Letters to the Editor
DurianJoe
Published Letters: 1508 Editor's Choice: 69
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Allie & Cosmic Mojo
[Read the article: Feminist blog goes to the dogs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Allie, there is a long tradition of concern for animals among Christians. If you're interested, there is a recent book on Christianity and animal rights called "Dominion : The Power of Men, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," by Matthew Scully who was, of all things, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
Cosmic Mojo: I know that the Dalai Lama now eats meat, and his decision to do so was very disappointing. My T'ai Chi teacher is a lifelong Buddhist and vegetarian, so I prefer to see him, and not the Dalai Lama, as the exemplar of Buddhism.
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Oh, those pesky squicked out bourgies.
[Read the article: These SS boots are made for walking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To start, nobody here has said that this stuff cannot be allowed. Consenting adults should be allowed to do whatever they want. If you want someone to shit in your mouth, and they're willing to do it, knock yourselves out. And hey, if doms can make a good living doing that sort of thing, who's to say no?
There's a difference, though, between saying people can't do something, and saying people shouldn't do something. Are only middle class bourgies allowed to be offended by sex fantasies involving real-life atrocities like the Holocaust? Do working class heroes not give a damn about that? How about the wealthy?
Bullshit. Ask a dirt-poor Darfurian refugee who saw her relative gang raped and killed if it's cool for people to "Dress up like the Janjaweed and abuse me" so a client can jerk off to it.
Everyone's allowed to fantasize about whatever they want, and consenting adults can play out those fantasies, for free or for pay. However, I would hope that if some guy wants to get off on being fake-tortured by the SS, then someone else will say do it you own mind, pal, but I respect the memory of the people who really were tortured and murdered in that atrocity and won't betray their memories by playing along.
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Robert Franklin, would that be John Entine of the very right wing American Enterprise Institute?
[Read the article: Quote of the Day ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I trust his reporting on progessive business leaders like Anita Roddick as much as I trust Fox News on the fiasco in Iraq.
Ms. Roddick represented the humane side of capitalism. I have nothing but respect for her memory.
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Anonymous, I blame Columbus.
[Read the article: Feminist blog goes to the dogs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does your American Indian relative like a spicy curry dish, har har?
Anyway, he sounds like a good man, and anyone who treats animals well has my respect. I have been in the homeless animal rescue business for a long time, and I have witnessed enough human cruelty and indifference to animal suffering to last me several lifetimes. I wish everyone was like your relative.
Still, I have to disagree with you on this. I have seen so many good dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, languishing in shelter cages that it breaks my heart. I've seen the tears of the shelter workers who have to euthanize puppies and kittens. I've shared the anguish of people desperately trying to find homes for animals. Having seen all this, I cannot support the intentional breeding of yet more dogs and cats and other animals. I'd like to think that if everyone has seen what I've seen, they'd agree and nobody would intentionally breed an animal until every last shelter cage was empty.
To those of you who buy purebred because you doubt the quality of animals in shelters, you are dead wrong. I've seen purebreds of all kinds in shelters, and I've seen mutts, and in almost every case you are looking at a wonderful animal who would make a loving pet. If you have the room in your home and the space in your heart, please consider saving a life by adopting an animal from your local shelter. You won't be disappointed.
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John Entine and the AEI
[Read the article: Quote of the Day ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mainstream media or not, it helps to look at which organization a journalist is affiliated with when considering the validity of what they write.
John Entine is an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Some guy named Glen Greenwald, who writes for some outfit called Salon (who the hell are they?) gives a good description of what the AEI's politics are, here: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/aei-iran-and-free-press.html
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Why does Al Queda even bother?
[Read the article: Hit her, baby, one more time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Seems to me that this country is doing a pretty good job of destroying itself. Britney Spears is a pretty good symbol of that self-destruction: the rise of a pre-packaged corporate commodity shaking her tits and ass, a media which spent far more time chronicling her antics than lesser subjects like war & poverty, and a culture which gets off on the destruction of a young woman.
Our bridges are falling down, our cities get flooded and remain unbuilt, our jobs go overseas, our financial system is a house of cards, we're led by a war- and torture-happy dope, and our fat-assed obese children play video games and develop diabetes. Meanwhile, the Sarah Silvermans of our world laugh and jest, secure in their hatred.
So Osama, if you're reading this in your cave, give it up. We're fucking ourselves over without your help (you murderous bastard).
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Anon. 8:19: Britney Spears is not fat
[Read the article: Hit her, baby, one more time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just found a video of Spears' MVA performance, and it was lame in all the ways described here, but the woman herself is not fat, and I'm puzzled why you would say that.
This is not to say that she has her athletic, 19 year-old body (not surprising given that she's had two children), but not being a taut athlete does not mean, ipso facto, that a person is fat.
When I read people calling Britney Spears fat, I sympathize with all the women who complain that they are being held to impossible standards of bodily beauty.
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Lilianjane, about helping the moose
[Read the article: Hit her, baby, one more time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe Ms. Traister can tell us why nobody helped that moose, or if they did try but failed. You're absolutely right about the need for people to intervene in cases of cruelty to animals. Often all a person needs to do is say "Stop!" Bullies (and most people who are cruel to animals are bullies) are cowards and will usually stop when confronted, at least in my experience.