We’ve Met Often

Back to back appeared the stories of David Burleson (“Wake Up From the Nightmare,” Cover Story, September 16) and Adam Jacobs (“Voyage With Mother on Piggyback,” Feature Story), two young men who are seeking but not finding. I meditate on these two horrific parables of postmodernity. I recall my 61 years as a soldier and teacher. I have met David and Adam thousands of times. There was only one word I could give them. It was “God.”

Name Withheld

Compelling Tiny Type

This piece was so compelling (“Wake Up From the Nightmare,” Cover Story, September 16). I actually read it via my Facebook app on my iPhone — and it wasn’t a short story — but I couldn’t stop reading it. Bravo to the author for sharing it.

Laura Byrd
via Facebook

Best Wishes For The Decade

What a sad story (“Wake Up From the Nightmare,” Cover Story, September 16). I hope those young men have a better decade. It gives me inspiration to be a better dad!

Billy Wear
via Facebook

Bad, Bad Mother

I enjoyed the cover story “Wake Up From the Nightmare” (September 16) but thought the artwork unfortunately depicted a sheriff’s deputy as the “bad guy.” I thought the story had something to do with law enforcement abuses until I read it. The artwork was depicting a deputy having to do an unfortunate job in a situation resulting from the author’s mother’s drug addiction. The mother was the real “bad guy” in this story, not the sheriff’s deputy.

James Loomis
via email

Agent Guilty

In the September 16 Reader, there’s an article on page 2 by Nathaniel Uy about some people who are having trouble with a home because they bought a house that didn’t have permits on an addition (“Home Is Where the Variance Is,” “City Lights”). I feel the agent was remiss in not stipulating in the offer that the seller produce the permits for the add-on.

Downtown Charlie

Not Our Name

The Reader included our company in an article (“Food When You Want It,” Restaurant Review, September 16), which we appreciate; however, our company name was incorrect throughout the article. San Diego Restaurant Connection is the actual name of our company, and the article refers to us as San Diego Food Connection.

Dustin Hansen
via email

Baffled By Theme

I’m calling regarding the crossword puzzle in the issue of September 16. I’m able to complete the puzzle, but I’m completely baffled as to the theme. It just doesn’t seem to make any sense to me. The theme of the puzzle appears in 63 across, which says, “Occurrence in 17-, 26- and 48- Across,” and that answer is “changeofaddress.” And those other three answers are “tearsonFeingold,” and the next one is “nipstreedObama,” and the third one is “oarmyBloomberg.” And I can’t for the life of me figure out how any of those three can be construed as being a change of address.

So I’d appreciate it if any reader who did this puzzle and was able to figure out that theme could correspond with the letters section and explain how that makes any sense.

Ray McMurtry
Chula Vista

Shame On You!

I’m just inquiring about why there was no “Film Festivals” in the Reader — a listing of movies at venues besides the commercial movie houses. And I just wanted to express my displeasure at not having that. I would appreciate your putting it in in the future.

Carol Herriman
San Diego

The “Film Festivals” section was cut last week because of space restrictions. — Editor

Calvin And The Hebrews

I wholeheartedly endorse the point letter-writer John Pertle made (September 16) that a true understanding of the Bible can only be gained if we accept the Word as it was originally written without trying to make it fit into any kind of preconceived doctrine.

However, if John Calvin’s excuse for having his detractors murdered was a passage from Leviticus, then he evidently did not understand Hebrews chapter 8, which said that the old Jewish law had been superseded by the new covenant under Christ.

This was Paul’s primary theme throughout the Book of Romans. Salvation cannot come from obedience to Jewish law (the works of the law) but from God’s new covenant (the faith of Jesus Christ).

Paul’s observance of Jewish traditions in Acts chapter 21 was not a sin, a failure, nor “legalism.” He was not doing these things to gain salvation.

Paul was showing the Jews in Jerusalem that he had not turned his back on his Jewish heritage and that being a Jew did not preclude him from believing in and obeying Christ.

In a similar way, we can participate in our family traditions of Christmas gift-giving and tree-decorating and still recognize that Christmas is not a required religious observance ordained anywhere in the Bible.

So how do we obey Christ under His new covenant? In Acts chapter 9, Jesus told Paul to go into the city of Damascus and he would be told what he must do. In chapter 22, we find that Ananias then told Paul to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

Jim Crooks
Oceanside

No Mind Poison

I’m just calling about Taz Taylor’s response (Letters, September 16) to the September 9 cover story (“They Should Not Display Their Beauty”), saying that it was bad timing because it was two days before September 11. I totally disagree with that, and I don’t understand where she’s coming from. If anything, it was perfect timing because it shed light on a lifestyle, and two days before the anniversary of something bad, it gave a little bit of understanding. So I think she’s crazy and she’s frickin’ ridiculous.

And as for Cesar Cota calling the Qur’an mind poison, my brother-in-law is full-on Mexican, and he used to have a drug problem, a drinking problem, they used to call him “deadly” because that’s what he was to himself and people around him, was deadly. He met his girlfriend, who is now his fiancée, and she’s Muslim, but she was born and raised here, and he converted to Muslim and he reads the Qur’an and he lives by it. But he does not try to throw his religion on me, and we do not throw our religion on him, and it does him good. It’s good for him.

I think it’s bulls--- that Cesar Cota is busy thinking that the Qur’an is mind poison and that it’s bad for everybody in that everyone who is Muslim is a bad person. That’s racist. I’m disgusted that he even thinks like that. I’m disgusted that people live like that in San Diego and think like that. It’s frickin’ disgusting. He needs to open up his mind and look around him and actually get out and meet some people so he knows what the world is like. He needs to get his head out of his a.

Christina Alexander
El Cajon

Driving Blind

If Maureen wants to wear the beekeeper outfit, that’s fine, but not while driving a car (“They Should Not Display Their Beauty,” Cover Story, September 9). You cannot see properly with that on. You endanger other people. Nor should you be able to get your driver’s license picture with just your eyes showing, as some Muslim woman have tried to do. If she gets pulled over by the police, she should have to remove that headgear so the officer can see if it’s really her that’s driving. If you don’t like it, don’t drive in the USA.

Todd Gilbert
via email

Illegal Islam

If Muslim women should be judged by their knowledge, abilities, and mind, they would summarily reject Islam because of its stupidity, ignorance, backwardness, barbarism, and advocation of slavery toward women, children, and others (“They Should Not Display Their Beauty,” Cover Story, September 9). We should realize that slavery was abolished in this country and is now illegal, so why are we allowing it to exist?

If Muslim women are intelligent, they would speak out against archaic rules set up hundreds of years ago dictating what women can wear and what they can do, but of course these women would probably be abolished. Islam is the opposite of freedom, and in this country we value freedom.

Islam should be declared illegal in the United States and should be rejected by all civilized countries of the world. Let the uncivilized Arab countries do as they wish, but keep them away from free-thinking, advanced civilizations. Islam should be recognized for what it is: an international terrorist organization, dedicated to the death and destruction of all non-Muslim people. It is the most treacherous force of evil existing in the world — far worse than Nazism was because they are infiltrating all countries and will work from within to defeat us. And worse, it is disguised as a religion. Lest we forget, there was a Muslim cleric officiating at a mosque right here in San Diego who has now become one of the world’s foremost terrorists.

He now operates out of Yemen. If this is “religion,” God help us.

I don’t need to read the Qur’an to make up my mind about Islam. All I have to do is look at the carnage they caused on September 11, 2001. They killed over 3000 of our people, right here in our own country. Elsewhere, they are blowing up people — often their own, on a daily basis.

How long will it take us to recognize this worldwide conspiracy of death and destruction? How long will it take us to realize that by allowing this evil to exist in our country, we are enabling them to plan and carry out their next deadly attack on us? I would guess that the majority of Americans would agree with me. If what I’m saying is not true, why is it that we never hear from Muslim clergy denying it? Why do we not see messages from them in print or on television explaining their side of it?

All Muslims should be declared as a subversive threat to our existence and deported from this country. Islam should be outlawed in the United States. I see photographs of protesting Muslims parading the streets of London carrying signs advocating the beheading of anyone who speaks out against Islam. Is this the kind of barbarism we want prevailing in our country?

Name Withheld By Request
Hillcrest

Bored By Burka

I was completely dismayed by the shallowness and complete lack of sufficient research by Elizabeth Salaam in her recent article “They Should Not Display Their Beauty” (Cover Story, September 9). Frankly, I was not the least bit interested in how it felt for her to wear the burka. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t interested in how the teens felt about wearing this garment either. Even a cursory examination of this subject would have yielded knowledge that the Qur’an makes absolutely no mention about covering women’s bodies in hideous clothing. It simply states that women (and men) should dress modestly. Not a bad idea, until you realize that its interpretation is left up to men. Men who appear to be frightened out of their minds by one half of the human race. As one of the young women so aptly stated, covering their bodies does not really remove the interest of the opposite sex: it just changes it to intense curiosity. Nature (and Allah) made us to be sexual beings. No amount of armored gear will change biology, sorry about that. There is another even more sobering effect of covering women so completely. If one cannot distinguish one individual from another, it is easy to dehumanize all. Draconian measures to subjugate women are easy to understand in this context. Hiding one’s beauty is almost beside the point.

