Letters from the Issue of December 22-28, 2005

Use your hen-dy, den-dy bullshit meter: Regarding Emily Witt's story "21,000 Code Citations Can't Be Wrong" (November 24): Do the terms chicken shit, keystone cops, martinet, and tempest in a demitasse ring a living freedom bell? (I don't think they do, no?)

My mom had a pet chicken when she was little, during the Depression in rural Ohio. She named it Penny. Some creatures respond favorably to decency, kindness, good care, and consistency. Then again, guv', some are just bad eggs — while others are simply brainwashed to believe in their own, natural, bad egg-hood.

David Melvin Thornburgh
Miami Beach