Defending The Bird: I don't know how The Bird gets away with it. Why hasn't he been tarred (he's already got feathers, right?) for what he's said about illegal aliens? His "Dueling Mormons" article alone, I'm sure, drove the Mexican-haters around here completely crazy (Stephen Lemons, April 5).
I've noticed that whenever New Times writes about Mexican immigrants as if they were even human beings, the KKK crowd writes in to the paper with a vengeance. They may not be actual Klan members, but if they lived in an area where the Klan was prominent, that's what they'd be. They'd be out burning crosses in Mexican neighborhoods.
The Bird's point is: Illegals wouldn't be here if there wasn't work for them. And the people who employ the majority of them — the big development companies around here — are among the very ones who are putting people like George W. Bush and even Janet Napolitano in office. They are the ones who contribute to political campaigns.
My solution would be to put the owners of these big firms in prison if they employ illegals. That would stop the problem. Also, some sort of amnesty program needs to come about so that law-abiding, hard-working undocumented people can stay here.
What many of us forget: We all came here from other countries way back when. This is a nation of immigrants, and we need to somehow make Mexican immigration work. It's the most rational solution.
Sean Jackson, Phoenix
Hell, no, they wont go: The Bird's right that something rational must be done about illegal immigration, and that Jeff Flake might have the answer. Come on, rednecks, we can't just make them all go back to Mexico! They fucking won't go, and then what will we do about it?
I'm sure The Bird's foaming-at-the mouth detractors would suggest genocide, since concentration camps would cramp our tax coffers.
Paul Jaworsky, Tucson
A plea for amnesty: I agree with Congressman Jeff Flake, as reflected in The Bird's column, that we need to recognize that there are good, hard-working Mexicans among us whom we must allow to stay here and be good Americans.
But the part of his plan that won't work is the idea that all these Mexicans should be made to return to Mexico and re-enter to make it all legal. That will never happen. He needs to rethink this part of his plan.
It would be better to have mass amnesty for any Mexicans who've been here for five years and are gainfully employed. That way, those undocumented folks can be fully taxed and pay for the public services that they are using.
Millicent Smith, Phoenix
Bile over substance: What did "Dueling Mormons" have to do with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? I saw the article as an attempt to distinguish the views of two Arizona representatives on illegal immigration. I didn't even know that both Pearce and Flake are Mormon.
I think it's shameful that your organization would be so irresponsible to label an article as a fight between two authorities within a religion when the article has no such substance. I have no qualms with the article as it was written, but the title was a breach of any responsible writer's ethics.
The only reasoning that I can imagine behind this action is an attempt to hook readers who have enmity toward the Mormon church. I hope that isn't true because that would be pandering to intolerance, which I thought your paper was against.
Name withheld by request
Hatin´ on CPS
Pete on the hot seat: Robin Scoins has more caring in her little finger than the whole of Arizona Child Protective Services. The people who are trying to discredit her have no honor ("Public Enemy Number One," Sarah Fenske, March 22)!
To use power as a state legislator to silence anyone who opposes you (as Republican Representative Pete Hershberger has done) is corrupt, at best. There should be more press reports of CPS' failures and legislators' failure to do anything about them!
William Marro, Cottonwood
Satisfied customer: Robin Scoins and her group were a great source of support and hope during one of the most difficult times of my life. She never gave up on me and never let me give up fighting for what was right, the return of my daughter Kaylee. I truly believe that things would have ended different if Robin and her friends hadn't been there.
Mike Edwards, Piggot
Will the real lobbyist please stand up?: Maybe we, the people of Arizona, should rewrite the laws on what legislators can do. What Representative Hershberger did seems to be a conflict of interest. He should not be on that committee while accepting money from companies that directly benefit from his work. Who is the actual lobbyist here?
Ricky Gene Thompson, Cottonwood
Hidden Holocaust: I'm sick and tired of listening to Janet Napolitano praise civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. out of one side of her face while knowingly making a mockery of everything he stood for out of the other. I'm speaking about allowing Arizona's Child Protective Services to violate every Constitutional and civil right that low-income families have.
The civil rights that Martin Luther King and others fought so long and hard for are meaningless in the eyes of the current gubernatorial administration.
Everybody talks about how the National Security Agency/CIA violates our civil rights by listening in on our communications. But nobody is talking about Arizona's hidden Holocaust, the destruction of hundreds of good and innocent low-income families by Child Protective Services.
Name withheld by request
Frock ´n´ roll
'Zilla love: I loved your article on NunZilla ("Bad Habits," Niki D'Andrea, April 5). I've been to their shows, and I couldn't have been more entertained — even though I almost broke my arm partying. Things always get out of hand, and I love it!
NunZilla is a unique band, and I'm glad that New Times had the good sense to give it the props its members deserve. With cover stories like this one, I may start picking up New Times, or at least reading it regularly on the Internet again.
J.T. Moreno, Tempe
Talking nunsense: Thanks for the article on NunZilla. Finally something my stoner buddies and I can relate to. Getting high and hurling ourselves into other people while music is blasting. And we love the sacrilege of it all. Rock on!
Bill Williamson, Tempe
She knows punk!: Give me a break! I know punk, and NunZilla isn't punk. Total Chaos would crash on my living room floor when they still lived in their mamas' houses. This has no edge. Ergo, is not punk.
Got an idea for a new name (and gimmick) for you guys in NunZilla. Paul Shaeffer and the Housewives. Better fit. Y'all ain't even half sexy enough to pull off NunZilla. And Taryn: Digital Underground called. Humpty Hump wants his nose back.
Corina Perez, Memphis, Tennessee
Sign Language
One for the twirlers: I liked your article, and I own a sign business in California ("Sign Wars," Megan Irwin, March 29). Jim Torgeson is right. I have been to court in other states and won on the First Amendment.
How did Scottsdale come to decide that sign-holders are bad for the city? Did city officials even look into the impact they cause to the city, and is there an impact report or any official documents regarding this matter? Or did someone pay to have this law made? There is your real story.
I hope you see that this could even affect your business soon. Newspaper stands could be deemed an eyesore, too. The city might say they're unsafe because they reside exactly where the sign-holders do — on the public sidewalk.
Mike Maioriello, Los Angeles
Protecting aesthetics: It seems very clear to me that Jim Torgeson is interested in one thing and one thing only: the money in his pocket at the end of the day. He has hung his hat on the freedom-of-speech issue in an effort only to further his agenda, which is keeping the beautiful city of Scottsdale littered with signs while lining his own pockets.
Scottsdale has a right to protect its aesthetics — perhaps, more than a right but a responsibility to the taxpayers who reside there. And Torgeson doesn't operate only in Scottsdale but spreads his blight throughout other cities in the Valley.
It's interesting the way Torgeson has managed to get his name in the spotlight (gotta get that ego fix, you know), but even more interesting the way he has set up his business. Insulating him from potential liability by hiring people who then hire the sign walkers. All in all, if Torgeson wants to continue with his sign-walking business, let him do it in a city where the laws allow it. Get the message, Torgeson — go where you're wanted, or at least tolerated. In Scottsdale, you and your business are intolerable. Hopefully, other cities will adopt the same attitude.
Lance B. Richards, Chandler
