Letters to the Editor

Spam I am: Regarding Alan Prendergast's "Mr. Spam Man," in the January 29 issue, and with a tip of the hat to naughty language and apologies to Dr. Seuss:

My ISP is clogged and crammed

With tons of Mr. Richter's spam.
The latest diet pill and porn,
Viagra, babes and mortgage loans.
Would you like them in your box?
Would you like them if they're Scott's?
Not in my box, not if they're Scott's,
I do not like e-mails of spam,
I do not like them, Scott, goddamn!

You do not know how sick I am
Of penis pumps and other scams,
Of pyramids and self-employ,
Of fast-buck schemes and bedroom toys.
Would you like them in your face?
With no return address to trace?
Not in my face, without a trace,
I do not like e-mails of spam,
I do not like them, Scott, goddamn!

Oh, Eliot? Come see to Scott:
Just look at all the names he's got.
If you are finished with The Street,
Put him in jail and press "delete."
We do not like your fucking spam,
We do not like it, Scott, goddamn!

S. Williams
Lakewood

The litter of the law:I was dismayed to see a profile of a known spammer featured on your site. Surely you must be aware of the adage that any publicity is good publicity. By providing free publicity to a known spammer, you have contributed to the ongoing spam problem. Thanks for nothing.

Steve Gerken
via the Internet

Cover up:Your middle-finger cover for "Spam I Am" was very over the top. We have one of your boxes here at our business, and we were forced to remove all of your papers. This is not what we want our customers to look at as they enter our business; a large majority of our customers have children.

Matt Hill
Thornton

Center of the storm:Patricia Calhoun's "Hot and Bothered," in the January 29 issue, was a great article on the Tracy Baker fiasco. What an ass for hanging on in the face of such a shit storm.

Good work by Westword, as usual.

A.J. Vicens
Denver

Lineman for the county:I have been an election judge for many years. I am on the payroll for this one for sure! When the "stuff" came out about Baker, I was to be an election judge. I got my information from Arapahoe County, made a copy, and at an appointment with Baker, I presented it to him and asked him if indeed any of this information was true. That slimelooked me in the eye, was blank, turned and walked away. I turned in my letter of resignation for thatelection and voted for the other person on the ballot.

My question: Why doesn't that whole department walk out? Where are their morals and their "duty to the people"? I have no respect for people who won't do something about a situation like this -- and it costs and costs and costs!!!

Thank you.

Lorraine Lunnon
Sheridan

Bombs away!I have to congratulate Westword readers for what must be a record use of the word "fuck" in last week's Letters section in regard to Patricia Calhoun's excellent "F-Bombed," in the January 22 issue. Now let me add my own: What the fuck is the matter with the Colorado Legislature? Why can't those guys keep their noses out of our private lives? Why do they want to legislate what we read and what we see? Just as profanity is in the eye of the beholder, so is art.

Terry Frankel
Denver

It's curtains for creativity:Regarding Juliet Wittman's "A Cursed Life," in the January 29 issue:

Would Ms. Wittman's journalism prof or her mother be proud of her for reviewing a play with such a disgusting title? Shame on her and on Westword for giving the LIDA Project's feeble effort of a production any publicity. She can do better as a writer!

Jean G. Tuthill
Denver

Editor's note: Juliet Wittman reviewedFucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. And for the record, Wittman -- an award-winning writer herself -- is both a mother and a writing instructor at the University of Colorado. As for HB1078, it's moved on to the Colorado Senate -- after an amendment removed the provision that would have banned the "display" of materials potentially harmful to minors in bookstores. But the provision that bans theaters from presenting such works -- and threatens producers with jail time -- remains.

Magnetic personalities:I always read the Letters section of Westword but have never written until now -- which may seem strange, because I'm writing in response to a cartoon!

In the January 15 issue, The City comic, about burying the uncounted votes, had me laughing out loud. I promptly cut it out and hung it on my refrigerator. In the next issue, I read the letter from a gentleman who was very upset and obviously offended by this simple, four-frame comic strip. All I can say to that is: Lighten up! Getting that defensive over a cartoon is pretty frivolous, especially since political cartoons of this nature appear in Westwordall the time (for example, the Halloween version of This Modern World referring to touch-screen voting machines as a threat to democracy -- also on my refrigerator).