to look elsewhere. Merck was not the first company to bypass Georgia because our public education avoids modern biology, and surely will not be the last if we fail to adopt a truly world-class curriculum. Complete adoption of the AAAS benchmarks, including the sections that ignorance finds controversial, is the best and easiest way for the state to proceed at this point. With such improved standards, the high-tech companies will come to us, instead of us going to them.
The Georgia Department of Education needs to hear from the people that these proposed standards are not world-class and that the complete adoption of the AAAS benchmarks is needed. The standards and links for public comment can be found at www.glc.k12.ga.us/spotlight/gps2.htm. Further information and links can be found on the website of Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science Education, www.georgiascience.org.
Reed A. Cartwright
Athens
PRIDE SWOLLEN
Last night, I left the 40 Watt with a bad taste in my mouth, and it wasn't from the PBR. I attended the Unicorns show, which started at 10 p.m., with opening acts, Summer Hymns and We Vs. The Shark, both of which were spectacular, and rocked very hard.
The Unicorns took the stage at 12:10, all clad in pink, and looking not a day older than 15. I'd just downloaded several of their songs, and I was ready to sing-along to "Tuff Ghost" or any of their other ghost songs.
So they took the stage, and started rocking out. By the third song, the lead singer was droning tiredly and looking bored. Five songs and 20 minutes later he mumbled something into the mic, shook his head and walked off stage. The other two band members followed him. I assumed this was some kind of simple joke, or tactic to get the crowd going.
That was not the case.
These guys split, abandoning a crowd of 200 fans, who had stayed all night to see them play. The Unicorns taught me an important lesson: don't put it past indie rockers to act like pride-swollen assholes (rock stars).
Frank Reddy
Athens
GAY ACTION
What's going on with the local gay community? What are we going to do to respond to Pres. Bush's attack on the judiciary, and his plan to amend the Constitution to include legalized discrimination? I think we need to make our voices heard. Like Harvey Milk said, "Rights are not won on paper, but by those who make their voices heard." Most people I know are not in support of putting on suits and ties to try and be accepted by the legislature. We want to fight for "equal protection" under the law: the right to bury our dead and decide when our loved ones should be allowed to die with dignity.
Nothing LESS! What I think we need now is political theatre. Let's send a couple to apply for a marriage license and refuse to leave when they are denied. What do we have to lose? At least, we could look back with some dignity and say we fought the "good fight".
Chad Munsey
Email
Although I think Margaret Cho is absolutely hilarious, I can't let her historical mistake slide. In your article about her last week [Jan. 28], you discuss how she has been merging her comedy with politics in her stand-up shows. Although I want to respect her political opinions as a "woman, an Asian-American, and a gay rights activist," it's very hard to take seriously the opinion of a comedian, especially one who can't get her facts straight. Cho says that "Southern Democrats would save this country. People forget that Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Montgomery, Alabama, the same place where they had the Ten Commandments controversy." Dr. King was actually born in Atlanta, GA, and since we only celebrated "MLK day" just days ago, I feel that this little blunder is at least worth a mention in your magazine. Maybe Ms. Cho should take a visit to the MLK center in Atlanta and learn a little more about certain Southern democrats of the past who certainly weren't champions for people of color. All I'm saying is that she should get her facts straight if she wants to be funny and political.
Suzy Dolan
Athens
ANYBODY BUT
I want to respond to Maurice Cobbs' vitriolic denunciation of the Democrats in last week's Flagpole [Jan. 21]. Rarely have I seen such venom spewed onto an editorial page. It is exactly the kind of partisan divisiveness that has characterized the Far Right take-over of our government more than three years ago. But a rant is not an argument, so allow me to answer heat with light.
Cobbs saves his most virulent hatred for Howard Dean, a man who has helped to reinvigorate the democratic process in this country. He trashes Dean for flip-flopping on positions, yet he offers not one single example. He distorts Dean's remark about wanting to be the candidate for guys with pickup trucks with Confederate flags on the windshield. That remark wasn't a criticism of Southerners. Dean simply meant that working- and middle-class Southerners ought to be voting Democratic because Democrats care more about core issues like jobs, health care and education. Regrettably, too many Americans everywhere fall for Bush's fear-mongering propaganda that distracts them from the real issues. Cobbs calls all Democrats communists. Joe Lieberman, a cultural conservative who supported the war in Iraq, is a Communist. Right. John Kerry, who served his country in Vietnam, is a communist. Sure. Wes Clark, another Vietnam vet, a four-star general, is a Communist. Come on.
Cobbs offers no positive reasons to vote for Bush. It's all attack all the time. Is this the way Republicans intend to get re-elected? By attacking and dividing us? He calls all Democrats liars but again offers no proof. Bush, however, has lied every day he has been in office. Go to The Daily Mislead (latest@daily.misleader.org) for proof. There are many books out there, like Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, that document Bush's lies. Just to give a few examples, Bush lied about the bulk of his tax cuts going to working people; he lied about the WMDs he never found and the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda he also never found. The list goes on. Another one of Cobbs' unsubstantiated claims is that Bush is growing in popularity every day. According to whom? The millions of Americans who have lost their jobs because of Bush? The additional millions of working Americans who have lost health care benefits because of Bush? Don't believe it.
