Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 27, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus Winnipeg free press july Iii i Nini Latimer got what he deserved concerning your editor Ial a question of Justice free july the very arguments you use to justify a lesser penalty for Robert Latimer Are what prompted parliament in 1973 to Institute mandatory sentences in the first mandatory sentences were instituted to safeguard against the Ero Sion of penalties by bleeding heart judges such As demonstrated by the dissenting opinion at the Saskatchewan court of Appeal and which you seem to be there is no doubt that Latimer unjustly took a life and for that he deserves to forfeit his to now 22 years after a Compromise to spare his life was that the sentence is too harsh is ridiculous at if you cant stick to the bargain by All lets re Institute the original when Canada had the death penal judges had All the discretion in the world to be i even remember a Case of a woman being released on bail of one Dollar for Robert Lorette no Justice in Latimer Case after living in Canada for 12 i have come to the Point of questioning our Justice i am referring to the Robert Latimer Here is a Man who out of love for his handicapped daughter preformed the act of mercy Latimer was sentenced to 10 years in jail without any possibility of then we have Karla Homolka who took part in the hideous and Well planned killing of two Young she received 12 years in prison with possibility of parole Only after three this makes me and Many other canadians disgusted above Nasseri Winnipeg in defence of gun owners i am writing in response to Steven Kohms gun fun scares Reader free july i am not a gun owner and Proba Bly will never be but i feel i must respond to his i do not care what any gun owner guns this is in not Crimi nals they kill with pipes or any other object that can be used As a whether a person is killed by a criminal using a gun or a knife is a moot the person is still most gun owners and other Citi believe that regulations already in place Are Good enough in keeping Legal guns out of the hands of the fact that we dont have shootings every Day blends Strong weight to this argue it is the extra Powers that police will have that concern Many informed the Power to enter Homes and question suspected gun owners on the tip of another i what should scare one last Point Kohms Sugges Tion that gun owners Are not ratio Nal minded citizens is uncalled who Are we to judge what another person likes or dislikes Elliot Cunningham Winnipeg outraged in Winnipeg i am writing to express my out rage Over the abuse of Public funds for the Benefit of the Winnipeg so far the various Levels of gov particularly municipal and have been throw ing wads of Money at the to simply let our future slip through our fingers by letting the Levels of government degrade our social and economic environment through while vigorously supporting such enviable projects As the is to set this province Road to More years of recession and increasing social Nathan Friesen Winnipeg Mitchell column gets failing Grade Penni Mitchells should i put her in a girls class free july contains three to the editor the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited Tor style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone alarming 1 that girls Are being sexually harassed by male Peers and ridiculed when they speak anyone teaching Junior High knows that this behaviour is exhibited by both with efforts made to discourage All individuals from demonstrating such 2 that teachers in math and Sci ence treat boys differently than this statement is absurd and is an insult to All math and science teachers in the 3 that girls cant do math and science in the traditional class principal of Earl Grey what we Are hoping to do is give them the sense that they can do math and the faculty of Medicine apparently Dis agrees 50 per cent of students enrolled in Medicine in the last Sev eral years Are most of whom have been successful attend ing traditional my advice to Mitchell listen to your daughter and Stop Reading studies on education from the United Ken Mailey Winnipeg the theory wer of Poi i would like to respond to Karen tool Mitchells article abuse in any form never the will of while i was in agreement with the statement that scripture or religious Law and tradition when used out of context can become a Power play of dominance and sub i feel the article missed the underlying with com petition rampant in our society for scarce human beings tend to learn through experience that the smartest and Best game players Are going to in makes even More important in meeting ones own needs be they material or and those who achieve in whatever then come to firmly believe that they have the and the More people that they can the greater their Power and the larger the belief in it does it matter if its our religious or cult our institutions or our governments our society forces Competition on us and those who achieve a measure of tool then come to View their Way As the most appropriate Way for All of Humankind to Nicholson Winnipeg expand dump jets Here we go City Council lors give administration a directive to shrink the Public Library and then pretend it is not their fault when sufficient outcry makes them sit up and take it should be obvious to everyone that most councillors have no interest in a Public Library system that peo ple can use easily and if we value a Well informed and understanding Citi zen we must value the Public Library if our councillors had some they would have improved and enlarged the system so that More use could be made of they want to take thousands of dollars out of Public libraries in order to throw millions of dollars at the Arena for the Benefit of the Winnipeg jets and whoever owns Derwyn Davies Winnipeg music reporters Back gangsta message marxist