Dear POINT:

Here's my contribution. Don't bother to put me on the mailing list;

I always manage to find the POINT on a news stand somewhere.

I was worried that you all might have ridden into the sunset, so to speak. But you came back with a great issue, especially the fascinating interview with Gilda Cobb-Hunter. The first time I heard that woman speak years ago I said to myself, "She ought to run for governor." Maybe she will someday. I'd sure like to see it, although no one I like ever wins in this state.

Anyway, thanks for providing an occasional reprieve from the ongoing experiment in mass hypnosis which this corporate media-dominated civilization has become.

James Irwin, Columbia

Your sight speaks for itself -- tired old leftist ideas! Have you ceased publication?

Charles A. Collins, Columbia

[Readers: POINT last published in February. For more on that score, see "Get the POINT" in this issue. -- Ed.]

Concerning Ms. Robbins' article [February 1998 POINT] about the Tucker execution: Would she feel any different had this "born again" Lot Lizard pick-axed her sister, brother, or parents? Hmmmm. Also Becci, the last time I checked, O.J. Simpson was found NOT guilty.

Clark Henderson

I think you oughta do some articles about Bubbas in South Carolina. We white males is becoming a minority. I'm also sick of liberal whiners. But you guys write pretty good.

Bubba Smith, Spartanburg

Is religion partly to blame for the hostile climate that gays and lesbians face? I think that is stating the obvious. While there are many Christians who do not believe that homosexuality (particularly a long-term committed gay relationship) is a sin, it's the other side that makes all the noise. Charitable Christians by and large remain silent.

I am reminded of two buttons I saw on sale at a gay pride festival. One said "I love God, it's his fan club I can't stand." The other, "Jesus, protect me from your followers."

The fact that gays, most of whom consider themselves Christian, can find ironic humor in these slogans shows that the gay community feels threatened by those who create a climate of hate and intolerance under the guise of religion.

As the saying goes, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good (Christian) people to do nothing. Perhaps the brutal death of Matthew Shepard will cause accepting Christians to at last speak out for justice, civility, understanding and dialogue that fosters respect for gay people.

Alan L. Light, Iowa City, Iowa

Visit the South Carolina General Assembly Web site and you will find the Confederate flag conspicuously absent. In the images of the State House on the site, the flag has been cropped out or hidden in darkness. Unless you are from South Carolina or know your history, you wouldn't know that the moral equivalent of a Nazi flag is still whipping the wind over South Carolina's seat of government.

I suppose it wasn't an oversight on the part of the site designers to render the Confederate flag invisible. After all, who'd want the world to know, through the Internet, that some South Carolinians still want the Confederate flag to fly over the State House?

What does this this omission mean? It means that some folks close to the State House are politically savvy and, while realizing the civilized world disapproves of in-your-face-reminders of how people once were treated as commodities, they are not willing to remove the flag from the State House.

Why not feature the Confederate flag on the state Web site? Simple: Tourism. Industry. South Carolina is a poor state. We need to attract business.

Sure, some businesses relocate to South Carolina—a lot of times to take advantage of the cheap labor and decidedly unfavorable-to-workers business laws. But for a state that's one of the "Original 13," South Carolina is still perilously near the bottom of everything. It's not a leap to say that the Confederate flag is indicative of a tired and sorry way of looking at the world that keeps the poor down in South Carolina.

Folks, it is time to remove the banner of ignorance and shame so South Carolina can rise to her potential both spiritually and economically.

Michael Flessas, Columbia

I was born a Baptist. I was raised in an all white neighborhood. My father is a principal. My mother is an elementary and also a college educator. I scored 1150 on the SAT (old format) as a 10th grader. I graduated #83 in a class of 500. I have no record (criminal nor musical). I program six different computer languages. I speak French better than the average translator. I am not anti-white but I am anti-anyone who is anti-me.

I AM A FIVE PERCENTER. Many say I am far more dangerous than your normal G.ommar O.z D.abar. I say, "if you don't want the firecracker to explode, then don't light the fuse." Everyone here in America is born with certain rights (members of KKK, Five Percenters, Aryan Nation, and Nation of Islam included.) One of those rights is freedom of religion. When the government stands in the way of your rights, it is our job as citizens of this fine nation to correct it.

God bless America ( Let G.O.D. manifest),

Noir Mortir, Columbia

In what seems to be an intoxicated ebullience to condemn one President Clinton for his sins, those who are disposed to tossing their opinionated stones should look at what this fervor is doing to themselves.

While discussing of our president's problems, many have alluded to the biblical story of how Jesus saved a woman's life from being stoned for her sins. "Whosoever is without sin, cast the first stone." I, too, believe these are words to live by, but there is another part of the story that I think many people are missing. Jesus didn't only save the woman's life with this supreme act of forgiveness, he also saved those who were about to stone her from committing the sin of murder.

There is an old saying that goes, "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it." I'd like to add to that, "Be care of what you condemn, it may be yourself." Or, in the words we should never forget as spoken through Walt Kelly's POGO, "We have met the enemy and he is us."