Is the Angry Author Just a Couch Potato?

I felt in sympathy with the angry, raunchy and unapologetic (novelist) James Baker until I reached the quote “if he ever contracts AIDS. . . .”

What is this if business? Is he HIV-positive? If not, then whether he contracts AIDS or not is pretty much in his own hands, isn’t it?

Like the character in Baker’s novel, I am not a bleeding-heart yuppie liberal. I used to be. What coagulated my ticker effectively was working for Protective Services where I become excruciatingly aware of the enormous cost to the taxpayer of the irresponsible actions of heterosexuals--costs like foster care, welfare, juvenile court costs, subsidized medical and child care, subsidized housing, ad infinitum.

Now Baker seems to be suggesting that getting AIDS is an appropriate matter to allow to chance. Maybe someone will write a novel about a group of kamikaze taxpayers.

CASSANDRA SANOS

Ventura