Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1346 Editor's Choice: 12
-
@madam
[Read the article: Reid, Pelosi get entangled in the presidential race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Have fun with the vacation, Agreed that I prefer the zingers. That's why I'm a big fan of WES.
-
@Un,WFB Lot's
[Read the article: How the long primary battle helps Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Exactly. I think he has a strong libertarian streak woven into his more traditional liberal values. We need to support individual initiative, avoid mandates, encourage responsible behavior, self-sufficiency etc.
That's my impression. I'm a Founding Fathers buff, and I really got the impression that Obama had done some extensive meditation on the Constitution and the lifes and thought processes of the Founders that went into it. I may be wrong, but I'm left with the impression that he is no lightweight.
I think Obama is facing a hardened shell of cyncicism and let's face it, Empathy and the ability to shift perspectives/perception is not something that the public is encouraged to excel at. Since you like quotes:
When the real becomes unreal, then the unreal is seen as real --LaoTzu.
It'll be a tough job to crack through that shell. One of peculiar aspects of this one dimensional Rev. Wright coverage is that Obama's church does promote individual initiative and self-determination. Old school, Poor Richard type stuff.
I'm fascinated by Autism, though it sounds like it would be difficult at times to work with children like that. I wonder what reality they preceive that we don't? I'm a big believer that we're all stuck in our own little bubbles of perception. The problem with corporate life is that is discourages people with passion, so I can relate.
Why didn't Salon spend more time actually discussing the content of what he said?
An excellent question! Maybe the speech was too huge and off the normal perceptual range, so that all we could discuss was grandmothers. I'm not ready to put this speech in the top ten hall of fame just yet (give me 10 years), but that speech was really good. It definitely upgraded my appraisal of the potential of Obama as a president. And while Salon hasn't really talked much about the content of the speech, we, the (not) humble readers, were certainly affected. We've spent an awful lot of electrons on this speech. It touched a lot of people. Maybe it's that rock dropped in the pond. The rock quickly disappears, but the ripples keep spreading. And based on his polling numbers, it looks like the speech had a great effect. We shall see.
-
@weeping for brunnhilde Good Night
[Read the article: How the long primary battle helps Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We'll leave the light on for you.
-
@manos Politically radical Islamics: Endangered species?
[Read the article: Reid, Pelosi get entangled in the presidential race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I haven't kept up with this. I thought that the political dudes were eclipsed after the success of the Iranian revolution and the rise of the Wahabists. Not to mention that the ruling governments are not keen to change the rules of the game. It's pretty hosed and Imperial America is to o often an excuse for not getting it done.
Don't really know what that has to do with Pelosi or Reid though. We've gone way off topic. Again.
-
Indeed. Fester is the master of none
[Read the article: Reid, Pelosi get entangled in the presidential race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We'll have to catch up on this later. Not like there's much coverage of it.
-
@UN Autism (OT)
[Read the article: How the long primary battle helps Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, the off-topic tangents often end up being the most interesting. I intend to carpe diem. I have an interest in the nature of intelligence, consciousness and the learning process. As someone who pretty much doesn't know anything about the subject of autism (other than the usual background noise), I figure that we don't really know much about the internals of ourselves, our mental states, how we learn, function in groups, all that stuff that the brain automagically acquires through the learning process of interacting with the world. So I'm not suprised that when we encounter someone whose internals are markedly different than ours, we end up somewhat clueless. And there's really a lot more variation in the "normal" population than is normally considered.
The unschooling sounds radical, I would say gnostic in nature. It would be interesting to be in an educational process where learning to think was the goal and not a mere side effect. The survival advantages of regimented schooling is that you can build large social pyramids off them and fend off rival groups. Dumb and unquestioning may be a social survivial trait. Can unschoolers form large enough groups to be viable? A weird question, but I always thought the gnostics didn't make it because it was hard to be a gnostic and not easily transmitted, where the rivals had a few simple rules that were easy to follow.
Thanks for the excellent conversation! I have to depart, but I'll be around.
-
ljwalker53 Quick point and then I'm outta here!
[Read the article: How the long primary battle helps Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As fair as bud nipping goes, I think you picked the wrong contests. I'll add another:
Reagan trashed Ford till the convention in '76 Carter won
Dems lost in 1980
Dems lost again (huge) in 1984.
I personally think the current contest should continue, but I'm also aware that the survivor could acquire mortal wounds. If you look at polls now, McCain is soaring and both Obama and Hillary aren't doing so great. The good news is that it is only March. But I tend to think of '80 and '84 as examples of what not to do, if you are a democrat.
P.S. Gary Hart's flame was Donna Rice (thank you google)
-
Thanks for the coverage
[Read the article: Obama's plan to change the economy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for posting all three speeches with some analysis. We can discuss what the candidates are actually saying.