Letters to the Editor
AJCalhoun
Published Letters: 959 Editor's Choice: 127
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A Life-changing Review
[Read the article: Feminism vs. femininity]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm wanting to go out and blow my last Borders gift card on Kipnis' book! Me, the guy who joined John Fahey in his rant against "The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade", the guy who has said so many horrible things about so many professional feminists (Paglia aside, simply because she's hot), and who has felt his life twisted around a red-hot poker by the women's movement even as I fought my fellow firefighters to hire the first female in our county - suddenly feel as though a weight has been lifted off me. Sweet Jesus, it really must be the end days!
Some things that came together for me during the quick review of Kipnis' book: Indiference is the sincerest form of murder; I hate Carrie Bradshaw and I always have; Femenazis were real and Fahey was right, but things are finally changing because the Universe won't tolerate gross imabalance indefinitely; Betty Friedan was, indeed, a cackler; Life is dangerous whether one has heart disease or not; There are more women than just my most recent ex-wife who "have managed to over throw the shackles of chastity -- to cite another rather significant vestige of traditional femininity -- more easily than bondage to the vacuum cleaner" (this last remains an enduring mystery, but at least I now know I was not alone in it); penetration, whether by a penis or a foil, explains why both sex and fencing are incredible turn-ons even if in the end it's nothing more than a prick; and, finally, that Marx had nothing on the Marx Brothers.
Laura K., would you mind falling on my sword?
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"I used her, she used me...."
[Read the article: Losing the flock?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"...but neither of us cared..." - Bob Seeger, "Night Moves."
This pretty well sums up the relationship between the Bush administration (and neocons in general) and the religious right. It's all out in the open now, but neither one cares that it is being used by the other, because it is still a relatively useful (if utterly unholy) alliance of convenience. The neocons are spreading an ideology which is, by tradtional Judeo-Christian standards (not to mention the standards of numerous other world religions) simply evil. So too are the godfathers (odd term when used in this context) of the religious right, who are equally in love with power, control and a certain sort of perversity which sickens the mind and the soul.
It doesn't matter that each secretly sneers at the other: they both want the same thing, which leads one back to wondering how the world would have ended had the axis powers prevailed in both theaters in WWII. When evils collide, when the obstacles between them have been removed, it remains to be seen who has the sharpest weapons, the greatest lust, the most mind-boggling stupidity.
The good news is that last word. Yes, I do believe that by nature both camps are ultimately hampered by a sort of stupidity - ok, call it ignorance - which will leave them staggering in faulty circles after the great upcoming Armageddon-like face-off between the good and decent in Americans and the stupid and shamelessly power-crazy. This should be tasty.
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And this is surprising ...
[Read the article: Money trails lead to Bush judges]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]because?