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ATTHEARCH.1
I'm sure many people had a chuckle (no
pun intended) at Chuck Jones' tirade in last
week's Flagpole ("Protest Protest," Letters, Oct
3] concerning the young man wearing an old
Army-issue jacket while protesting the war at the
International Day of Peace vigil a few Fridays ago.
I like to hang out with Chuck, and over the
years have become somewhat of a friend despite
our differences of opinion regarding the ongo
ing war. I was hanging with him when he went
to take.a picture (for evidence) of the offending
youth, and was with him when the police (that
he called) came to answer the complaint.
So here is my memory of the events that went
down:
1. The young man wearing the jacket was a
young woman. (Get your glasses checked. Chuck.
You went up to her and got in her face to take
the picture.)
2. The officer explained (over and over again)
that it was not in any way illegal to wear such
a jacket in public even if the wearer was not,
or had never been, a member of the U.S. Armed
Forces.
3. I noticed that the young lady had taken off
the jacket, so I went across the street to explain
to her that the policeman (an Iraq vet) had said
that she was totally in her rights to wear the
jacket if she wished. She very politely and qui
etly explained to me that she had removed the
jacket after conferring with some of the Women
in Black (the "old biddies," as Chuck calls them)
who suggested that there were some who might
find her wearing the jacket offensive, but that
it was of course up to her as to how she should
deal with that information.
The young lady, on her own accord, chose the
peaceful option, which seemed appropriate on a
day dedicated to love, peace and understanding.
We could sure use some more warm hearts, like
that young lady with the jacket, standing with us
on Tuesday afternoons (5-6 p.m.), as we try our
best to peacefully remember those many many *
lives that have been lost and continue to be lost
because of our seeming inability to simply love
each other.
Charles Gard'ner
Athens
BI0-A6R0 DEFENSE
NO way. There isn't enough water—period!
It's wrong. Not to mention siting it next to our
river, repealing a law, polluting the environment,
making this town a potential dead-zone, etc.
NO. This is not defense, this is insanity. After
the BILLIONS of dollars spent to "protect" and
"defend" us by starting a never-ending war, we
CONTACT US AT P.0. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, LETTERS@FLAGPOLE.COM
OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US” LINK AT FLAGP0LE.COM
are not safer. I live here, I don't want to be pro
tected in that way. Put it next to a nuclear bomb
plant—it's the real estate principle of confor
mity. It's ludicrous. Stupid. Let's have a war on
stupidity. Let's have a war on greed. Let's have a
war on insanity. Let's have a war on war. If that
became this country's mission, then I bet there
would be a very different facility being funded.
Don't do this, don't sell our wonderful Athens
out for some crazy, outmoded way of seeing the
world. Let's save water, peace, ecology, otters—
anything but more of this one-upmanship in the
name of defense. NO.
Alice Tipton LaFleur
Oglethorpe County
CAPITALISM & POWER
M.C. ("Re: Oil & Power," Letters, Sept. 19] has
written, "The only thing we need is capitalism...
Prices go up, people scale back. Simple."
The fault in this grossly oversimplified analy
sis is that the "people" to which M.C. has so
casually referred will not react (and have not in
the past) in such a way. When prices go up, only
those who can afford to pay them will be able to
pay them. Unfortunately, this leaves the great
majority in a very difficult position (as it has
done throughout the history of capitalism). We
in the United States have always felt that there
must be something
there to counteract
the material control
of the powerful. This
is the reason for that
great ideal for which
our fearless leader
claims he is using so
much public money
and life to chop up the
Middle East: democ
racy. (Note: Even self-
proclaimed Libertarian A. Greenspan has recently
written that Iraq was invaded for the purpose of
oiL) See, if the majority of the "people" do not
approve of the way in which the powerful of this
nation are dealing with energy, democracy gives
us a means by which to change such a policy.
That is why we have government and politicians
and democracy. Sure, I know it's not quite as
"simple" as that, but at least I know it.
Now, if we could just put a stop to the com
modification of democracy...
Rob Veal
Athens
DVD CORRECTION
While I think it's nice to have Robin Geddie
writing about DVD titles that might otherwise
get less notice, I want to correct a small but
significant mistake in her review of LOL. [Lost
Picture Show, Sept. 26] It's well and good for
her to trash this awful-sounding movie (which
I have to admit I've never heard of at all!), but
it's unfortunate that she credited its director,
Joe Swanberg, with the fine Mutual Appreciation.
That mistake does a disservice to the film's
actual director, Andrew Bujalski, whose two fea
tures to date (the other being Funny Ha Ha) have
established him as one of the more gifted film
makers on the independent scene today.
