My LTE responding to freeper

[lilymidnite]

In this morning's Salt Lake Tribune there was a letter saying that much of the tragedy of NO could have been averted is those darn poor people had just owned a car. Here's the link:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3041764

Here's my letter to editor in response. Let's hope it gets published.


Jim Elwell's Public Forum letter on September 19 is an example of the most arrogant 'let them eat cake' attitude I have seen in a while. In it he opines that the people living in poverty in New Orleans should buy a car and not be "dependent on government transportation". It doesn't take a genius to do the math. The cost for owning a modest, reasonably-reliable, fuel-efficient car works out to over $500 a month. This includes a modest payment, insurance, tax/license, and gas/oil. That doesn't take into account that there may be much higher insurance premiums for living in an "impoverished" area or extra money to keep an older car running.

For you and me: warm, dry, healthy, and fortunate, this may be relatively easy. But, for a person earning $7 an hour (an average low-income wage) this is more than a week's wages.

The purpose of some of our taxes should be to give a helping hand to people not benefitted by opportunity or health. The purpose of our leaders (whom we pay with our taxes) should be to foster enlightened funding and planning to replace our heavy dependence upon the internal-combustion engine.

Liberal? Me? You bet, it's a label I wear with pride.

[wryter2000]

1. Cool

Have you sent it yet? There's one punctuation error. A period always goes inside quotes. So, it should be ...transportation." rather than ...transportation".

[lilymidnite]

6. Yes, I've sent

... I've worked too long writing SQL, ksh, and csh scripts, obviously.

They'll fix according to their manual of style.

Lilymidnite

[wryter2000]

11. It won't matter

They won't reject your LTTE because of one teeny-tiny error. They may not even notice.

[Another Bill C.]

2. Week's wages

Actually, at $7.00/hr, it's closer to two weeks' wages or 1/2 of their income.

Nice letter.

[lildreamer316]

4. I will never forget working for that kind of money.

I don't think being completly broke ever leaves you, does it? Not me.

[liberal N proud]

9. I remember using my last dollar to pay a dept I owed

Not knowing where the next one would come.
Something that too many people have experienced.

I don't think it ever leaves those with true conscience.

[hfojvt]

17. I have worked for less than that

but I have never been completely broke. I still collect cans at work though, and on the street. Part of that is from a lifetime of scrimping and saving, but I decided about a dozen years back that it wasn't about the meager amount of money. It is about the benefits of recycling and also having streets with a little bit less trash on them.

[LostinVA]

18. No -- I still make very little

But I make enough not to be scared... and I know you know that pit-in-the-stomach feeling I'm talking about....

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. KICK!

And a point you didn't mention (probably not the time to mention it) is that you don't NEED a car in a big city. If all those folks had had cars it probably would have bottlenecked every exit.

[bigbrother05]

5. Streetcar named Desire

was written (I think) in the 50's, those simpler, halcyon days so admired by this crowd. If it made sense to have public transport in that city during that up-by-your-bootstraps era, why would a freeper criticize Ike? He must hate America!

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. Nominated. Good letter.

[karlrschneider]

8. I see the fundy mor(m)on is spewing the "2000 buses" lie

:grr:

[raccoon]

10. Great response. I hope it gets printed. nt

[calmblueocean]

12. I almost couldn't read that article

...because your summary of it made me boil.

But I did. Two things stood out to me. First, this quote:

"Be responsible for your own safety, because you cannot depend on the government during a crisis."

This just infuriates me. Instead of taking FEMA and especially Bush himself to task for betraying the trust the American people have placed in him, and for failing to live up to *his* personal responsibility, he puts the blame on the freaking poor, the elderly, the sick, the homeless. It just makes me so angry to read that, and know that this chucklehead will probably never be educated, and he'll go through his whole life spewing crap like this.

Maybe you can't depend on Bush's government in a crisis, but you know what? You ought to be able to. Why is it conservatives always seem so surprised that people who hate government aren't any good at governing?

Second thing that stood out:

"If the billions we spend on mass transit (transit used by only a fraction of the population) were instead spent improving roads and helping the poor obtain automobiles, then fewer people would die during such catastrophes. And, as an added benefit, we would be giving the poor one of the most important keys to getting out of poverty, an automobile."

a) If the goal is "fewer people dying during catastrophes", then let's adequately fund our disaster prevention programs and staff them with professionals, not incompetent college cronies. Couldn't help but notice how he left out that tidbit.

b) So is this guy *really* supporting a government program to help poor people buy and maintain cars? To help them pay for gas and auto repairs? *Pffffffft* You know if someone tried, he'd be the first one writing letters to the editor about how he shouldn't be forced to subsidize someone else's car payment.

Argh. Conservative logic drives me up a wall.

Thanks for writing that LTTE. Hope they print it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. You get a gold foil star and your choice of scratch n sniff stickers. *g*

Well done!

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Good job!

It's easy to be a Sunday Armchair Quarterback, and you called him on that.
:toast:

[ET Awful]

15. Of course there's also the issue that in many if not most cities, public

transportation is the primary mode of transportation for a large chunk of the population, both poor and not so poor.

In Manhattan, there are people who make 6 figure incomes that don't own cars. Why? Because when you combine the cost of parking a car in a city with the inconvenience of driving in city traffic, public transporation is more cost effective and quicker in many cases.

Hell, the first 4 years I lived in Boston I drove my car maybe once a month, if that. There was no need.

What would the same freeper say to wealthy Manhattanites who couldn't leave the city due to public transporation being shut down?

[bertha katzenengel]

16. So he thinks the gov't is going to help the poor buy cars? What a joke.

This guy is out of touch with reality.

Besides: did any of us actually believe he MEANS that proposal? I see it as a lame attempt to deflect criticism of his letter.

:eyes: