Letters to the Editor
Seamonkey
Published Letters: 47 Editor's Choice: 3
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This is a little too much hope...
[Read the article: Yes, we can]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First off, I've been an Obama supporter for the last year, and I'm working hard for him in Texas, so this is not a criticism of him at all, but rather of oversold expectations of this letter.
Wouldn't it be a fantastic world if we could just get everyone to look at the research and go with what works? Unfortunately, when Big Oil is willing to pay millions of dollars for a researcher to say that there is no direct evidence of human culpability in global warming, there are plenty of them willing to take that check and write that article, and in consequence, it takes us a good ten years longer than it should have to come to an agreement that global warming is a bad thing.
Now apply that process to all of the problems we'd like to fix. School vouchers? Sure. How difficult do you think it's going be be for the other side to find the research that says it works? I haven't googled it yet, but my guess is that it already exists. Health care, gun control, rebuilding the American education system, establishing a thoughtful energy policy that looks long-term. We need to move forward on all of those, and now. Not in ten years, when the battle of the researchers has finally been won and we've reduced the opposition to a small, lunatic fringe (the same fringe that is still either disclaiming global warming, or claiming that it will actually be a positive thing).
So yes, use the approach you've just presented, but don't be shocked when the people working against positive change are able to muddy the findings of the research more than you ever thought possible, and try to bring things to a halt. Give them every opportunity to get on board, but don't let them force the train to leave late. We're running short on time.
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Enough with the @^%&%$& Video!
[Read the article: Don't talk fantasy to me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jesus Christ on a stick. This has done it...
I love King Kaufman. I really do. Despite having no interest in actually sitting around watching sports on television, I love reading his columns and they give me the side benefit of being able to actually pretend I'm a regular guy when my friends start talking about the big game this weekend or who got traded to what team. He's a funny guy, and he actually has some perspective about what is important (relatively) when it comes to sports.
If anyone on your staff is going to pull off the video thing, it's King!
Sorry King, but you're a great writer. This goes double - triple! - for the rest of the Salon staff. Despite going to crap since Joan took over, there is still a good group of writers and journalists working for Salon, and there is nothing I like better than sitting down at Changos with a huge black bean burrito for lunch and reading the articles on Salon. Except... except that now, in order to be cool and hip, Salon thinks its journalists are all television stars. You're not. And not only are you not especially interesting to watch on low quality video, it's killing your work. Spend that time writing. Please. It will save you bandwidth, and your work will be more thorough, and have more depth, which is why people come to your site. If we want quick vacuous opinions by talking heads, we'll watch the evening news on our network of choice. If we want low quality, then that's what youtube is for.
Please... I can't be the only one who asks this. Go back to doing what you actually do well... writing incisive articles full of detail and well researched documentation about news. Please.
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Enough with the @^%&%$& Video!
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](I somehow posted this originally under the video dog heading, where I see to be the only one who has posted anything. So, I moved it here, where it can join the rest of the outrage!)
Jesus Christ on a stick. This has done it...
I love King Kaufman. I really do. Despite having no interest in actually sitting around watching sports on television, I love reading his columns and they give me the side benefit of being able to actually pretend I'm a regular guy when my friends start talking about the big game this weekend or who got traded to what team. He's a funny guy, and he actually has some perspective about what is important (relatively) when it comes to sports.
If anyone on your staff is going to pull off the video thing, it's King!
Sorry King, but you're a great writer. This goes double - triple! - for the rest of the Salon staff. Despite going to crap since Joan took over, there is still a good group of writers and journalists working for Salon, and there is nothing I like better than sitting down at Changos with a huge black bean burrito for lunch and reading the articles on Salon. Except... except that now, in order to be cool and hip, Salon thinks its journalists are all television stars. You're not. And not only are you not especially interesting to watch on low quality video (not you King, you were somewhat interesting to watch), it's killing your work. Spend that time writing. Please. It will save you bandwidth, save you time, and your work will be more thorough, and have more depth, which is why people come to your site. If we want quick vacuous opinions by talking heads, we'll watch the evening news on our network of choice. If we want low quality, shaky-cam homemade video, then that's what youtube is for.
Please... I can't be the only one who asks this. Go back to doing what you actually do well... writing incisive articles full of detail and well researched documentation about news. Please.