On one hand, we have our avuncular drug czar, John Walters, chiding us for sending the wrong message to kids. On the other, we have ten times as many drug felons entering prison as we did in 1980, hundreds of thousands of families destroyed by antidrug laws, and small Colombian farms being "fumigated" to sustain $2,500-an-ounce drugs on the streets of the U.S.
The subject of the article -- that of allowing patients to have cannabis to ease their symptoms -- is the tip of the iceberg. To see the rest of it, I suggest www.csdp.org.
John Chase
Palm Harbor
Someone supports the music editor: I don't dispute Jeff Stratton's November 21 Bandwidth column on MARS Music. I support what he says. MARS Music stores were the manifestation of Mark Begelman's Office Depot mentality.
Office Depot survives because it has basic equipment and supplies that everyone can use at work or home. The people who ran MARS failed to consider that not everyone is a musician. I might buy an office chair for my bedroom, but if I am never going to be a musician, do I need a guitar or guitar strings? The mom-and-pop music stores survive because they are smart enough not to try to outgrow a limited market. If they don't have it, the small stores will order it.
In the end, the question is whether Begelman is a big enough man to admit it was an experiment that did not, and cannot, work. Walking into MARS was a beautiful experience; the array of new and vintage instruments was amazing. Its failure is a sad reality.
As a resident of South Florida, the MARS store I visited was on Powerline Road in Fort Lauderdale. That stretch of Powerline is a rundown, blue-collar industrial area. My assumption was that the MARS business plan was to rent or buy large warehouse buildings in scuzzy areas at low commercial real-estate rates.
In the end, the customer will find alternative outlets for merchandise. For vintage instruments, there's always eBay. And as far as new equipment, let me paraphrase the Kellogg's Corn Flakes commercial: Try Guitar Center again, for the first time.
Marc Smilen
Dania Beach
Give peace a chance: New Times and Bob Norman are to be commended for recent reporting of the antiwar movement in South Florida and the protest in Washington, D.C., on October 26 ("The Antiwarriors," November 14). Not surprisingly, the vast majority of the corporate media has chosen to ignore or downplay this growing movement. Perhaps it conflicts too much with the State Department propaganda being passed off as news reporting nowadays.
Although Norman's perspectives on the local group that I'm active with, the Broward Anti-War Coalition (BAWC), was for the most part balanced and fair, there is one point I'd like to respond to and a couple of others that should be clarified. Mr. Norman states that while he opposes the impending war against Iraq, he supported the attack on Afghanistan, which he mischaracterizes as "The bombing of al Qaeda and its Taliban protectors." Although it hasn't been reported in this country, reliable news sources in Europe and elsewhere have stated that from 3,000 to 5,000 Afghani civilians died as a result of the U.S. bombing -- more than were killed on 9/11.
Afghanistan today is still in ruins and split among various "Taliban Lite" warlords. The U.S.- installed government controls a few square miles in Kabul and not much more. Sadly, the lawlessness now rampant throughout the countryside has made many support the return of a Taliban government. Plans for the war against Afghanistan were in the works well before 9/11 and have more to do with an oil pipeline through that nation than ensuring the safety of American citizens. As BAWC stated last October, the so-called "war on terrorism" and U.S. policy in the Middle East will not bring us additional security, but will lessen it.
It's unfortunate Mr. Norman happened to attend an attempt at a meeting that was poorly planned. Of course, it was our bad luck that the only time this has happened coincided with the only time a representative of the media showed up!
This was in no way typical. I can assure New Times readers that the BAWC, while small, has members active in the community who are doing our best to connect issues of the impending war against Iraq with attacks on our civil liberties in this country.
The article also contained an incorrect e-mail address for us. The correct address to contact BAWC is [email protected]. Readers can visit our website at www.antiwarbroward.org to find out about upcoming events. We appreciate the coverage provided by New Times and only wish the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald showed the same interest in the local antiwar movement.
Paul Lefrak
Broward Anti-War Coalition
Fort Lauderdale
Or are they deaf? I enjoyed Bob Norman's November 14 story regarding the October 26 protest. Thanks for the coverage of this movement, which is virtually ignored by the mainstream media.
Kris Kemp
West Palm Beach
Or maybe they want a revolution? I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Norman's article about the October 26 protest in Washington, D.C. I am just a little puzzled as to why you called the peace activists "antiwarriors." I drove up to D.C. from Titusville in Brevard County to march for PEACE. The Mapquest directions were simple: Get on I-95 and drive 849 miles.
I stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the Vietnam Memorial. While walking to the march, I encountered a family from Iraq. They took a picture of my protest sign. The young daughter told me her cousins and uncle had been killed by Saddam Hussein. The family was very fearful about what may happen.
Along the march route, there was a National Park Service barrier. Mounted officers would not allow the peace marchers to pass. The horses answered a call to nature, and the crowd started chanting, "We smell Bu$h." I later learned that we were being prevented from going near a pro-war rally.
There were so many creative antiwar signs. One couple had a doll with a Bu$h mask. The doll was holding a baby bottle labeled OIL. I saw several WWII veterans with signs opposing the war. The street theatrics and huge puppets were fabulous. I felt energized by the huge crowd. One man was dipping an American flag into a bucket of water. His sign read: "I'm not burning the flag. I am cleaning it."
I was most impressed with the following statement by a man from a group called ANSWER: "We have taken over Washington, D.C. We can do it again if we have to." We were there to stop the war. I hope peace will prevail and we will not need to return.
Mari Anderson
Titusville
They are extinct, right? In his November 14 review ("Wonder Boy") of the new Harry Potter movie, your critic, Gregory Weinkauf, makes the following insulting statement: "We've accidentally allowed a retarded monkey to rule America..." Such a statement is uncalled for and should have the entire simian world rise up to take umbrage.
Alan Becker
Davie
