On Roxx in a hard place

I just read the "Post-porn plans" story [May 13]. Was it your intention to have people feel sorry for poor little Lara Roxx? Lara Roxx was once a stripper earning $400–$500 a day. Then she learned she could make more if she did the deed on film - up to $2,000 a week. To my understanding, if she hadn't contracted HIV, she would still be doing it - without condoms, might I add.

Making money, buying nice clothes, decorating her room and buying CDs while thinking nothing of it. Now she wants to raise AIDS awareness?! What was she doing last October when thousands of Canadians were walking in Ça Marche? Was she buying all her clothes every spring at the Farah Foundation designer sale? Has she ever heard of the Farah Foundation? Or any other AIDS awareness groups?

She wants to blame Darren James, who made the choice not to use a condom. For what? A few thousand dollars? There are so many people out there who are infected with HIV because they were in what they thought were trusting relationships, except their partners never told them they were HIV. Who deserve more sympathy than Lara Roxx. Unfortunately, they will never get it nor ask for it.

Those fags deserved it, right? Let's hope your story, Lara Roxx, sad as it is, gets through to many unfortunate little girls who want to be part of the porn industry. It doesn't pay! In any case, good luck and God bless you.

» HIV and Pissed

Green incentives

In your May 20 issue, you covered the Green Party's Laurier Benefit Cabaret, featuring In Word and Courtney Wing [The Front, "Greens seek cash"]. I just wanted to clarify that the $1.75 per vote per year that the Green Party will receive if we get over two per cent of the vote will not go directly to me or my riding, but to the Federal Green Party. This is very important to us because most parties have substantial budgets from corporate or union donations, while we have functioned for decades through volunteers who believe in our platform.

While the new legislation is good for the Greens, voting for the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP or Bloc will only divert more public funds to already publicly funded parties. The system is also set up to refund up to 75 per cent of every dollar given to a political party, but only if the donor is rich enough to pay taxes. This means not only do donors receive sponsorship-scandal-size favours from parties they donate to, but they also get a lot of their money back through public funds.

You don't have to do much research to figure out why voter turnout is so low. But with this new funding legislation, we're hoping that rather than not vote, some people will go out and vote Green - sending a message to Ottawa that not everyone supports the system in place.

» Dylan Perceval-Maxwell, Green Party Candidate,
Laurier Electoral District

Potholes and priorities

As a lifelong owner of cars, I've become increasingly alarmed at the way we cherish and kow-tow to our automobiles. The auto has established itself as a North American cultural icon, and is rapidly expanding itself worldwide, providing the globe with a melding force of a billion autos - over a quarter of which are located in the U.S. and Canada.

Toyota has taken over second spot next to GM; Daimler-Chrysler has brought together Germany and the U.S.; GM and Ford have invaded China; Korea's KIA has now melded with Honda and GM; and California now owns as many autos as its entire population - 32 million (also the population of Canada!).

As one reads your welcomed report ["Squeezing the Lemons," May 20], we also witness that insane Parc-Pine interchange and the frenzy and cost of pothole repair. Meanwhile, those lovely wooden stairs that graced our beautiful mountain have been removed with no apparent urgency for their replacement. Instead of hurried and expensive pothole repair, attention should be given to alternate means of bodily motivation - walking, hiking, skateboarding and bicycling. Running, however, has not gone out of style - you'd better sprint very hard if you want to get across the Parc-Pine interchange!

» Edward Abramic

Sleepy holler

Your Insect of the week [May 20] reports that over a third of workers under the age of 35 are highly stressed due to long working hours and shouldering excessive responsibilities. I'm not opposed to people voluntarily overworking because they're ambitious. But forcing people to overwork (as a condition of employment) can not only diminish productivity, but also pose serious safety risks.

One only has to see how many road accidents are caused every week by sleep-deprived drivers. Also, interns in hospitals often are made to work for more than 30 hours at a stretch - without any "real" sleep breaks. These overly fatigued interns are more likely to misdiagnose illnesses and prescribe the wrong medication or dosage (with sometimes-fatal consequences). Would you be willing to go under the knife if you knew beforehand that the surgeon was severely sleep-deprived? The public needs to know about these things. And more measures must be enacted to ensure doctors and surgeons are not severely overworked.

» Manish Patwari

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