Put Up Your Dukes
Scott Yates's article about Charles Duke ("Final Analysis," May 8) really is nothing more than a cheap shot. Are you ever going to do the same to loony left-wing legislators? No, I think not. Why is that? The only reason I can think of is Westword thinks there are no leftists in the state government--or if there are, you are busy being cheerleaders for them.
Lyle K. Marti
via the Internet
Culture Vultures
Regarding Patricia Calhoun's "Culture: It's a Good Thing," in the April 24 issue:
Calhoun, you are a genius. Keep up the great work, and always maintain a healthy sense of humor!
Carol Jambura
via the Internet
Editor's note: Governor Roy Romer exercised his own sense of humor by taking the pop-culture quiz, scoring an almost-genius eleven out of thirteen--he missed Martha Stewart's date (her daughter's ex-boyfriend, not her gardener) and what Tommy Hilfiger designs (sportswear, not bomber jackets). The governor also skipped the two essay questions and the extra-credit question, "Notorious B.I.G.: fat or phat?" The correct answer, of course, is both. The rest of the right: 1-b; 2-b; 3-c; 4-b; 5-b; 6-b; 7-d; 8-d; 9-f; 10-c; 11-c; 12-d; and 13-b.
The Hate State
I am writing to let you know I highly despise and loathe all of you for the kind of anti-Christian hate rag you publish. I have been reading your propagandistic journal for the past two years and know how you love to heap scorn and ridicule upon anyone who is not in harmony with your self-righteous standards of political correctness.
I want all of you to know that I have informed some of the persons you have targeted regarding what you have written about them for the past two years. When Patricia Calhoun wrote her piece against Coach David VanderMolen ("Coach Turns Into Pumpkinhead," April 2, 1995), I sent him a copy. Coach VanderMolen and I became fast friends, and I am presently a member of his church, Messiah Lutheran in Longmont. To go on, when you ran Ward Harkavy's piece of trash about Lieutenant Colonel Arch Roberts of Fort Collins ("Still Crazy After All These Years," July 4, 1996), I mailed him a copy. When Steve Jackson wrote that sob story about poor, misunderstood Warren Hern and viciously attacked Ken Scott ("The Fight of Their Lives," February 13), I mailed Ken Scott a copy. (I actually met Ken Scott in Boulder and found him to be a nice guy.) And I have just sent off your latest hate article, Ward Harkavy's May 1 "God's Own Party," about the religious right, to George Morrison at Faith Bible Chapel, requesting that he show it to Barry Arrington and Pat Miller.
Such journalistic backbiting and slander are the actions of despicable, yellow-bellied cowards. Traitors, beware! You have grabbed an angry tiger by the tail. I have no violent intentions against any of you. But I want all of you to know that I will be watching you carefully. Every time you write any hate propaganda against Christians and conservatives in this area or elsewhere, I will send copies to the persons you have targeted for character assassination.
John Bales
Boulder
In "God's Own Party," Ward Harkavy called on former state senator Al Meiklejohn to explain the difference between the two factions competing for dominance in the Republican Party. Meiklejohn said that "moderate Republicans are by definition moderate." Well, yes. The other wing, he said, consists of "religious activists who want to impose their views on us by governmental force...They're held together by some very emotional issues: abortion and state aid to private schools."
But it is liberals who have done what Meiklejohn condemns. They have used government force "to impose their views on us" through laws that restrict our freedoms, instruct our behavior and take our money. Their mystical tenets (and they are mystical when examined for metaphysical origins) have no more claim on non-liberals than the mystical tenets of religion have on non-believers. Meiklejohn's disdain for emotion is a way of ducking debate over principle--which, even when it springs from pure reason, needs a push from emotion to make its way into law. Liberals have known this for decades. They have used emotion to puff up their socialist agenda into the Great Oz of political correctness.
It's true that the religious right includes some who are wackos, but they are not in power. The wackos who have institutionalized their views are left-wing extremists supported by most of academia, journalism and the arts. In the tug-of-war on politics, the good guys are the ones doing the least harm to the Constitution. Right now that includes religious activists who advocate values that are also held by lukewarm believers and agnostics. There is a long way to go before the religious can compete, dangerwise, with the compassion fascists.
Norman Ely
Byers
Well, now, "God's Own Country" was a scary one. Why? Because my daughter is involved with Faith Bible Chapel. I think there is a big reason Americans requested early in our history the separation of religion and government. The story of FBC is so similar to that of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Jones and many others of our historical era--and even in our own area. The scary thing is that I've had suspicions something was fishy about FBC. Little did I know that I wasn't the only one.
