Wake up, America
Re: “Sugarcoating Reagan“
03/12/01

I am aghast that the American public could be so ignorant as to think that Reagan was the greatest of all presidents.

We need to show to the more thoughtful denizens of the Christian right the truth: Reagan ushered in an age of the most brutal materialism. Indeed, Reaganomics is the biggest cause of our numerous social ills. We need to describe how supply-side economics failed to do what the right claims it did: increase national revenues.

We also need to be able to point out his murderous policies in Latin America. He is much closer to a war criminal than the genial “Gipper” Americans have been brain-washed to love.

Ronald Jenkins

The military’s dangerous toys
Re: “Killing Me Softly“
03/12/01

What will it take to curb the cost and development of these kinds of weapons — new toys for the military — and prohibit their use against US Citizens? I think the Pentagon has too much money to spend.

It’s gross that they can experiment with these weapons without our knowledge or permission and there is nothing we can do about it.

Helen Copitka

Mojo’s biased 400
Re: “The Mother Jones 400“
03/11/01

I was fascinated by the creative writing exercise that is the Mother Jones 400.

As just one example, in describing Bush’s decision to forego campaign matching funds and the resulting limitations during the primary phase, Bates says Bush “instead turned to a relatively small group of corporate owners and executives eager to buy shares in his start-up venture.” Well, what about the more than 300,000 Americans who contributed donations of less than $1,000 each in “hard money.” All of those donations were in compliance with campaign finance rules and quickly posted to the Web site. Some grouping of corporate owners and executives these!

But of course, Bates could neither print the plain truth nor accurately describe the process by which then-Governor George W. Bush raised some $100 million in lawful contributions. That would destroy the premise and prevailing bias of your article and agenda! So instead we have your usual distorted reporting, combined with artfully perverting, beyond all recognition, the description of the process used to raise a small portion of the $100 million total in contributions.

Speaking as one non-wealthy, retired senior citizen, I and my wife were proud donors to that phase of the Bush campaign fund raising effort — and we neither sought nor expected “to buy shares in his start-up venture.”

I am much less eager to waste my time reading the slop you purvey as opinion and news pieces; my periodic checks of your propaganda rag serve merely to confirm your persistence and to verify that any manner of trash can be published in our wonderful free country.

Do give Eric Bates my congratulations on his artful use of the language to distort and mangle the truth — stopping as he did just millimeters short ofÊresorting to the use of outright lies.

Jerry Dunn
Greenville, S.C.

Regan’s deserved recognition
Re: “Sugarcoating Reagan“
03/11/01

Does it not seem appropriate that the Navy would name an aircraft carrier after the president responsible for rebuilding the military after its collapse under the Carter administration? Remember, Carter’s administration could not rescue hostages from Iran because our military was too weak and could not afford training. The only thing we could do was tie a bunch of yellow ribbons around trees and hope the bad guys would let them go.

Do you like your freedom? Well, you got it courtesy of the military — men and women who have fought and will fight and die to keep our prosperity and freedom alive.

President Reagan rebuilt our military to maintain our freedom. He also provided stimulus to the economy, where an individual can achieve based on his own merits.

Scott Dunn