|
Letters
to the Editor
FTP
makes Flagstaff special
Two
weeks ago I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time and I stayed
over at Flagstaff with my parents (yes, as a common tourist). While
having breakfast at a diner in downtown Flagstaff the title of your
paper caught my eye and I read it cover to cover in the motel. This
must be one of those progressive small towns I've heard so much
about
but never seen. I mean, Arizona?! I have always felt that small
American towns sit on a foundation of white supremacy and nativist
populism... but Flagstaff felt different. Your paper doesn't just
cover the "safe" progressive issues like environmentalism,
but it addressed
class
inequality, globalization, social justice, gender, and even a little
on race.
What's
especially a treat was the article on the Flagstaff Neighborhood
Notes, your alternative currency. I've read about community cash for
years. But to see a
town with a thriving local currency was worth all those hours on the
road through the high desert in the hot sun coming from California.
My
question: can I possibly buy a "One-Hour" note from you?
It will be framed in my living room as a reminder that an
alternative economy is possible, and that the town where this
economy is being practiced indeed exists, that I have seen it. I
will not circulate that one-hour note here in California or anywhere
else. I'm only afraid
that I would
be
keeping an "Hour" from being circulated in its own
community. Could you
please let me know if and how I can purchase a note?
Thank
you for the great work you do!
Wei-min
(Brian) Chiu
Tea Party
sets good example
Usually when I
read your paper, I see a reflection of the thoughts, feelings, and
ideas I have long had, but was unable to articulate to my
satisfaction.
Not only do
your articles – laced with poetry, art, and hopeful overtones –
refresh my mind, but so does the criticism it invites. The resulting
debates, when lacking hostility, are interesting. There are at least
two sides to every issue, and I think FTP provides contesting
perspective quite well.
Only by
considering numerous opinions can we fully understand our own. If we
lack this understanding of ourselves, consequent insecurity
increases the likelihood of panic under pressure. That’s when
fists clench, triggers are pulled and big red buttons are pushed.
People like you
remind me to exhibit patience, open ears and eye contact in my
serial conduct. You guys have guts; it is apparent you are willing
to fall on your knees after verbal assaults, gather new material,
and rise again.
If you acted
like the almighty righteous ones, or pretended that your critics are
fanatic lunatics, the flames of resentment you’d fan would grow
large enough to hit you too hard to allow your recovery.
Post- Sept. 11
America should follow FTP’s mission. I don’t want to have
ignorance bring this wonderful country to an end, and that’s what
makes me a patriot. That’s
why I find solace in reading FTP.
I truly hope
you all keep up the eloquent, insightful and creative work, whether
it be with the FTP or another progressive project.
Nycholas
Hansen
Flagstaff
‘Rant’
about Delaware absurd
As
a progressive, and old leftist myself, I was very disappointed to
read (Tea Party Publisher) Lisa Rayner’s diatribe on
incorporating in Delaware. Spreading half-truths and innuendoes do a
disservice to the cause as they generally result in the dismissal of
one’s entire argument. So it is with Rayner's rants on Delaware.
First of all, corporations do not avoid taxes by incorporating in
Delaware except on income earned in Delaware. That doesn't make
Delaware any different than all of the other states that do not have
state corporate taxes, and all earnings remain subject to all
applicable federal taxes. How many of the companies on Lisa’s list
do their primary business in Delaware? Exactly none of them.
Yes,
there are a lot of reasons people incorporate in Delaware; a single
individual can hold all corporate offices, incorporating fees are
very low and bureaucratic red tape is minimal to name a few —
that’s why many small entrepreneurial companies incorporate there.
As for the larger publicly traded corporations, they seek Delaware's
corporate friendly state laws as they pertain to litigation with
shareholders, but all remain subject to the regulations of the
Securities and Exchange Commission (including full disclosure of
ownership and sources of income) as well as the entire body of
federal law governing corporations which holds precedence over any
and all state law.
I could go on and
on with the misleading statements therein but suffice it to say that
“(t)he big reason for corporations to incorporate in the state of
Delaware is to avoid taxes.” is patently absurd on its face.
If we want to talk about the outrageous corporate behavior of
exploitation of labor, the environment and even shareholders, etc.,
fine, let's stay on point, but making a “Boogie Man” argument
that Delaware is some kind of unique tax haven for corporations is a
distraction at best, and at worst, reduces the credibility of the
movement's broader and more relevant arguments. The least you can do
is not relegate us to obscurity with absurdities — leave that
domain to the far right!
Steve
Bennett
Redwood City, Calif.
Lisa Rayner replies: Delaware is indeed a tax haven for
corporations. By incorporating in the state, corporations are able
to reduce or escape their state corporate taxes in other
states. That’s why so many corporations shift their financial
assets and intellectual property into Delaware subsidiaries —
specifically so they can escape state taxes elsewhere. Other states
with similarly lax corporate laws have often modeled their laws on
Delaware precedents. Much of U.S. corporate law exists at the state,
not federal level. Many corporate court cases are thus handled at
the state level. It is well known that that much of the
resulting corporate common law is decided by a handful of conservative
Delaware judges. My article makes no contention that corporations
avoid federal laws or taxes by incorporating in Delaware —
that's what the Cayman Islands are for.
