Artvoice: Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly
Home Blogs Web Features Calendar Listings Artvoice TV Real Estate Classifieds Contact
Previous story: Free Will Astrology
Next story: Revisiting the Abortion Wars

Letters to Artvoice

PAT HART:

DESERTER OR RESISTER?

“Brave Hart” (Artvoice v5n10)is another example of a coward who blames others for his fears. As in the Vietnam War, these people will find lots of reasons for not doing their duty (like Bill Clinton did).

Perhaps the new conservative government of Canada will throw these vermin out and we can then lock them up.

J-E

Fort Worth, Texas

No doubt Mr. Hart served his country with courage and honor… but let’s take another look at what Mr. Hart has done. He raised his hand and swore an oath to our country. That may not mean much to some Americans these days; for me, it holds a deep commitment to one’s family and country to surrender our lives to defend Americans and America. These are more than just words. You make an oath to commit your heart and mind to defend our nation from enemies foreign and domestic. Mr. Hart can remember the day he raised his hand; no one lied to him about what it meant to become a member of the United States Army. No one placed a hot iron on his backside. He raised his hand and swore to defend and obey the orders of his commanders from the top down.

The name deserter really doesn’t fit Mr. Hart, after all he is a decorated Army sergeant. But what about his comrades who did go back? Where’s their sergeant, their squad leader? No one can disrespect the value Mr. Hart has for his life and family. No one can truly tell him what is in his heart. But we are in a state of war, we were attacked, Mr. Hart deserted. This war brings challenges and questions which would leave you doubt about why we’re there. It’s easy to blame President Bush for everything. But it takes a citizen of America, an American soldier, who knows and understands the reasons why we must fight. Deserter is what he is being called, and Mr. Hart seems very happy about what he has become. There is no badge of honor in being called a deserter. Well, you’re in Canada and not yet out of trouble. Be safe, young soldier.

Dario Gonzalez

As one who spent eight years living in exile because of my opposition to the Vietnam War, I know firsthand what the Hart family is just beginning to experience.

I know what it means to speak out for one’s beliefs only to be trashed by well meaning journalists. Peter Koch’s honest portrayal of the Hart’s story is superb.

Stories about people like Patrick engender a wide variety of responses. My parents were inundated with vicious phone calls, harassment and rocks through their front windows. They also received an outpouring of support from people across the country.

I hope that Buffalo’s peace community will stand with the Hart family. I am proud of our young men fighting for peace overseas in Canada. I am proud to call Patrick Hart my friend.

Bruce Beyer

Buffalo

Pat and Jill Hart are two of my dearest friends. I, like Jill, was an Army wife. She was and is all you wrote her to be. She was almost military herself, she was so involved in her husband’s career.

I met the Harts when my husband joined the Army in 2000. We were stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas and were soon best friends. The Harts stayed in touch with us after we left in 2001 to deploy to Europe. When I could not get in touch with them and did not hear from them, I knew something was wrong. I finally heard back from Jill. She wrote to me telling me to sit down and then informed me that Pat had gone AWOL. She also wrote that they would understand if we never spoke to them or wanted anything to do with them. She knew that I bleed red, white and blue and how strongly I feel about deserters.

I wrote back that I loved them and still do and that even though I am against deserters, I didn’t feel that Pat deserted my country. He deserted Iraq. I told her that I was glad he deserted, because now they would not have to worry about him coming home all fucked up like my husband is.

My husband came back from Iraq after a year’s deployment and would have returned there had he not decided against re-enlisting. I wanted him to stay in the Army but not at the expense of his livelihood and sanity, not to mention my own. Had he stayed in the Army he would have gone right back to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. I support his decision. My husband did not return from Iraq, somebody else came back in his body. He is not the same person and our lives have been hell since his return. Because of what I have seen happen to my husband, I am glad Pat chose not to support President Bush.

I support Pat and Jill Hart fully. I will be there for them if ever they need me. I was a loyal Bush supporter until this mess in Iraq. I feel we have no business there and the time my husband spent there ruined our lives. Sure, it may have helped some Iraqis’ lives, but why can’t they take care of themselves? If President Bush is so concerned about Iraq and its people, he needs to take his ass, his family and his children over there to ensure the Iraqi people’s rights and freedoms.

I pray every night that the Canadians will allow Pat and his family as well as others in the same situation to stay in their country as Canadian citizens. America keeps letting its people down due to the retard who is in charge. I just hope the Canadians take mercy on those of us who choose not to support President Bush and cannot come home. God bless Canada. God bless the Harts and all in their situation. And God bless President Bush and may God show him the right way to run our country.

