.Letters to the Editor

Wrong Planet?

To the presenters of Maitreya’s teachings (see last weeks insert in the Boho), this is a time when we all need guidance. How nice that Maitreya and the Elder Brothers are coming to “evoke in man a desire for change and betterment.” And I’m glad to hear that “men will know afresh the joy of full participation in the realities of Life.” As a woman, I’ll wait for Elders or Wise Ones who speak to humankind. Those who speak to humankind know that exclusive, patriarchal language and social structures are a thing of the past. If a better future is to be created by man with the help of a brotherhood, I’m on the wrong planet.

G. Haley 

Sebastopol

The Brilliant Gabe Meline

I read the Bohemian because of the brilliant writing style of Gabe Meline. I was hoping he would write about not the Sly Stone concert itself, but the mess that is Sly himself (“Runnin’ Away,” Oct. 22). Gabe rocked it. I laughed out loud at his description of the events before and after. Beyond cool.

David Petri

Middletown

Don’t Mock Love to Death

“You see, Life on this Earth isn’t separate from any social justice struggle. It’s too late in the game to separate these things. Issues will not be isolated from each other when the Earth is extinguished. . . . In that last gasp all the progressive issues are simply Love, and all the advertisements are simply Love mocked to death.”

—Reverend Billy, What Would Jesus Buy?

Judy Helfand

via email

Corporate Welfare: Socialism

Socialism is alive and well in this country in the form of corporate welfare! In the Corporate States of America, during boom times profits are privatized but losses, naturally, are socialized. Conservatives tout “free markets” as the world’s panacea, but apparently its supposed ability to regulate itself is no match for unmitigated greed of this latest sanctioned Ponzi scheme.

The objective of Republicans for decades has been to emasculate government to the point that what’s left can be drowned in a bathtub. Consider the increasing privatization of the military, of schools through vouchers, attempts to privatize Social Security accounts, Faith Based Initiatives, etc. If we allow them to succeed in their final coup, there will be little left for social, welfare, health and educations programs—which is exactly what the gut-the-government freaks want.

Working folks who simply yearned for a slice of the American dream will unlikely see real assistance from Washington. The fat cats with their $15 million homes in the Hamptons and Greenwich will inevitably bounce back; the vilified poor will just get poorer. Meanwhile, families being foreclosed on should, rather than skulk away from their homes, ignore eviction notices. Band together, contact the media and refuse to leave; local police surely won’t be able to enforce all the foreclosures. And if it does happen, seeing families dragged from their homes and dumped in the street will not play well on national television. And it will give strength to others to resist the greed that has pillaged the heart and soul of our country. 

Bill Strubbe

Occidental