Turn Off the Spigot
To the Editor,With Mount Lemmon burning in the background and Arizona experiencing the worst drought in our recent history ("The Fire Next Time," May 30), I am constantly amazed at Tucsonans' ability to live in denial.
Everywhere I go there are water fountains gurgling away, lawns being watered mid-day and various other water wasting techniques. When I asked the manager of a local restaurant if perhaps he should consider turning off the restaurant's water fountain, he asked me, "Has there been anything in the news about water restrictions?" Do we really need our pathetic news stations to tell us to conserve water? He turned the fountain off for me, but I won't be surprised to see it up and running tomorrow.
Where are the water restrictions and what's taking our city government so damn long? Wake up Tucson, it's time to take shorter showers, let the plants in the yard go without water and--gasp!--not wash your car. It's happening in New Mexico, and it may well happen here.
Until then, I will continue my personal crusade to stop the waste. I'm headed over to the management office of the building I'm in now. There's a running water fountain out front.
--Jamila Nassar
Why Do They Call It a Hot Dog?
To the Editor,I enjoyed the article in Chow ("Forget the Cafeteria," May 23). Having the craving for some good sausage on a hard roll, I dashed out to The Sausage Deli after reading the good review. I entered and walked up to the counter and asked what types of sausage they had. To my surprise, I was informed by the counter staff that they don't have sausage, and they never did!
Gee, it's like going to The Waffle House and being told they don't serve waffles. I thought it was a bit strange.
--Brian Forte
That's Not a Stick, He's A Pole Vaulter
To the Editor,Could you please check to see what kind of stick letter writer Curtis McCrary (Mailbag, May 9) has up his rear end over Tom Danehy?
To criticize a humor columnist because he doesn't always display deep political insight is like panning an opera singer because she's not a good pole vaulter. The Weekly has other people (Nintzel, Limberis, et al) who handle the politics, and they do a great job. And Danehy does a great job at what he does as well.
Like most everybody else, I am sometimes angered and occasionally annoyed by Danehy. Sometimes he misses his target by a substantial margin. But most of the time he's very funny (or powerfully serious). I travel a lot for my job and I read a lot of newspapers on airplanes. I can easily state that Danehy is the funniest newspaper writer I've ever read, and he's easily the most entertaining newspaper writer in Tucson (if not all of Arizona).
Lighten up, Curtis, it was a joke. No serious voter will be swayed by which TV show a congressional candidate watches, but it might be fun. Tom Danehy is the best thing about The Weekly, and Curtis McCrary is the Ernesto Portillo of letter writers.
--Jonathan A. Smith
Extremist Rant
To the Editor,Where to begin with Connie Tuttle's extremist rant against America ("Memorial Slay," May 23)? Ms. Tuttle, if you know a better way, light a candle instead of cursing our darkness.
Is socialism better than capitalism? Well, the article specifically named fewer than 500 people killed by our "fascist" American government. This is nowhere near the 100 million men, women and children murdered in the name of socialism--and we are still counting. By comparison, the Nazis, who were true fascists, killed "only" about 30 million people.
America's relatively few victims are more notable only because we have a free press that is allowed to document and report tragedies such as the ones cited by Ms. Tuttle. On the other hand, socialism's 100 million victims were liquidated in secrecy. I, for one, will not let those 100,000,000 people die in vain by not standing up to fascism, whether left-wing or right-wing.
Socialists, the left-wing fascists, learned from the Nazis that they could wage war against the people within their own country's borders, and the world would stand silently by as long as they did not wage war on people outside their borders. In fact, socialist Fuhrer Joseph Stalin became so skilled at slaughtering his own people that he rationalized his bloodlust by saying, "The death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic."
Ms. Tuttle, the Cold War is over. You lost.
--Steve Brandon
