Schneider nails it!
I am a 38-year-old male, and as far as humor goes, I'm literally an "anything goes" type of guy. The movie The Aristocrats that recently played at the Enzian did not offend me one bit. The general populous definitely felt differently. I was amused. However, I found Steve Schneider's satirical write-up `"Target-rich environment," Sept. 22` to be in very bad taste. Perhaps this is what he was going for. If so, he nailed it.
I am originally from Long Island and lost four high school buds in the 9/11 incident and the chaos that ensued really changed the lives of many of my relatives who are still up there. In my 38 short years, I have never seen the country more politically divided. In times such as these, we need to be reminded of what being American is and that the concept of "American Camaraderie" should be embraced rather than seen as a sick oxymoron. Your article went way too far in its display of bad taste and satirical comment based upon the suffering of our fellow townspeople.
These days, there are endless sources of humorous subjects for satirical writing. The subject of the murdering of our families is not one to be taken lightly and joked upon. Remember, your readers are diverse and from all over the country. You just never know whose dick you'll be stepping on.
Franco Natale, St. Cloud
We know our ass …
Of course, I knew, of all people, that you arty smarties at Orlando Weekly would know what art was, before it bit you in the ass! I was ecstatic when informed that a photo of my painting "If It Bit You" for Nude Nite was in the OW `Happytown, Sept. 22`. Thanks!
Harriet Duncan, Winter Park
McCollum not in the running
The Sept. 8 issue had a blurb about Bill McCollum making the rounds in preparation for another run for office. It was mentioned that he had made a guest appearance at a meeting of the Libertarian Party of Orange County. I invite the speakers for Orange County Party meetings, and I want to make I clear that Mr. McCollum in no way solicited a speaking engagement from us. I invited him. In response to questions about his future political intentions he said he had no immediate plans to run for office.
Vicki Kirkland, Orlando
In the scheme of things
Thank you for doing the article on Intelligent Design vs. Evolution `"Darwin was right! Or was he? Sept. 1`. I hope you will continue to follow and report on this issue as long as it continues to threaten to our public education. While my thoughts on this subject are firmly rooted on the scientific side, I found Mr. Staver to be the more articulate of your experts. I take issue, though, with some of his assertions:
1) Mr. Staver asserted that evolution can't be tested. Oh, really? Is evolution not demonstrated and observed every day in bacteriology labs? One grows a culture, introduces a toxin, and after a few hours or days, if the toxin doesn't kill the entire culture, we have a new strain that is resistant to that toxin. On a larger scale, the similarities between the skeletons of all mammals – and, for that matter, all vertebrates – must suggest sharing a common ancestor. Of course, while all this supports the idea that evolution happens, it does not address whether or not it is intelligently GUIDED.
2) Mr. Staver asks, "What is the harm in presenting these other theories? The harm that can be done by teaching pseudo-science has already been demonstrated in Russia with Lysenkoism. We also have limited time and resources. Therefore, it makes the most sense to spend our limited time presenting SCIENCE, which is well established and accepted. Since there is far more established science then we could ever hope to teach in K-12, we should limit the curricula to the fundamentals on which there is agreement. That evolution happens is such a subject. If "other theories" are to be taught at all, they should probably be limited to post-graduate or college-level elective courses.
Roger Werner, Orlando
