Letters to the Editor
Sylvain
Published Letters: 67 Editor's Choice: 5
-
UMJC
[Read the article: Military rape a result of "feminist pressures"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]UMJC calls it rape if "resistance would have been futile." Which means when physical resistance would not prevent forcible rape. Not when refusal would result not result in rape, but in various other forms of subsequent retaliation or continued hectoring. Again, I'm not saying it's right, but it doesn't fit the UMJC definition of rape.
-
What is FDL?
[Read the article: The Dan Gerstein sham]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Shouldn't acronyms be explained the first time they are mentioned?
-
yep
[Read the article: "My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the neocons thought this would bury the legacy of vietnam, and it did just the opposite.
-
Clark is right about the hypocrisy but . . .
[Read the article: Who's your daddy: The search for sperm donors]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]it sounds like the alternative for her would have been not being born in the first place.
-
Seriously, you got the Dolls all wrong
[Read the article: Live-music dos and don'ts]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They sound incredible. Best live show I've seen in years.
-
This article went off the rails
[Read the article: John McCain goes off the rails]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]By suggesting that McCain's problem is his integrity. Please! That went out the window starting with the 2004 election.
"He refused to kowtow to the Republican Party's evangelical base." - what planet was this article written on?
-
There are a wide range of options
[Read the article: Is atheism dead?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Given the amount of information available these days, I'm always surprised that many people tend to see only two options: atheism or judeo-christian monotheism. Why not explore one of the many varieties of Buddhism? Dive into the works of the ancient Greek philosophical tradition? Taoism? Shamanism? There is a wide range of perspectives available.
-
Spirituality and money
[Read the article: Amma's cosmic squeeze]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We're very hyper-vigilant to misconduct involving corruption in religious organizations (and others), as well we should be. But I've also detected an interesting antipathy towards money entirely, which is reflected by Lakshmi comments.
What, really, is wrong with service that "involves assisting people who have enough money to pay for retreats so that there is no paid labor during these programs." Asking affluent westerners who can afford to pay for a service to do so, so that more money is available for destitute Indians? Why is that troubling?
-
re Hecate
[Read the article: Amma's cosmic squeeze]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hecate, that could be the implication, but that is far from clear. Nothing else about the article suggests that anyone is getting rich. The author should have pressed her on this point. It may be that she simply doesn't know how to say no. Lots of nonprofit orgs of all kinds will burn you out if you don't know how to say no.
-
Just saw it, not impressed
[Read the article: "The Simpsons Movie"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I went despite my better instincts, because of the positive reviews it received. I like the Simpsons quite a lot, but this was a long mediocre episode that I happened to pay 10 bucks to see. Why make such a half-ass movie after all these years?
-
I'm pro-choice too but I disagree
[Read the article: Amnesty International supports abortion rights for rape victims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]At least the church has taken the most logically consistent anti-abortion position. If a fetus is a person and abortion is murder, then it doesn't matter how s/he was conceived.
-
Kind of unfair
[Read the article: Learning from Genghis Khan and the Qianlong Emperor]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is in fact a benchmark, just not the one we wanted.
-
The bullshit never ends
[Read the article: The case of the disappearing benchmarks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But thank you, Mr. Grieve, for carefully documenting it in irrefutable form.
-
it's more about control than hygiene
[Read the article: Caught dirty-handed]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not surprised to see germophobes, consumed as they are with all kinds of preposterous neuroses, are convulsed by their inability to dictate that others adopt their compulsions. Yes, fecal matter can be trouble. But you're blowing the risk all out of proportion and conflating all sorts of things, as many prior commentators have outlined. It's more about control than it is about legitimate concerns about disease.
-
Acutally, AT&T more or less died
[Read the article: Turn out the lights, Michigan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Re: comments of (~~~~)
SBC Communications bought it and then renamed itself "AT & T" in 2005.
-
Ridiculous biases of the naysayers
[Read the article: We paved paradise]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's interesting how Laurel and other parking enthusiasts are convinced that their preferred arrangement is some kind of libertarian ideal, and the alternative is "dictatorial" based on the preferences of the "elites." Actually, the parking-and-sprawl-based status quo is very much a product of government regulations and subsidies, as the article partially explains. The considerable percentage of the American population (from a very wide demographic) that would prefer an alternative is very often denied it by laws and government policies.
-
I'm still hopeful . . .
[Read the article: Congress to New York (and Chicago and L.A.): Drop dead]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that one of these days Salon will publish an article about the progressive critique of illegal immigration. I'm an economic populist, pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-union, pro-environment, voted for Nader twice, and wholeheartedly opposed to illegal immigration. And the letters column always bears out that there are a lot of us out there. And yet I never see our views represented anywhere else.
-
Not clear cut, or a big deal
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I remember seeing at the Baseball Hall of Fame a photograph from the 1910s or 1920s of a large group of Native Americans in ceremonial dress being honored on the field at an Indians game. I wish I could find a record of it online. The caption stated that they regarded the name of the team positively, and the fact that they would turn up for the affair would seem to suggest that was in fact the case.
Chief Wahoo is certainly not more cartoonish than the Notre Dame leprechaun. It is not intended to be offensive, and a good percentage of Native Americans do not take it to be, regardless of what one obscure pole or a handful of professional complainers might lead you to believe. This is much ado about nothing.
-
one more thing
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]. . I myself have a full-blooded Navajo grandparent, which makes me a lot more "Native American" than a most of the people who pass themselves off as such.
-
another political consideration . . .
[Read the article: A Buddhist approach to climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]China might also oppose the use of the term "Dzongkha" for other reasons. If Dzongkha is merely a Bhutanese dialect of Tibetan, it is that much easier to claim that Bhutan is just a province of Tibet, and therefore rightfully part of China (in their minds). This is certainly a concern the Bhutanese have, and probably a well-founded one.
-
I can remind you what Velvet Goldmine's flaws were
[Read the article: "I'm Not There"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's f'ing terrible! I turned it off after 10 minutes, and I love 70s glam.