Open the EYE

Some comments on deserters, oprah and income taxes.......

DESERTER STORM

Edward Keenan recommends that Joshua Key follow the examples of Thoreau and Gandhi and go to prison, where he could write anti-war books Keenan would find more compelling (“The war at home,” Books, March 8). But Key has said that he joined the army precisely because he had no education. He has probably not read Thoreau or Gandhi and, unlike Keenan, I can't blame him for fleeing a prison term of “between three months and seven years” that would punish him for refusing to participate in, in Key's words, an “illegal and immoral war.” And it would have been very difficult for Key to write The Deserter's Tale from prison, where he would not have had the same access to a professional “co-author” like Lawrence Hill. On March 8 at the Write to Resist event, Key volunteered that Hill “wrote” the book, but said what Key wanted to say.

Key has not “done nothing” and he has not “left the public in the dark.” He quit the occupation when he was able and he has published a book about his experience, hoping to inform as many people as possible. Fortunately, Keenan's review should not much reduce the size of Key's audience. REUBEN APPLE

More online: We received many more letters in response to Edward Keenan's review of The Deserter's Tale. All of them – along with Keenan's response – can be read at eyeweekly.com/daily.

WHY BASH OPRAH?

How am I supposed to get through a glowing restaurant review when faced with Kathryn Borel's illogical hatred of Oprah Winfrey (Food, March 8)? Must we all be subjected to this when reading a review of a great meal?

I'm so sick of hearing women chop other women down! Is this how you flex your creative writing skills? Was it the only angle worth exploring: one of hate for a woman whose crime is rising out of poverty and abuse to become a fairly positive figure for women in the world? How disappointing – and especially during a time we should be celebrating our sisters! Just so you know, this edition hit the stands on International Women's Day. I suppose some of us never left junior high. SARAH HAYWOOD

THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

I was shocked and appalled at your incredible lack of sensitivity in publishing a magazine that had as its cover an image of violence against women – especially in the week marking International Women's Day.

No matter how the image referred to magazine content, the image was the message. Women are victims. Misogyny is alive and well. Given the recent news story of high-school rape recorded for entertainment, do you wish to be a part of this circle of current entertainment thought? You are what you publish. Is this who you are? SUSAN TODD-WILSON

AN OVERWHELMING OMISSION

In the Charticle, “Always outnumbered, never outgunned,” which accompanied your review of the movie 300 (Film, March 8), you overlooked arguably the most famous “overwhelming odds” battle of all – Rorke's Drift (January 23, 1879), in which just over 150 British soldiers and native auxiliaries fought off about four thousand Zulu warriors. The battle was immortalized in 1963's Zulu, the film that gave Michael Caine his big break. P. PARKER

LOOKING UP AT THE POVERTY LINE

Re “Ten bucks or bust,” City, March 8: I just completed my tax return for 2006: on an income of $10,116.56, the provincial tax cuts reduce my taxable income to zero, but the federal government will still take $194.83 in taxes. If the government fears that raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour will hurt businesses and possibly jeopardize some jobs, I would like to offer an alternative: why not eliminate income tax at the federal level for people whose incomes fall below the poverty line? GAIL EDWARDS