"Taking It to the Streets," Jared Jacang Maher, October 25
I enjoy good political protests as much as the next lefty. But "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
That famous statement was made by a dead white male, so I guess he doesn't count. While the people who run Recreate '68 think of a wonderful, synergistic coalition of protesters who brought peace, love and good weed to Chicago, most of the rest of us think of violence and police riots. We remember "The police aren't here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." Now, John Hickenlooper is no Richard Daley, and police chief Gerry Whitman is no Chicago 1960s police chief, but when Recreate '68 folks say they want to make Chicago 1968 look like a family picnic (wink, wink) and refuse to emphatically commit to non-violence, I can see why Denver officials' anxiety levels go up.
Let's see...a Democratic president dramatically escalated the Vietnam War, so the 1968 protests were at the Democratic convention. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan happened under a Republican president, so the 2008 protests will be...at the Democratic convention! There's logic there somewhere. The people who want to re-create the Summer of '68 seem to have forgotten what happened in November of '68: A hard-line, law-and-order Republican got elected.
Peter Gross
Denver
Your article on Recreate '68 filled me with puzzlement and some ironies, even laughs. Was it true that Pavlos the Anarchist has millionaire folk in Greece, that he canned a fellow activist while demanding and getting a "statement of confidentiality" in doing so? And the canned activist referred to his treatment at his comrade's hand as being "so far into a colonized world that we can't break out of it"? And that Woodbine was started by Glenn Morris and Pavlos to be a "non-colonialist model"? Well, well, well!
The provocative term "Recreate 1968" has Churchillian echoes done in a chorus. Whadda I mean? Google many of the Usual Suspects named in the article with "All Nations Alliance," "Transform Columbus Day," "Colorado AIM" and "Ward Churchill," and you'll see what I mean. Duh. Meanwhile, I was amazed that certain activists in the article would believe that undercover cop stuff was possibly afoot. Heck, Colorado AIM (so-called CAIM) "spy files" show that a DPD informer helped moderate anti-Columbus Day meetings in the early '90s. The Usual Suspects sound like a loud echo, sometimes amusing, in a very small pail — not a fearsome threat that "will make the 1968 DNC look like a small gathering."
Neither I nor Westword could invent this weird shit — though Churchill could! Or has! — and though few may understand it, it's apparent that the only freedom of speech and press the Usual Suspects advocate is the freedom of a vanity press to publish Ward's distortions and black propaganda.
Ernesto Vigil
New Mexico
"Mr. Wizard," Jason Sheehan, October 25
In last week's letter, Tom Jenkins quoted these words from Jason Sheehan: "All of you joggers, you twig-and-berry vegans, you juicers, you fasters and no-fat, meatless and sugar-free fanatics — you are going to die, too." The repetition of a tirade like that is most likely prompted by fear and denial.
Those who have heart disease, diabetes or cancer modify their diets. Guess what they cut down or out of their diet?
To what do those who pay attention to their diet for health or moral reasons, mind their own business and are not attacking those who choose unhealthy diets owe this diatribe? The amount of grain consumed by a cow for the meat in one burger would feed a human for a week. Rainforests are being cut down for land to use for cattle. Millions of people in India are doing just fine with vegetarian diets, so what is the irritation expressed by Sheehan that Jenkins feels compelled to support?
Of all the problems in the world, another person's lifestyle that does not affect me is the least of my concerns.
I am not vegan, and I have never jogged.
Richard Hart
Denver
Drunk of the Week, Drew Bixby, October 4 and 11
Drew, you are inconsistent and possibly manic! The same folks who frequent the Star Bar and whom you essentially glorify are the "natives who are restless on Larimer" that you focused on in your review of the Ginn Mill. One week you bash a great new bar on Larimer because of the natives, and the next week you take a 180! What gives?
Mark Adler
Denver