Dave Marr
Athens
ON PROTESTS:
I was headed home after work, driving down
Broad Street, when I noticed a small group of
protesters in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurant. As I got closer, I saw they were
holding signs representing PETA, and the signs
shared information about the process of victim
ization that chickens go through when they are
at the hands of a KFC chicken processing plant.
"STEAMED ALIVE!!!" they read in big. bold let
ters. "BOYCOTT KFC!!!" They were serious!
So, it was a group of about four people. Well,
three people and a human-sized chicken. One
of the protesters was wearing a yellow chicken
costume. He/ she ap
peared to be smiling
and waving at cars
as they drove by, like
teenagers and soror
ity girls do when they
want to wash your
car or sell you peanut
butter cups or cases of
apples.
The chicken wasn't
selling anything. The
chicken was part of the message of PETA, which
calls for ethical treatment of animals despite the
fact that they slaughter a good number of them
each year after "rescuing" them.
Honestly, the protest worked. It made me be
gin to think of what those chickens go through.
I mean, these chickens are herded together on
factory farms. They have their throats slit. They
bleed to death and are then ripped apart, then
cleaned. The parts that aren't kept whole (wings,
legs, breasts) are ground up and turned into
little nuggets, and they... it's horrible... the
humanity... all the... oh... really. My brain was
locked into thoughts of a squawking, clucking
Auschwitz where chickens are lined up by the bil
lions each year. Whoa.
After I thought about the chicken Holocaust
for a couple of minutes, I thought about the
yummy noodles I had for lunch. I thought about
how hungry I was. And then, thanks to the per
son in the chicken costume who pointed out a
Kentucky Fried Chicken to me, I turned my car
into the paring lot and purchased some finger
licking goodness in the form of a Variety Bucket.
It cost me S6.94. And in full disclosure, I
never considered the human cost. Or the feelings
4)f poultry.
Yet another pretty decent message wrapped
up in silliness. UGA wants free child care—and
by God, they WILL bring a clown that plays the
saxophone to the rally! A group of people want
out of Iraq—and Hell's bells they WILL bring
a fake soldier! And what good did it do? Kids
R' Kids and Iraq are still BOTH full of America's
children.
I'm not saying you shouldn't "speak out" or
whatever. But think about what you're changing,
and particularly what your aren't.
Because, really: dudes like me just want to
eat something. And a chicken on two legs in
front of a chicken restaurant is just... goofy.
Kris Langley
*• Athens
FOOTBALL MOJO
I don't know whether this is a long letter to
the editor connected to previous Bulldog tales,
or whether it's just a bizarre story. I'll let you de
cide... a good heading might be "My Wife Saves
the Dawgs..."
It all started before the South Carolina game,
six long years ago. For the first time in my long
career as a Dawg fan, I bought a gameday t-shirt
and wore it as Georgia played pitifully in an em
barrassing loss. I vowed never again to purchase
such cursed apparel and burned it on my grill as
I barbecued that night.
The last Saturday in September, however,
I succumbed to the temptation again as my
wife and I strode toward the stadium. I popped
into the Baxter Street Bookstore, ripped off my
button-down North Face shirt (it wicks!) in the
middle of the crowded sidewalk, and donned the
red and black. Jill stuffed my former garb in her
purse, and 15 minutes later we were seated by
the hedges.
Well, you might not have gathered from
the newspapers that the first quarter of that
game was a dire time in Dawgieland. Mississippi
scored a quick touchdown and stifled our offense
completely. We looked listless, ripe for a gut-
wrenching upset. As the quarter wound down,
Mississippi drove at will the length of the field
against our hapless defense, pausing momen
tarily on the six-inch line when one of their wide
receivers went out of bounds, just short of a sec
ond touchdown that threatened to put the game
out of reach. As the unstoppable Rebel offense
huddled, Jill turned to me urgently and yelled.
BUMPERSTICKER OF THE WEEK:
Boycott Jane Fonda:
. American Traitor Bitch
Thanks, Ian. Send sightings to ben®flagpoJe.com
or call 706-549-9523.
wu-hoo
wuoa
35
V
V
Friday, October 12 - Sunday. October^4
12 Open House, 5 pm Memorial Hall
13 screen.,«, o» WUOG documentary 12 pm. Memorial Hal.
Birthday Bash -to watt. 9pm. free
hope for agoldensummer
bob hay & TH1 jolly beggars.
and SQUALLZ
14 WUOC. archives showcase at.UG7> Main m ’
mentary by local musclans and a<ch,v,sf.
4 FLAGP0LE.C0M • OCTOBER 10,2007
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