Letters to the Editor
Margalis
Published Letters: 614 Editor's Choice: 16
-
There is no good title for this comment
[Read the article: Our rosy future, according to Freeman Dyson]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Food science (the producing, not the cooking) is really screwed up in many ways and the way we muck around to "improve" our food is a lot of what makes Americans so fat. While there are certainly many good things we have done with food engineering I wouldn't be so gung-ho given how many bad things we've done, systematically sucking the nutritional value out of nearly everything.
His overall view is an optimistic one: science can solve all our problems. I normally dislike it when people say "hey don't worry, science will take care of that" but at least he is a real scientist. Most of the time people who say that are counting on other, smarter people to do the work for them.
(Although his most important work was some time ago)
-
@WT
[Read the article: The U.S. military's role in preventing the bombing of Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The one flaw I find in your argument about the UN is similar to the flaw many EU refuseniks find in that body. It represents governments, not citizens, and UN resolutions are never put to any kind of referendum.
But in many cases (including our own) the governments represent the citizens. You could make the same case against representational democracy. Congress only directly represents Congressmen.
-
Ads and opinions
[Read the article: Fox News' attack on the honor and integrity of our war generals]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To place an ad someone has to pay to express their beliefs. A frequent op-ed contributor or a talk-radio bloviator is paid to express their beliefs.
At least the people who place ads do it on their own dime, rather than making a dime.
All these right-wingers who distinguish between ads and other opinions never state what the difference actually *is*. And the Congressional statement was not restricted to ads.
The only real difference they can come up with between attacks on people like Kerry, Cleland and Murtha and attacks on their boys is that people have to pay to make attacks against them, and hence that distinction, irrelevant as it is, becomes the thing they repeat over and over again without explanation.
-
Anonymous posting is the best
[Read the article: Fox News' attack on the honor and integrity of our war generals]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think I've read as single intelligent anonymous post anywhere on Salon. I was against anonymous posting but I have to admit as a honeypot strategy for trolls and idiots it has worked wonders.
The only possible improvement would be putting the name of the letter-writer first rather than at the end so we all know to skip over it.
-
Mass transit woes
[Read the article: We paved paradise]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are no excuse for some mass transit problems other than poor management.
I've been outside at 10:00 PM in the freezing cold only to find out that the bus that is supposed to leave at 10:05 just pulled out and the next one isn't arriving for 40 minutes. That happens *once* and it makes you seriously reconsider ever taking the bus again.
Showing up late is one thing but leaving early is just plain silly.
-
The comparisons are warranted
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hitler was, after all, a peace activist who fought for civil liberties and looked to curtail government power.
---
About a week ago on my blog I compared the Reichstag Fire Decree to our own laws, and hey, they are pretty damn similar -- what a surprise. (Although nowhere did I claim that anyone was the "next Hitler" or "like Hitler.")
Change "communist" to "terrorist" in the intro and the decree reads like a summary of recent US laws and executive decisions.
-
"antisemitic" has no meaning now either
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]or perhaps is best defined as "saying something I don't like that at least tangentially involves either Jews or Israel."
That's the first line of defense trolls pull out, from lowly forum trolls to Allan Dershowitz. Aren't conservatives supposed to be *against* PC-speak and *for* "telling it like it is"?
Criticizing the ADL is antisemitic in the same way that criticizing the Boston PD is anti-Irish.
-
e_five wins the thread
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ha ha, I salute you sir/madame. It could not be put more succintly.
-
Historical comparisons are valid
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]but merely calling someone Hitler is not a comparison.
---
Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State
On the basis of Article 48 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the German Reich, the following is ordered in defense against Communist state-endangering acts of violence:
§ 1. Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom [habeas corpus], freedom of opinion, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications, and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
-
Just discussing this on Sadlyno.com
[Read the article: Angry, hateful liberal bloggers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is extremely common for right-wing blogs and commenters. They have very elaborate fantasies and often write paragraph after paragraph of stories that have no relation to reality. In these stories inevitably liberals are saying something crazy, working with terrorists, etc.
They are desparate for examples of liberals openly embracing and aiding terrorists or being the cause of great problems, and when they can't find them they just invent them.
-
The URL in question
[Read the article: Angry, hateful liberal bloggers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/7317.html#more-7317
It's a crazed rant from someone at Townhall.com inventing an elaborate scenario where liberals are the ultimate evil. Truly nutso.
-
The FIRST thing they cite in their web-page response is:
[Read the article: Angry, hateful liberal bloggers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]ADL called on Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) to retract his comments likening what happened in the aftermath of the burning of the Reichstag in 1933 – the rise of Nazism – to 9/11 and the War on Terror (July 2007).
That's a perfectly valid comparison. (One that I made myself in the last thread)
Saying that the Patriot Act, The Military Commissions Act and the Protect America Act are together similar to the Reichstag Fire Decree makes perfect sense and illustrates a grasp of history in a way "ZOMG Saddam is the next Hitler!!!" does not.
-
Ha ha excellent question
[Read the article: Angry, hateful liberal bloggers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What doesn't scare modern conservatives?
They are scared to death of immigrants, gays and Muslims, among others. Makes you wonder how they work up the nerve to roll out of bed in the morning.