Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 712 Editor's Choice: 52
-
Delores Flowering
[Read the article: Barack by the books]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, Lincoln paid attention to details and the 'real world." But if not for his full commitment to winning the Civil War, it might have ended badly, with people like McClellan suing for 'peace.' Yes, he was not a radical Abolitionist, but he ... became one. If Obama follows the same path, he will follow his tepid populism with something truly progressive.I doubt it.
Not unless a mass movement makes him. That was the point Naomi Klein made at the national Alternative Media convention here in Minneapolis a few weeks ago. You don't hold the feet to the fire, you get nothing. Because the right and the Clintonites/DLC will be holding him to their fires...
As to Alinsky, I sure wish his methods working for a complete society. However, he did not use the political system (i.e. advocating a third peoples or labor party), so he was a 'neighborhoodist.' He did not organize in the workplaces, where there is even more power than in the neighborhoods, so he is a 'localist.' As far as he goes, dealing with neighborhood issues, he is very useful. But going into a national or international-wide fight against the ruling class?
That's like shooting an elephant with a .22.
-
Bourgeois Literary Criticism
[Read the article: How to read the James Wood way]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]James Wood praising Flaubert has to make you yawn. Plot or 'point' or meta-dynamics cannot be extracted from the novel like a lobotomy. "Art for art's sake" astheticism was long ago buried. But like the class it comes from, it re-emerges as Frankenstein, again and again. Mr. Bayard catches the 'fiction.' Good for Mr. Bayard.
-
Rehab Old Bikes
[Read the article: Recycling the old bicycle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I ride, as my #2 bike, a Schwinn Continental from probably the 60s. Just bought a new tire, as the old one finally cracked. Got the bike for FREE ... left on street. I used to want one, having only the Scwinn Varsity in the 60s, a lower model.
In fact, I find lots of bikes on the street and, if I do, I refurbish it, then put it back on the street. So stick all your $1000 bikes. Not always necessary.
-
Real world intrudes again ...
[Read the article: Religion is poetry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the poor souls favoring monkish reclusiveness and interior dialogs think that we here should have a wonderfully fulfilling 'discussion' about the ethereal virtues of religiosity, the atheists are unfortunately stuck in this world.
A world where the Catholic church is the largest landholder on the planet. And also the largest circle of protected pedophiles. Where Buddhist monks live off the poor rice offerings and tiny contributions of impoverished peasants. Where Islamic teachers encourage their children to die to get to 'heaven.' Where the U.S. government has fundamentalist religious groups, like the "Family", playing with it's levers of power, and groups of "rapturists' in the U.S. military hankering for a theocracy. Where the Jewish orthodox arm themselves to protect settlements based on seized Palestinian property. Where Shinto fascists clamour for the return of the Nipponese Reich. Where Zen philosophers tell us to remain 'detached' from this world. Where Saudi Wahabbists and Iranian clergy chop off the arms of thieves. Where African tribalist religious customs demand the evisceration of female genitalia. Where whatever religions' preachers tell us to die for God and Country.
Nearly everywhere on the planet, religion works to pull us into barbarism.
And again, we have the head-in-the-sand writings of the pick and choose midly religious, wondering what all the fuss is about.
-
Invading Afghanistan is not the same as going after Bin Laden
[Read the article: Obama is saying the wrong things about Afghanistan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Invading Afghanistan to stop Bin Laden is actually the same, mistaken policy as invading Iraq, if only on a smaller scale. We have no business occupying that country. The UN has no business occupying that country.
Obama is pledging to incrase the fighting with the Pashtun ethnics, who form the base of the Taliban. He agrees with the permanent warrior, McCain, on this. However, this will only bolster support for Bin Laden among the Pashtun and the Pakistani Right. I would not be bothered by Bin Laden being killed, even if we have to drop into Pakistan to do it. It should have been done a long time ago. But invading a whole country, playing nation-builder, is not the same thing at all.
Even if the Taliban supported Bin Laden. If we overthrew every country who supported a group of terrorists, we'd have to take out many other governments, including our own. State terrorism or individual terrorism? I don't think I have a preference.
-
Money shortage
[Read the article: Recycling the old bicycle]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Agree that a nice bike makes riding easier. Bought a $600 bike and it's light and rolls like the wind, with a quick easy button shift. Bought it with the money saved on parking/the train/gas in one year.
However today I road the heavy Schwinn, as my uber-smooth road tire on the 'wonder' machine popped on the streets. Nevertheless, I still passed everyone coming to work. So you can go 'both ways.'
Most people will figure out they need a better bike, even the ones who don't know how high to put their seats! But some people, get this, don't have the money to spend. We have a lot of poor folks getting around town on bicycles here. And some people don't want to worry about their $1,000 bicycle locked to a pole either.
-
main core
[Read the article: Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I actually did not know about "Main Core" or at least, nothing this specific. It looks like they have used the 'war on terror' to focus on dissidents in the U.S. Be nice to get more hard evidence next.