Letters to the Editor
Susan Wood
Published Letters: 379 Editor's Choice: 27
-
The concept that women are property is not unique to Moslem countries
[Read the article: Another day, another honor killing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and if anyone thinks it's foreign to the western tradition, I advise you to read a little Roman history -- specifically, the rape of Lucretia, followed by her suicide; her husband had just assured her that her mind did not commit any sin, but she replied that nonetheless her body had sinned and must be punished, and proceeded to stab herself. Then there's the story of Verginia, a Plebeian girl whom the Decemvir Appius Claudius tried to claim as his slave, having tried and failed to get her into bed by more subtle means. Her father "rescued" her from this fate by killing her. And then of course there's the sweet young thing in Birth of a Nation who throws herself off a cliff just because a black man (apparently) propositioned her.
So let's not confuse the notion that women are men's property with any set of religious beliefs. You find justifications for this kind of brutality in all of them. But certainly the fact that any sort of civil order has broken down in Iraq has something to do with this, and as Joe Buck noted, the fact that the girl's flirtation was with one of the hated outsiders probably has even more. We went into Iraq claiming that we were going to bring them freedom and democracy, and instead, this is what we've been instrumental in doing to Iraqi women.
-
Zeuser, do you ever need some new material!
[Read the article: "Hardball": Barack Obama is no Neville Chamberlain ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The "smoking gun in the form of a mushroom cloud" was the line Bush used to get us into Iraq, after which it became painfully evident that there were neither WMDs nor anything remotely resembling a program to build them.
You want to get rid of Iran as a threat? Offer them the right to operate peaceful nuclear power plants in exchange for open trade with the west. There's a restless young generation that will make a bee-line for the blue jeans and MacDonald's and Starbucks franchises faster than you can say cultural imperialism.
-
Thomas C, don't you go dissin' the great Saint Ronald.
[Read the article: Ronald Reagan: Chamberlainian appeaser of the 1980s]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sure he cut and ran from Lebanon, but he invaded and defeated the mighty Grenada the very next week.
-
The Obama campaign needs to do a Dan Rather on him.
[Read the article: Karl Rove's sly deal with Fox]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When 60 minutes planned a damaging story about Bush's failure to fulfill his responsibilities in the National Guard, Rove's strategy was to turn the story around on Rather, and make it all about the authenticity of one of the documents he used. (The other unimpeachably accurate documents, for some strange reason, didn't get discussed). Well, it's time to show Rove that any number can play that game. Obama has been a lot more effective than Gore or Kerry about hitting back when lied about or misrepresented, but he needs to go farther, and make this about Rove, the guy who was up to his ears in the illegal prosecutor firings, the guy who's hiding behind "executive privilege" to avoid testifying, the guy who got a salary at taxpayer expense for years to run a permanent Republican campaign out of the White House. What are you waiting for, Barack? Nail him on it!
-
Joe Klein?
[Read the article: Joe Klein exposes McCain's ignorance on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I guess nature has a use for even the lowest life forms.
-
George Bush would like this to be "amnesia day."
[Read the article: Mutterings over the graves of soldiers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for an excellent column, Garrison.
Remember the first time that a newscaster read the names of the fallen on the air in 2004? Not exactly an unusual way to honor the dead; I remember almost the identical ritual every May from my childhood, when the names of the boys from my hometown who had died in WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam would be solemnly read over the loudspeaker before "taps" and the flag raising to half-staff. But when Ted Koppel read the names of the men who died in Iraq, a lot of stations refused to carry his "unpatriotic" (huh? Hello? what?) commentary. And that says it all about the bumper sticker patriots who can say that they "support the troops" without sacrificing anything, even a few moments of sorrow for the dead and empathy with their grieving families.
And Elephantman, thank you for demonstrating exactly the type of armchair hero I mean. Sheesh, couldn't you even take the trouble to find a few new cliches to throw at people who disagree with you? East-coast-elite-English-major-yadda-yadda -- Eman, Keillor is a farm boy, in case you've missed PHC for the last 25 years or so.
-
True equality of the sexes
[Read the article: Ah, the mysterious female orgasm]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Everyone knows that God gave man both a brain and equipment, but only enough blood to operate one of them at a time. And now we find that women are no different? Wow, stop the presses :-)
-
Chiefpayne, I have never seen so many illogical arguments outside an Ann Coulter column.
[Read the article: Mutterings over the graves of soldiers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If it isn't native Iraqis fighting us, it must be Al Qaeda? That statement only makes sense if a) you seriously believe that no native Iraqis are fighting us, and b) that all "terrorists" are "Al Qaeda." In which case, you probably think that McCain knew what he was talking about when he said that Iran (a Shi'ite Muslim stronghold) was training Al Qaeda (Sunni Muslims). That's like saying that the Rev. Ian Paisley was training IRA Catholic terrorists. Unlikely!!
The native Iraqis wouldn't attack us? You think not, even after our bombs and our trigger-happy Blackwater mercenaries have killed a lot of innocent civilians? After we smashed their infrastructure to heck,occupied their country for five years, and failed to restore even the most minimal services? You don't think that most normal human beings would find that just a wee bit humiliating, and maybe even get angry enough to set a bomb or two in the path of the invaders?