letters

Jan. 23, 2011

Under attack
My friends, family, and every Traverse City resident who are
respectfully requesting their “right to vote” are paying a terrible
price while asking for one of our country‘s most valued gifts, a vote.
In response to our opposition, we are called haters, homophobes, and
worst of all; we are being associated with Fred Phelps Jr., one of the
most despised human beings in the country.
Traverse City citizens are not paid elected officials, we simply pay
the bills. I think it is time for those in government who know your
fellow citizens are no threat to our public officials (and) are not
haters. They should realize by now that we have a constitutional right
to disagree with a city ordinance without being attacked by the very
people we elected to protect us.

Paul James Nepote • TC

Back on the beat
Concerning the reinstatement of Grand Traverse County deputies Mark
Noffke and Robert Sillers, let’s move on to other issues. This is not
the 19th century when there were such antiquated concepts as honor,
morality and ethics. This is the 21st century.

Thomas Massey • TC

Expects more from radio
What is the role of a community college?
While the current definition of a college remains as an infrastructure
of learning, the end result of any degree program is still based upon
the masterful completion of the thesis: a position or proposition that
a person (as a candidate for scholastic honors) advances and offers to
maintain by argument.
Let’s imagine for a moment that a community college actually plays
host for argument. Should not the college‘s radio station, maintain
the same exchange of ideas, consistent with the community as a whole?
Not so much with WNMC, especially on Friday mornings.
Friday morning showcases “an astronomer‘s guide” to the U.S and world
economy, U.S. politics, religion, U.S. agriculture, energy, global
warming, and most recently man-made disasters.
No doubt the astronomer is a smart guy but his passion gives way to
inaccuracies (welcome to the human family); most recent was his
statement that the “Deepwater Horizon was the worst oil spill in
history.”
No so according to Forbes.com but his dissertation was used as a not
so brilliant parlay to blame the previous administration.
To make a short story long here, WNMC provides no mechanism for
argument, rebuttal, or opposing expert opinion.
As a former student, I expect more from my college radio station to
represent me as part of the community.

Robert William Hanchett
via email

The disgruntled left
Is the Northern Express alternative media or mainstream press?
Despite the obvious imitation, it ain’t no Metro Times and Stephen
Tuttle ain’t no Jack Lessenberry.
Tuttle contends that Obama is being forced to move toward the middle
without indicating who is forcing him. (Furthermore, I would say that
Obama is moving from the center toward the center-right.) This
apparently is the region of the political spectrum Tuttle finds most
comfortable and from which he derogates others. He refers to the
“delusional left” (by which he apparently means progressive liberals)
and equates them with the right-wing because they are greatly troubled
by the President’s lack of strong progressive stands. These
progressives are important because they were among Obama’s most
adamant and active supporters - his base. To call them delusional is
not only insulting, it’s absurd.
Tuttle could not have been referring to the actual left since they,
for the most part, have long since resigned themselves to the fact
that the Democratic Party is essentially a centerist party answering
to large corporate interests. They have come to expect that both
parties are answerable to the corporate oligarchy and plutocracy that
runs the country. Those on the real left were skeptical of Obama’s
campaign rhetoric from the outset.
Tuttle chooses to blame Obama’s lack of progressive policy on
Congress, but in fact both houses had Democratic majorities and the
House of Representatives majority was often more progressive than the
President.
Tuttle might also have noted that the civil liberties groups are quite
unhappy with the president and his attorney general, as are many in
the “black community” as well as many of the unemployed who expected
greater effort from government to stimulate and create jobs.
Something more akin to the New Deal.

Terence M. Collins • Warren


READINGS:

How to turn your hobbies into a career, by Frank Hyman, a sculptor,
stonemason, gardener, writer and city councilman, in the 1/9/2011 New
York Times:

“... be aware of the ‘90 percent rule.‘ That means that for
‘glamourous‘ professions like sports, art, entertainment and, yes,
writing, about 90 percent of the people who try to make a living that
way never make a red cent. About 9 percent might make some money in
their field, and 1 percent or less are able to make some kind of
living, and probably not a glamourous one.
I couldn‘t -- and given my temperment, probably wouldn‘t want to --
make a living from only one of my callings...“