Letters

—John Olivar
Los Angeles

CHEAP HEAP

DEAR EDITOR:

Joe Shea’s “Imperfect Recall” article [September 15–21] is absolutely ludicrous. When you buy a $1,500 car with almost 170,000 miles on it at a “junkyard alternative” — a car that most reputable dealers would refuse to even sell — you get exactly what you pay for. Joe, can you say “as is”?

It is not rational to expect cars built in the ’80s to meet the safety and performance standards of the current models. Nor the cars of the ’60s and ’70s to meet the standards of the ’80s. In 1955, the car doors flew open without warning, occasionally casting occupants into the street. (There were no seat-belt laws — or seat belts, for that matter.) Improperly latched hoods sometimes flew off in the wind. Brakes would fail. Transmissions would lock. Wheels would come off. Should the NHTSA initiate recall action on these models?

Joe Shea is so typical of a generation of whiny complainers who want to place the blame for every single misfortune in their lives on someone or something else, a generation that refuses to accept responsibility and expects life to be perfect in every way, even at a fraction of the going price. Joe should focus on turning his writing talents into a real job that will afford him health coverage and a decent used car with a warranty.

—Jim Boldebook
Sarasota, Florida

STONE COLD BRILLIANT

DEAR EDITOR:

Dave Shulman’s “Softly Through Stone” [Sitegeist, September 1–7] was brilliant, quiet, artsy, haphazard as only L.A. can get. Bravo to the Weekly for printing such a glimpse into low tech meets high tech. Shulman is pretty darned clever. He takes us on a good ride.

—Heseon Park
Hollywood

WHICH WAY OUTLAW L.A.?

DEAR EDITOR:

Will you ever revive the Outlaw L.A. column that you used to have? I really enjoyed it a lot and looked forward to it.

—Dean Deloach
Hermosa Beach

An Apology

Last week’s issue contained a paid advertising insert for Mr. Wong’s Kitchen, which proved to be offensive to many of our readers and Weekly staff members. The insert was not seen or approved by any staff member, a grave oversight on our behalf — it never should have been distributed. While we honor and practice free speech (raising more than a few eyebrows with our ad pages each week), we do exercise our right to refuse racially, morally and aesthetically offensive advertisements. We are donating money we received from this ad to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. We deeply regret the impact this has had on our readers.