It is also distressing to note the girls’ fear of popular music and any amount of ordinary contact with the dominant culture. Again, the Qur’an doesn’t forbid women from being a part of their world. Indeed, it encourages women to run their own business and be an independent source of income for their children and families. The idea that women should be completely submissive to the whims, and whimsy, of men is outrageous. This is not religious dogma but frightened male misinterpretation of their holy book. Instead of wearing this garment of subordination, Elizabeth Salaam would have better spent her day reading the numerous translations of the Qur’an that are easily available. She did a great disservice to her readers by presenting (and getting paid handsomely, I’m sure) this trivial, puerile nonsense.

Forgive me, I’m not picking on Ms. Salaam particularly. However, while I have your ear, please let me voice my dissatisfaction with recent issues of the Reader. Ever since the untimely passing of your magnificent editor Judith Moore, your publication has plunged downward. Where are the insightful, in-depth articles that were the hallmark of this wonderful weekly journal? Why are you paying third-rate writers like Ms. Salaam to mock your readers with their poor prose? There are so many excellent journalists in this town, why do you accept her crap? We deserve better. Actually, you deserve better.

I will leave you with this thought.

Sean Feldstein
San Diego

No Room For Mom And Pop

I am very sad and disappointed to hear news that the City is trying to shut down Skateworld because I have yet to visit it, and I feel that it’s a part of history that needs to remain (“Skateworld Rolls Away,” Cover Story, September 2). The article discusses past and future arrangements for Skateworld, and the City is strongly against keeping it much longer.

I don’t think it is right to take away something that is part of the San Diego culture. It is the mom-and-pop shops that make diversity. I hate how everywhere you go you see the same companies. There are hundreds of Starbucks, plenty of Walmarts, and even Boomers are everywhere.

Apparently, it needs to be shut down because business isn’t booming. It’s a shame that in order for any business to remain, it has to be a huge corporation. Skateworld is unique and one of a kind, and that is what makes it more valuable. San Diego is multicultural, but it’s slowly losing its diversity. The City should, instead, try to keep Skateworld running, to keep nostalgia alive.

Lina Pean
North Park

Don’t Be Fooled

I’m writing in response to “Profits Strong, Jobs Weak” (“City Lights,” September 2). California’s AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, does many wonderful things for our state and especially our economy. Voters don’t need to agree on the idea of global warming to support this landmark legislation and its results. AB 32 has helped to create 500,000 jobs in the clean energy sector, which are necessarily local and can’t be outsourced. It reduces the air pollution caused by oil refineries and other polluters, protecting our health and our environment. It reduces California’s dependence on foreign oil, moving us towards a more stable world economy. But Texas-based oil companies Valero and Tesoro are trying to suspend these advances by rolling back AB 32. The two companies, who own some of the worst-polluting refineries in California, have given nearly $5 million to pass Proposition 23 this November. Fellow Californians, do not be fooled! This is a deceptive attempt to get rid of a landmark law so that these companies won’t have to pay millions in fines for their polluting practices. Vote NO on Prop 23, and continue to support efforts to expand our clean energy economy!

Bonnie Wagner
via email

No Special Treatment

I was browsing through the Reader when I came across your article “Las Vegas Murder” (Feature Story, August 26). I do not believe that it is fair to receive numerous extensions in a murder trial or any type of special treatment based on prior merit. As a student studying in the criminal/forensic field, I am appalled every time I read about a case such as Preciado-Nuño’s. Besides the fact that the defendant received numerous extensions, he was also allowed to post bail and go to his daughter’s wedding. Even if the defendant was a former FBI agent and police officer, one would think the same rules would apply as they do for any other civilian. The law is meant to be enforced regardless of who the defendant is. These types of special treatments have to stop, and more people need to understand that one life is not valuable over another. Former agent or not, this man knew that he was breaking the law. But his prior merit has kept him from being treated as any other defendant would. Maybe other menaces to society should be allowed the same rights; it’s only fair. Maybe they, too, like Preciado-Nuño, can be on house arrest for murder. We will all be really safe then.

Marlene Lopez
San Diego