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Letters to the WSWS

Below we post a selection of recent letters to the WSWS.

Regarding “Domino Sugar strike in Brooklyn ends in defeat,” is there some sort of accountability being demanded from the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO, Denis Hughes, or John Sweeney? What can be done individually? Can something be done through one's own union? How can people show support when things like this happen to other unions (I belong to 1199)? Thank you for your attention to this e-mail.

BB

5 March 2001


Today someone I know went to work at Swiss Chalet chicken on a scheduled shift. She was told to wait and see if she was needed. She was sent home after two hours without pay. This person is a nursing student and this is her source of income to help her through. This is nothing less than Third World capitalism. This crap would not happen if a union existed or we had government agencies that would not tolerate this modern-day slavery.

DL

5 March 2001


Hello, I have just finished reading “Deadly Feasts” by Richard Rhodes and was surfing to find out more information when I came upon your web site. My mother, age 64, died of sporadic CJD on September 2, 1999. She had been sick for approximately one year. I have been unable to be pacified with the results given us by Dr. Nixon at OHSU here in Portland, Oregon. There have been too many other cases of the “one in a million” disease that I have read on the web site cjdvoice.org [http://www.cjdvoice.org] and I am very angry about the attitude of the doctors and government and most of the media.

I have been unable to obtain the autopsy papers on my mother but I will keep trying. My mother lived in the same area of Oregon where another lady came down with CJD just six months earlier. My mother also ate a lot of beef; used bone meal all her gardening days. I was very glad a friend passed on their copy of “Deadly Feasts,” although it has been the scariest book I have ever read. I have bought and passed on several copies to my friends. I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed the review and I pray it motivates more people to read this book. If I could, I would stand on the corner and hand out free copies of his book at my own expense because people need to know about this deadly disease. Just have one friend or family member die of this disease and it will haunt you forever.

Thank you.

SF

4 March 2001


Thank you very much for this web site. If you would, please consider an analysis of the aftermath of the Orange County [California] bankruptcy. That debacle pointed out many cogent factors, including that the idea of funding public services through private means, i.e. the stock market, is stupid and incredibly inefficient. The cost of servicing the private investments was far greater than the cost of public agencies to do the same job. It also points out that the rich demand far more from their governments than do the poorest welfare mothers ... and in the case of Orange County those rich parasites didn't want to pay for those services. Thank you for your consideration.

4 March 2001


After the US and Britain bombed Baghdad on February 16, US papers announced that there were no “known” deaths or injuries. President G.W. Bush stated over and over that these bombings had been “routine” and that they were defensive. Americans are far from news savvy, and the majority of the population accepts CNN as verbatim. Because of this a majority of the US public believes Saddam to be an incarnation of Hitler.

What is our picture of Iraqi citizens? Crazed, turban-wearing terrorists, who pay homage to Saddam, froth at the mouth, manufacture and stockpile weapons of mass destruction, and dream of the United States' demise. This is so far from the truth. A more accurate picture would be a country with a crumbling infrastructure plus sick and starving civilians due to the sanctions.

Bombing Iraq has only caused civilians to increase their animosity toward the United States, and to become more supportive of Saddam. It seems the Pentagon could use some reprimanding, but who will voice any opposition to these policies when we envision W., his super-hero cape fluttering behind him, saving us all from the terrors of Saddam?

Sincerely,

GB

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

1 March 2001


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