Letters to the Editor
human power
Published Letters: 107 Editor's Choice: 26
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What about the anthrax?
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How could anyone let the usurpers' claims of "no attacks here since 9/11" go unchallenged. After the planes flew into the wtc (and we let the ringleader go), we had the as yet unsolved "anthrax in the mail" scare. In fact, this was the galvanizing action that led to the hysteria that made the selling of the invasion of Iraq so easy for these immoral neocons.
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Cointelpro anyone?
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This case reminds me of Geronimo Pratt (read "last man standing: the Geronimo Pratt story). Pratt was convicted of a double homicide in L.A. The FBI somehow forgot to mention to the court that they had recordings of Pratt in Oakland at the time of the murder; under cointelpro the FBI had planted bugs in the homes of several Black Panthers. They couldn't let a little thing like the guilt or innocence get in the way of sending a Black Panther to death row. It turns out that the real murderers worked for the FBI's informant who testified against Pratt.
Welcome back to the Hoover/Nixon era, part II.
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I'll take my chances with the Elves
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For all of you who are so concerned that Ms. Waters should do jail time for her crime because, if she indeed committed a crime, someone COULD have been hurt by her alleged actions:
How many people have been injured or killed in ELF actions in the past ten years? ZERO
How many people have been killed by unlawful acts in a motor vehicle (speeding, tailgating, running red lights and stop signs, drunk driving) in the past ten years in the U.S.? Over 450,000 killed, approximately ten to twenty MILLION injured.
Somehow, I doubt many of you would call for the imprisonment of all of the terrorists who do their killing and intimidating with two ton fossil-fool powered wheelchairs.
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The car of the future is...
[Read the article: Peak oil? Consider it solved]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This article is so biased in favor of the, rather stupid, status quo that I don't know where to begin. First off, we don't have until mid century to get our emissions down by 60%, we have more like fifteen to twenty years to do so (unless genocide in Africa, Bangladesh and S. America are considered minor problems). Further, since the U.S. is responsible for so much of the current problem, we probably need to reduce emissions by more like 80-90% (don't forget to count as our emissions those that are made on our behalf by developing countries, which brings us to over 40% of global emissions).
Clearly, the car of the future is not a plug in hybrid. Rather, it is a hybrid of trollies, trains, bicycles and shoes. Even the current generation of hybrids take 5-10 years to break even when one considers the CO2 generated in their production.
If we choose to continue to allow people to generate all of the environmental damage that they can monetarily afford to, then we will be accepting the death of the planet. If we tax emissions to a level that will allow human life to continue, we are accepting the death of millions and the marginalization of the tens of millions of Americans who will not be able to afford to pay. Sure sounds like a recipe for violent revolution to me. Alternatively, we could use tried and true methods and put individual quotas on grid-provided electricity and liquid fuels. Quotas were good enough to win WWII and they are good enough to beat climate change. Of course, it means making the choice between driving nonessential miles or heating/air conditioning the over-large house. Eventually, we could even require the emissions of consumer goods to count against the quotas (bye bye cheap plasic crap from China; bye bye Wal-Mart).
I know the prospect of a world without motorized wheelchairs is frightening to most sedentary Americans. If my elderly uncle in Fairbanks can do it, I suppose most non-crippled people could manage to do it if they tried. Or maybe we will decide that leaving a living planet is too much trouble.
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Extinct until further notice
[Read the article: Lee Hamilton denies Michael Mukasey's claim about 9/11]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"In light of Hamilton's amazing comment, could journalists possibly now report on this story?"
The answer is NO. Journalists, outside of GG and Amy Goodman, have been rarely sighted in the U.S. over the past thirty years. Let's hope this apparent extinction is not forever. Besides, how could such a story be made to fit between such compelling issues as pantsuits, haircuts and minister rants.
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Through the Looking Glass
[Read the article: The bisphenol A blues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Adding BPA to food containers is about as bright as putting lead into our air supply via leaded gasoline. Both were/are allowed for the same reason: we permit everything to be dumped into our environment until some underfunded (and soon to be unfunded) academic "proves" that it causes substantial harm; then we wait several years to phase out the harmful substance so as to avoid "harming" those who profit from it. I guess you could say we use the precautionary principle a la Alice in Wonderland.
Also, you say, "The introduction of bisphenol A into the human environment in significant quantities tracks pretty closely, in timing, to the advent of the so-called obesity epidemic in the United States". BPA may be a factor, but quite a few more relevant things also track alongside our current obesity epidemic:
1.) Increased use of cars
2.) Loss of safe streets for children to play in
3.) Increased consumption of highly processed foods
4.) Loss of stay-at-home parents resulting in near universal use of sedentary day-care environments for our children.
5.) The end of the bicycle boom of the late '60s to early 80s.