Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 487 Editor's Choice: 43
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Custer
[Read the article: Inside the Creation Museum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jaime,
I used to go to pow-wows up here in Minnesota, and was a supporter of the American Indian Movement (AIM.) I wrote stories on Wounded Knee and we raised money for that occupation. The pow wows I went to, usually Lakota, but sometimes Ojibwe, consisted of about 6-8 men sitting around in a circle pounding on one big drum and singing. Hence why I call them 'drum circles.' My guess is the kids at Phish concerts learned this from Native Americans, and not visa versa.
The reason I bring up Custer is because it was Christians, admitedly a long time ago, who KILLED Indians in the name of Christianity. It wasn't atheists. My guess is most right wing Republicans who are still holding down Indians in South Dakota see themselves as good Christians. And lets not get started on fundamentalist Hindis or Muslims who want to kill those of other faiths - similar to old Custer.
The Klan used a cross as it's symbol. Which is not to say that Black people are the same when they go to church, as I see the religion of 'oppressed' groups as far different than those of the white monied establishment. Even poor white southern folks who are religious are different than the Elmer Gantries and political operators and corporate bosses who play them.
Atheists have a beef with moderate Christians in several ways. One is they have not confronted the right as Christians. Two, their ideas lead to accomodating magical thinking in society, which has concrete social impacts. Three, on a philosophical level, they are just plain wrong. Idealism is a dying philosophy. And I don't mean idealism in the sense of 'believing in good things' I mean in the sense that what is the most important is what cannot be tested or observed, only believed. I.E. there are no material roots to these ideas, yet they are more real than reality.
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Church of England likes ID
[Read the article: Inside the Creation Museum]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just for the folks who think this is a silly discussion, here's a link to today's Guardian. The Church of England wants Intelligent Design taught in English schools. Just so you know this isn't just about America.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2093476,00.html
This blog on the Creation Museum is one of the funniest, most numerous and somewhat enlightening discussions I've seen in a long time.
Proves that sex, politics and religion are the best subjects to talk about!
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Ak good gun
[Read the article: How is an AK-47 like a QWERTY keyboard?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Reading about AK's must make some people crazy, or stupid.
Anyway, I know folks who bought an AK. The reason was it was cheap. Was $250 in the U.S. It was modified to use M-16 ammo, so they would not have to go around asking for 'Russian' ammo.
According to them, never jammed, pretty accurate, though fitted with a scope, small and simple.
Like wind up radios or other simple machines, the AK makes it in poor countries. But a QWERTY keyboard? Not the same. I am not familiar with the Dvorak keyboard, but there has to be a better pattern than the QWERTY. Too late now, as they say.
By the way, CDs and especially MP3s, and some other digital downlaodable formats actually have LESS audio information than analog LPs. So you should use THAT example.
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Conservative Religions fear sex
[Read the article: Sex and the married Muslim]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sex has tripped up the Catholics, the Hindis, the Muslims, the animists, the fundies, you name it. Same pattern, different country. At the bottom of 'sex,' of course, is women and their rights.
Kotb will probably be threatened with assassination from right-wing clerics. Don't think she won't.
At the same time, her interview gives us a pretty sad picture of Egyptian sexual relations. And clitorectomies? Talk about putting a block on the enjoyment of sex! Part of this interview actually encourages men to have sex with their "shy" wives...and do clitorectomies have something to do with this "shyness?"
There are gradations of oppression for women. Egyptian women have far less freedom than American women on the whole, or European women. People in this blog who prattle on about "culture" and "religious traditions" to excuse it fool no one. There is a world-wide standard and all countries should be held to it.
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Sharia
[Read the article: Sex and the married Muslim]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Canuckistan: I am not an expert on Sharia, but I do know it is based on religious texts, and interpreted by religious leaders. That sounds like theocratic law.
Your incredible soft pedaling of this makes me suspect the rest of your post. Sharia is kind of like the Constitution! Well, if you really are from Canuckistan, you know the U.S. split from a state church more than 200 years ago. Our founders were theists or agnostics. The Constitution is based on separation of church and state, not a religious basis for the state.
I'm a dual-citizen Canadian too, and I don't think I want any Sharia-stans in my country.
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Stop, Pard
[Read the article: Politics as unusual?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Conservative playrights and directors like Stoppard want to eliminate 'politics' from theatre, and saying it isn't going to change policy is just a clever way of dismissing it. This of course goes back to the old 'art for art' sake arguments that have raged for years.
So while the lefties are supposed to abandon theatre, conservatives ply on with 'worldly' entertainments chock full of cultural poiltics, as Stoppard's play seems to be.
As a letter writer has already pointed out, there are plenty of overtly political plays, and some of them are quite memorable.
Vetted? Jesus. I was totally unaware of any political plays on Broadway, so I'm glad Cote wrote the article. Politics is creeping into music, art, films, documentaries and now theatre. The crappier society gets, the more the arts start reflecting it. There is more to life than a nice evening out. Bravo!
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Private Cells
[Read the article: Paris isn't free -- and neither are we]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I understand there are private cells for 'cops, politicans and celebrities' in the L.A. jail Hilton is in. Single occupancy. I don't think they were full - there are 6-12 of them. Hence, the 'overcrowding' argument falls flat.