Letters to the Editor
joshkidd
Published Letters: 56 Editor's Choice: 11
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The term "Evangelical" is almost meaningless
[Read the article: How to turn white evangelicals into Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree with other posters that the term "evangelical" needs to go. Today the term seems to be applied to independent churches, some mainline Protestant churches, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some Catholics who called themselves evangelical. It's a term that both Pat Robertson and Jim Wallis claim and that, in itself, may make it too broad a term to be really useful.
The author says that evangelicals "rely more on the teachings of the Bible than the teachings of a church." I'm not sure that this definition is any more help as standard interpretations, interpretive practices, and even the text of the Bible vary from church to church. In that sense, there isn't a difference between the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of a church.
And, these days, evangelical is more of a political term than a spiritual one. I find that most progressive Christians who have come out of evangelicalism want to push away from the evangelical label. Or maybe I'm just projecting my own feelings.
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I question Andrew Leonard's Google skills
[Read the article: Gary Gygax's final quest]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Googling "The Muppet Show" or "Mah Na Mah Na" turns up a video of the muppets signing the song on the first page of results. The muppet singing is clearly not Kermit. The top result for "Mah Na Mah Na" is the wikipedia page on the song which explains that the muppet that often sang the song is called, surprisingly enough, Mahna Mahna.
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Oh come on people
[Read the article: "10,000 BC"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I know you were all looking forward to reading Stephanie Zacharek's intellectually engaging review of "10,000 BC" but seriously... This is probably the least significant piece of writing she has ever produced and that includes her "How I spent my summer vacation" piece in second grade.
I've read a couple other reviews of this movie today and it seems like it's impossible to take it seriously. I imagine 90% of the people who actually go and see this movie will have an internal (and possibly external) MST3K dialog going on.
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I'm done evangelizing this show
[Read the article: Beyond belief]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't get me wrong... I still think it rocks. I've just come to realize that it's not everyone's cup of tea. I think the best thing about the show is that somewhere along the line Ron Moore, David Eick, et al. decided to make a show that would have mass appeal but that would have a very strong appeal to a small audience.
I remember in an interview once Joss Whedon (another Battlesat fan) said that he didn't want to make shows that people like, he wanted to make shows that people love. I think this sums up exactly what's great about Joss Whedon and the creators of Battlestar.
Also... I don't think that I learn very much from Battlestar and I think this gets at another great thing about the show. I think that it aims less to teach and more to make the viewer think. The latter is infinitely preferable, in my opinion.
In any case, bring on season 4... which starts right now!
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JK Rowling's theft of history and mythology has me in tears
[Read the article: In court, J.K. Rowling nearly cries over Harry Potter Lexicon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How dare JK Rowling put forth her Harry Potter series as an original work of fiction? "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" indeed. One would think that she made up the idea of the Philosopher's Stone. She didn't. It's theft, I tell you! Plain and simple. How dare she?! All of those innocent children getting swindled out of their money for ideas that weren't even hers! And did you notice how they tried to change the title to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"? You're not fooling anyone JK Rowling.
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Is anyone worried that we might not have a choice?
[Read the article: Your very own climate change Victory Garden]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not a truly experienced gardener--this is only the second year I'm trying my hand at it--but I want to mention that this year I'm growing hops. (I've been brewing my own beer for about a year now too.) What's interesting is that a lot of the homebrewers that I know are also growing hops. The problem is a global hop shortage that has made the common beer ingredient a little hard to come by. Any homebrewer can tell you that the price of hops has doubled in a short time, and that's if you can find someplace that has the variety you want. Consumers will begin to notice the hop shortage too when prices go up and local microbrews start going out of business.
So what happens when increasing oil costs make prices of fresh vegetables go up? Is it possible that we could see a situation where gardening is the only way to avoid paying through the nose for fresh vegetables?
I enjoy the fact that, right now, I don't need to garden to be able to afford food. But if that ever changes, I'll be glad that I learned a little about growing tomatoes in my back yard during the years of plenty.
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Is this a problem for the candidates?
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Or is it a problem for the Democratic party in general?
There has been so much discussion this election cycle about how similar Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in terms of their policy positions. If you believe that, it would be the height of pettiness for anyone who voted for Clinton or Obama to vote for McCain just because their candidate didn't win the primary. And that's a charitable assessment.
I still believe that the Democratic party is not actually this petty. I think that the huge voter turnouts are a good sign for Democrats and that the general election will bear that out. If I'm wrong though and McCain is our next president, it will a major failing of the democratic party and not of Clinton or Obama.
It would be a major failure of the so-called progressive party in America if large amounts of voters did not vote for a candidate because of his race or her gender.
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Arlen Specter
[Read the article: Shocking Patriots scandal news: No news]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's a shame that I don't live in PA anymore. I want to vote against him so badly.