Kim Runner

NOTHING DOING

I loved Bruce Jackson’s article, “Sweet Nothings” (“Casino Chronicles, Part 5,” Artvoice v5n10). Another big sweet nothing, of course, was the proposed new zoo in a badly polluted industrial tract in the Old First Ward, that would have left a yawning gap in Delaware Park. That, too, was touted as “a done deal,” but it was defeated by the tireless opposition of ordinary citizens throughout the community. We dodged a huge double bullet with that one.

But Jackson’s article makes the general case against the “build anything” argument better than anything else I’ve seen. The notion that something is always better than nothing—idiocy on its face—is a clueless mantra that we in the anti-casino movement encounter constantly. Henceforth I’m going to hand anyone who advances it a copy of the “Sweet Nothings” article.

Joel Rose

Buffalo

(The writer is co-chair of Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County, www.NoCasinoErie.org.)

Let me get this straight: the “Casino Chronicles” implies that a single casino complex in a 50-year-old, undeveloped area of town destroys all surrounding (nonexistent) businesses? Buffalo is not a one-horse town, it is not a 1970s decrepit Atlantic City, it is not a Detroit urban prarie. The casino is no longer considered the “silver bullet” it may have been considered 20 years ago. The casino is only a single piece of an exciting new downtown district, and I have yet to see how it will singlehandedly cause a make-or-break of this town. In fact, the potential for more restrictive US/Canada border restrictions will result in more visitors from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere who will stay on the US side. And, if Niagara Falls, New York remains true to its historical form, Buffalo will still be the only decent US option for visitors looking for shopping and entertainment more exciting than the Cave of the Winds or the casino hotel.

As far as this “sovereign nation” within the US issue being a concern, my reading of the compact between the parties indicates that it terminates after 14 years, unless both parties agree to a seven-year extension. We’ll still be waiting for our new US courthouse by the time the 3,000 new casino employees have earned and spent their $2.5 billion in income in the Buffalo area (on non-gambling items, by casino rules)—in addition to the tens of millions spent by non-local visitors on our regional assets.

And hey, if it all doesn’t work out in the first 14 years, we can shut it down and have another 36 years for NFTA and the Cobblestone District to come up with a new, better plan. In the meantime, we can just send the unspent money off to Casino Niagara, Seneca Niagara, Fort Erie, Batavia, OTB, Lotto, our local parish bingo, or just burn it up in our heavily taxed cigarettes.

Benjamin Pawlik

Texas

KEEPING KIDS STUPID

You are right in one respect—kids are graduating from high school without having the vaguest idea of where Poland or Korea are (“Getting a Grip,” Artvoice v5n10). It seems their geography teachers are too busy with political indoctrination to be bothered with teaching simple geography.

If someone played me the Bennish tape and told me it was from a spokesman from Hamas or North Korea, I would have no trouble believing it.

I assume from your article that you would have no problem with a high school geography teacher doing a 20-minute tirade about Bill Clinton transferring our missile technology to China. Or a 20-minute tirade about Carter and Clinton wiretapping Americans without a court order. Or a 20-minute tirade about the Clintons using FBI files to get back at their political enemies.

After all, these are all true and part of geopolitics.

Your comments about “ultra-right” and “reactionary talk-radio” are a bit enlightening. I don’t suppose you consider the New York Times to be “ultra-left,” do you? I didn’t think so.

I also notice you did not address the fact that Mr. Bennish went on about how wonderful communism is and how terrible capitalism is. Nor did you address the fact that Mr. Bennish is in a position of authority over malleable minds and has no business trumpeting his own personal political beliefs.

Be honest with yourself. Would you feel the same way if this was an “ultra-right reactionary” teacher imposing his “ultra-right reactionary” opinions on young impressionable minds?

I’d be willing to bet that you wouldn’t. And I’m also willing to bet that you can’t be honest enough with yourself to admit it.

David Russell

Pontiac, Michigan

Last Friday I attended a conference at UB designed to help college teachers improve their teaching skills. Among other things, we learned how to construct a syllabus engaging to students, encouraging them to develop higher level thinking skills rather than rote memorization of facts.

The syllabus used by Jay Bennish in his high school geography class is so perfect that I want to invite him to teach college students.

Or not. After all, if Bush has his way, we’ll soon have standardized testing at the college level. Then I will also spend my time prepping students for the test instead of teaching them to think. Or perhaps I will be joining Bennish in the unemployment line.

Sabrina L. Caine

Buffalo