The most misleading statement in Cobbs' letter is that the only thing Democrats have going for them in this election is hatred of Bush. Anybody who goes to the website of any of the Democratic candidates will find many detailed proposals, far too many to go into here, to fix what Bush has broken. To vilify Democrats for being angry is a classic case of blaming the victim. Republicans stole the last election, raided the U.S. treasury and gave almost all of it to rich people and corporations - thus gutting the balanced budget we achieved in the nineties - and ran up an astronomical deficit that we'll be paying off for years. They got us into us into a war we didn't need to fight, a war that has now cost about 180 billion dollars and will end up costing a lot more with no end in sight, a war most importantly that has cost the lives of over 500 Americans with thousands more wounded. They have responded to the good will and support extended to us by the rest of the world after 9/11 by alienating many of most important allies, Mexico and Canada, for example, and they have trashed every environmental regulation and arms agreement they could find. Don't blame us for being angry. Of course we're angry. We have a right to be angry. The question is how we channel that anger. One way is to get Democrats re-elected at every level of government. Go on-line, get involved. Take back the White House. I'm personally supporting Wes Clark because I think he's man of impeccable character and credentials who's the best man to beat Bush, but vote for Anybody But Bush. Let's take our country back from the Angry Right.
Jason Mosser
Athens
JOKE ON GEORGIA
Last month Merck & Co. chose North Carolina over Georgia for the site of a new vaccine manufacturing facility. The pharmaceutical giant cited the more highly skilled workers and better educational system of our neighbor in making their decision. Then earlier this month, the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) released drafts of the proposed science standards for K-12 public school education. These standards are supposed to be "stronger" and the foundation of a "world-class curriculum." Sadly they verge on being a joke. GADOE has gutted biology education by removing the very basis of modern biology, more than likely for religious and political reasons. Instead of enlightening opponents of modern science through education, GADOE will perpetuate ignorance through silence. We do not compromise history education for those who deny the Holocaust, why should we compromise biology education for those who deny evolution?
As the foundation of our state's draft standards, GADOE utilized the Project 2061 benchmarks, which were formulated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Instead of strengthening these national benchmarks to create a truly world-class curriculum, GADOE has weakened them by removing sections concerning the history of life, common descent, human origins, the role we play in the ecosystem, the Big Bang, the age of the Earth, etc. The pattern is clear, and the pseudoscientific sympathies our governor and state school superintendent expressed during their election campaigns now threaten our state's educational and economic future.
GADOE has even eliminated the mere mention of "evolution" in the biology standards and is sorely mistaken to think that entering college freshman are not expected to know what evolution is. The best biology teachers will still prepare their students properly for college, but the lack of proper standards means that, as most teachers choose to teach only the standards, the majority of Georgia's high school students will graduate with a weak science education.
What students know when they get out of high school directly impacts what they know when they get out of college. The more time that is spent in college learning things that should have been learned in high school, the less chance there is to succeed, and the less time there is to prepare for employment after college. Thus, compromising K-12 science education directly compromises the economy of Georgia. At a time when the state is desperately trying to court the biotech industry, these science standards encourage them to look elsewhere. Merck was not the first company to bypass Georgia because our public education avoids modern biology, and surely will not be the last if we fail to adopt a truly world-class curriculum. Complete adoption of the AAAS benchmarks, including the sections that ignorance finds controversial, is the best and easiest way for the state to proceed at this point. With such improved standards, the high-tech companies will come to us, instead of us going to them.
The Georgia Department of Education needs to hear from the people that these proposed standards are not world-class and that the complete adoption of the AAAS benchmarks is needed. The standards and links for public comment can be found at www.glc.k12.ga.us/spotlight/gps2.htm. Further information and links can be found on the website of Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science Education, www.georgiascience.org.
Reed A. Cartwright
Athens
PRIDE SWOLLEN
Last night, I left the 40 Watt with a bad taste in my mouth, and it wasn't from the PBR. I attended the Unicorns show, which started at 10 p.m., with opening acts, Summer Hymns and We Vs. The Shark, both of which were spectacular, and rocked very hard.
The Unicorns took the stage at 12:10, all clad in pink, and looking not a day older than 15. I'd just downloaded several of their songs, and I was ready to sing-along to "Tuff Ghost" or any of their other ghost songs.
So they took the stage, and started rocking out. By the third song, the lead singer was droning tiredly and looking bored. Five songs and 20 minutes later he mumbled something into the mic, shook his head and walked off stage. The other two band members followed him. I assumed this was some kind of simple joke, or tactic to get the crowd going.
That was not the case.
These guys split, abandoning a crowd of 200 fans, who had stayed all night to see them play. The Unicorns taught me an important lesson: don't put it past indie rockers to act like pride-swollen assholes (rock stars).
Frank Reddy
Athens
GAY ACTION
What's going on with the local gay community? What are we going to do to respond to Pres. Bush's attack on the judiciary, and his plan to amend the Constitution to include legalized discrimination? I think we need to make our voices heard. Like Harvey Milk said, "Rights are not won on paper, but by those who make their voices heard." Most people I know are not in support of putting on suits and ties to try and be accepted by the legislature. We want to fight for "equal protection" under the law: the right to bury our dead and decide when our loved ones should be allowed to die with dignity.
Nothing LESS! What I think we need now is political theatre. Let's send a couple to apply for a marriage license and refuse to leave when they are denied. What do we have to lose? At least, we could look back with some dignity and say we fought the "good fight".
Chad Munsey
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