Letters From the Issue of Thursday, March 1, 2007

Got burned?: Thank you for stirring up hatred against patriotic Americans with your lying, slanted "profile" of me ("Burn, Baby, Burn!" Stephen Lemons, February 15). The power of the press to influence the ignorant is wonderfully illustrated by the hateful comments here.

This article no more reflects who I am than would a drive-by photo of me bending over, yet it purports to be in depth. Anything positive or good that I said to Steve Lemons, which would reflect well on me (85 percent of our conversations), never made it into print.

He lied like a rug on this one, making up things and emotions that never existed, overemphasizing everything he could for the purposes of making me look like a crackpot. My own friends couldn't even recognize me! If there's a Hell for yellow journalists like him, he'll be going there for his afterlife.
Laine Lawless, Mesa

Editor's note: There are no lies/fabrications in the article featuring Laine Lawless. We suggest that Ms. Lawless take a hard look in the mirror.

And your point would be . . .: Your article on Laine Lawless sucked, and my friends didn't like it. I hated it, and you made my friend, Laine, look like a fucking wacko. I hope you burn for that.

You don't even know how to fucking write, and I'm going to blackball New Times like there is no tomorrow. You made Laine look like a wacko for saying illegals are coming into this country and taking our jobs. The writer of this article is a fucking wacko himself.
Lisa Teel, Tempe

As long as you're not Xena-phobic, either: Our society is great because people are free to live independently, work unfettered and be as productive as they see fit. Illegal immigrants, in general, embody this spirit and capability more than Laine Lawless and her ilk.

The atrocity within the story on Lawless occurs when the author compares Lawless' rants to that of Libertarians. If the author understood what true Libertarians stood for, he might be shocked. The official party line on immigration is: "The Libertarian Party has long recognized the importance of allowing free and open immigration, understanding that this leads to a growing and more prosperous America. We condemn the xenophobic immigrant bashing that would build a wall around the United States. At the same time, we recognize that the right to enter the United States does not include the right to economic entitlements such as welfare. The freedom to immigrate is a freedom of opportunity, not a guarantee of a handout."

Why even worry about such semantics when the Libertarian Party is not competitive come election day? Because if we continue to vote blindly for no political philosophy, we encourage the likes of Lawless and our lackluster politicians to pontificate their hateful and shameless tirades.
Joe Illing, Tempe

Hey, buster, we have dental: Once again, your over-fluffed porno rag has taken a serious problem (no, not Joe Arpaio) and twisted it to fall into the petting lap of those who break our laws . . .

It could only be from a nonsense fish-wrapper such as yours that the opinions of natural-born citizens are nothing more than a comic strip for your inexperienced, Slurpee-sipping, unemployable-in-a-real-job staff writers to distort into a joke.

This state and this nation are being invaded by corrupt, violent, drug-running illegals, and if liberal baboons can't see the road in front of them, it is due, as always, to the fact that lazy idiots who stay in school forever haven't got a real clue about anything important.

Have any of your apartment-dwelling writers taken a bus ride to El Paso lately? We are a nation of immigrants. All Mexicans aren't the problem, but the ones that don't comprehend the law in this country should not be granted anything. This nation will not accept the continued grinding down of our basic living standards.

America will stand. Just keep pushing.
Name withheld by request

That's some hungry pathos: I found your article on Laine Lawless pretty entertaining. Lawless' takes on "illegals" make her seem like a paragon of virtue.

Personally, I have a conservative view toward immigration, and am able to discern between "legal" and "illegal" in my viewpoints. And, as I'd like to see the amount of illegal immigration curtailed, I find that Lawless and her friends are less concerned with actual issues of immigration than they are with power-mongering for the sake of feeding their own pathos.

It seems that Lawless simply likes to feel in control and powerful. Yet her power is an illusion.

Unfortunately, she has now found an audience, and is fueling race hatred and inciting civil unrest at the expense of society at large. I'm very concerned that a personality like hers is being given a platform and a voice, thereby validating her opinions in the eyes of some.
Name withheld by request

God hates flags: Why is it that New Times can't see that people like Laine Lawless are patriots whom we should all admire?