Dog for dinner

[Re: “The Healthy hound,” People, Nov. 13] While it’s all well and good for our pampered pets to get the best in nutrition and taste, does it not strike anyone else as odd that we as a society devote so much attention to the well-being of our animals?

As the economy spirals downward and more and more people lose their jobs, the poverty rate can only go up. Followed by the homeless rate. Followed by humans who are not eating healthily—or in fact not eating at all.

If you ask me, Rover and Kitty should be satisfied with the food they already have. In fact, they should be happy they are not food themselves.

Dog, after all, is considered fine eating in many parts of the world. And the way things are going, the healthy hound may soon become the cooked goose.

>> Charles Smythe

No Obamawammah

[Re: “People’s present,” News, Nov. 13] So the Mirror gives Howard Zinn space to expound on his far-left radical point of view. Damn, you lefties are never satisfied. Your saviour/messiah Obama has been elected, you think you would be happy now.

But no, Zinn says Obama is part of the evil empire too. What a load of crap. Dangerous men like Zinn and his ilk will not rest until American democracy and freedoms are gone for good and replaced with Marxism.

Down here, we are buying guns—if you had any brains, you Canadians would be buying guns too. Oh wait, I forgot, you are all afraid of guns. Bunch of pussies.

>>F. Green, USA

Searching for
shock value?

[Re: “Banging for big bucks,” Cover, Nov. 6] For a feature news story, Chris Barry’s interview with former New York call girl Natalie McLennan was an embarrassment. Some not-so highlights:

“How does it feel to just be giving it away now?”

“If you had a hot-looking daughter, might you recommend a career in whoring to her?”

And the one I had to re-read to believe: “Did you have a preferred sex act with clients?” Cue the Beavis and Butt-head laugh track

Yeesh. When did Chris Barry regress into his 14-year-old self? And will he ever return to the adult world? Yes, Ms. McLennan was involved in a high-profile scandal and escaped (it seems) unharmed, with a story to tell.

Pretty interesting subject in and of itself, mais non? Instead, Barry drags the interview around in adolescent circles in search of shock value, getting off on saying the word “whore” again and again just because he’s allowed to under the guise of journalism.

>> A. Dahan

Tabloid language

[Re: “Contempt for call girls?” Letters, Nov. 13] In response to letter-writer Bernice Davidson’s comment, “Put aside the fact that she had to suck dick for so long to get her book deal.”

If you object to tabloid-type journalism, then perhaps express yourself in less tabloid-like language. Sentences such as the one quoted reveal more of their author than they do the subject.

>>David Mills

Boo boobtown

[Re: “Welcome to boobtown,” Front, News, Oct. 9] Who would have thought that breastfeeding could become a spectator sport? Or that something so natural couldn’t survive without solidarity to inspire it and circuses in which to enact it?

It’s as if no one can imagine a time when that unregulated bond between mothers and infants was enhanced by privacy or modesty—which is what our more tender instincts deserve.

>> L.S. Cattarini

Clean like Toronto

[Re: “Latrine lament,” Letters, Oct. 9] In the early 1960s, when the metro was in the planning stage, the question of installing washroom facilities in stations arose, and the advice of operators of the larger systems elsewhere was solicited.

As I recall, the opinion of these authorities was that where such facilities existed they were a constant source of trouble, and that Montreal would be well advised not to provide such facilities.

It should be noted that Toronto has also heeded this sage advice.

>> C.E. Elliott

CORRECTION: In our Nov. 13 story about Gamma3D, the photo caption misnamed one of the artists who helped create Paper Moon. The correct spelling is Adam Saltsman, not Sattsman.

WE WELCOME LETTERS TO THE EDITOR!