Ryan Larkin rings in

My name is Ryan Larkin. I'm trying to reach Rick Trembles. I want to thank him for doing a beautiful cartoon of me [Motion Picture Purgatory, Feb. 24]. And our interview. Which came out yesterday, Thursday.

Now. He knows how to reach me. And I would like to thank him personally, if this is fucking possible. Thank-you.

» Ryan Larkin, via telephone Massachusetts

Going ballistic

Here we go again with the ballistic missile defence debate [Angel, "Saying no to the missile shield," Dec. 9]. Now we'll start to hear about Paul Martin's "lack of leadership/fortitude," usually meaning his failure to capitulate to Bush's bullying. Of course, he did capitulate - witness his conciliatory crazy-talk and mad money for "security." He caved in to the trickle-up scam of militarization and "defence" through expensive offensive toys. He just didn't do it quickly and completely enough for Bu'ush party loyalists.

Here's an idea for those concerned about security: let's stop arming and training killers and then double-crossing them. Let's stop propping up Talibans, Saddams, al-Qaedas and Latortues to help bleed their countries, and then bombing their countries to hell when it's time for a new puppet regime. This is, they tell me, simplistic and idealistic.

Apparently, the sophisticated, intelligent plan is to pour more money into the kinds of strategies that 9/11 proved useless. Apparently, the clear-eyed grown-up plan is to follow Bush's clique into the kind of violence-worship that has succeeded in making Iraq even less safe for everyone except huge corporations and their cronies, and in increasing - as predicted - the number and motivation of terrorists.

» Aaron Ricker Parks

Maitreya vs Jesus

Regarding the People column on Share International representative Martin Payette [Feb. 24]: I'm only 28 and have been doing meditation and volunteer work with this group for over eight years. I just wanted to say thanks for portraying Martin with humour and intelligence.

Nice!

» Sébastien Chagnon-Jean

Maitreya is an Antichrist and Benjamin Creme is a false prophet. Jesus is the only way.

» Gary Desjardins

Props to the pond

Sarah Musgrave's story last week on the World Pond Hockey Championships was more refreshing than six beers ["Shiver 'n' shinny," Feb. 24].

I just can't believe how spoiled the NHL is, the whole lot of them - the players, the owners and whoever else it is who wouldn't even shovel the snow off an old lady's sidewalk for less than a few hundred Gs.

The day they traded Gretzky to the Kings, hockey sold its soul to the greenback, as far as I'm concerned. Then they hired Gary Bettman from the NBA and look where he's at now: on one side of a bargaining table that's somehow gotten longer than a European-size rink. You know, the ones where all the NHL players went to high-stick and whine for the winter.

So cheers to the boys with guts who came from all over the country and around the world to play hockey in Timber Rock, New Brunswick, just for the love of it. They proved that hockey is for regular people who don't need seven-truck garages. With spirit like this we could start a whole new league without teams in places where they call the sport "ice hockey" and it never snows.

I'm also happy that the article was written by a woman.

» Lenny williams

Legion poster censorship?

Regarding "History lesson" [Letters, Feb. 17], by one Helen Shapiro. Please forgive me. I hang my head in shame. You are right. Claude Ryan was never the Premier of Quebec. He was the Minister of Education in, I do believe, Robert Bourassa's Liberal government. In this capacity, during his term, he did not want the children to be exposed to posters from the Canadian Legion. Might do something to them he did not want. Did he have any knowledge of WWII? Only what he read in the papers. He was not in it. Oui ou non? Merci.

» John C. Underwood

Gifts with spunk

I was most heartened by the letter in Sasha's column, from the kind boyfriend who wanted to gift his girlfriend with a glass full of his ejaculate ["Cup o' cum," Feb. 17]. And I thought that my man gave me some shit presents, but at least I only have to wear them.

I'm relieved that Christmas is over and that your publication isn't giving him any festive ideas.

» Louise Gardner

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