Letters to the Editor
shackindawoods
Published Letters: 87 Editor's Choice: 9
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Writer has her head on straight, Cary doesn't
[Read the article: My boss says I'm a lesbian but I'm not!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's an independent-thinking woman who prefers not to dress and groom herself as the fashion and cosmetic industries tell us to, and Cary makes HER out to be the freak.
Wow. Frikkin wow.
Cary, this isn't a Goth-type anti-culture statement she's making. She's following her own drummer. And she probably has a much healthier "body image" than most women who allow themselves to be manupulated by our misogynist culture.
This 49-yr-old not-so-average white guy applauds any woman who makes the kinds of honest and healthy choices this woman has made for herself. If that makes her a freak, which apparently it does to Cary and many others, that simply shows how sick this society is.
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Gardeners like moist
[Read the article: Linguists: "Moist" makes women cringe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I used the word moist just yesterday as one of several to describe the wonderful soil at a garden I had just visited. I've always liked the word, but then I'm a man who loves women so according to this article that might be the explaination.
A cringe word for me is the oft-used among sailors' term "seacock." Much preferable and more accurately descriptive is "sea valve." But then "valve" is similar to "vulva," which is just about my all-time favorite word. Whisper THAT in my ear, sweetheart!
And I agree with the previous letter-writer, "tit" is grating. I associate it's use to immature male sex talk.
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Portland is desert half the year
[Read the article: When the rivers run dry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sure Portland gets the coastal rains every winter, but the rest of the year the rain spigot shuts off and it's like the rest of the West. Lawns are brown for months. Plants go into a semi-dormancy.
Drinking water here is from wells. The water table has been reliable, but the intense agriculture in the surrounding area is entirely dependent upon groundwater for anything to grow in the summer.
As for Atlanta reaching the limits of its water conservation, I don't believe it for a second. But a crisis always needs to happen before people begin to value the simple gifts of nature and life.
Atlant's problems are entirely the result of profligate resource use, waste, and poor planning.
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Normal Atlanta rainfall much greater than Portland's
[Read the article: When the rivers run dry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just checked the NOAA website for yearly rainfall averages, in inches:
Portland: 37.4
Seattle: 37.0
Atlanta: 50.4
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Why even acknowledge these obscure Limbaugh wannabes?
[Read the article: Jonah Goldberg's deeply "conflicted" thoughts on war and torture]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why are we, Salon.com, and Glenn Greenwald wasting our time on these obscure and pathetic Limbaugh-wannabes? I doubt if 0.1% of the American people have ever heard of these two.
Logic or truth means nothing to such people and their tiny bands of followers. Haven't we here decided that already? It's like trying to fight a grease fire with water.
These mini-Limbaughs thrive on attention of exactly this kind because it gives them a sense of importance. If they can rile up a bunch of high-flautin' liberal intellectuals, they're in pig heaven! And the only ones listening are their own ilk. So why not just ignore them?
I'd REALLY like to know why they and their rhetoric are worthy of the consideration we are providing.
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US Government policy IS largely to blame
[Read the article: Miss Landmine 2008]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]US policy is to not support the world land mine weapons ban. If we did and really acted on it, we could have a huge impact on the problem of land mine use. We use these things all over the world.
Tired of hearing "America" blamed for "everything?" Then get educated and find out why people are saying these things.
Do a Google search and spend just a half hour educating yourself before you spout off.
For my part, just now I did a quick Google search and found the two US manufacturers of these sorts of weapons are Alliant in Minneapolis and Textron in Virginia. I went to their web sites and emailed that photo to every email address I could find--about 30 in all. Subject heading: "Textron liability problem" and wrote "Good thing it happened BEFORE she got pregnant."
At least 30 employees and officers of these companies will now see this photo and be forced to think about what they are supporting. Now Im going to send that photo to some government officials. Human Rights Watch ought to have some suggestions.
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harpazo, your complete misrepresentation of the original quote is typical wingnut MO
[Read the article: Romney and Huckabee's religious intolerance ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You begin by stating Conason's words, that the two candidates "are clearly seeking to impose the restrictive tests of faith that the nation's founders abhorred."
Then, in the VERY NEXT SENTENCE, you COMPLETELY misrepresent the meaning of that quote. You state that Conason said the founding fathers had an "abhorrance to faith."
It doesn't take a very careful reader to see that "restrictive tests of faith" is COMPLETELY different from "abhorrance to faith."
This is so typical of wingnut response. It's called the "smear." You flip the original meaning of someone's words by deliberate misinterpretation. Then you build an argument based on that misinterpretation. In other words, you tell a lie then build a case on that lie. That is the definition of a smear.
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Looks like Abu Ghraib
[Read the article: Child porn or edgy art?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Few letter writers here are looking any deeper than the child sex/nudity angle. We should be asking why we are trying so hard to convince ourselves that images of a malnourished, weak, child shown humiliated by ridiculous poses with exceptionally expensive apparel are acceptable. And there IS a "snuff" quality to a couple of the photos. Reminds me of photos I saw recently on the wall of a mall optometrist store of a woman who looked fresh from a few hard rounds in the ring and only lightly made up afterward. What's going on here?
Maybe if we asked ourselves this, we might discover why all those Abu Ghraib photos didn't galvanize the nation into correcting our horribly immoral torture policies.
Ad agencies are simply holding up to us a mirror that shows us what gives us some secret pleasure or titilation--the pain and humiliation of another human being.