Schoolyard cowboys
BY LISA MOSKOWITZ
(06/02/99)

My sympathies are with the schoolyard children who, upon finding a gun, knew no better than to treat it as a toy. Some 20 years ago, while I was working in a restaurant, I opened the wine refrigerator, pulled out the tray of carafes and discovered what I believed to be a toy gun sitting on the tray. I remember being a bit surprised by how authentic-looking a toy it was -- it was covered with tiny beads of moisture, not like plastic would be, but the way a metallic object would be after spending a night in my wine refrigerator, and when lifted, it was very, very heavy. It was also awfully large; most toy guns are smaller to fit children's hands.

There was an explanation: The previous night, the manager was held up at gunpoint after closing, and the gunman must have panicked and stashed the gun. We were not told of the holdup because the manager didn't want to alarm us. After the police had finished questioning me, they took the gun and departed. Then the kitchen crew cornered me and lashed out at me for calling the police; they said they could have gotten a really good price for the gun.

-- Kathleen H. Langan

How chilling that Lisa Moskowitz wonders at the end of her article that gun violence and the attention the media gives it could increase home schooling. Especially when one considers that many of the people who advocate home schooling are also those who insist on the unfettered privilege to own guns. I sincerely hope it is merely my own paranoia that senses a commonality between these issues and others like murderous pro-lifers and unicultural school prayer advocates. May it please be only my fancy that a hidden war is developing within America, one waged by people with an Us/Them morality who embrace alienation and seem to believe righteousness, authority and violent resolution are analogous.

-- Howard Kistler

Moskowitz sounds like she is resigned to the fact that guns are a permanent fixture of American culture and the American way of life. She is trying to psychoanalyze children's fascination with the weapon. The fact remains that guns are killing America's children and not enough is being done to stop the use of guns. Drastic measures must be taken and they are not.

Enough analysis. Save the children by getting rid of weapons.

-- Allan Bernstein
Thornhill, Ontario

Updike in love
BY JOHN UPDIKE
(05/24/99)

How ludicrous to choose a man to pick the five greatest romance novels! According to Updike, these include only dreary tales of misery and sexual escapades among the jaded and degenerate. From the 18th century onward, it has been women -- both as writers and audience -- who have cultivated and cherished the true classic romance story. From Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters to Margaret Mitchell and modern-day writers of pop paperback Harlequins, millions of women have enshrined the positive, empowered, values-based novels of strong women and men forming lifelong bonds against all odds. To call Updike's list of tragedies and horrors "romance" is to use the most technical of literary terms while missing the cultural phenomenon that is and always has been considered the classic tradition of love stories.

-- Deborah Smith

Is meat sexy?
BY DAWN MacKEEN
(06/01/99)
Dawn MacKeen suggested that vegetarians are more likely to suffer from low sex drive due to a lack of zinc in their diets. Oh, low blow.

Every dietary style has its advantages and disadvantages. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarian diets holds up pretty well compared to others. Vegetarians tend to have less heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, as well as less of some cancers. There are many nutrients that they tend to get more of than omnivores, including folate, antioxidants and other phytonutrients that are getting so much good press these days.

There are nutrients to which vegetarians should pay attention. Some of these are B-12, vitamin D, calcium(if they don't drink milk) and, yes, zinc. Except for B-12 and D, you can get these from plant foods. You can get the two vitamins from inexpensive supplements and of course you can get vitamin D from the sun. In regards to zinc specifically, the article itself mentioned that whole grains, beans, lentils and peas are sources. For many vegetarians, these foods are staples -- the "meat and potatoes" of their diets. Those folks probably get enough zinc. I won't go into the nutrients to which omnivores need pay attention. Suffice it to say the list would at least be as long as that for vegetarians.

And speaking of sex drive, clogged arteries and anti-cholesterol drugs are less than sterling contributors to increased sex drive.

-- Peter Loney

Is MacKeen talking about vegetarians who eat cooked vegetables and cooked food? If so, this is a very poor diet in general: When one raises the temperature of food over 118 degrees the food is essentially destroyed.

Also, vegetables are only 10 percent assimilable by the human body, while fruit is 90 percent assimilable. Man is designed as a frugivore not a vegetarian; a vegetarian diet is not at all the optimum diet for man.

It is also well to remember that what one may think of as "normal" sexual activity may be sexual hyperactivity brought on by a junk-food (read that as cooked, refined and processed foods) diet. Your author should take the time to learn the true laws of nutrition and health.

-- Alfred Morrissette

Under the volcano
BY DAVID LAZARUS
(06/02/99)

David Lazarus' article about the Japanese economy barely touched on several unavoidable realities that Americans seem to be unable to accept. First, the Japanese population is shrinking so rapidly that the economy absolutely must contract for the foreseeable future -- for decades maybe. Young people are the ones who buy the goods that keep the economy pumping -- as well as the ones who produce the goods. With drastically fewer young people Japan simply cannot grow economically.

Second, the Japanese don't play the American game -- they play by their own rules. These rules include the possibility of a zero-growth, stable economy. They did it before in the centuries before Perry opened the nation up to Western influence, and they're prepared to do it again.

Third, Japan is still a socially cohesive nation. Despite the pressures, in a crisis you will find that the Japanese will work together and help each other, not escape into drugs, political extremism or fundamentalist Christian cults like Americans. When and if the American bubble bursts, that's when you will see a nightmare.

-- Andy Walsh

Three strikes and you're in
BY ANTHONY YORK
(06/01/99)

Anthony York quotes California Gov. Gray Davis' spokesman, Michael Bustamante, as saying, "The alternative [to building another prison] would be to release prisoners early, and that is absolutely, unequivocally unacceptable to Gov. Davis." Why not, I'd like to ask? Even the CCPOA (the prison guards' union) admits that thanks to "Three Strikes" legislation, record numbers of nonviolent offenders are serving long sentences. Releasing someone early whose crime was possession of a controlled substance or shoplifting isn't weak or cowardly; it's just common sense and good arithmetic. The least that it costs the state to imprison a felon is $20,000 annually; it strikes me that many cheaper alternatives could be found. No, don't build another prison; it only encourages legislators to pass stupid laws.

-- Michael Treece