Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
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Need to go beyond Demonstrations
[Read the article: Not taking it to the streets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I go to all the demonstrations I can, as a 'civic duty' but unfortunately, like voting, these 'civic duties' are not very effective. Police will only get worse, as will the Department of Homeland Security goons who hide behind them. The anti war movement in the 60s-70s was more radical, partly from the draft, but also partly because the Democratic Party was not able to control the situation. The left 'slipped' the noose, so to speak. Not so here.
I think the left has to think of other tactics, generally more radical ones. A one-day strike which includes labor groups; mass civil disobedience; splitting the Democratic Party and forming a new party; forming militias; encouraging soldiers to object to the war from people inside the army; hiding those who desert in a new underground railroad, or getting them to other countries; stopping the military machine production of armaments through strikes or actions, etc.
From what I see, the "Beltway" coalition is only taking our country further away from a government for the people and by the people to a government of corporate America. So this issue extends beyond the war to the environment, economics, education, to every issue that exists. We are watching our government 'die' as Engelhardt rightly points out. When it does, it's not funny. Right now we can get by; someday it will be unavoidable to act. That day seems to be coming closer and closer.
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Whistleblowers are Blown
[Read the article: The war on whistle-blowers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Good article. Clean government reporting! Boy scouts and Girl scouts rule!
Yesterday, Salon ran an article about some former female agents wanting to improve our own KGB, the CIA. Today it is to give whistleblowers actual protection. These are great articles, and they expose the real hash our government is in, in area after area after area.
However, I guess naivete is the standard operting procedure related to our government. I say this because I don't see any of this actually happening. The subtext to the articles is that we can, with a little 'light' and effort, change the basic nature of this government.
I don't think so. If the Congress passes real whistleblower protection, the bureaucrats will find a way around it. Like the politicians, private corporations fire every whistleblower they can get their hands on. It is the nature of the beast across the board, and will only change when regular people have real power in the government and economy.
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Hot Lanta
[Read the article: When the rivers run dry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Atlanta's sprawl is no worse than most U.S. cities. Growth is the religion of capitalism. Developers rule, the city is depopulated, trees are butchered, profits are first. I see only one major effort in Atlanta, except what individuals might be doing, to shut down excessive water use - gardening businesses. However, bottling works, car washes, mining efforts, etc. all use massive quantities. What other steps is Atlanta going to consider?
The problem with Atlanta is that it is in the South. From what I can tell, the drought cuts across most of the whole south, from LA to Phoenix, etc. Only Texas has had the heavy rains, which it's soil can't even retain. Fires burned in southern Georgia and northern Florida around a freaking 'swamp' (Okeefenokee) for 3 weeks early in the summer.
Population, sprawl, oversize buildings - all won't be able to handle global warming and peak oil. Worldwide population growth has been caused by petrochemical-based agriculture and transport. The scientific predictions for the SE are grim, Atlanta especially. When dozens of canaries are dying in many 'mines', it is no isolated event. This is just another canary.
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Self-Hating Liberals
[Read the article: Stop lying to yourself. You love Dennis Kucinich]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a funny article, more psychologically true than anything else.
Face it folks, Hippies rock. Birkenstocks are better than Maddens for your feet. Patchouli and weed have it all over Airwick plug-ins. Woodstock (and Bonnaroo) are miles ahead of festivals held in parking lots. Vegans don't stress the environment unlike toxic factory beef eaters getting sick on ecoli. Phish are real muscians, while Brittany, who is just a creation of the music industry. Hackey Sack actually takes soccer talent. Trans fats will make you sick. Mustaches and beards and hair are where it's at, not Dachau buzzes. And air guitar is better than sports bars.
Don't hate yourself. Hate the Man and his politicians!
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Survival
[Read the article: I feel your pain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mirror neurons look like a survival tool for a group of people. If one is in danger, that pain will directly transmit to the rest of the group, and they can then take action. Makes perfect sense.
So, in explaining Republicanism and centrist Democratism, is there some 'short changing' of this neuron in some people, so that they do not fell the same level of empathy? I.E. like psychopathology?
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Royalty
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We've had Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher, Benizhir Butto and Golda Meir, to name a few. Has the world changed appreciably because of them? Perhaps a tiny bit. But not enough to say, electing women is the method of ending women's second grade status. Each country they lead is really no better overall, and some far worse.
And why should the U.S. be dominated by the Clintons and Bushes for many, many years, like some new aristocracy? If Hillary wins, I'm sure then Jeb Bush will gear up a campaign in 4 more years. We'll have to know our presidents by numbers, you know, Bush I, Clinton I, Bush II, Clinton II, Bush III. I thought we had a revolution? It shows you how passive this country is that they settle for two royal families.
The new president of Chile is a women, but she's a socialist. As Martin Luther King said, vote for people based on the contect of their character, not what is between their legs.
Electing bourgeois women to run corporations or countries is nice, but it only reflects bourgeois feminism. Remember the rest of the women, you'll be glad you did.