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Larry Gabriel: Forget about those other cases written in the article "Fighting athlete abuse" (Dec. 30). Chris Henry (not Chris Brown) was killed when he fell out of the back of a moving vehicle being driven by the mother of his three kids.
There is a major problem here, because if Chris Henry had been driving and the mother of his kids fell out of that truck bed and he kept driving away, he would be in jail or out on bond until trial period.
And in other news, Deidra Lane, who murdered her husband Fred Lane Jr. in 2000 is out of jail. He was an NFL player.
This really stinks. —Lawrence Bentley, Plano, Texas
Lazy thinking, poor judgment
Jack Lessenberry's final 2009 column ("Farewell to 2009," Dec. 30) was probably his worst ever. He claimed (providing virtually no evidence or reasoned argument to support his conclusion) that it is inherently infantile to oppose Obama's corporate welfare legislation disguised as health care "reform." Granted that reasonable people might be able to disagree on this somewhat complex issue, the summary dismissal of the opinions of anyone who disagrees with him as beneath consideration is the mark of lazy thinking and liberal spinelessness.
I was considering how to respond to his health care diatribe, and then, as I read on, for some reason in the same column he advocated (illegal) racial profiling as an airline security policy. I guess with that kind of reasoning and judgment, you get these kinds of fraudulent "reforms." Professor Lessenberry's judgment must have been impaired by the stresses and corporate and government lies of recent years. His extremely poor judgment in calling for racial profiling as if it would enhance security betrays his overall lack of thoughtful consideration for other issues like health care. Calling people "comrade" and other names isn't a substitute for reasoned discourse. —Tom Stephens, Detroit
Jack off the mark
On 12/30/2009 9:30:32 AM, Thrasher posted: Please, MT, put Jack out to pasture. Please! Jack's bigotry knows no bounds. This year he attacked a black woman on the Detroit City Council with venom, he has made excuses for all types of white liberal contempt for black folks, and now, in his year-end rant, he supports and affirms racial profiling and the demonization of Islam by joining ranks with the myopic coward Hitchens. From my year-end porch, the main threat to civilization remains my own country, America, which still is the No. 1 arms dealer on the entire planet. The most lethal religious people are Christians, not Muslims, the majority of whom work in the U.S. Congress, White House and Department of Defense. Please, MT, retire Jack now. I cannot bear another year of his ignorance and underdevelopment.
Detroit pride
Detroiters are a fiercely loyal bunch. We're a funny group of folks as well. You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of folks who complain more than we do — but our complaints are couched in the determination that "we can make it better." Outsiders don't understand us. Homegrown Detroiters say we'd leave here in a heartbeat. Yet you look up and, 50 years later, we're still here. The school system is for crap, every other person is out of a job, crime is king and you gotta go to the burbs to find good food, yet ... "heah I is." We remember how it used to be and that drives us to try to bring it back. I've lived in a foreign country; I've lived in several cities around the country; I've traveled extensively and had great times everywhere I've been. However, there is no greater feeling than driving up I-94 seeing the signs: Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Jackson, Ann Arbor, Metro Airport, the Goodyear Tire, Telegraph then seeing the circular towers of the Renaissance Center in the distance and knowing that, in 15 minutes, you'll be back home. Home!
We complain a lot because we've earned the right to complain, everyone else should keep their traps shut! There are a bunch of folks who strive every minute of every day who work to make people and the city better, they don't have time to toot their own horns because they have too much work to do — and they like it like that. —Ivory Williams, Detroit
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