Letters to the Editor
PaulBC
Published Letters: 237 Editor's Choice: 24
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there's an old sesame street sequence with nader
[Read the article: What will Nader say on "Meet the Press"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I saw it on DVD with my kid but it's on YouTube if you want to look.
Anyway, the upshot is that Ralph Nader destroys nice-guy Bob's sweater that he got from his aunt, and instead of even apologizing, insists that he did him a service as product tester.
This may have been funny when it came out in the 80s. When I first saw it (around 2004) I thought, "Yeah, Ralph Nader really would do something like that." Moral: If Ralph Nader is one of the "people in your neighborhood" you may want to consider moving.
What I guess Nader will say is that he's starting to worry that a Democrat might actually win this time and he's gonna do his level best to make sure it won't happen. Oh wait, people are supposed to lie on Meet the Press. I guess he'll announce that he has to provide a clear alternative to the increasing similar Democratic and Republican parties--and by implication that US democracy is a defective product that he is going to fix in much the same way he fixed poor old Bob's sweater.
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let me see if i get this
[Read the article: Who owns that offshore sucking sound?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some kind of proprietary distance learning technology has become a metaphorical soda straw through which I drink your milkshake--or maybe you drink mine, but the sucking sound has at least been clearly identified as originating from a metaphorical milkshake. (What's my prize for incorporating the latest catch phrase?)
Seriously, any kind of "rapid transfer of knowledge" that doesn't involve sticking stainless steel domes on people's heads and pulling an oversize knife switch is not patentable in my world. When are these kids going to learn?
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moral responsibility?
[Read the article: Newsday's cheap shot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Anonymous" bravely (and anonymously) asks:
"While a less-aggressive defense would have breached her professional responsibilities, the substantive question is, what was her moral responsibility?"
Her moral responsibility was to do her duty as defense counsel. It was the job of the prosecutor to advocate for the state. If defense does the job of the state, then we do not have a fair legal system.
Sorry, but this is not a big moral dilemma.
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this is the long-awaited phase two, right?
[Read the article: Java panic: Starbucks closing all stores Tuesday evening]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It sounds like another case of life imitates The Onion to me.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28657
After a decade of aggressive expansion throughout North America and abroad, Starbucks suddenly and unexpectedly closed its 2,870 worldwide locations Monday to prepare for what company insiders are calling "Phase Two" of the company's long-range plan.
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Though the coffee chain's specific plans are not known, existing Starbucks franchises across the nation have been locked down with titanium shutters across all windows. In each coffee shop's door hangs the familiar Starbucks logo, slightly altered to present the familiar mermaid figure as a cyclopean mermaid whose all-seeing eye forms the apex of a world-spanning pyramid.
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obama's is the first political logo i ever noticed
[Read the article: May the best logo win]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Obama's logo is the best one hands down in terms of graphic art. The others all look like they could be slapped together from Powerpoint clip art. Whatever you think of it, it's at least a new design. On the other hand, it's untraditional, and it may be that tradition is what works in politics. I guess that's the chance his campaign is taking.
When I first saw it, I found it a little disturbing to be honest. I didn't think it looked like a corporate logo, though. The whole rising sun motif makes it look as if Obama is promising some kind of resurgent nation, which is often the theme of demagogues. It made me sort of long for the tacky red white and blue hats and "Happy Days Are Here Again." At least there's something comforting and harmless in all that.
It'll be interesting to see if it makes any difference. Probably it is a very minor issue in the scheme of things.
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good decision
[Read the article: Anonymous no more]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous letters at Salon have always annoyed me. It's not because they are usually abusive. I don't see much of that (unlike the defunct Yahoo newswire message boards that I dearly miss). The trait I notice most often is a weaselly pseudo-genteel tone that makes me wonder why the writer felt the need to post anonymously, but kind of answers its own question. It's the kind of queasy feeling I get when I watch people tip-toeing around a purely imagined political correctness so carefully that I'm certain they'd rather be lashing out in bigoted invective and feel victimized by not being allowed to.
Occasionally I will call these anonymous writers on their comments. Sometimes I just want to ask why they feel the need to post anonymously. I can guess, but I want to hear them try to justify it. But mostly I suppress this urge. I'm content not to have to worry about it anymore.