Who Needs Newsprint?

I want to tell you how much I appreciate your commentaries and information on the KEXP Saturday morning programs. I don't find such excellent analysis in my many other sources elsewhere. I also appreciate that the station archives their programs, which allows me to listen at my own convenience. I also appreciate when you put up in depth articles on your web site. What I really want to suggest to you is that the radio program and your web site are invaluable sources for people like me: I rarely see your newspaper and it doesn't make any difference: I am getting the essence of your wisdom and in depth assessment through these two other sources. And, to really continue to do a good job in those two areas, you don't need much outside funding, which I gather has been rather sparse and may even get worse as the economy tightens. So, think about it. But keep up your good work: your commentaries are such a gift to our community.

With much love,

--Tom Toomey, via e-mail

More Fan Mail

ETS!,

Thanks for your 8/31/05 issue of ETS!. The comprehensiveness and excellence of your several articles on the Middle East outdistanced anything I read in any other Seattle publication, and compares favorably with national publications. I'm looking forward to future issues.

--Scott Seymour, North Bend WA

Acts of Allah

Insecurance companies sometimes refer to major weather disasters like Hurricane Katrina as "acts of God," and maybe this is an appropriate occasion to contemplate it as such.

One of the first theological questions to be contemplated might be "Whose God?" Maybe there's more Gods out there answering prayers than just the Fundamentalist Christian God that gets so much publicity in this country, so millions of people praying to Allah have had their prayers answered by having innocent civilians in the country that's been invading them experience what it's like to have infrastructure destroyed and be without electricity and clean drinking water. Amid widespread destruction of property.

Or if the only God that matters is a Fundamentalist Christian, maybe He's somewhat pissed off at the Americans who approve of massive military spending for an unjustifiable war, and wanted to send messages about priorities for tax breaks for the rich and oilbiz.

True, it seems unworthy of a Deity to mess around with the tax policies of a regime that He allegedly supports, but sending Katrina could be interpreted as a sign of divine disapproval. Besides, sending a major storm to mess with politics wouldn't be out of line for a God whose prayers are received concerning football.

Nobody should be particularly happy about Katrina and the associated property damage and suffering, but it's an act of God. In contrast, there should be a lot more concern for the destruction and suffering by innocent civilians in Iraq, where the cause is the Bush Regime, not God.

Tony Formo

G. P. comments: Tony, I know you're being somewhat facetious, but the Bushies would like nothing more than to have us believe that the death and suffering was all a random Act of God, over which us puny humans could have no control. But the breaches of the levees were entirely preventable, and timely human intervention could have saved a lot of lives. The architect of all that damage has a street address -- two, actually, if you count the vacation ranch in Crawford.

Why Pay Taxes?

My question is, do felons pay taxes if they do not have the right to vote? I had my voting rights taken away almost 20 years ago, so why do I pay taxes? It seems no one is able to answer this question.

--Judi Stickel, via e-mail

G. P. responds: Why do any of us pay taxes, given that representative democracy no longer represents any but the very wealthiest among us? Coercion, basically.