Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 38 Editor's Choice: 5
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Beyond veganism
[Read the article: I'm so vegan it hurts]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was a vegan for about a year and have been vegetarian for 7 years. I also was heavy into animal rights for many years, and still consider taking animal life to be one of the most horrendous things we do as a society.
However, my work in the field of agriculture has brought me face to face with the reality of the situation: we have to kill animals. Every time a farmer plows his field or harvests her wheat or soybeans, thousands of field mice, rodents, insects, rabbits, and the like meet a horrible death. I've personally had to kill many animals myself on my own farm as part of my pest control program and I welcome deer hunters on my property.
Not even the vegan can escape responsibility for these deaths. Arguably, many more animals are killed or have their habitats disrupted by the production of plant food than meat. A cow raised on pasture, for instance, can feed many people many times over. The soybean, on the other hand, takes thousands of acres, tons of pesticides, industrial harvesting equipment, and
This is the only good argument I have ever heard against veganism (All others fall pathetically short, ridiculously justifying the murder of millions animals). Certainly the goal of killing no animals is noble, but in our modern, industrialized agricultural economy it is impossible. It's just too naive to argue that the vegan has no blood on their hands simply because they aren't eating flesh.
The best we can do is eat as much locally produced food we can from farmers who minimize their impact on animal life. For protein, I would argue that grassfed or pastured beef, poultry and eggs from local farmers are much better for animal life in general than soy or bean products shipped thousands of miles from huge industrial distributors, even if the soy is organic.
I have started eating meat exclusively from such sources on rare occasions. I am not deluding myself about being pure, so I can be aware when I am making a choice to take life. That doesn't make it right, but it certainly is a humbling thought.
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Why can't a candidate be principled yet willing to compromise?
[Read the article: The Hillary juggernaut]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Many readers seem to think that a "liberal" Democrat would be doomed because they won't be able to compromise or make concessions to conservatives. This is just not true. We need a candidate who will stand up for what they believe in, yes! We need someone (not Hillary) who is principled, resolute, and yes... LIBERAL.
However, they must be willing to work with the other side of the aisle, and this must be readily apparent to all voters. We want someone who blends the politics of Carter (or hell even Nader)with the personality of Clinton. We need someone who will compromise in legislation, but never compromise their opinion.
The next question is, who the hell is this candidate?
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A Bully? A Bully?!?
[Read the article: Colbert: Not just a flop, but "rude" and "a bully" too]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush is a bully. His whole administration has bullied the Dems and the media for 5 years now. John Kerry, Al Gore, John McCain, all of these guys got big metaphorical wedgies from our cowboy pres. No one has had the balls (save a few lone individuals) to stand up to Bush to his face and call him out on it.
I would think the media should be grateful to Colbert for blowing the mask off the assholes that constantly threaten critique and dissent. But just like the legions of kids who seem to think the bullies are the coolest kids on the block, the media attacks the very man who finally depantsed Bush in front of their faces.
Colbert is a hero to all of us who remember how it feels to be bullied. All of us awkward four-eyes freaks with big ears and no "cool" friends. All of us who have ever dreamed of striking back at insensitive, malicious assholes like Dubya.
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2 cents of good; 98 cents of harm
[Read the article: The practical ethicist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So 2 cents does some good for a farmer in the Third World. Meanwhile, 98 cents is destroying the environment, building huge global corporate monopolies, eating up resources, burning off precious fossil fuels. Kinda outweighs the 2 cents of good, huh?
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Where...
[Read the article: Do loose chicks sink dicks?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...in the Hell are these women? Really, I want to know. Chasing women sucks.
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Can you say condoms?
[Read the article: Starving season]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It seems like a better solution would be handing out condoms by the millions. This would have the effect of not only lessening the AIDS crisis, but also preventing unwanted pregnancies and more hungry mouths to feed. The only long-term solution to hunger and starvation is to get the population under control.
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Local food tastes better, duh...
[Read the article: Supermarket sleuth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To the anonymous poster who suggested the local food thing is just a "fetish," have you ever tried local produce? It tastes much better and is often much fresher than anything you can get in the store... not just tomatoes too. Most varieties your grocer sells are bred for shipping, durability and appearance, not taste, so they are often bland or flavorless. Sometimes they spend 2 weeks in transit before you even buy them.
No one (okay, maybe a select few) is suggesting that you eat only local produce year-round, unless you like carrots, cabbage, and potatoes a lot. We'll always want fresh salads in the scorching heat of summer and peppers in the dead of winter. But when things are in season, it's a no-brainer. Shopping at your grocery store may be more convenient than going to a farmers market, but the quality difference is more than worth the trouble.