Letters to the Editor
DurianJoe
Published Letters: 1310 Editor's Choice: 69
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Hell's Liberal, got a question for you (OT)
[Read the article: Why I hate partner yoga]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I see that you teach T'ai Chi with an emphasis on self-defense. I have been taking Yang style T'ai Chi for about half a year now; before that, I studied Krav Maga for about 5 years before concluding that my body could not longer take the punishment of broken bones, being slammed to the mat, etc.
My T'ai Chi instructor de-emphasizes the self-defense aspects of T'ai Chi in favor of the health aspects. I'm fine with that, especially because he does teach Push Hands and some kind of sword style to advanced students (which I'm working on). However, I'm curious as to how effective T'ai Chi is for self-defense in a practical sense. Courses like Krav Maga teach you how to fight in as short a time as possible. In your opinion, is T'ai Chi effective as self-defense in the short run, or does it take years of practice before you can use it in a practical manner? Also, in your class do students get their bones broken? I'm tired of that, but I might be inclined to switch to a more self-defense oriented T'ai Chi class.
Thanks for any feedback.
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I feel oddly sad about this, too.
[Read the article: Remembering Heath Ledger]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Plenty of young people die tragically, including famous ones like Mr. Ledger. For some reason his death bothers me more than I expected. I suppose it's because I considered him just another adequately talented pretty boy actor in so-so movies, but his acting in Brokeback Mountain really moved me. The guy had gravitas. He even had me looking forward to The Dark Knight, which I otherwise would have ignored, given how pretentious the first Batman movie was.
Ah well. If it was a suicide, that just presents us with a mystery of how a rich and famous actor with a blockbuster movie about to come out was nonetheless troubled enough to kill himself. If it was accidental, then hopefully his death will spur safety improvements in the use and distribution of sleeping pills in our society.
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C Mosby: Amen!
[Read the article: Clarence Thomas is not a sellout]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I remember hoping that if Bush the Senior was going to intentionally fill Justice Marshall's seat with another African American, that it would be Judge Higginbotham. I also remember exactly where I was when Bush announced that instead, it would be that non-entity Clarence Thomas: I was in the Fox & Hounds bar on 16th Street in D.C., and a good thing too, as I immediately needed a drink after hearing the news.
Instead of the learned and wise Judge Higginbotham -- a man who would have been a wonderful addition to the Supreme Court -- we got his polar opposite in every way possible. What a shame for this country, and what an enduring stain on Bush's legacy.
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Thanks, Hell's Liberal
[Read the article: Why I hate partner yoga]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is a Chen-style T'ai Chi class not far from where I live. I might check them out.
I'm looking forward to Push Hands, but I'm still uncertain as to just when we'll get to that. I know that less than a year into Krav Maga I was wearing fighting gear and doing full contact, not quite full speed sparring, and that blew away my previous training (Shotokan karate, Tang Soo Do). Only boxing was as immediately edifying I see T'ai Chi as a longer term art, but to continue from your advice on what-you-give-is-what-you-get, I think that in the long term it's going to pay off in a very satisfying way.
I'm also going to take that yoga class, but unless my partner is Scarlett Johanssen, I'll balk at doing any partner work.
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Is it too alarmist to worry about a depression, not a recession?
[Read the article: The politics of an economic nightmare]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Iraq War is going to cost us a trillion dollars. It's costing us billions every month. Billions Much of that is off-budget. How many trillions is our national debt?
How much money do we owe China, the Gulf Arab states, other nations? How many of our manufacturing jobs remain in our nation? How much does the world rely upon the consumer debt of U.S. citizens whose middle income jobs are bleeding overseas? Our infrastructure is crumbling. Oil and natural gas are getting more expensive all the time (what was your heating bill this month?). Our railroads and ports are crumbling. How can our nation survive as a service sector economy?
Overseas stock markets are panicking like a herd of antelope which have been attacked by lions.
30 years of disastrous supply side economics, i.e., voodoo economics, tax cuts for the wealthy, tax increases for the rest of us (in the form of rising Social Security taxes), as well as misbegotten free trade agreements and predatory credit corporations have decimated our country. Will giving everyone $800 to pay down their Visa bills really save us?
Who in the Roaring 20's thought the party would ever end?
And oh yeah: global warming is getting worse, not better. Atlanta nearly ran out of water, and the American West has been in a sustained drought for a decade.
And Pakistan has nukes.
It's getting a wee bit scary out there, isn't it?
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@CMosby
[Read the article: Clarence Thomas is not a sellout]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's no argument that black and brown people faced more oppression than poor white people simply due to the color of their skin. Ditto for women, except is was their genitalia. Though I strongly supported AA based on race and/or gender in the past specifically because of this nation's horrible record on race, and somewhat less horrible record on gender, I still think that a more fair and just system now, in 2008, would be AA based on class.
Like I said earlier to KStone, I could be mistaken, but I can't shake the feeling that race or gender favoritism, while understable, is still wrong.
What we really need is for people to do the right thing and stop judging people on skin or gender, and to stop promoting their family and friends instead of other, more qualified individuals. Oh look, there goes a flying pig!
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Can a black candidate win? Only one way to find out: see who wins.
[Read the article: Obama's historic run heads south]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Regardless of which candidate gets the Democratic nomination: if the losing candidates do not urge their followers to support the winner, then damn him or her to hell.
EDWARDS 2008!