Letters to the Editor
Sean SIberio
Published Letters: 155 Editor's Choice: 32
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It should be pointed out...
[Read the article: America's broadband shame]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it should be pointed out, however, that America is also a tad bigger than most of the countries that we're compared to, ESPECIALLY South Korea and Japan (both countries that I have spent time in). While I'm not disagreeing with the overall message of the post, that rural citizens have been robbed by telecom deregulation, I think its unfair to compare two Asian countries with almost total urban concentration to the vast and far flung locales of the American bread basket.
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The myth of the perfect middle....
[Read the article: Is a new conservatism possible?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the most convincing lies made in American politics is the worship of a feigned middle, or the desire to have both liberal and conservative forces balanced out, that a kind of political compromise is the best thing to reign. This article, with its argument that a newer, evidently more substantive conservatism, is not only necessary, but ideal, ither naive about the costs and ravages of right wing politics, or being milcontinues this feigned hope.
This is bull. Everyone would be much better off with right wing politics, in all of its forms across the globe, dead and buried, wiped off the face of the earth like the ideas of divine rights of kings and nobility were wiped off the face of Europe. To argue otherwise is to be milquetoast about standing up for anything.
What are these "good faith" issues of disagreement were talking about anyways? People can have good faith disagreements about whether they like fried twinkies or not. You can't have a good faith disagreement about female reproductive rights, economic development, and social justice. Unless of course, none of these things apply or matter to you directly, in which case you are in a great position to bargain away any thing in good faith.
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A breakthrough? Hardly
[Read the article: Bronzer gods]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A breakthrough? It depends. Does this mean that every kid experimenting with cross-dressing, nail polish, and lipstick won't get beat up? No. The makeup, like pointed out by the author, is not "provocative" but simply assuring the glistening, airbrush look of men seen in the pages of GQ. This isn't gender-bending, but attempting to get even closer to the image on the page; not unlike the obsession with six-packs and trim bodies, which may be confused with female preening, but is closer to the rituals of manhood found in the straight razor shave and the figure fitting clothes of the cowboy.
As Paul Westerberg once sang:
"Mirror image, see no damage!
See no evil at all!
Kewpie dolls and urine stalls
will be laughed at the way you're laughed at now!"
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Affordable housing...
[Read the article: Angelo Mozilo wants a New Deal]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Affordable housing is a problem, mostly because of this rampant real-estate speculation. No development company in its right mind would develop a large acreage lot in California into anything but half a million dollar homes, because the land itself already cost them a bundle. Las Vegas's casino industry, famed for multi-billion dollar developments, wonders why no one can afford to live there and work for them.
The problem with trying to apply a "free-market" solution to real estate is that land is a not a toothbrush; its not easily substitutable, especially as cheap housing is moved further and further away from where people work. Pointing out for instance, that one city may be cheaper to live than another is fine and dandy, but if they don't have the industry or the economic opportunities there that are necessary for you to make ends meet, its a bust.
At the same time, zoning has also been a bust, with council members greedy to get their hands on large, overinflated real estate tax assessments. Moderately priced housing does not excite the same way a big paycheck for x, y, z council proposal does.
So what can be done? The UFT is initiating an affordable housing project in New York using its large pension funds, something that hasn't occured with a union in a long time. The Culinary in Vegas is exploring similar housing trust options. In non-union sectors, some people HAVE started doing cooperative land deals in a Amish sort of way, jointly owning land and then splitting it up, but it takes quite a bit of money to start up, and being, very very keen on the people who will be your neighbors.
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Histrionics un-necessary...
[Read the article: A job well done by Tom Tancredo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I could care less if these illegals were Hispanic or Nordic, it is still extremely taxing to our natural resouces. And, how can we ever get a handle on it if we don't even have guts to address our own population numbers?
The histrionics are un-necessary. America is barely sustaining above replacement levels, and theres no reason to believe that won't drop like every other developed country. Will we see an immediate population loss, ala Japan, whom will see a significant drop in its population in years to come? Probably not. But it does deflate the Soylent Green theory.
Until this changes, and until the good Catholics of Mexico decide that having large families isn't in the best interest of planet Earth (hello, Pope, are you listening??) then the tidal wave of humans will come to this country.
I don't know whats more amusing, the straw man of baby-popping Mexicans, or the presumption that its all their fault for wrecking the earth.