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Wakefield: Using the Space She’s Got
for Maximum Effect
As president of Fair Property Tax for All, Inc. who
has been involved for several years with the issues
regarding the property tax crisis, I must say that
the Jan. 3 article written by Ms. Wakefield,
“Putting Government on an Allowance,” is true
journalism. The article is a concise, simple, fully
contained narrative report of what is really going
on at present. In using a limited amount of space,
Ms. Wakefield is able to adequately convey the crux
of the issue both to experienced readers
knowledgeable in the matter, as well as those who
are being informed in a comprehensive fashion for
the first time. I congratulate your newspaper as
well as Ms. Wakefield for a job well done.
Jose H. Valladares, MD
Miami
The Last Year: Sort of Funny Thanks to You Guys
Congrats on your year-end wrap-up or whatever the
title was! [“A Year in Our Lives,” published Dec.
27.]
It was spontaneous and snarky without being mean.
The SunPost is finally liberated from prose
such as “we’ll weigh in on that later” or “on the
other hand,” etc., etc. Snore.
Hey, maybe you grinches will even print my letter
this time.
P.S. Expense accounts are good for employee
productivity.
Mike Burke
Miami Beach
The New Year: Promising to End Taboos on
Interracial Dating — and Other Observations
The older I get, the more I appreciate the saying
that wishing is nostalgia for the future. As a new
year rolls around, we become susceptible to an
irrational hope that the coming year will be
remembered as part of the good old days.
As a general rule, such an outcome is unlikely. And
as we roll into 2008, our prospects seem dimmer than
usual. Nevertheless, we still cast our hopes forward
and haul in a net full of possibilities.
With little but blind faith to go on, here are some
results of a few casts of the net.
While it seems racism is making a comeback, there is
reason to believe that recent incidents represent
its last desperate gasps. Its last bastion,
interracial marriage, has been breached. Neither
dating nor marriage between races is considered
remarkable these days, particularly among members of
the younger generation.
We oldsters did not tackle this final rampart of
racism to any great degree while we fought for
integration, civil rights and equal opportunity. We
considered it too great a barrier.
Our children and grandchildren, by contrast, have
simply stepped over it as though it were just a bump
in the road. If they keep on this way, then 30 years
from now interracial marriage will be as commonplace
as interethnic marriage is now among white
Americans.
As the rubble of racism crumbles away, other issues
begin to stand out. One problem common to us all is
the disparity of incomes in today’s economy. Is it
too much to ask that, while CEOs and professional
athletes earn tens of millions a year, the rest of
us make as much as our parents did?
Forty years ago, a yearly income of $10,000 was
within the reach of many working-class Americans.
The equivalent income today, $50,000, is not. A new
racism, international demonism, has been invented to
deflect our attention from this simple fact.
Unfortunately for its inventors, it hasn’t worked as
well as they hoped.
May our eyes continue to open as the new year
unfolds.
Age may not always bring wisdom, but it does provide
perspective. Nostalgia of any kind is best indulged
in lightly. Too much hope can lead to too much
disappointment. But still and all, some hope is
better than no hope at all.
So let’s not restrain our nostalgia for the future
too severely this year. With a little luck, we may
still catch a good one.
Peter Rebmann
Gainesville
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