Read
Lisa's article "The Delaware connection" by
clicking here.
Go directly to "The Lawyer's Guide to Delaware" at www.hg.org/guide-delaware.html.
Sponsors
make gay-pride fest a drag
Relatively
new to Flagstaff, I turned up for "Pride in the Pines"
festival eagerly, but with few expectations.
It has been a while since I have attended a large-scale GLBT
pride celebration, where I usually feel very lost in the crowd.
I hoped that Flagstaff’s GLB(T?) pride would be a smaller,
much more organic production. Perhaps
that is why I was so taken a-back by the Bud Light clad drag queens,
the corporate logos in rainbow colors, and the general absence of
original entertainment. This cookie-cutter kind of pride I have
certainly seen before. When it does not turn my stomach, it bores me
to tears. As it does most of my friends. "Wait, let’s walk
around again." One of them said, "This cannot be all there
is." But it was. We had accepted the $5 entrance fee in the
belief that our money was truly supporting a community vision of
celebrating who we are and creating greater visibility. What we
learned instead was that we’d paid for a non-local Brittany
Spears-look-alike to perform cover songs for a sluggish audience
desperate to have some reason to talk to each other. When we
weren’t yawning about the performers we could shop. Or we could
eat. But that was it.
"Stop!"
I wanted to shout, "I’m sure you organizers meant well, but
there is another way to do this!"
In Portland, Ore., several years ago, I was a part of a group
of queer folks who were protesting the official Gay Pride Parade. We
were sick of glitzy floats with corporate logos passing by urging us
to "be yourselves and drink X soft drink!" We named it
simply, "The Dyke March" and put up flyers all over town.
Five hundred women showed up to march (or bike or dance or stilt
walk) through the streets the night before the big Pride Parade. We
had no corporate sponsorships. We were just women, marching together
with all our supporters, sharing our art, and celebrating who we
were. The "real" Pride Parade with its beer sponsorships
started to feel like a real drag (the bad kind of drag) compared to
the richness and unity we had found in not whoring our identity off
to the corporate dollar.
There are a hundred different ways
to make this celebration in Flagstaff more representative.
But my bet is that you have to get a wider breadth of the
community involved in the planning and you have to rethink corporate
sponsorships. Lets see some original music performed by local queers
(or supporters), some radical cheer leading, audience participation
theater, yes, even a sponsor-free zone! Call it the community art
corner. Local businesses could donate art supplies and artists could
help make space for the community to paint a mural or create a
sculpture —together. Then we might all start talking to each
other! Instead of
celebrating our diversity as consumers, how about embracing our
diversity as artists, healers, parents, professionals, and partners?
That makes me (and a lot of us) far more proud.
Heather
Springer
hspringer@bust.com
Flagstaff
Fee
Demo is like a fire on the land
While
everyone's busy firefighting, on the Mogollon Rim, in Colorado, and
in other hot-spots across the country, who has bothered to notice
one of the biggest conflagrations blazing nationwide?
I'm
referring to that spreading incendiary force that has come to be
dubbed the "Recreational Fee Demo Program” (known in Sedona
as the "Red Rock Pass"). In its current state, this is
supposed to be a pilot program in which those who planned it now act
to coerce and deceive the public into paying for the re-invented
privilege of accessing your own public heritage lands. And just who
started this ingenious program? Well, two "biggies"
definitely come to mind: Big Brother and the Bigger Business Bureau
— specifically, huge corporate conglomerates and their
recreational arsonists ... er, lobbyists.
Seeking
to snap up our lands (like the flames which lick the pine needles),
from under our very noses, then "gate it, bait it (with fee
machines and concessions), then charge us to recreate it," when
all we want, is for the wilderness to be left as it is.
This
explains why more than 30 groups from the Southwest gathered on June
15, along with more than 260 groups who gathered in other states, to
express their total disapproval of this insidious pass program being
foisted on our country. Calling together a "National Day of
Protest," supporters spoke, marched, waved signs, signed
petitions, took "pass optional" protest hikes, and in
general, urged others to "wake up and educate themselves!"
about this highly inflammatory issue. The protest in Sedona that I
attended, was a rousing success! Petitions will be sent to the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, letting Washington
know loudly and clearly, that "We pass on the Pass!”
Because
the enforcers (yes, your "friendly" local forest rangers)
of this fee demo program sense that it is not a popular program,
they have deceived and outright lied to the public, misrepresented
visitor counts and support for the pass system, and forced the
matter onto the public — illegally and unconstitutionally. As if
this were not enough evidence to stop the program immediately, out
of any paltry amount of fees collected so far, it is guaranteed that
virtually none of the fees will go toward wilderness stewardship.
