Letters from the Issue of March 19, 2009

"Here's hoping community journalism finds new and sturdier outlets."

A A A Comments (2) Thursday, Mar 19 2009

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Deserters Get Their Just Deserts

You darn crybabies: In response to Megan Feldman's March 12 story, "Move Out!": I have no sympathy for people who volunteer for duty and then want to use bullshit excuses like "illegal war" to shirk their responsibility. During Vietnam, many were drafted and in spite of this, ponied up and did what was needed. These deserters are the worst our country has to offer. They look at the military and every other institution as just another handout. They should just grow up and realize there is no free ride.

There is a price to pay for the freedoms we enjoy, but these people looked to turn the military that defends those freedoms into a welfare agency. No sale. If everyone who agreed to perform a job bailed when the going got tough, we would probably be speaking German now, and most of the people complaining about our military wouldn't even be around to do so.

Want a solution? Want to get on with your life? Complete the service to your country that you volunteered for, and then carry on. Otherwise, stop whining and go live somewhere that will welcome you, like China or North Korea.

Jose

Miami

You are like animals to be hunted: To the deserters cited in "Move Out": You should be hunted down and jailed. You signed a contract; you don't get to just decide what wars you believe are "immoral" or "illegal."

You shouldn't have signed up if you feared being put in harm's way. I served in the military for six years. I was never called up to fight, but you can be damn sure if I would have been, I would have done the best job I could. I wonder if these cowards ever think they might have gotten a friend killed by not being there to watch his back and leaving the unit a man short. I hope they all rot in Hell for weakening my country and giving it a black eye.

Chris

Miami

Lighten up, losers: The ashamed parents and relatives of the deserters have never seen what is happening in Iraq, while the people who fled to Canada have experienced it. The "black eye" of this country is that it is content to be misinformed and ignorant, fat and afraid, reckless and running out of time.

Jeremy P.

Denver

She's Not Vague About It

Meat is murder: Oh, joyful, I thought after reading Lee Klein's March 12 restaurant review of Meat Market, "A Cut Above." More dead animal parts. Thankfully there are increasingly more vegan and vegetarian restaurants to make dining not only tasty and healthful but also compassionate. Go vegan.

Bea Elliott

Winter Haven

No Speaky English

Obfu... what?: If it was Nick Pinkerton's intention in his March 12 film review, "That's So Craven," to match the banality of Last House on the Left, he succeeded. The boredom achieved by reading his self-aware, self-aggrandizing assessment is monumental. In the future, perhaps he should heed an oft-quoted phrase: "Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation." If the movie is obviously subpar, there's no need for a vocabulary lesson-cum-review.

Terry Sanchez

Tamarac

Ricky Rocks

This one is unbreakable: Brandon Thorp's enthusiastic March 5 review of New Theatre's The Glass Menagerie, "Better with Age," gives curiously short shrift to three of its four actors. They're summarized as "good enough to get out of the way" of Tennessee Williams's words. And Thorp doesn't even mention the director, Ricky J. Martinez.

A classic play doesn't guarantee good theater. I've seen leaden and sentimental productions of The Glass Menagerie. Martinez's intelligent choices and the cast's sensitive performances are what make this one so moving. The entire New Theatre production illuminates the text and ensures it keeps "telling you things," even if the plot is familiar.

Nancy Wolcott

Miami Beach

Civil Discourse

Equals community fun: I'm sorry to see the SunPost's decline as described in "The SunPost Is Setting" (Kyle Munzenrieder and Chuck Strouse, March 5). The younger Starks deserve to be proud of their work over the years. Here's hoping community journalism finds new and sturdier outlets. The quality of civil society depends on it!

John Hopkins

Kendall

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Count LF Chodkiewicz Chudzikie 03/23/2009 9:55:00 AM

No, the Starks should be ashamed not proud of what they did: 1. Attacked Neisen Kasdin for declaring conflicts when the candidates they backed for the Miami Beach Commission routinely voted and did not declare conflicts. 2. Attacked the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce leadership for being registered lobbyists while two of their employees worked illegally without registering as lobbyists as did one of their advertisers. 3. Harassed the head of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce with a falsified report from a political enemy that he had "unethically" protrayed himself as the "current" as opposed to "former" vice mayor of Miami Beach 4. Criticized Craig Robins' Aqua project because he would not give them advertising, as well as personal incorrect depreciating comments before because he would not give them ads. 5. Attacked the RDA with lies about not giving out financial information, then, when, at great cost to the tax payer reams of stuff was published, never printed a line of it and after one of their advertisers got a sweat-heart deal and others got RDA business, stopped complaining. Apparently spending is only wrong if Sun Post former advertisers don't get it. 6. At first attacked the involvement of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation in non-housing activites, then, when they gained an advertiser who had a non-housing business created while she served with her husband on that board with funds and support from that non-profit group, an obvious corrupt deal, not a word because the woman in question became one of the larger advertisers. 7. Routinely "sold space and endorsements", specifically any out of town developer could purchase a large ad, and irregardless of the value of the project and his own abilities and track record, the paper in the news pages would praise it. 8. Repeatedly "created" wacko "community activitists" like Frank Del Vecchio, Bea Kalstein, who in fact would any intelligent person who testified at Commission meetings and expose their lack of knowledge, or just plain stupidity And furthermore, personally, because I said from day one Randy Hilliard, Arthur C Weinstein, Kent Harrision Robbins, and David Kelsey were ignorant, illegal lobbyists I had to endure column after column from Weinstein not one word of which was true. "PRIDE" of a low rent extortion racket? I have never been to Kendal, and I guess the guy from Kendal has never been in Miami Beach City Hall!
Carl Haynes 03/19/2009 7:36:00 PM

Letters From March 19, 2009 Issue In response to the March 19, 2009 Issue I agree with those that suggest that those that rejected military service in Vietnam when called should be prosecuted. If you strongly opposed the Vietnam war they shouldn't have signed and then used the military as a platform to protest the war or run away from their military obligation and contract they signed. While I joined the Marines and volunteered for Vietnam service I had several draftees in my unit that served with distinction. It is unfair for those that did not honor their obligation to go unpunished. There is a price to be paid for living in the United States. Too many feel they should be exempted and let others take care of matters they don't want to do. If they choose not to abide by the rules of our government they should find another place to live and not expect to receive the benefits this country offers. The price of Freedom is not free but as the saying goes it is worth fighting for.