Letters to the Editor
PopASmurf
Published Letters: 40 Editor's Choice: 6
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Media Bias in this conflict
[Read the article: Killing a nation, one airstrike at a time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Israel is clearly committing attrocities in Lebanon, and has no moral authority to do so. The media, of course, marches along in lockstep. Just looking at the various articles in the New York Times on Sunday, it is mainly Israeli government officials and Israeli scholars who are sought out for comment, and the only main question seems to be "what is Israel's strategy" or "what should Israel do next to prevail". You don't see the same questions directed towards the Lebanese government. Perhaps a one sentence condemnation from a government official, or threats from Hezbollah.
Less subtle is the extent to which CNN, on its website updates, makes much of one Israeli dead. You don't see banner updates saying "one Lebanese schoolchild killed in rocket attack!". We should not believe Israeli government officials when they say the international media is against them anymore than we should buy that the media in America has a "liberal bias".
I should add, however, that yesterday's updates on CNN's site were, for once, more balanced--the pictures on the homepage for most of the day were injured and grieving Lebanese. Most of the morning the pictures were of Lebanese children who had been injured, killed in rocket attacks. Today, however, it seems to be focusing mainly on Americans who have the (relatively speaking) luxury of leaving.
We must condemn the Israeli government for this action to cripple the Lebanese econonmy (and therefore, its people).
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"kids" have always drunk coffee
[Read the article: The Frappuccino generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a sleepy teenager in the 80's the first thing we all did before class was hit the coffee shop across from school. The only marketing they did was their proximity to school. Also remember that most kids get their caffiene start on Coke, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew. I'm not saying any of this is good, but it's not Starbuck's fault.
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Critical Mass
[Read the article: Joan Walsh on "ScarCo"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just for the record--I don't believe it. Stories about Critical Mass similar to this have been posted before and they turn out to be blown way out of proportion, if not outright lies once investigated. Same thing happened in Seattle and was debunked.
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Manipulation
[Read the article: How Iran played the hostage "crisis"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Quite clearly this was a setup by Iran, I was thinking this myself as I watched them eat their healthy meals--not subtle exactly. Very sad that the Americans made it such an easy setup-- not exactly difficult to make a contrast with naked human pyramids, attack dogs and forced mimicking of sexual acts.
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Third
[Read the article: "First!"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Fourth
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Cellphones in India
[Read the article: Let there be cellphone light]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous--good point but powercuts have been going on long before the recent "uptick" in high tech gadgetry. It is called inefficiency and corruption. Here are other potential gadgets that should be introduced on an Indian phone:
-button than can provide clean drinking water for poor
-help for farmers who commit suicide because they can't afford to feed their families
-one click will free you from the lifetime bondage of caste
-a button to make that garbage you just threw on the ground disappear
Point being (like Andrew pointed out) that India has advanced in many ways but the reality of day to day life for most people (still mostly rural) is corruption, living on $1 a day, dead disgusting rivers and a staggering amount of garbage on the streets.
Expat living in India (who actually loves India--just a little truth today)
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JUDAS!
[Read the article: Tangled up in Seuss]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]JUDAS!
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Backlash possible
[Read the article: "It's like when 9/11 happened"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course it is understandable that they would fear a backlash. I can also understand why Chinese, Japanese or other Asians would fear a backlash, just for looking "Asian" (the killer in the news spent a lot of time labeled as just "Asian").
After 9/11 there were attacks against Muslims, and I remember at least one Sikh who was shot and killed at a gas station, just because he is Sikh and wears a turban. (Sikhism being an entirely different religion than Islam, and, if anything, often themselves actually have racist attitudes towards Muslims).
Having said this-I think that maybe the safest place might actually be on campus and not nearby at a random gas station.
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In Context
[Read the article: What did Al Sharpton really mean?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In context, Al Sharpton did attack the Mormon faith. It is quite simple:
1. Hitchens points out how the Mormon faith officially believed in racial segregation up until fairly recently. Romney is a member of that faith. Hitchen said nothing about Romney specifically.
2. Sharpton says "don't worry about that, people who believe in God will defeat him anyway". Since nothing was asserted about Romney specifically other than his connection to the Mormon faith, then Sharpton is attacking Mormons.
However, I think if we get beyond words we will look at who Sharpton is and who Romney is we will see that Sharpton had forgotten exactly how Hitchens had framed it and was thinking of Romney merely as a Republican who he has problems with. An easy mistake to make, and of course the MSM is jumping on it. I haven't seen any coverage, but I imagine they haven't covered Hitchen's arguments very well, or that it has really spawned any debates on the existence of God. They don't want to touch that for fear of offending the religious, and because those who assert the existence of "God" will always lose.