KEEP MONEY, BUILD BIKE PATH

I would like to see Buffalo banned from developing any new land until they have working plans in place to take care of what is already here. In the meantime there are plenty of existing areas in the neighborhood that could be redeveloped. Eyesores like the old Bethune Hall on Main Street and the NFTA parking lot by the LaSalle subway station are just begging for attention.

Mayor Brown, take the $1.2 million and give the neighborhood the bike trail!

Beth Bradley

Buffalo

NO, REALLY, REAGAN

WAS AWESOME

Michael Niman’s Reaganomics article is absurd and ridiculous (“Getting a Grip,” Artvoice v6n35).

From a president whose beginnings were the most modest of any president in 100+ years as the son of an alcoholic, one would think the Left would embrace him as the former head of a union in a radically Left/haven for communism industry. However, Reagan realized that trust, honesty and character were institutions of the presidency and demanded that all pay their fair share.

New York State and Buffalo could learn a lesson from Reagan—lower taxes, lower concentration of municipal employees/government and fewer unions will result in economic prosperity. Higher taxes, the fact that New York is the most unionized state in the country, plus the fact that Buffalo has the most municipal employees per capita is exactly the reason people are leaving the area.

Jeff Weber

Buffalo

against war? so is kucinich

Candidates Senators Clinton and Obama avoid discussing the palatial US “embassy” and permanent military bases in detail because they don’t ever intend to fully withdraw all troops from Iraq. If elected, the foreign policies of the Bush administration would continue.

However, unlike the above pro-war-profiteering candidates, only Representative Dennis Kucinich spoke out against the Iraqi “Hydrocarbon Act” in the recently passed war supplemental bill. “Except for three scant lines, the entire 33-page hydrocarbon law creates a structure to facilitate the privatization of Iraq’s oil.” Simply put, the resolution demands the privatization of Iraqi oil by blocking over a billion dollars in reconstruction funds if the Iraqis refuse to comply. Its passage “sends a strong message that the United States is not in Iraq to help the Iraqi people or defend democracy, but that this war is solely about oil.”

To all the American soldiers and Iraqi civilians so far killed or injured, and to all future casualties under a Clinton or Obama presidency: Exxon, Shell, Chevron and British Petroleum thank you for your sacrifices.

Terry Todoroff

Cheektowaga

for god, not country

The Christian right—specifically, what are now called “Christian Dominionists”—are the determing faction in control of the US military, primarily in Mideast policy.

The Bush administration has no exit strategy for Iraq, for the simple reason that, as a Christian Dominionist, Bush ultimately plans for Iraqis to convert to Christianity.

How many Americans are willing to send their children to die for that?

It should be noted, by the way, that the Christian Dominionists claim to support Israel, but what they really support is Israel remaining in a state of permanent war with its neighbors, in hopes that America can get involved and convert both Muslims and Jews.

How many American Jews are really willing to support that?

Before buying all the crap the right-wing media puts out about the need for the US to stay in Iraq and keep the peace, remember the Christian Dominionists: They have no interest in the peace, and since they determine our policy there, what the heck are we really talking about?

We have already made an impossible mess that we can’t clean up. I don’t believe we should allow a gang of fanatics to keep us making more and more of a mess, until there’s nothing of the US left to clean up.

The US needs to leave Iraq now.

Emmanuel John Winner

Buffalo