Style Steal

Regarding the Flyer‘s fall fashion story (“Style Steals,”
September 17th issue): I think you should alert your loyal readers in
advance as to where you’re shooting, so we can come watch. Just so we
can check out the clothes, of course.

Mike Booker

Memphis

Another “Birther”

If he wants to be a leader, he should have to prove he’s qualified
as a citizen. There have been too many claims that he wasn’t born here
to just ignore them, don’t you think? Other leaders have no such cloud
surrounding them with regard to their place of origin, so why should we
let this guy pass on this requirement because he’s “different”? Sorry.
I don’t think so.

The voters should rise up en masse and demand that he either produce
a full, legitimate birth certificate or step aside and stay out of
politics.

Memphis should not allow a Zambodian to become mayor.

Oh … did you think I was talking about somebody else?

William R. James

Memphis

Joe Wilson

The issue regarding Representative Joe Wilson shouting “You lie” at
the president is not the fact that he called Obama a liar (Editor’s
note, September 17th issue). Politicians call each other liars all the
time.

The issue is Wilson’s shouting, his belligerent tone, his disrespect
for decorum, and the fact that Wilson seemed to think he was attending
a lynching rather than a televised joint session of the highest
political bodies in the land. So what’s up with Wilson, then? Simple:
The man honestly believes that President Obama is not worthy of
courtesy.

Chuck Weiss

Memphis

Revenge

Richard Cohen raises the central question remaining in the saga of
9/11: “Where’s Osama bin Laden?” (Viewpoint, September 17th issue). The
follow-up question is, “And why haven’t we killed or captured him?”

However you may feel about revenge, the reality is that this is a
matter of law. Bin Laden is a criminal who should be brought to
justice. This is a man who masterminded a contemptible sneak assault on
U.S soil and airspace that killed 3,000 innocent people, a man whose
actions led to not one but two bloody Middle East wars, both of which
are ongoing, and a man who today continues to urge further deadly
assaults on America and its allies.

We had no trouble finding bin Laden in the 1980s, when the Reagan
administration wanted to give him weapons to fight the Russians in
Afghanistan. And we have had no trouble finding members of bin Laden’s
family when we’ve needed their oil and influence in the Middle East.
But somehow, we can’t seem to track down this guy bin Laden, despite
promises from former President Bush that we would “follow him to the
gates of hell.” Guess that plan is off the books now.

Something’s fishy here, though we may never know what. Maybe the
powers that be have decided he’s more useful as a live “boogeyman” than
as a dead martyr. Makes about as much sense as anything else.

Lee Taylor

Nashville

Cohen tried to justify revenge. I don’t buy it. We all tick off
somebody every day. If we sought to make every offender pay, we’d have
a to-do list impossible to accomplish. And what kind of world would it
be if everyone walked around waiting to “get even”?

Ray Berthiaume

Memphis

A Decent Man

For the vast majority of Americans who are deeply chagrined by the
brew of willful ignorance, fear, and hatred currently poisoning our
public discourse — fomented by Republican Party leaders who
gleefully put dangerous demagoguery ahead of genuine, thoughtful
patriotism — a decent man has stepped forward.

Henry Gasparian, who confronted the Hitler-sign-carrying yahoos in
Edmonds, Washington, is a hero. He makes Representative Joe Wilson and
the anarchists roiling in the streets look like the boorish hatemongers
they are. He dared to say, in effect, that stupid, fact-resisting
propaganda is not on an equivalent footing with actual facts. Would
that the mainstream media come to this important epiphany.

Thank you, Mr. Gasparian, for standing up for proportion, truth,
dignity, and an understanding of real history that a majority of us
share regarding the threat that the incendiary abuse of language and
symbols poses for our nation and our society.

Hadley Hury

Memphis