While Nafta and the WTO are important, the most significant issue that is rarely talked about is the issue of nuclear weapons, and what this bodes for all of us.
Representative Dennis Kucinich is on record with his position that he will take the steps necessary to end the threat that we face from the use of nuclear weapons, once and for all ["I am a candidate of the mainstream," Government News, December 4, 2007].
The day that Representative Kucinich is installed in office, the Hitlerian-like PATRIOT Act, will go straight out of the window and into the historical garbage pile where it belongs. The Bill of Rights will again be the currency of the people of this nation.
 Dennis Kucinich |
Day one of a Kucinich administration will see the closing of Guantanamo, and an end to torture.
Americans will once again be able to walk with their heads upright, and not in shame from the continuous criminal acts of depravity, perpetrated by this current administration.
A vote for Kucinich is a vote for yourself.
Pat Sullivan
Des Moines, Iowa
Grass needs roots
After hearing Kucinich speak last night in Charlottesville, I feel like a new woman ["I am a candidate of the mainstream," Government News, December 4, 2007]. I’m definitely ready to be politically active again. Watch Kucinich on YouTube if you get a chance. It’s amazing to see how centered he is in the midst of cynicism or criticism. I believe in him, I believe that he can change this country, heal through understanding and compassionate intelligent policy and diplomacy our wounded divide over issues like abortion and Red and Blue, make every aspect of our government more ecologically conscious and sustainable, speak on a deep soul level with leaders of any country who would be willing to talk with them and CHANGE THE FATE OF NATIONS. This isn’t empty rhetoric for him. And the question of his "electability" is immaterial. He is a vital part of this campaign and of the conversation that needs to be held throughout this nation.
He’s laying the groundwork for a new, true progressive party—the party that Americans long for but are too cynical or afraid to believe is possible, to work to make happen. I think he instigates a change in people, though, by being with them and talking to them and living a completely different reality, living the truth. I’ve never felt so much faith in another human being. And then, as a statesmen, he is such a dream. We as a community need to lend our support to this man.
We need 3,500 more signatures to get his name on the ballot in Virginia (we are evidently one of the hardest states) by next Friday. Get out and sign!
Alexis Waller
Charlottesville
No Bluffing
I love the ABODE insert, great idea. Can you feature people who don’t make $100K a year and don’t live in 500K houses ["And the winners are…," Green Scene, December 2007]? While I appreciate and love RiverBluff, and know many people involved in that project, I would like to have people like me given credit for living on $40K a year and building and living in a green house that is in concert with the environment. Too much emphasis in this town with the wealthy who usually don’t give anything or very little to other people, especially the needy. How about articles on poor people who are protecting the environment and decorating houses and apartments with little to no cash? How about featuring the lower middle class who live frugally and are respectful of the environment?
Joe McCloskey
Barboursville
The invisible women
I write to criticize your coverage of Fifeville’s historic designation controversy. "Council did amend its approval, decoupling the NRHD designation with any action that could lead to design control, a separation that existed to begin with. Two residents still spoke out against approval" ["Will a ‘historic’ Fifeville be history," Development News, December 11, 2007].
But the December 3 Council agenda states, "The BAR has recommended an alternative type of local design control district called a Conservation District, which will be scheduled for possible adoption by City Council in the spring" (http://charlottesville.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?document id=8595).
If the next step is in the schedule, how can you say a separation exists? Councilor Kendra Hamilton asked Mary Joy Scala if, indeed, the nomination is the first of a two-step process. Indeed it was, and still is. They plan to wait a while and later propose design control.
Why did those two residents speak against it despite the decoupling? They had already signed up to speak. Council had only discussed the decoupling. They had not yet voted on it.
Of more serious concern is who the reporter decided to name in the article and record in the archives of C-VILLE Weekly: Mary Joy Scala. The two residents who spoke out and won this political contest? They don’t have names or arguments. It’s as if Scala had written the article as part of her resumé, explaining again how dumb Fifeville residents are (this issue came before Council February 5).
Anne Carter and Antoinette Rhodes were the two who spoke against increased city regulation of the neighborhood. But to the C-VILLE reporter, they were invisible. He has learned nothing from his cover story of two weeks ago ["The echo of Vinegar Hill," November 27, 2007].
Blair Hawkins
Charlottesville