Letters to the Editor
Persia
Published Letters: 317 Editor's Choice: 18
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Brightstar and trolling issues aside--
[Read the article: A peek behind the veil (again)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's clear the veil isn't a way to stop getting unwanted attention from men, at least not in Saudi Arabia. Personally, I think I'd rather have a wolf whistle from some jerk than a burly guy shouting "You can be SEEN!" in my face.
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The most chilling thing for me
[Read the article: One Iraqi's collateral damage]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is thinking that Ahlam is probably one of the lucky ones. Her captors let her go, after all. How many more people who aided US efforts have been killed?
Thank you, Salon, for this article. As frustrating and saddening as it is, we need to know about the pain that has been committed in our name.
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The CBS Evening News is crap.
[Read the article: Katie Couric: Tarting up the news?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I watched fifteen minutes of it the other night and saw not a single piece of 'hard' news. There was, however, a 'feel good' feature, and viewers could vote on the next 'feel good' feature they'd have on the news. Paddy Chayevsky would've dismissed the whole thing as being too ludicrous for Network.
"Tarted up" might not have been the perfect word choice, as far as political correctness goes. But it's a dead-on way of describing the newscast.
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I made it to page two!
[Read the article: Don't run, Al. Don't!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I feel like I should get a prize or something. Was the final straw when she cited a Drudge Report poll as the bottom-line judge of public opinion? Probably.
I know there are lots of hits and comments every time she blathers on, but Salon? You can do better than this. I think I'd rather see a Rush Limbaugh column than this crap. At least Rush doesn't pretend to be on my side.
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My gym plays classic rock.
[Read the article: Why do gyms play such crappy music?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Honestly, I think I'd rather have the techno. I listen to a lot of Japanese pop music, because the tempo is 'up' and the lyrics don't distract me. I'm also fond of classic cheer songs from the 80's. "Hey Mickey!" is of course the ultimate example of this genre.
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It's the price, stupid.
[Read the article: Comics fans, grow up!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Chiming in with the obscene amount of money graphic novels and serial comics cost. It's one of the reason almost all my spare comix buys go into manga-- at $7.97-9.95 for a volume of reading material, it's much more affordable than the $20 full-color volumes at half the price.
For that matter, where's the mention of the explosion of the manga market in recent years, especially in teen and preteen readers (who are aso reading Western graphic novels at a high rate).
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@CT Voter
[Read the article: "Is our children learning?"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]American Idol's ratings have been dropping like a stone. (The winner, for the record, was Jordin Sparks, but I can also name Chief Justice Roberts, which must put me in a small percentage of people indeed.)
Your question and this poll does remind me of something that worries me about the old US of A: our increased fragmentation, in the information we hold, the media we peruse, the languages we speak (and I'm not just talking about English and Spanish). We seem to be losing our unified cultural literacy and experience of events...but that may be false nostalgia for a world that never really existed. And the one event that we could look on as a touchstone-- Sept. 11-- has been co-opted for political purposes....
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What if DDT had been widely used in Africa?
[Read the article: Rachel Carson's birthday bashing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]DDT-resistant mosquitoes were seen as early as 1957. Chloroquine-resistant strains of malaria are a serious problem now. We might now be looking at a huge surge-- or resurgence-- of malaria anyway, on top of damage done to fish, birds, and other wildlife in the area. There's no magic bullet when it comes to parasites and disease eradication.
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The one objection I have....
[Read the article: Why did Bush commute Libby's sentence?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is to your characterization of Bush's choice as a 'cave-in.' It's hardly a cave-in-- it's just a continuing symptom of the arrogance, hubris, and contempt for the rule of law that's been the hallmark of this administration. Libby's not 'valuable' enough for a full pardon, and for that matter, if he's exonorated he wouldn't be able to plead the Fifth-- so this is exactly what Bush wanted, and exactly what he got.
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Safari is...
[Read the article: Another iPhone feature -- it crashes!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A flawed browser, for whatever reason. I use it and Firefox at work (on a Mac) and have half the problems with Firefox as I do with Safari. And yes, I've had Macs crash, and kernel panics, and all sorts of fun. But Mac generally does what it does very well-- provide an integrated, simple, user-friendly experience. Is it perfect? Hell no. But I still am happily sipping my Kool-aid. (I'm not buying an iPhone though. Too cheap, and I think cellphones are evil.)
Also, the suggestion that Microsoft listens well to its customers might be the funniest thing I've heard all day.
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How saddening.
[Read the article: Bush and Cheney walk, too]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But another wonderful piece from Sidney Blumenthal.
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Aunt Erma's Cope Book
[Read the article: Does self-help breed helplessness?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Erma Bombeck took the whole package down in much the same way in the 70's-- though with a bit less respect than Niesslein did. Though I'm glad the world has an update, it sounds like not much has changed.
Thanks everyone for their insights-- especially the 'inside' view, pacificwave. This was a letter section well worth reading.
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@The Canadian
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For one thing, the Bush administration couldn't even get its ducks in a row over the firing of the US Attorneys. I find it hard to believe they could manage to bribe/persuade/threaten enough people to keep a conspiracy around the 9/11 attacks secret.
Their incompetence and refusal to take Osama bin Laden seriously led to the damn attacks. Let's not muddy the waters by waving a conspiracy flag-- they've got enough that they should be held responsible for.
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Sounds nifty.
[Read the article: Put down the doughnut, play Nintendo's new Wii Fit game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Now could those jerks at Nintendo make enough Wii units so I could, you know, buy one?
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I wonder if Jonah Goldberg will have to change his subtitle again.
[Read the article: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's wacky Web rants]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not sure "Liberal Fascism" quite describes John Mackey's MO: more like "Capitalists Gone Wild."
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Of course, polls are meaningless--
[Read the article: The political fringe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why would we ask questions of the American people when we have Beltway pundits so willing to tell us what they really think? And of course the November elections were just an illusion as well, I'm sure.
Glenn, keep up the excellent work. If the rest of Salon disappeared tomorrow (and some days I wonder), I'd still visit the site daily for your insight.