Comic from Hell?

Can you all please just put "Life in Hell" out of its misery? I will trumpet Matt Groening's larger genius with anyone, but for about five years now the panel has been repetitive, unimaginative and very much phoned-in. There are many more worthy uses of your limited comics dollars, e.g., Keith Knight's "K Chronicles."

Scott Miller

Graton

Lighter Side of Bankruptcy

I really liked P. Joseph Potocki's article ("Jubilee! It's Bankruptcy," Nov. 19). It was funny, well-written and importantly underscores a serious issue right now: the sad poverty experienced by some many talented Americans who have few, if any, options to clamber onto to in getting their heads above water.

And happening all the while with our worst nightmare coming true as a nation: having to borrow big time from China, and with us on our knees.

Way to go for putting yourself out there and telling your story! Stigma associated with bankruptcy can be terrible. But the years do pass quickly.

Chelsea Hoffman

Seattle

Word from our Pals at Peta

Are endangered animals dying for our fish dinners? Yes, according to a new study, which found that commercial fishing trawlers kill thousands of sea bird, including endangered albatross, every year in one fishery alone (in the Benguela current, off South Africa). This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Commercial fishing is decimating our ocean ecosystems. Ninety percent of large fish populations have been exterminated in the past 50 years, and scientists estimate that by the year 2048, our oceans will have been completely overfished. Many fish, as well as sea birds and marine animals, are caught by "mistake," tangled in nets or hooked by long-lines. A previous study found that nearly a thousand marine mammals—dolphins, whales, and porpoises—die every single day after being caught in fishing nets.

And don't forget that whether they are targeted or not, all fish feel pain and suffer horribly when they are impaled on hooks or sliced open by the thin mesh of a net.

Leaving fish (and other animals) off our plates is the most humane choice, and the best way to help replenish the world's fragile oceans. Find out more at [ http://www.fishinghurts.com/ ]www.fishinghurts.com.

Paula Moore

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Dept. of Corrections

It's cheering to note that when Zenfest contact Liz Finn phoned to let us know that we had, for the third year in a row, made a mistake in our Nov. 12 Holiday Arts listing for her event, she was darn near Zen about the whole thing. "These things happen," she sighed sweetly—as she did last year and the year before that.

We can only surmise that we were horribly tortured by Buddhists over the course of several past lives and therefore have some unconscious and highly misguided compulsion to sabotage a sweet annual fundraising crafts bazaar in heinous, inky revenge. Bwah-ha-ha and all that.

For this year's record, Zenfest is slated for Sunday, Dec. 7 (we had it bumpin' on a Thursday), from 10am to 4pm at the Masonic Center, 373 N. Main St., Sebastopol. As free as the deep inner calm of your mind, but far less cluttered than our own. 707.887.1514.

The Ed.

Lost On a Backroads detour from the Middle Way

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