critics fuel rap violence by Howard Bloom new Yorkow did gangsta rap manage to make it into americas mainstream the villains May Surprise gangsta raps lyrics Are the raw expression of attitudes that have infected pockets of poverty since the Days when Ameri Cas slums were inhabited by jewish and polish gangsta rap is a colourful but insidious contributor to the bloodshed staining the Side walks of americas How did it go mainstream look no further than the socially and politically conscious members of the music let me give a bit of Back i spent 18 years in the music business As a Media strategist for Michael Billy the president of the chief executive officer of Warner music and numerous others of the this was an experience that i regarded As an extended anthropological Field trip into the machinery behind mass Cul i particularly enjoyed work ing with cutting Edge since this allowed me entree into the freshly emerging sub cultures from which new sounds usually in the beat emerging from the streets was i took on As clients grandmas Ter Flash and the furious the pioneers of the from then until my departure from the i was consid ered a leading behind the scenes figure in the rap of the Early 80s often echoed Standard literary or journalistic social the music reviewers loved and they encouraged its further to understand what the resulting synergy Between the press and the rappers its necessary to understand the music journalists of the they were a tightly National clique with highly conformist i have literally sat in a min Neapolis auditorium Between the critics for the two major dailies while one read an article praising my client Buzzards original Savannah band in the Village voice and the other read a similar paean of Praise to Buzzard in the new York both critics ignored the tumultuous ovations evoked around them by the then Riti Cally despised Zzz they went Home and wrote articles parroting the opinions they read from the tas Temak ers of their the dominant idea in the Rock press of the 70s and 80s was for Robert Christ the leading critic of his time he headed the music department at the Village which was one of the prime lauded the Rock group Lynyrd music was similar to that of numerous other groups Christgau had previously Why the Mark of approval in the Case of the Southern band in Christ aus its lyrics were accurate reflections wounded in a rap per tupac shakur is wheeled into court during his recent sexual assault he is serving four years in Snoop Doggy far faces a manslaughter and Dre is facing larceny of the dissatisfaction of the with Christ aus stamp of ideological the rest of the National press fell in and Lynyrd sky nerd went on to Fame and the groups music was damned but so was that of Zzz who had been hit by Christgau in the past with headlines like sounds like Ham the key critics loved rap when it first hit the scene because this was not just the music of the it was the authentic voice of an even More oppressed and politically fashionable class underprivileged intercity writers not Only hyped the new musical form but cheered every sign it demonstrated of being being political meant being against the prevailing con establish men dominated More important As the decade the critics fell in love with Black separatism and encouraged this tendency in the lyrics of those they then came the first violent rap and the critical Community went into their like that of numerous was the restructuring of society along socialist or Leninist the preferred marxist Mode for this rearrangement was Rev so violence was not regarded by the critics As socially Damag but As socially musical artists pay great attention to the critics with Good if they fail to win critical they can rapidly be Back on the streets without recording contract if they get the full press treat ment see Robert Christ aus 1985ish article in the Village voice describing How a group of music journalists sitting around a dinner table plotted the super stardom of Bruce they can go on to major Fame and a Gross income of up to million per so savvy artists and their strategists frequently encourage lyrics that will Stoke the critics in 19871 was asked to represent sch poly a rap artist from Philadelphia whose lyrics crossed the line from social criticism to the idealization of truly brutal i knew the critics would love this and that if i took on the project it would enhance my standing with the the Content went against every ethical principle i stand i told the record company soliciting my services that i would work schooly d Only if i could meet with him and per Suade him to alter his i also pointed out to jives executives the moral implications of releasing this and i encouraged them to get the artist to revise his the executives pondered the dilemma seriously for about a then forgot about it and issued the it was one of the progenitors of what would be known a few years later As gangsta i refused to the Crit were a Cluster of misshapen values had entered music from the most Savage subculture of the these vicious attitudes Dove tailed with the pro revolution Ary ideas promoted by the Rock the result has been seven years of lyrics encouraging cop killings and drive by the press and the rappers assured that a com Pelling counter ethos was Given widespread circulation in the popular they altered the role models presented to youth in both the inner City and in suburb where thanks to the hipness of murderous membership in nationwide Black gangs like the crips and the bloods is increasingly fashion Able among affluent White the members of the Rock press of the 80s regarded them selves As extraordinarily but some moralities Are More destructive than Howard Bloom is author of the Lucifer principle a scientific expedition into the forces of published by Atlantic monthly doonesbury by Garry Trudeau me i though Jet Azouni ink5 mho hang on i Mas likztha7joo ;