Heck, all those fee machines have to be properly maintained and paid
for, folks. To heck with
the trees!
In
fact, the wilderness does not need a manager, or managing. Leave
well enough alone already! We surely aren't needing yet another
chain of theme parks. So, John and Jane Q. Public, while the rest of
the nation is burning, I strongly encourage you to wake up quickly,
and smell the smoke! “Ol’ Smokey and his friends higher up the
mountain in Washington, may be torching your national heritage ...
in more ways than one.
Lest
this "Big Bad Bear" turn on us, let's heed Ol’ Smokey's
advice: "Only you can prevent forest fires!" Likewise,
only you can stop this unconstitutional Recreational Fee Demo
Program from combusting into a "Towering Inferno" all over
our country.
Stephanie
Sweas
Verde
Valley
Editor’s
note: This letter has been substantially edited to conform to
the word-limit on letters
Environmentalists
are not the villain
It
is in instances like our current catastrophe that this kind of
propaganda (against environmentalists) being spread by our
government officials is the most effective, because citizens are
stressed and angry and looking for a single source to blame for
their misery. Making
environmentalists out to be the villain is standard procedure for
many politicians; it's time for people to open their eyes and their
minds that the service environmentalists really perform is
bringing balance to the arguments over the disposition of our
natural resources. If
not for their hard work and often heroic volunteer efforts, we
certainly wouldn't have forest fires because there would be no
trees. …
Forest
mismanagement has many perpetrators that most people don't want to
acknowledge, because they may have to own up some level of
participation and responsibility for the current state of affairs.
Primarily, we are most obviously in the midst of a severe
drought, and we are only recently understanding that our
longstanding policy of fire suppression has exacerbated the problem
and haven't yet turned the tide on that policy direction; hence, a
forest full of fuel in tinder dry conditions.
But environmentalists are sure not the ones standing in the
way of clearing out unhealthy growth — I don't know of any who
don't agree wholeheartedly with thinning the forests and keeping
them at the pinnacle of good health!
Certainly,
in this global atmosphere of hatred and intolerance that has already
caused so much tragedy for Americans and others around the world,
our top government officials are doing their constituents a grave
disservice by propagating more of the same in the midst of our own
disaster.
Amanda
Hafner
Snowflake
Show your
support for Walnut Canyon expansion
On Tuesday June 4, the Daily Sun
wrote a front page article with the headline "Walnut Canyon
Expansion Stalls." Where they got the idea that the process was
stalled is beyond me. The process is going along exactly as planned
at this point.
The headline underneath reads, "… ranchers, hunters, and
recreationists are opposed …" Later it said,
"Based on the turnout at that meeting, and reports from Victor
Daniels, a spokesman for US Rep. J.D. Hayworth…about calls to that
office — far more people are against expanding the monument than
support it."
Now I know where this came from. Not that I expect you to beat your
head against the wall and call J.D.'s office, but it sure would help
to have some more of the more conservation minded "recreationists"
show up at the meetings. The only person who spoke at the meeting
who did not identify himself as a hunter or rancher is a well-known
off-road rights person. He was the only one there representing the 'recreationists"
referred to by the Sun.
Please, if you believe that Walnut Canyon is a spiritual place that
deserves that the best protection that the U. S. government can give
it, please come to these meetings.
Please, if you love the Fisher Point area and don't want to see the
area destroyed by the huge numbers of people planned for the nearby
areas in the Regional Plan, please come to these meetings.
If you are one of us that believe that the Forest Service will trade
away their nearby lands when the new houses are built right up to
the Forest Service boundary, please come to these meetings.
If you are one of the many who believe that the if the Forest
does hold onto these lands, that they will begin to charge fees in
the very near future, please come to these meetings.
If you believe that the Walnut Canyon ecosystem should be managed in
a "preservation" mode, with no timber sales or other
extractive uses, please come to these meetings.
If you would like to see the area around Walnut Canyon treated
with respect and honor as close to "forever" as anyone can
promise, please come to these meetings.
The meetings are held the last Wednesday of July and August at 6
p.m. at the County Administration Building. Be prepared to speak out
in support of Walnut Canyon National Park!
Please come to as many of these meetings as you can. The folks
opposing the expansion are attending each and every one, over and
over.
Betsy McKellar
Friends of Walnut Canyon
Flagstaff
Bushes do
not have sex
The American
people should definitely not be concerned about the Bush
administration’s possible involvement in the Enron Episode, the
Florida Fiasco, the Halliburton Hiccup or anything else that comes
up. The reason is that
the Bush administration is, thankfully, not having sex.
Sex is the only
problem we need to worry about.
Sex and power. Sex and politics is dangerous. Sex kills brain
cells, distorts one’s world view, is revolutionary, anarchic, and
fundamentally destroying the Catholic Church.
As long as our
leaders — or at least the most important ones — remain celibate,
everything will be just fine.
Rev. Zelmo
Zartmann,
Flagstaff
|
