Letters to the Editor - A receipt? November 04 2004

Ken Edelstein’s piece on Diebold and Cathy Cox might have considered the question, “Would you run a business — say a weekly tabloid — without receipts?” (News & Views, “Is Diebold your buddy?” Oct. 28).

Secretary of State Cathy Cox was asked on “Nightline” if there was a way to conduct a re-count using the Diebold voting machines. She replied, “Not in the old-fashioned sense.” Old fashioned?! Is that like in the quaint old days where accounting procedures required receipts?

In support of the Diebold machines, Edelstein claims that the biggest gainers were groups who tend to vote Democratic. So how does that translate into a Republican governor and senator? I don’t think you could describe a smear campaign by a chicken hawk with big bucks (Chambliss) against a decorated, triple-amputee veteran (Cleland), as clean and simple — well, simple but clean? Cathy Cox could have purchased machines that printed receipts, how hard would that be? Lottery ticket machines give us one, and they’re pretty “new fashioned,” why not a machine at the heart of our Democracy?

--Tom Ferguson, Atlanta


br>?Ahead of the others
What a brilliant, well-stated article (Headcase, “Derrida and Dubya,” Oct. 21). Thank you very much. I am proud of Creative Loafing to be so far ahead of national papers.

-- Nader Rastegar, Atlanta


br>?Non automated, please
Mr. Kovach’s NRA-approved diatribe proposing that gun laws don’t pertain to criminals smacks of typical right-wing, black-and-white logic (Going Postal, “Don’t be green with envy,” Oct. 21). He seems to be arguing that gun laws are a waste of time and energy because outlaws ignore them. But, what about all the other laws on the books being broken on a daily basis, such as theft, burglary, embezzling, drug dealing, assault and armed robbery? Those laws have been on the books for hundreds of years, and criminals continue to ignore them, too.

Taking a step further, what about laws being broken daily by ordinary citizens, such as speed limits, cheating on taxes, adultery, drunk driving, etc.? Should these laws be repealed? After all, they are largely unenforceable, or simply not enforced due to lack of political will and law enforcement resources.

Would anarchy better serve civil society? Logic dictates that door locks are only for honest people. Crooks can defeat most door locks with relative ease, and they do it a lot. Should we quit bothering to lock our doors?

Mr. Kovach believes law-abiding citizens have a right to own automatic weapons: No citizen, law-abiding or otherwise, has any legitimate use for an automatic weapon. I think most people would agree that automatic weapons are akin to bombs, capable of killing many innocent bystanders in seconds (re: Columbine High School, etc). I consider them to be weapons of mass destruction (WMD). They’re obviously not for hunting or target practice, or for home security.

Burglars don’t like breaking and entering when the homeowner is present. If they intended for the homeowner to be present, the invaders would likely have some sort of plan to get the drop on the homeowner in case he brandishes a gun. Guns of any variety held for home protection are far more likely to cause injury or death to someone living in that home, often a child. The military and police are the only citizens who have a legitimate use for automatic weapons. The police need them largely because so many have already have fallen into the hands of criminals.

And lastly, there is the desirable and likely proposition that keeping automatic weapons out of the public domain would have the effect of making it far more difficult for criminals to obtain them. When the price is right, even reputable gun dealers will be tempted to skirt the law to put easy cash in their pockets.

Bi-partisan public opinion overwhelmingly supports an automatic weapons ban with teeth. Our lawmakers have Big Business as their first priority, and the flow of money often is enough to get them re-elected. Sure would be nice for us voters to remind them who they’re supposed to be working for. The only real access we get is in the voting booth.

-- Birney A. Montcalm, Douglasville


br>?It’s Michael Badnarik, Bob
Bob Barr: I just read your article in which you concluded with asking who the Libertarian candidate for president will be this election (Flanking Action, “An agonizing choice,” Oct. 7).

This left me with an even more infavorable impression of you.

I got very tired of voting against someone years ago. The Libertarian Party is certainly a mixed variety of many different points of view but the one overriding factor is the continuation of liberty and freedom as is seemingly unexpressed with either Democrats or Republicans these days. Your position on most of the issues I am aware of certainly seems reasonable and well thought-out. I feel I could converse and even argue with you as a man of mutual concern with myself.

Therefore I want to encourage you in your lifelong pursuit of freedom and liberty as embodied in the Constitution of this great county and the ideals and beliefs of the Libertarian Party.

-- Jim Wiggins, AtlantaHere’s a handy guide for readers and advertisers who want to get in touch with Creative Loafing. Most CL staffers can be reached by e-mailing their firstname.lastname@creativeloafing.com. For specific sections and departments, please see below for the proper contact. We prefer e-mail rather than phone calls because e-mail gives us something in writing that can be passed along to the right person.

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