Meatpacking racket: Legal resident workers who are displaced by illegal alien workers ("Ground Meat," by Megan Feldman, April 5) can bring charges against their employer through the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) for conspiring to lower wages. Meatpacking used to be a very good-paying job with benefits and a union. A longtime friend of my husband's, who is retired from a meatpacking job, made more money than my husband, who is an electronics engineer! If our friend had to work now at meatpacking, he would not even have a job!
Employers and their lackeys, the corrupt politicians, have to be brought to account for this abuse of the American worker and the taxpayers who have to subsidize this cheap labor with social services. The proposed guest-worker amnesty will not remedy this situation, since it will provide an unending supply of taxpayer-subsidized cheap labor as those already here demand higher pay and benefits and are in turn displaced by new arrivals.
We American workers need to take our country back from the greedy merchants and the corrupt politicians.
Haydee Pavia
Laguna Woods, California
His Blowness
Ooey-gooey: Jim, anyone who has lived in Dallas a fair amount of time has probably had occasion at one time or another to enjoy the Blow experience ("Steve Blows," March 29). I'll never forget my first time. He had written a column about Michael Jordan. It was a gushy, sickly-sweet, gooey piece about "his Airness." Not that I have anything against Michael Jordan...any more than I have anything against Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth or Pele. My problem was that his article pretty much stated known facts about the man, something to the effect of, "Michael Jordan, in my own opinion, is a basketball God." I guess prior to Blow's column, this was in dispute. Thankfully, Steve helped resolve this dilemma. It was now official. No doubt the executives at Nike finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Insightful, revealing, perceptive, provocative, and informative are adjectives that will never be used to describe Steve Blow.
However, if you need someone to polish your apple, Blow's your man. The fact that he has remained at The Dallas Morning News these many years, without the benefit of any journalistic talent, bespeaks talents in other arenas. From his writings, they're not hard to fathom.
Reuben Owens
Atlanta
Ugly Image
Your problem: The image of black folks is always distorted on the Dallas Observer's front cover. Is this due to a software issue, a hardware issue or is it just the editor's issue?
Narcel Gerard Reedus
Assistant Professor of Film
University of Texas at Arlington
Um...
Beware the free concert: I just wanted to write and apologize first for the rude and utter disrespect to the writer who wrote the article on Panic ("Widespread Yawning," by Darryl Smyers, March 22). Although you did say some pretty harsh things about Panic, please don't let that be a reflection of all Panic fans. I feel you are entitled to your own opinion. I am also writing you this letter to let you know what you are getting yourself into with the free show. Last time Panic played a free show was in Athens, Georgia, in 1999, and more than 100,000 people attended, and this was in downtown Athens. So if you're planning on having this show in a measly parking lot, you might want to rethink your plan. Once again, my deepest apologies to the writer for some of the comments. Panic fans love their band and will go to great lengths to defend them.
Dean Parsons
Tallahassee, Florida
As if: It's amusing that you thought your April Fool's joke would be believed ("Panic Attack," by Jonanna Widner, March 29). I'm sure LOTS of people believed that Widespread would condescend to play at the Dallas Observer. It's really quite sad that people have to put down something that they don't understand, or even try to understand. Many of the accusations in your articles are baseless. I'm not going to call you a "piss-soaked turd loaf." I don't think that the people who did should have. Nonetheless, when false accusations and broad generalizations are made toward a large group, you can expect some hostility. Not to mention that stereotypes and generalizations are by definition indications of ignorance. I would hope in future articles that you would attempt to do some research, rather than just lighting a fuse in an attempt (albeit successful) to get readership.
Trevor Fuhrman
Denver
Avoid Dallas: Wow—it is sad that you don't have anything else better to write about than something you know nothing about, which is the band Widespread Panic. While I will admit some fans are extreme and cross the line, you sound like a defenseless child in chiming back with your petty little April Fool's joke. You fail to realize that by Widespread Panic playing in your city, it probably helped the area's economy and does a lot for the music scene there. Why don't you write about that instead of bashing something you don't even understand or care to? I hope the band does not play in your city anymore, because if you want to publish something negative about them in your paper, then they don't need to play for the city of Dallas.
Billy Clark
Atlanta
