Letters to the Editor
Mister Marker
Published Letters: 198 Editor's Choice: 7
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Oh Yeah, The U.S. Military Just SUCKS!
[Read the article: Who's the superpower now?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.
Clearly ALL modern armies travel on oil, but if firepower/killing ability is measureable, I would say the U.S. military gets more bang for its oil buck than any nation since WWI.
Consider the AC-130U and the A-10 Warthog. The AC-130U is equipped with two 25mm Vulcan, 5-barrel guns and one 105mm Howitzer. That's right, a HOWITZER. The A-10 has a 30mm chain-fed auto-cannon in its nose. Deploy one of each of these planes over a large area and they have enough combined firepower to destroy entire armies. Moreover, the Warthog can take multiple direct hits from RPGs and SAMs and remain operational. They're not indestructible, but close.
And I haven't even touched on the giant bombs we can deploy, like the 25k pound "Daisy Cutter" that can be dropped onto and incinerate entire armoured columns. Talk about bang for your buck!
Anyone who takes on the U.S. military in a conventional shooting war is dust. However immoral the war in Iraq may be, it has not "proven that we can be defeated." Quite the contrary, the IEDs are useless against Strykers - proving our adaptability - and many wounded who would once have been useless are, after a few days or weeks of rehabilitation, able to return to the battlefield. The M-1 Abrams is still the best tank in the world, bar none. The Apache is disappointing to put it MILDLY, but the Black Hawk is as solid as anything available to any other army in the world. An added bonus is that JANES Infantry routinely ranks the U.S. Marines and Army Rangers at or near the top of it's annual evaluation of the best infantry in the world.
So please spare me the "paper tiger" talk. It's an insult to my intelligence.
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Me Too!
[Read the article: Bateman: Ice Cream Jones is in trouble!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My younger sister actually ate that sugar-coated shit. God knows what it did to her, though my nephews and niece came out ok.
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I'm Wealthier Than My Parents
[Read the article: Have we fallen behind our parents?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But then only in strictly material ways. I drive a far more luxurious car than my parents did at my age (I'm 43). I have toys to play with that my parents didn't have: The internet, Call of Duty 4, an incredible computer system, an amazing professional-quality video camera and the software to create my own short films, a large screen stereo television, 500-channel digital cable, a DVD player and Netflix to keep it humming. I can eat out every night if I choose. Each day at lunch my colleagues and I eat at restaurants my parents could never have afforded and in any case didn't exist because back then the immigrants weren't around to operate them. When I go into debt I can get out of it right quick. And so on.
But then at my age my parents had built a loving family with two children and each other, brought together under the roof of a house that was modest but comfortable and that they could afford. I have no children, no spouse, no house. I can afford all of the toys because I have no one on whom to spend my money. And so in actuality I am deeply impoverished. Most of the people my age, in my industry, in my state and region, are in the same boat. When I post a video on YouTube that's longer than 3 minutes I get comments consisting of the acronym "TLDW" - "Too Long, Didn't Watch." Yes, most of are incapable of communicating except in sound bytes and we are paying the price for it, and it will only get worse as we grow old.
Some more observations: In 1968 my grandfather earned $44K as a heavy construction carpenter (I'm not supposed to know that - suffice it to say that in childhood I was known as "big ears"), and could afford a house, family AND toys. Last year I earned $98k but kept only $48k, and the only reason that pisses me off is because I see almost nothing of that directly impacting my life; quite the contrary, the roads and highways are a mess of potholes, unemployment is a joke, healthcare is eating up 14% of GDP and, worst of all, much of my $52K "contribution" goes to finance an illegal, immoral war.
Speaking of war, the people here arguing that there is no class war, that everything is about "personal responsibility", are either being disengenuous or are just plain stupid. When asked about class warfare, none other than Warren Buffet had this to say: "Of course there's a class war going on, and we're winning." You want more than Warren's word on that? Fine, read Barron's, Business Week, The Financial Times and/or The Wall Street Journal. And as you read keep in mind that you are listening to the ruling class talking to itself. What you hear will make your hair stand on end. And once you've heard, what are you prepared to do about it?
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There Are Cyberstalking Laws On the Books
[Read the article: The MySpace mom's prosecution threatens us all]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Prosecute her for the crime she committed, not for a crime you invent out of whole cloth. I think this whole thing is just outrageous.
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"He was more to the left..."
[Read the article: Controversy over "confrontational" MLK statue]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, and that's why he was assassinated.