Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 487 Editor's Choice: 43
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Take a Vacation?
[Read the article: I'm a brilliant scientist and I fear for the world's fate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Pretty half-witted response by Cary. Really, Cary, he's not thinking about his own death.
I faced the same issue when I was talking with my kids, 19 and 26. I didn't want to really tell them what I was thinking completely. I didn't want to be some 'gloom and doom' naysayer 'old' dad, killing their view of the possibilities of the world.
But what this guy says is substantially correct. Like any hard truth, I think we have to let our kids figure it out, and nudge them in the right direction, but not panic them.
Essentially, questions as to where to live, what job to have, what to buy, what organizations to join, all fit into this equation. And perhaps advising them on the right 'small' decision is the only thing we can do, until they see the whole picture themselves.
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LEDs
[Read the article: Put a stake in it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, what about those lights and clocks on nearly every modern device. Light switches, microwaves, ovens, computer printers, electric heaters, computer screens, telephones, power strips themselves, VCRs, DVD players, receivers, yadda yadda.
The seem to think 'modernity" requires a little light on each device. I've put some on power strips, but everything can't go on a power strip. They designed them poorly.
Should be outlawed.
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Ed Lags
[Read the article: When principles aren't enough]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I had grown very sympathetic to Edwards, and when he beat Hillary in Iowa, I thought perhaps the Democratic Party electrorate was actually now voting on the issues. Even though everyone with a memory knows he was once a centrist DLC puppet.
Ah, no. 'Course trying to win in a place like South Carolina, which started the Civil War and prides itself on being 'ground zero' for the Republican nominee seems a difficult nut to crack, especially if you are a white Democrat running against a competent semi-black contender.
Identity politics are winning. At least Obama is talking about more than just "I'm black." He's trying to make a political pitch to Hillary's left, while chatting 'unity' to her right. Hillary's dreadful politics across the board, on the other hand, leaves her with only the "female" card to play, or perhaps the "two females" card. Hillary sent Chelsea to sit in a black church in Charleston while she ran to another state. Is Chelsea going to be "Clinton III?"
Edwards will probably endorse Obama. Kucinich has. But populism in the Democratic Party has once again failed. Take note, those of you who believe this pack of corporate liberal rascals are your best friends. If Clinton wins, the DLC wins again...
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Context, Context!
[Read the article: Our first black president?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for providing the essential context to Morrison's remark, as I was not aware of it. If you are black, and in high office, you will be a target, so you have to keep your nose VERY clean. Makes sense.
The lame folks who call Clinton our first black president are nothing but sad-ass liberals, who couldn't stand an actual black person running. Where were these people when Jesse Jackson ran? They were siding with the DLC against Jackson, no doubt. Clinton was a corporate lawyer who played saxophone, and helped toast welfare as we know it, increase drug incarceration, and supported capital punishment. If he was 'black' he's a hell of an Uncle Tom.
Now Huckabee plays guitar, and every politician who plays a musical instrument has to bring it out. If they wear shades, are they black too?
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No World for Young Men
[Read the article: The long-term stupidity of global Hollywood]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]At the SAG awards last night, Josh Brolin made fun of the main Hollywood studios, as 4 of the top 5 movies were made by the 'indie' arms of the studios, or actual indies. He said actors were loving the demise of the Hollywood blockbuster.
I did like Titanic, and it is still the biggest selling movie worldwide. But I doubt there are many more where that came from.
Lowest common denominator films still make money. And that is what it is all about. When they stop making money, then the world will begin to watch Indie films. If they aren't already.
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What is Happy?
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Obviously, the problem here is the cliche view of happiness as being oblivious to anything negative. However, I think most people think happiness is a little deeper than that. Full happiness is being aware of the negative as well, and still being able to see the joyful things in life. Some people even take joy in 'gloom,' so there you are.
Sadists take joy in giving others pain, so anyone who says the point of life is 'happiness' hasn't thought about it very much. There are boundaries to 'happiness.'
Our creeping development as a totalitarian society needs some kind of 'happy' chemical, as George Orwell has already pointed out. I've never taken anti-depressants, or didn't need them, but I've taken Zanax to sleep. And this experience told me something. Salon had a recent article on 'sleep' and how human sleep is not necessarily like death, because that is what Zanax does. No dreams, no tossing, no trip to the bathroom, no awakening, then sleeping again, etc. Completely out. So now I take it only in emergencies, when I'm extremely fatigued and wired, which is rarely.
And that is how anti-depressants should be taken. Emergencies. That is not how they are administered. My ex-girlfriend took them, and the only thing I can say is the words "eerily quiet" or "lack of affect."
Marijuana can actually work better, and still leaves you with a personality!
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Actual depression
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think anyone here is advocating people who are actually depressed from not taking medication if it helps.
If your life is like swimming at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, I'd call that an emergency.
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Final Logic?
[Read the article: Bush's delusions die in Gaza]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, at least one Likud Zionist, Goedel, clearly promotes the destruction of the Palestinian people. Final logic of collective punishment?
All the fuzzy liberals who think Israel can do no wrong, should analyze statements like this.
My question is, why isn't there a normal border crossing between Gaza and Egypt? The Egyptians need the business and the Palestinians need the goods and freedoms. Sounds like the dictatorial Egyptian government sides with the the Israeli government's strategy?