Letters to the Editor
wbswhav
Published Letters: 17 Editor's Choice: 2
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moving right along
[Read the article: Men, turn off your Cuisinarts!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wander out of one room, into another. It's easier to leave good food when the tomatoes are all gone.
Where next Mr. Keillor?
How about laying on us some good writing about poker? There's a man's game, and the subject of about a dozen Grateful Dead songs. Lots of folks will identify if you go out and lose some bucks but learn stuff about people's characters that you never woulda guessed.
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try again next year with somebody better
[Read the article: Camille and Cintra call the Oscars]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I only tuned in to the commentary twice and it was just catty bitching. Nice concept Salon. Try again next year with wittier smarter nicer commentators.
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atonement
[Read the article: Camille's back!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So she voted for Ralph Nader in 2000.
Let's hear some serious atonement for that, and then I may pay attention to what she has to say now.
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Absolutely right on
[Read the article: Why do journalists suddenly love Al Gore?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Absolutely right on Joe.
It is sooo frustrating to read the crafted rightwing lies that echo their way out into my daily newspaper. Maureen Dowd especially is nothing more than a very witty dogpiler. What is it about the media bus that the chatterers cannot bear to acknowledge a truly standout person---yet until only last year gave free passes to fools and sociopaths?
Same treatment as Gore for Howard Dean. They ask for a straight talker and when one stands up they use not substance but technique to knock him right down.
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Apology due NOW.
[Read the article: To the worker ants of science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]STOP the presses! Nay, stop the bits flowing! You offended *me* and I DEMAND an APOLOGY. I am a scientist who at one point had something to do with MIT and I used the internet in the 1980's---before you even knew it EXISTED. So HOW DARE you compare MY KIND with ants?!? For your information most ants are SCAVENGERS that CRAWL ON THE GROUND. If you weren't so pathetically bigoted I would I would I would scramble your L2 cache---you minor celebrity monster you.
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It's about attitude.
[Read the article: Compassionate conservatism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a big fan of War Room. This is the first really stupid piece I've seen.
Of course no one can know what it was like in that classroom. But it's all about *attitude*. If you mentally think ahead about what one *should* do in a situation like this, you'll be more prepared to act aggressively and save somebody instead of cower.
By mocking someone for suggesting Flight 93 as a model, you are simply justifying the right's position that liberals are a bunch of wussies who won't defend themselves or their country.
Grow some hair on your balls, weenie.
(Does that make you angry? Good. Now Judo-like, deflect it back into fighting for our country against the wingnuts.)
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Paglia. Don't bother.
[Read the article: Don't run, Al. Don't!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But the article on chocolate was kinda interesting.
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quality of writing
[Read the article: The imperial vice presidency]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Beyond the facts and the interpretation, week after week Sidney Blumenthal's writing just dazzles.
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culpability for injury to others
[Read the article: Pit bulls are innocent]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Right, and guns don't kill people, people kill people.
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Math phobia
[Read the article: The presidential primary scam]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Part of the formula used by Democrats reads like this: AF = ½ × ( ( SDV ÷ TDV ) + ( SEV ÷ 538 ) )."
Is this supposed to be arcane math or something? It's only a simple arithmetic expression, composed of times, divide, and add symbols, and some parameters with three-letter names you don't even bother to define. This is Salon.com. Don't try to use math phobia to make your point. I do not subscribe to Salon to receive arguments from dumbth.
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skepticism is smarter than cynicism
[Read the article: How the Internet will stop climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For some reason poor Andrew Leonard was overtaken by cynicism and succombed to shallow reactive arguments against human progress.
The fundamental problems are social: people, with different beliefs and different interests, address conflict in mutually destructive ways.
The human mind is an incredible information processing device that synthesizes emotion with reason. Pairs, families, tribes, and states each are collective minds. Each gives rise to its own emergent properties. Guess what, the species is not done inventing! Modern computing and communications tools are so new that there's no telling how profoundly they can transform society.
It's wise to be skeptical about any new bold idea. Leonard's objections are sophomoric and feeble.
"there is also the not insignificant problem of designing a system that can withstand cooptation by the instruments of capital" This he writes immediately after citing Wikipedia! Still hanging onto your Encyclopedia Britannica stock, Andrew?
"The fundamental belief that underlies projects such as the Climate Collaboratorium is that humans can devise tools that will enable them to transcend their intrinsic nature."
Ever heard of the US Constitution?
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suspicious of Iowa
[Read the article: Why Iowa matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Iowa is the place where Howard Dean got torpedoed. A smart authentic public servant who tells it straight was too much for them. They don't have my respect.
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the first rule of writring
[Read the article: We're failing our kids]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The first rule of writing is, write what you know about. You're a pro, you would never do otherwise. I'm happy the Reading First program is working in the classroom where you volunteer. Let's keep it.
Now you ought to listen to a whole bunch of other people who are struggling in their full-time jobs to teach kids to read and write and do math and especially think, under the burdensome remainder of this misguided and mis-named sham, NCLB.
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politcal correctness hasn't gone away
[Read the article: Geraldine Ferraro still needs to apologize]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is possible to recognize the truth in what Ms. Ferraro said about one of the significant factors for Mr. Obama's success while recognizing that this fact in no way detracts from Mr. Obama's merits, accomplishments, vision, and ability to be a great president. Everyone has a race and ethnicity, and if they can make that work for themself in a positive way, more power to them. Sorry you felt it necessary to play into the personal destruction game, Joe. This piece was entirely unnecessary.
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solar panels do not create electrons
[Read the article: Ask Pablo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Any "technical" article that starts off saying that solar panels convert beams of light into electrons is suspect. The electrons were there already, this is only metaphorical. The photons from light cause electrons in the panels to pile up and want to move through wires.