Letters to the Editor
The Professor
Published Letters: 475 Editor's Choice: 26
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@anonymous
[Read the article: Huckabee: "I'll stick with God"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I feel I have to defend Huckabee on this one because I didn't see anything in this article that contradicted the *philosophy* of intelligent design."
Yes, he does. He says that he doesn't think he came from a monkey. That's typical anti-evolutionary cant, and it doesn't square with I.D., which admits that yes, there were monkeys in our past, but an omnipotent designer played match-maker with them to arrange everything to lead to humans.
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@ other profs
[Read the article: A bizarre, unsolicited e-mail from Gen. Petraeus' spokesman ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, the over-all style and quality of Boylan's email reminded me instantly of student letters to the campus newspaper.
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Conservatism is a new label for an old psychology
[Read the article: Is a new conservatism possible?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Conservatives like to say it's about being thrifty with a nickel, nostalgia for better days and patriotism. However, those are pretty labels for selfishness, fear, hate, and authoritarianism. From Puritans in 17th century England to modern Nationalists in Japan, those are commonalities. It's all the dark elements of the human psyche turned into an ideology.
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Two points
[Read the article: Here's what waterboarding looks like]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1) Kudos to Bob for pointing out the obvious that I haven't seen much of: Mukasey cannot say waterboarding is torture or he will have to prosecute the people who he would work for. I don't know how any nominee will get out of that trap, but it's fun to watch them try.
2) A staged waterboarding could never demonstrate the terror that the real thing would instill in a victim, the fear that the people doing it to you are actually on their way to killing you. And when it occurs, it is also part of a package of stress-inducing tactics (sleep-deprivation, etc.), which 100% of Americans would label torture if they ever have to experience them.
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Come on, now
[Read the article: It's not just Giuliani]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It makes no sense to expect the president to bear responsibility for the terrible shape our country is in. It does make sense for him to pretend the country is in great shape and take credit for that fantasy.
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The rack? Cattle prods?
[Read the article: The sad decline of Michael Mukasey]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've heard two basic arguments for why Mukasey can't say waterboarding is torture:
1) he doesn't really know what it is;
2) the US won't disclose whether it does or does not use any particular interrogation tactic.
Don't both those arguments apply to any torture tactic (e.g. the rack, cattle prods, etc.)? If he can say whether those are torture or not (and I bet he can), why not waterboarding? Quite obviously, unlike those other torture techniques and contrary to arguments 1 and 2, it is because he does know what waterboarding is and knows we do it.
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A euphemism
[Read the article: Mike Huckabee and Adam's rib]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I will continue to believe that 'Adam's Rib' is a long-forgotten euphemism for his penis. (his bone, ya know?) The story, then, is that god 'used Adam's penis' (had sex with him) to create Eve. So god is either a woman or a gay man with procreative powers.
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I'm surprised...
[Read the article: Kucinich, Ahmadinejad and the tongue stud]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that she didn't just come right out and ask him if he'd like oral sex from Ahmadinejad if he had a tonge stud. It seems to be what she's getting at.
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Why do we need a new law?
[Read the article: When waterboarding was a crime]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why would congress need to pass a law to make waterboarding illegal? Because it is torture, it already IS ILLEGAL. Do we have to pass a law to make the rack illegal? If the dems even attempt to pass such a law, it will go down in veto flames and essentially uphold the notion that waterboarding is currently legal.
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One sided?
[Read the article: This Modern World ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The main point of cartoons like TMW is to mock the powerful. AKA Bush/the right wing. If you go back and read TMW during Clinton's tenure, you will find a number of them took shots at him. That said, Tom Tomorrow is a progressive editorial cartoonist, so why in the world should he be expected to somehow be 'balanced'?
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I think it's great
[Read the article: What was that again, Sen. Biden?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The more he says 9/11, the more it either becomes a joke, or white noise. By the time the real campaign gets going, the mantra will have no power any more, or will just make people laugh. He's using up all the capital 9/11 gives him on the primary.
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A whole lotta babies...
[Read the article: The K Chronicles ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]have been blown up/shot in Iraq. Every single one of their deaths the direct result of Bush's incompetence.
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Gee, Sidney
[Read the article: Bush's old world disorder]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the uplifting note to end the day with.
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This is perfect
[Read the article: Welcome to the 700 Club, Rudy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perfect, because it demonstrates how the "christian" right never really cared about the poor, poor, fetuses or those icky homos. They have wielded those issues as political bludgeons, pushing them to wealth and power. They will ally themselves with whomever will ensure their continued power.
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During the 2000 election...
[Read the article: How George Bush really found Jesus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I remember reading that Bush admitted to hardly ever reading the Bible, and certainly hadn't ever read most of it (maybe just looked at the pictures and the parts in red). In contrast, Gore was a virtual Biblical scholar, having gone to divinity school at Vanderbilt. (Kerry, too, was nearly a priest) How is it Bush is able to pass himself off as 'religious,' and mock his opponents as godless heathens?
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People, people...
[Read the article: Giuliani on Kerik: Don't ask me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's not make a big deal about this until Giuliani wins the nomination. Sssh.
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This tinnie Euro-car will never sell in the old US of A
[Read the article: The Smart car is coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It'll flop just like the mini-cooper and VW beetle.
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Oh, there's a fourth way
[Read the article: Public bathroom dilemma: Paper or air?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't wash your hands so much. Better for everyone's immune system, too.
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@kweberlit
[Read the article: The Smart car is coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I guess my sarcasm didn't come through. The same arguments being made about the beetle and the mini are being made about the Smart car (too weird, too small for americans, etc.), and they went on to be enourmously popular. Similarly, Americans were said to not want/need hybrids, and then there's a long Prius waiting list. Americans live about a decade behind car trends in Europe and Asia (and healthcare trends, and clothing...). American car companies, by the way, always miss out on these automotive trends. They continue to think that we only want large, powerful, and cheap, when a sizable portion of us really want small, well-made, and economical (and cute!).
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Is no one allowed to attempt to change an institution to which they belong?
[Read the article: Bless me, Mother ...]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Really. Way too much "if they don't like it they should leave it." Is that how you treat all the institutions/organizations to which you belong? If you don't think they're perfect just as they are you should quit them? Heaven forbid anyone try to change anything to make it better.