Letters to the Editor
ReverendZafod
Published Letters: 64 Editor's Choice: 11
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Myths are dangerous in a 'nuculer' world
[Read the article: Why myths still matter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You said: Why myths still matter
The religious rituals that surrounded them are gone, but we're still drawn to stories that transform the world -- and ourselves.
By Laura Miller
"These are the stories we tell ourselves to make ourselves come true."
The enduring problem is that they are fictions, aka bullcrap, designed to make us feel better about the evil things we do as a society. Very like the beefeater's avoidance of the slaughterhouse issue; "I love a steak, but I couldn't kill a cow." If it's our government, we're responsible for what it does in our names, so vote responsibly next time.
It opposes the issues raised in Sam Harris's "The End of Faith" without even addressing them.
The subtitle is a lie: "The religious rituals that surrounded them are gone". They're all too prevalent in US politics today. The voters are dumbed down, and pols endorse those policies to get votes, resulting in further dumbing down. Read Robert Heinlein's "If This Goes On" written half-a-century ago. Read George Bush as Nehemiah Scudder.
Please balance this article with some opposition opinion, as from Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris.
BTW, I enjoy steak and knowingly delegate the authority to the cow-killers with full acknowledgement of my responsibility. I don't willingly delegate a similat authority to the CIA, the Bush Administration, or anyone else to torture or kill prisoners in my name.
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British twice as bad as the UAE
[Read the article: The "people responsible" for port deal? Bush, Rumsfeld say: Not us!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One to Washington. “I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company."
An unnamed senior White House official later explained the President meant that "...no one complained when the ports were run by the British, who burned most of Washington in 1814; then there was the British Invasion of the U.S. in the 1960's, led by The Beatles. But there was only one 9/11."
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Typo
[Read the article: Hopeless]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...the Fist Amendment protects the right to bear arms." You made a funny.
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As you said...
[Read the article: Tastes great, less filling]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Snow tried to argue today that diplomacy is a form of preemption, or that preemption is a form of diplomacy, or, well, something."
Orwell, indeed.
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Bravo, Pilot
[Read the article: Is airport security futile?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This column should be mandatory reading for all passengers before boarding, and everyone in the TSA [nice logo; it fits].
Salon should try to spread this one far and wide.
What a bunch of cowards many of these so-called Americans have become. Their ancestors who took risks every day would be ashamed. They want to cossetted in cotton wool and live forever, and ignore reality. As a Vietnam vet and annual or oftener world traveler, I'm ashamed to be associated with them in the eyes of the rest of the world.
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Small hotel in Sultanahmet
[Read the article: Destination: Turkey]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was last there in late March at the Uyan Hotel, near the 'Four Seasons' formerly known as the Sultanahmet prison made famous in "Midnight Express". You're right about the area being a great place to contemplate history from a rooftop.
If you go, forget the 'name' hotel chains and do a little work to find a room in a small hotel in Sultanahmet. There's 500 to 3000 years worth of history within a half-mile walk in any direction. Hotels are for sleeping. And find a good restaurant that serves Imam Bayaldi.
My 4th trip to Turkey since the first sponsored by the US Army in 1964 to Adana and on to Iran. My third to Istanbul.
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The Pilot for FAA Administrator
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In a saner world, the secular god of the internet, known as The Pilot, would rule the skies on all matters aviational.
Carp as you will, his head is on straight. How about as a replacement for Dubya? He could learn on the job as Dubya failed to do, and learn much faster. He could hardly do worse.
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Dreams? Enjoy 'em.
[Read the article: The K Chronicles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Keef, you are one sick fuck. 's why I admire you for your honesty. And I want to warn you that it only gets worse as you age. I'm 65 and having even stranger dreams than yours.
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Read the Onion
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This showed up there Wednesday night:
Studio 60 Was Better When It First Came Out
By Artie Mayer
October 18, 2006
It reminded me of you.
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Hype and clever marketing? Probably...
[Read the article: Two hundred buck chuck]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe a bit off-subject, but... Oh for those halcyon days of the mid 1960's when a poor young army officer could afford both an American wife on-post in Germany, and a few bottles of the local Mosel wines every month. Not crap, but good local wines at Baumholder, in the PX. Mostly normal estate wines of 1963 or 4 vintage for $1.50, but Spatleses for $2 or a bit more, and Ausleses for about $3. Leave that for special times, or higher ranks. Now I get a lot less for a lot more. Good times; good times. And Republicans were not in charge. I spent two weeks on one exercise in Iran in 1964, so I can appreciate Iraqi hell with the desert weather.
Get our troops out to a place where they can kick back and relax, and enjoy the relative luxury we had in the mid-1960's when confronting the nuclear-armed Soviet Union.
Send the whole Repuglican gang to the Hague for trial.
Cranky old Zafod at 65
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You just don't get it
[Read the article: Post-traumatic futility disorder]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All the posts so far are from ignorant jerks, or just plain clueless idiots. I'm a Vietnam vet May 67 thru May 68. I saw a lot of people wounded, but spent most of my tour in 25th Inf Div HQ in G-3.
Even without much direct combat experience, I still have occasional reminders from then; similar to PTSD.
I don't care how many video games you've played; if you haven't been in actual combat, you just don't get it.
Being a phony Rambo who was a phony anyway played by a coward porno actor who went to Canada to hide out just don't cut it; aka that puke Stallone.
So step up and volunteer for the army as a frontline infantryman, or shut the F**k up.
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Haysoos freakin Kreist
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't you think it's time we started to get off this planet before we kill it?
You're usually on-target, but you're 180 degrees out on this issue.