LETTERS

Jeremy Parker's May 13 Stop Making Sense column about the politics of Yucca Mountain elicited this response from a Libertarian Assembly candidate:

Although a Las Vegas Weekly contributor states (page 14, May 13-19 issue) that "And anti-Yucca President Kerry could bring Yucca progress to a virtual standstill, and could wield the line-item veto against further funding."

Can't happen. The US Supreme Court on Thursday, June 25, 1998 negated the 1997 law, ruling that it was unconstitutional and constituted undue presidential intrusion into the congressional legislative process.

Jeremy Parker replies:
Whoops! Forgot that the line-item veto was ruled unconstitutional—thanks for the reminder. There's still plenty a President Kerry could do to hold up Yucca in its tracks, though. Nevertheless, I did err, and you may rest assured that my editor is having me flogged. And thanks for reading!

This sharp-eyed reader noticed something amiss in our May 6 summer movie preview-a-thon:

Under The Thunderbirds, it noted that it's "based on the British stop-motion animated TV series." Wrong on two of three counts. It WAS British ... Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were the creators.

It WASN'T stop-motion OR animated. It was puppets, or more correctly marionettes. Filmed, as noted at the beginning of every show, in SuperMarionation. It was a favorite show of mine as a child back in the '60s, as were most of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson/ITC creations. Josh Bell and Martin Stein need to go to any video store and check out the DVDs of this series. They're all available.

Thunderbirds are GO.

I recently learned of the decision by the Walt Disney Company to to block its own film company, Miramax, from distributing a new documentary by Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 911. Disney executives reportedly made their decision because they felt the film was too partisan. The documentary traces the links between the Bush family and prominent Saudi Arabian families.

Not everyone agrees with Michael Moore's politics. And this documentary certainly is controversial. But no corporation should have the right to tell me what films I can see. Disney has this power because it owns ABC, film studios, TV and radio stations and cable channels. I am concerned that this is yet another example of the dangers of media consolidation, as corporations decide what people should and shouldn't see.

There are other examples. Last week, Sinclair Broadcasting decided that Nightline's tribute to the dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq was too partisan and pulled the program from its ABC affiliates. What will be the next issue too controversial for us to see?

Congress must act to stop the growth of giant media corporations that can control our access to information and entertainment. Call your member of Congress and ask him or her to prevent the growing concentration of the media.

We would like to ask you report this information for Priscilla Presley, LA office of EPE or the Elvis Presley Trust.

Recently EPE has accepted "Lucy de Barbin fan club."

More detailed infornation is on our web site: www.russia.elvis-presley.ru

Editor's note:
On further investigation, we learned that this references a dispute among rival Elvis fan clubs in Russia. On even further investigation, we discovered that we don't care.

Last week's guide to local Hawaiian culture brought this two-part response. The first part is in Hawaiian-English patois, the second is a translation.

To your da kine articles 'bout da Hawaiians dat stay Vegas, brah! Mahalos! Us Hawaiians, we LOVE Vegas li'dat. I no SH*T you, it's da closeset ting to our aina, we git da kau kau, da gamblin' (as dey say hea, "gaming"), da local stoas like Hawaii's stoa and kau kau's like Aloha kitchen and HA-Y-N Hale, and git plenty work for pay our bills. BUT, da bambucha reasons for come Vegas is for one house. Brah, you think da house in Vegas stay high now? In Hawaii, for one 30-year-old house, all wood kine, termite out, braddah need plenty TLC, brah, 400 grand-plus. Easy! I no kid you. Dat's why all da locals wen move hea. And da kine, dis de only place we go for holoholo. And brah, choke fun in Vegas, "deposit" or "withdrawl" ... no matta, main ting, good times. So Vegas, no change li'dat, and us braddah and sistas, we go stay comin!

Translation: About your articles on the influx of the 50th-state residents coming to live in Las Vegas. I must commend you on your excellent article. The residents of Hawaii really LOVE all that is Las Vegas. I must again emphasize LOVE. It is the closest thing we have to being back in our beloved Hawaii state. There's real local Hawaiian stores and real Hawaiian local food restaurants that make us feel at home in Las Vegas. There's a lot of work here for us in the fastest-growing city in the USA, so we can make a decent living here.

But the MOST important reason is the fact that we can OWN our own homes in Las Vegas. The housing market in Las Vegas is very "economical" as compared to Hawaii. For example, a 30-year-old, termite-infested wooden house in Hawaii that requires a lot of major repairs before you can move in would have cost $400,000 or MORE. And that is a fact.

So, the residents of Hawaii would naturally move to Las Vegas so they can have a piece of the American dream of owning their own home. Also, when the Hawaiians go on vacation, the most popular destination for us is LAS VEGAS! Why? We have a great time here. It doesn't matter if we are losing or winning. We just enjoy the experience that is Las Vegas. So please, Las Vegas, keep doing what is working for your great city. And the residents of the 50th State will continue to keep visiting.

Thank you for your article.

Thanks for the love letters. We love Sonja, too! But everybody needs a break now and then —so have patience! Show some willpower! Think about sunsets or foreign policy, clean out your closets, alphabetize your soup cans. She'll be back when she's good and ready. Until then, may your D batteries stay fresh and your hearts remain true to Wink.