CORRECTION In the April 9 story, "Junkyard Dogs Not," Robin Fay's name was misspelled. We apologize for the error.

SIMPLY OUTRAGEOUS

The paid advertisement by B & B Enterprises (page 17, April 9th issue) objecting to the proposed enforcement of rental laws was offensive and extremely distasteful. While I don't agree with the ordinance and although I do find it to be in violation of our democratic rights, equating it to the actions of Nazis during the Holocaust is simply outrageous. Forcing renters to register with the County is hardly as serious as forcing Jews to wear yellow stars identifying themselves. By equating the Holocaust with the ridiculous little actions of our local government, we undermine the severity of what happened. At the end of this month, we observe Holocaust Remembrance Day. If we were to think of the Holocaust as akin to our rental ordinance (or vice-versa), we would be seriously disillusioned. Your advertising people should be more selective in accepting advertisements.

Rachel Poretsky
Athens

RIDICULOUS COMPARISON

The April 9 Flagpole had an ad against the proposed Rental Permit legislation in ACC. I have no intention of commenting on the merits or problems of this legislation. My letter is directed at this ad which I find offensive.

The ad depicts a cloth Star of David, similar to the one that Jewish people were forced to wear by the Nazis. There is a red "R" on it. The caption reads, "If you are a renter, Athens-Clarke County wants you to register and wear the scarlet 'R'."

The use of a cloth Star of David makes an implicit analogy to the plight of the Jewish people in the 1940s. Yet, there is no valid comparison here. It is a far stretch that goes beyond poetic license. Of course, renters do not have to wear a cloth star. They do not have to worry about being taken away in boxcars. And, renters do not have to fear being huddled into gas chambers. This is a ridiculous comparison.

Moreover, it is an analogy that I find offensive. This comparison trivializes and devalues the suffering and death of millions of people. It is insensitive and wrong to use the Holocaust as a gimmick to sway public opinion. Even if the ad was trying to make a point by comparing the red 'R' to the red 'A' there was no reason to include the star.

Bob Klein
Athens

BLATANTLY INCONGRUOUS

The many arguments and concerns over the proposed rental registration ordinance have been well established already in many articles and letters. Few people seem to be convinced of the Commissioners' arguments in its favor. This is encouraging, as the plan does appear to be poorly thought out and offered in bad faith to the community of voters. But I have a different concern.

On page 17 of your latest issue, B & B Enterprises and its president, Barbara Fogg, paid for an add comparing the proposed ordinance to the Nazi's war crimes against the Jews, equating rental registration with the sorting of the population for purposes of systematic exclusion from all legal protection and for genocide. This is foolishness. B & B Enterprises and Barbara Fogg are out of line, and their ad will most likely hurt their cause. Who but a child can take seriously a statement so blatantly incongruous with the reality of the situation we are in, and so belittling to those with serial numbers tattooed on their forearms that can remember seeing their families float out of smokestacks?

Please, in the name of decency, let us retain some perspective in this matter.

Ian Altman
Winterville

TRUE IGNORAMUS

Ted Rall's article "Ignoramuses Abroad" [April 9] was quite a comical read on April 10, day 22 of the war. Watching images of Iraqis, both in Iraq and around the USA, celebrate the liberation of Baghdad (which Rall predicted as poorly planned and messy) Rall's article fell apart like Saddam's old regime.

One is left to conclude after viewing footage of the celebrating Iraqis and reading Rall's opinion piece, that Rall is the true Ignoramus.

Jason
Bellingham, WA

DANGEROUS, UNINTELLIGENT

My fellow Americans, regardless of where we stood before Iraq, the hawks and the doves are all flying in the same sky. Now it's time to find a place to land and we are divided again.

One method of handling post-war Iraq involves not only a unilateral plan in the global sense, but one that does not even span the knowledge and utility of all of our government. This is the method that Rumsfeld and the Pentagon want to employ. They want to punish the "unwilling" by not allowing them a seat at the Iraqi table. I ask my fellow Americans and my president, why did we go to war in the first place? We did not go because we wanted to liberate the Iraqi people. This was not part of Bush's platform and was not in his speech until months after 9/11. We went because we felt threatened by possible WMDs. The liberation of the Iraqi people is just a wonderful by-product of war and a useful component of the administrations public relations. If we truly went into Iraq to rid the region of WMDs and to liberate the Iraqi people, then to go about reconstructing Iraq in any other fashion than multilateralism is to defy the true reason we went about all of this. We are accused of going to war for our own economic interests. I assure you if we declare to the world that we will rebuild Iraq solely on our terms the anti-American sentiment will shoot further through the ceiling than it already has.

How our administration goes about this reconstruction will be a true test of our intentions. We have not been very successful in our relations with the middle east for the last fifty or so years. Maybe it's time we stopped propping up corrupt, heinous, tyrannous regimes and started supporting real democracies.

And one more thing; to all of you out there who are boycotting French, German and Russian products, have you ever thought that the wine maker you just put out of a job might have been for the "liberation of the Iraqi people"? This is what happens when we lump the world into "us and them." It's dangerous and unintelligent and it needs to stop.

Jordan Jeffares
Athens

SOMETHING POSITIVE

Ms. Hoard, you have worked yourself into a righteous lather [Letters, Mar. 12]. Now let's rinse.

First of all, you were misquoted, which is extremely annoying. However, after comparing with the original, the paraphrasing is hardly radical. You are dismayed that many people are bent out of shape by your country club affiliation. It's not hard to understand. Country club members are wealthy; wealthy people from any political party have a strong tendency to use influence for their own interest and that of their friends.

Contrary to your argument, your vote cannot be viewed separately from your associations when it comes to certain vital issues. Barnett Shoals was a no-brainer, as any public servant worthy of the title would recognize. Wealthy people will gain the most from your vote. Poor people who rely on their own feet for transportation to work will suffer most. Let's sing it again: the Barnett Shoals plan was denied funding by GDOT because it was too dangerous; it will force pedestrians to play a game of "Frogger" just to buy their prescription meds; it will likely increase the general nastiness of Athens' air. What part of that sounded good to you when you cast your vote?

You say that critics should do something positive with their time. Thanks for the suggestion. Let's hope you start doing something positive with your time on the commission.

A.J.
District 7

GET YR MEAT OUT

Thank you for mentioning the Great American Meatout on March 20, and how apropos to link it to current pleas for peace [City Dope, Mar. 19]! The best way to work toward world peace is to start at home. Peace begins on our plates with a non-violent diet. Thomas Edison said, "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages." And the Nobel Peace Prize winning humanitarian Albert Schweitzer said, "Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Lucky for us, Athens makes vegetarianism easy. So don't wait until the next Meatout to start eating a more peaceful, plant-based diet. Start today!

Carrie Packwood Freeman
Athens

RESIDENT EVIL '03

Watching the war on CNN is like playing a video game from hell. First person shooter, animated weapon displays with kill stats, deserted buildings mushrooming into fiery clouds, Citizen Kane-style intercutting of video clips, perfectly coifed newscasters delivering war's psychotic abstractions, screens within screens, pixelated tanks jerking through the low-polygon desert landscape - all part of the adventure game, which ends when the player (user?) confronts the ur-beast in his final lair.

Politics is story-telling. Whether the media are consciously complicit or not, the television version of this war is telling (and selling) a story that supports the Bush junta.

Until we can get a new national narrator, we should all remember that the bigger game is interactive, and that there are still multiple endings possible.

David Noah
Athens