This letter is in response to your editorial, "Nuclear Failure" (March 18), covering the disaster in Japan. It never fails to amaze me that change always has to be the result of catastrophe. Whether it be Hurricane Katrina, the Indonesian tsunami, or the terrible disaster occurring in Japan, no government officials are ever held accountable with what only can be described as criminal negligence.
The question before the Japanese people is: did your government fail to act in your best interests or was it compromised by self interest? Why must it be accepted that this is business as usual and the way things are done? When did governing stop including responsibility as a part of its makeup? Perhaps the Japanese people need to re-examine the character of its governing officials and put systems in place that prevent this type of negligence from continuing to occur. It is obvious from the revolutions sweeping the Arab nations that leaders chose to squeeze everything they could from their citizens until it was too late. Japan, now it is your turn to make change.
JOE BIALEK
CLEVELAND, OH
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Just read your marzipan article ("Mission to Marzipan," April 1) on the bus ride home and I felt compelled to drop a note to say how much you nailed it. Wildly funny and so right on. I love me a good meal or a stinky cheese or what have you, but can't I just eat a piece of bacon without making a goddamn statement?
And as far as marzipan goes, it made me think of a bakery where I used to work in my early twenties. There was a Swiss baker who made the most beautiful marzipan goodies and I couldn't help but think, "Too bad it tastes like almond-flavored window-glazing putty." No doubt about it, though, you get the right people talking about it, you could certainly make the Marzipanic of 2011. Shit, we've got to obsess over and quickly discard something — might as well be marzipan!
BRIAN WRIGHT
BOSTON
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Sweet validation
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A recent EqualityMaine campaign letter claimed that gay marriage is "the fight for our lives." I wonder whose lives they are talking about, when AIDS service organizations and community health/reproductive clinics across the state have been tightening their belts and desperately trying to crunch numbers.
- Less
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