Why Should Voters Be Trusted?

I just wanted to say “thanks.” I had a great time last night at The Gore Gore Girls show, thanks to your insightful commentary [RE: Music Magnified, “The Gore Gore Girls,” Oct. 13-19]. I am certain that Jägermeister and I need to go on another three-year hiatus. I’ll have to switch over to root beer concentrate. I’m just glad it wasn't tequila or I might have ended up licking some white-hot Gore Gore boots.

I read your article and I must say, your assertive and conscientious writing style seeps from your obvious punk roots. I especially enjoyed the line, “What the Gore Gore Girls do is riff-roaring rock ‘n’ roll, tinted with a big lipstick kiss from Motown. Their sound is lo-fi and lubricated with exhaust fumes. …” Of course, my opinion could be skewed from last night's booze. But I doubt it.

[RE: “Don Schrader v. Jimmy Carter,” Oct 6-12] It's always amusing to hear from fantasyland residents like Don Schrader. In his rush to label people as killers, Schrader apparently fails to realize there have been zero casualties caused by nuclear missiles from the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter or any of the other submarines he rails against. Instead, U.S. nuclear submarines have helped to deter World War III and untold millions of deaths.

Schrader might also do well to reflect on his good fortune at having his lifestyle and political activities subsidized and protected by those of us who do pay taxes and those who have put themselves in harm's way in his place, to include the crewmembers of the Jimmy Carter.

I just got my tickets for Fall Crawl at Natural Sound, but they are charging $11, not $10 as it said in the Alibi article. A dollar extra per ticket isn’t much, but I did have to hit an ATM because of it. When I mentioned that the Alibi quoted a price of $10, I was told “That’s up to the Alibi.” I think it’s probably up to both the Alibi and Natural Sound to agree on the price. I assume the $1 is their service charge, but that is irrelevant for the customer. Please quote their actual price for future Crawls. Regardless, thanks for organizing the Crawl, which is always a great event.

Editor's Note: You're right—Natural Sound does charge a $1 service fee on top of the Alibi's advance ticket price of $10. Going through Ticketmaster adds a few extra dollars to the price as well. Next time, we'll report on the adjusted cost of buying your Crawl tickets through these outside vendors. Thanks for pointing that out to us, and we hope you had fun at this year's Fall Crawl!

I was listening to Al Franken this morning and he reminded me of a slogan my friend, Anny Mosity (Arizona activist), made up about a month ago and never published, because she hardly ever does. It’s quite simple, really. The very idea has been germinating since November of 2000 for me. It is at a veritable peak now, and goes something like this:

“IT SOBS!” (This is an acronym for “Impeach The SOBs!”) The entire text is this:

“I.T. S.O.B.S … so we can all stop crying!”

I thought of the people on the Gulf Coast. I thought of the people in Iraq … all of them. All of the totally innocent dead. I thought of all of us who have been so duped as to believe that a moron with a psychological/spiritual agenda could lead us. It is all so sad to me. It’s probably not even possible and it’s way past time to begin to remove all of them from office. That means, impeach the lot of 'em! But I, personally, would like to begin the process. I’m tired of being so sad about all the victims of an unbelievable incompetence.

I’ve been crying for this country since November 2000. It sobs and so do I.