SEVEN DAYS | may 10-17, 2006 | letters 09A
SEVEN DAYS wants your rants and raves, in 250 words or fewer. Letters must respond to content in SEVEN DAYS. Include your full name, town and a daytime phone number, and send to: SEVEN DAYS, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402-1164. fax: 865-1015 email: letters@sevendaysvt.com
ronmental calamities, which dwarf the importance of party warfare and the personal advancement of candidates. Both parties have failed completely to deal with these problems in Washington and will continue to fail until the public becomes educated enough to demand specific remedies. Ideology is a lazy, deadly distraction but it’s what Seven Days and much of the media too often sell. It’s late in the game for this. Dr. C. Ian Robertson WOLCOTT
PHONEY BALONEY What’s this baloney about comic Al Franken being a humorist of what your recent front page touted as “the Left?” [“Franken Earnest,” April 16]. Since when has ideologue Franken been on the Left? Franken is a prominent Democratic Party supporter (adoring fornicating former President Clinton as a “wonderful” president), and, as Dem National Chairman Howard Dean will be quick to tell you, the Democratic Party is centrist, not leftist. As such, the Dems are the second party of
corporate imperialism, dedicated to exploiting the workers of the world and funneling profits into the coffers of Exxon/Mobil, Halliburton, et al. That is what “centrism” is all about . . . being “responsible” to the maximum profit demands of the “free market” (cases in point being Clinton’s and Senator Patrick Leahy’s ardent support for GATT and NAFTA). Other phony balonies who have been touted as “Leftists” are filmmaker Michael Moore and TV personality Bill Maher. However, they
exposed themselves as mere centrists when they literally begged Ralph Nader — on bended knees! — to bow out of the 2004 presidential race in favor of their capitalist, imperialist champion, John Kerry. Real leftists are always glad to see a famous personality expose the posturing of Democratic and Republican politicians as “alternatives” to the “opposite” party. E. George “Peskunck” Larrabee WOODBURY
CODE RED I would like to thank Seven Days for your May 3 article on Burlington’s code enforcement officers [“The Enforcers,” May 3]. The article ends with the statement, “Sure makes him sound a lot like a cop.” There are, however, important differences between these code officers and cops. The police are bound by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. Police cannot enter the homes of citizens and search for evidence of illegal activity without a warrant. That warrant cannot be issued without probable cause that involves a legitimate suspicion of wrongdoing. Somehow these code officers are given free rein to conduct
an annual search of the homes of every renting citizen in Burlington without the slightest reason to suspect that the vast majority of us are engaged in illegal activity. In spite of the rhetoric, these officers are not champions of the rights of tenants. Searches should be restricted to those taking place when the property is un-rented, at the request of the tenant or (arguably) landlord, when evidence of wrongdoing is present from public areas such as the street, sidewalk, or green space or from adjacent properties, or when confirmation of repair of a past violation is needed. Our rights as Americans are continually being eroded. In recent years, the federal government has weakened the fourth through eighth amendments with activities ranging from warrantless wiretapping, expansion of eminent domain, and holding of individuals without parole. It’s important to bear in mind that we’re also allowing the local government to strip away these same rights. Ryan W. Norris BURLINGTON
CORRECTION: Last week’s story about the “Homey and Hip” show at the Shelburne Museum erroneously stated that pioneering furniture makers Hans and Florence Knoll fled Nazi Germany together. In fact, Hans left Germany in 1938; Florence was born in the U.S. They met in Michigan. We apologize for the misinformation.
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