Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
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Two issues
[Read the article: Ask Pablo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I made the point about biofuels only to show the mis-aligned priorities of the government. For cars, we need more federal research and suppprt into batteries, which would be part of a crash program to develop an electric vehicle. I don't think many cars are going to be running on solar, although they are starting to look at rooftop panels and paint as an added charging source.
Overall, solar has now gotten reduced federal tax credits and grants for research and development. Instead, vast amounts have been given to ethanol. Sure we're environmentalists - look at "Green 85"! Ethanol is Bush and some Democrats version of environmentalism ... the Edsel of motoring, the MP3 of music formats, the water-sucking, inefficient, fossil fuel dependent, starvation-inducing version. But it's made in the USA..!
Hey, about this. Solar, made in the USA!
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Goolsbee is Obama's Achilles Heel
[Read the article: Is Barack Obama a libertarian paternalist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... and this 'ideology' is somewhat pathetic. Give it to the University of Chicago, birthplace of Friedman, and perhaps it's intellectual godfather. But hey, it's new, so it must be good.
I have a 401K plan, and I'm glad I do. But I did not enroll immediately because they used to force us to put the whole thing in our COMPANY STOCK. So I refused for several years. Now they have broadened it. But even an index fund is problematic if the outlook of the whole economy is down.
And in the longer term, lets say you combine an appreciation of 'peak oil' with a list of the companies on the NYSE that are NOT involved in oil. Since most are, they are over-valued, especially when people realize oil is running out. So, long term, the stock market is not going to be very useful, even given index funds. Unless solar or wind or wave companies enter the index. Etc. Essentially, your 'retirement' is in the market's hands, and I might not want that, but I don't have a 'choice' anymore if I want 'free' money ...
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Apple doesn't fall far from the tree ...
[Read the article: How 1968 changed Hillary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see, I read Alinsky in 1967. But I was an anarchist, I guess, not a Republican. I participated in and helped organize many anti-war demonstrations, didn't just visit them. Didn't meet MLK, but I know he was killed by the U.S. government. Spent 20 years in factories and unions trying to do progressive work.
And now tell me, why Hillary is qualified to be president? President of the Wellsley student body? That's it!
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Electro Robot
[Read the article: How much does solar power pollute?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... I know Descartes, and you're no Descartes. Snarky is yoru normal. But evidently, that is not the whole bookshelf.
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Cartoon Version of the 60s
[Read the article: Through a bong, darkly]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am tired of reading cartoon versions of the 60s that miss what actual people were doing. DeGroot seesms to have fallen for this line of tripe. Right-wingers perpetuate the line of tripe. And young people have only been fed that media line of tripe for years.
My own dauther was astonished at how many things happened in 1968, for instance. She is 27. I told her the world left was on the offensive, and that was part of the effect.
Abbie Hoffman, for instance, was chosen by the press. His small group of Yippies had very little influence or members. The Weatherman were tiny. "Hippies" coverered millions of people. He generalizes about all hippies, as if Life magazine's version was the correct one. Yes, Woodstock was such a 'failure" that it actually earned money through movies and records. And gee, huge outdoor festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella still exist...wonder why?
Marijuana is certainly a better alternative to alcohol, and even the British health authorities rate alcohol as far more dangerous, while considering marijuana mild.
I didn't have multiple partners, but I certainly lived with my girlfriend instad of getting married. Black and Chicago liberation, Gay liberation, women's liberation ... all got a huge boost in the 60s. Jim Crow was ended by mass action. Medicare and Medicaid were passed. The securitiy forces of our government - CIA/NSA/FBi, along with their helpers in the mob, killed King, and both Kennedys, in retaliation for their stands on black rights, on Cuba and the Vietnam war.
The Grateful Dead are probably the top live band in American history, performing every American style - blues, R&B, covers, rock, jazz, country, even electronic - and their own mixture, of course. They pioneered in sound quality, light shows (along with plenty of other SF bands), free music (tapers and concerts), trying to avoid Ticketmaster by selling their own tickets, immediate sound board recordings of concerts, art and logos, etc.
The natural foods movement was reborn in the 60s. Organic co-ops and communes from that period have now grown into multi million dollar industries. Even computer geeks got started during this period...
The left never believed that 'they' ended the Vietnam war. Anyone paying attention knows the Vietnamese fought the U.S. to a stalemate, which was the key event. Eventually the population picked up on this and turned against the war, especially the soldiers. A good part of the U.S. draftee army refused to fight! Do you think anyone really believed the Pentagon would be levitated?! It was a fucking joke. Read Norman Mailer, to see what really happened at that march.
Even in the unions, young black and white communists in Detroit had immense influence for several years in the auto plants. Many unions right now are staffed by a generation of leftists that went into locals, and are still there.
I could go on, but why deal with the myths the media has propagated for years? Oh, yes, even Salon gives them credence.
Don't worry kids, though, a new 1968 is coming just for you. And it will dwarf the first one!
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Do the math
[Read the article: The Starbucks economy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Lets see, free company coffee ... versus Starbucks... or any other chain.
$2.00 a cup times 2 cups = $4 a day. $20 a week, $1,040.00 a year.
Not a hard decision.