Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
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What a McCain victory will say about the U.S.
[Read the article: Poetry vs. fear]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What Kamilya misses here, among other things, is that the maintream press is supporting McCain. So the main propaganda outlets in the U.S. are backing a continuation of the status quo. Propaganda is everything in a country where basic facts about politics, economics and sociology are not understood.
And funding the propaganda machine is both right-wing billionaires and the old money in the U.S. - oil / gas/ coal/ auto/ steel/ nuclear and part of the financial establishment. New money, in electronics/software/entertainment and some financial institutions, is mostly in Obama's corner.
To counteract the effect of the main propaganda organs you need an organized citizenry. What Michael Moore has called the "Obama movement." The question is whether the Obama 'movement' is powerful enough to provide an alternative narrative. I do not think so. The U.S. population is so fragmented, and alternative institutions like the unions and community organizations are so weak, that an alternative narrative will have a very difficult time overcoming the propaganda machine. And in the event of victory, only an organized populace, especially working people, can face off with the forces that will certainly try to convince Obama not to honor any major promises.
I have to ask Kamiya. If Obama loses, will his rosy view of America change? Will he see that perhaps this country is more controlled, and perhaps more fatally flawed than even a starry-eyed 'immigrant' can believe? I.E. - perhaps America cannot be renewed - at least at this point. It is, after all, the largest imperialist power on the planet.
I certainly hope I am wrong ... but the odds are long.
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Global Climate Change
[Read the article: China's earthquake and the Mandate of Heaven]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If global climate change is going to increase the variability and extremity of the weather, they are going to be running through quite a lot of rulers all over the world!
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This guy won't change until a wave of water rolls over him ...
[Read the article: My boyfriend has an abysmal environmental conscience]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... so just do your best, yourself. But don't enable his cluelessness. Ignore the fool and yes, ramp up your efforts if you can.
My girlfriend recently saw the film "Crude Awakening" about peak oil. What did she 'really' take away from it? Let's see -"Oh boy, China is now the largest carbon emitter and will be a large oil user, there's no hope, I don't have to do anything."
Go figure. The essential thing is your concern for others - in the future and in other parts of the world. But one day, the water will be washing on these shores, and not just in New Orleans. And the oil price will be $10 a gallon. Then the clueless will wake up.
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Wall on Water
[Read the article: How to stop illegal Canadian immigration]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Our family has a cabin a few miles from the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, and a few more miles from Canada.
Pretty obvious Tancredo doesn't know much about the border because a 'wall' would have to float around here. There are hundreds of lakes, streams and ponds to patrol.
Perhaps he can personally canoe back and forth with an illegal gun (no hunting in the Boundary Waters). Personally, I'm hoping the bears get him.
Bring the BC Hydro in on canoes, boys! Better yet, secede from the U.S. and join Canada. Move the Canadian border south, and the paddling won't be so 'hairy'. I'd be happy with a wall between me and the new corporate Confederacy.
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Class War
[Read the article: Have we fallen behind our parents?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]White collar people in the U.S. don't want to believe there are classes. They hide what they earn. They talk to no one about their financial issues except 'perhaps' close friends. They couldn't organize their way out of a paper bag.
Blue collar people know there are classes, although they may not be able to be precise about it. Well, just getting a 'college degree' and making $30,000 is not going to cut it. Not anymore.
As the white-collar middle and working classes 'sink' - and this process is NOT going to be reversed until white collar people start organizing unions and other organizations seriously and stop being afraid - conditions will only get worse.
Class war is the answer. Figure out that the rich are running everything, and taking everything, and stop pretending that the next piece of junk you buy with your credit card makes you 'middle class.' Stop listening to politicians who want to be the friend of the rich, or even the upper middle class, like some lawyers, doctors and professors.
Class war is the only war worth fighting.
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Strikes
[Read the article: Have we fallen behind our parents?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Electro Robot comes riding to the rescue of the rich again.
Some strikes win and some strikes lose. The main thing is that you 'play the game' to win. "Lavish" is probably quite an exageration, especially considering the source. Trying to deal with the corporations without organizing in some way with other people, i.e. making your way alone, or just as a family, is a recipe for failure.
At some point, striking or slowing down work, or negotiating as a group, or any of hundreds of other ways to deal with employers and governments, is going to be necessary. I.E., like the environment, we will have no choice. Even for white-collar people. I myself would probably be fired at this point for trying to organize against my company, so I don't. I don't absolutely have to ... yet. And my compatriots are very few ... right now.
The laws are against people, the union leaderships are many times weak, and the political parties represent - not the poor, or workers, or the white collar 'middle class' but the rich. Welcome to freaking America. Land of the wage slave - home of the fearful.
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Strike II
[Read the article: Have we fallen behind our parents?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Name one strike you would support, Mr. Robot.
The whole impact of your statement, (unless you really think we are discussing the situation of the working class in Italy!) is that strikes are useless.
At least the U.S. independent truckers are getting to the point where they are striking and participating in slow downs. Of course, they are blue collar.