LETTERS

Your article on club trends (cover story, December 25) is so right on the money!

There's so much more to grow and evolve in this trend, the sky is not the limit, only one's imagination, intuition and creativity. Folks in Vegas are known for pushing the envelope and coming up with over-the-top or far-out ideas (that work). That is one of the reasons that Vegas feels like home to me. (I live in Tucson and come to Vegas often for my business dealings.) I call it the Wild West of our generation, the frontier of human ingenuity and imagination.

Reader Finds Article Funny, Writes In. Thanks!

I couldn't stop laughing at your politicians in "Political Fun for a Scandalized City" (cover story, November 20).

It is long past time for these clowns to be fired and prosecuted. Next time, be sure to include the highly ethical Lynette Boggs McDonald, who collects $50,000 a year from her part-time job at Stations Casino.

Reader Finds Old Weekly Article Offensive, Writes In

The following arrived in response to "Fetus Friends," a 2001 story by Kate Silver about people who make dolls of preemies:

I live in Columbus, Ohio, so I don't get much chance to read this particular magazine. The article was brought to my attention through my wife, who saw it mentioned recently in her Yahoo group, "Preemie-List."

 I am amazed and a little dumbfounded by the article. You are either very excited to espouse your pro-choice view or you are a bad journalist. You state that Miss Jacobs calls her "fetus" dolls "micro-preemies." She is actually referring to a term that the medical profession reserves for children born between 23 and 28 weeks gestation. This is different from "preemies," who are born between 28 and 34 weeks gestation. This is also different from a "fetus," in that it is not just a viable human being, but a living human being.

My son was born in 1999, at 26 weeks gestation. He weighed 1 pound and 13 ounces. He had some serious complications but has pulled through wonderfully. My mother purchased a Cabbage Patch Preemie doll for him, but the problem was that he was a quarter of the size of the doll when he was born.

Regardless of Miss Jacobs' views on abortion, her dolls provide a nice collectible to a niche market. That is, those of us who have little "critters" running around giving people the "willies."

 I suspect that maybe your pro-choice view is challenged a little when you are faced with the fact that people are having children who survive much earlier than you have decided a life is viable. How do you justify in your mind that women are "terminating" children who are further along gestationally than my son?

As to the rest of the article, I cannot speak to those who have lost children in the womb. I have not had to go through this. I did lose my grandfather 14 years ago, and I find comfort in looking at his picture, which is presently hanging on my wall. Your grief counselor said something like, the picture is a constant reminder of the pain that I went through. On the contrary, it is a constant reminder that my grandfather was wonderful. I don't remember his death, I celebrate his life. These dolls are the only "picture" that some of these parents can have of their "creatures." I can only assume that maybe they look at these dolls with a fond remembrance of their pregnancy. The joy of watching a life bloom inside their body. The passion of knowing that they are part of the creation of life. They may simply want a remembrance of that.

I realize that this article was written several years ago and is pretty much old news by now. But speaking for the members of my wife's preemie list, this article was in poor taste and lacks some basic research that would have made it sound less ignorant.

Are you so willing to help espouse the pro-choice view that you would allow such tripe to be printed? This article is an affront to parents of all preemies and to those who have lost a child in the womb. It is a disgrace to journalism.

Editor's note:
You had to read a lot into that to get so worked up. Kate wasn't critical of parents of preemies or pushing a pro-choice agenda; she was put off by the creepy opportunism of people who make "nice niche" trinkets from such questionable material. And contrary to your suggestion, she used terms like "critters" and "willies" to describe the dolls, not the actual babies.

Reader Finds Letter Quarrelsome, Writes In. Thanks, Reader!

The following arrived in response to a letter printed last week under the headline "Tissue of Lies":

The number of Americans killed in Iraq is way above 400. That is the sad reality. The fact that we should not be involved in a fight, benefiting the entire civilization with the support of very few allies, is another sad reality. That is the burden that President Bush has to put up with, that is the explanation he has to present before he wins my vote for the next election.

BUT!

Do you know what in reality is going on day by day in Iraq?

Do you know all the victories and loses of this war?

I am truly angry at the fact that I can find more reliable, systematized and objective information about a war led by my country in the media abroad. Russian, French or German newspapers are better sources of objective information about the facts than any American media! This is truly pathetic!

Was it ever presented in American media that according to the intelligence sources in Western Europe, known terrorists are organizing a mass exodus from Europe to Iraq to support the resistance there?

Was it ever presented in American media that Mr. Hussein has awarded $1 million in cash to those groups a few days before his capture?

Do we know what is going on with the interrogation of Mr. Hussein and all captured leaders?

I want to know not only how many soldiers are killed and how exactly they have died (as excitingly graphic as that might be to someone). I want to know also what they have achieved with their sacrifice.

So, please, let me know the facts as they are and let ME draw my own conclusion. I do not want to be manipulated neither pro nor against this administration. I want to know exactly what is going on in this war.

So what you call a "tissue of lies" is in fact a tissue of misinformation in our media.

Editor's note:
We'll get our Baghdad bureau on it right away.