Letters to the Editor
captainlarab
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 41
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@ChillyDogg
[Read the article: Bush's worst day ever?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A fair point. I was close enough to the Pentagon on 9/11 to feel my windows shake; admittedly, this has changed my perspective.
At the same time, what are your odds of being involved in *either* a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, a blackout, or a huge and sudden increase in gasoline prices? 'Cuz this Administration doesn't seem to have good responses for any of these scenarios. I'm not saying let's sit around worrying about these things, I'm just saying let's take responsibility for making our own plans. I just hate to see Americans so utterly dependent on a government they can't trust anymore.
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@ Anonymous (the chaplain)
[Read the article: "You have to know when to say enough is enough"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Add to all that you have described, the burden of being gay or lesbian in a war zone and being able to talk to *no one* about the nature of your family back home. What happens to a lot of gay and lesbian troops is, the military lets them go ahead and finish their combat tours, and then kicks them out afterwards under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Please spread the word to any servicemembers about these services:
http://www.sldn.org
http://www.mcsnfamilies.org
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Ever seen how much makeup TV "journalists" wear?
[Read the article: The makeup scandals]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My sister used to be a local news producer, and I'd often see the (male) anchor walking around before the show. It was like friggin' Tammy Faye Bakker as a guy! And this was just some podunk local news channel. Let's have all the Fox talking heads do a news story on how much *they* primp before a show.
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You know what's really sad, and dangerous?
[Read the article: Hyping the intelligence again?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The fact that NIEs are publicized and politicized. I once had the occasion to talk with a fairly high-level official in INR, the State Department's intelligence bureau. This person said that they viewed with growing concern the practice of publicizing intelligence reports. They said, "It's going to change the approach that intelligence analysts take to their work if they know that work is going to be regularly subjected to public scrutiny and political pressure."
That's the real problem. These analysts should be able to produce products not for public disclosure, and you, the public, should be able to trust your government to make the right decisions based upon it and tell you no more or less than what you need to know.
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@ DanielSh
[Read the article: You are now free to pollute about the country]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First off, I want to thank Salon for its renewed interest in the environment and climate change issues. These are exactly the type of thought-provoking articles and letters I have come to expect from Salon.
Now, DanielSh: Would that it were that easy. Here's what concerns me about plug-in cars: If I start plugging in my car in lieu of going to the gas station, aren't my utility bills going to go through the roof? And doesn't the electricity in my house have to be powered with something that is more than likely ultimately fossil-fuel-based?
Solar power has a lot of promise, but right now, solar electric power is 50 times more expensive than conventional power (solar thermal is a different story, but it's still not great). The NYT ran an article a couple of days ago on solar power. It's easy enough to say, "Cut down on coal emissions," but that's pretty much all the Chinese have. The Chinese are currently producing a large proportion of the solar PV panels in the world, most of which are promptly shipped to Germany. The industry that produces them is predominantly coal-powered.