Letters to the Editor
AnaHadWolves
Published Letters: 492 Editor's Choice: 26
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Revenge Of The Mini-Cars
[Read the article: The Smart car is coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Every time I'm on the Expressway, driving in the right lane and close to the speed limit (perhaps 60 in a 55 zone), I'm enevitably followed right on my back bumper by some clown in a monster Hummer, Escalade, Yukon or some other gas-guzzling piece of sh*t. My entire rear-view mirror is filled with American chromed-grill malevolence. I have dark thoughts about the cretins who insist on wasting gasoline/diesel by driving them.
By offering SmartCars, as well as other fuel-efficient vehicles, we have another sensible choice in America. Detroit just doesn't get it; they offer mostly huge SUVs and pick-ups that squander fuel and make the rest of us pay more for that fuel. Detroit counters that Americans want those huge SUVs, et al. Plus, they make a bigger profit per unit on that class of vehicle, so, there's no reason for them to change.
My vehicle, by the way, is a 2008 AUDI with a turbo-4 engine coupled with a six-speed manual tranny that gets 35mpg highway/29mpg city. It handles like a sportscar and has power to spare. Now, I only buy fuel-efficient vehicles and I only buy vehicles of quality: that translates to buying foreign cars only.
By buying a foreign car, I'm sending my own personal message to Detroit that I object to the lack of quality and the dearth of fuel-efficiency they deliver. The Smartcar reinforces that same message to them, imho.
When gas is either mostly unavailable or sells for $4 0r $5 a gallon, perhaps my fellow American SUV hogs will get the message, or, ever better, Detroit will begin building vehicles of quality and fuel-efficiency and cease production of those monster SUVs.
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Passivity Passe?
[Read the article: The dark side of Mike Huckabee]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Question: is direct action ever justified when faced with true and verifiable evil/ruination/religious nuttery in a Presidential candidate?
Many people have argued the "what ifs" for years regarding people such as Hitler, Stalin, et al, and the passivity of those who saw the danger brewing but did nothing to stop it BEFORE hand. "What if" direct action had been taken at the outset of their rises to power? How many millions would have lived? How many wars could have been prevented? These are interesting philosophical questions.
They neither confirm nor deny it, but, the C.I.A. has had assassination squads worldwide for years to deal with heads of state who might cause problems for the U.S. Fidel Castro has been in their cross-hairs for nearly 40 years! What would be so different, or egregious, about preventing a future disaster right here on U.S. soil?
I'm certainly not advocating direct action here; I'm just asking a philosophical question: would preemptive action ever be acceptable or justifiable to prevent certain disaster? Is the loss of one man worth saving more than a million others? Or, not?
Aside from the biblical and legal proscriptions against killing, is termination with extreme prejudice ever acceptable on our soil...or, is that an acceptable practice on foreign soil only? (I won't even start with the the Kennedy assassination viz-a-viz the C.I.A. conspiracy controversy!)
Your thoughts are invited...
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Who "Owns" A Neighborhood, Anyway?
[Read the article: The strangers next door]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yuppiefication of an inner-city neighborhood is not limited to Atlanta. Many other cities, boroughs and townships have faced the same changes...some good, some not.
One of the most interesting changes is in The Castro and in the Haight-Asbury areas of San Francisco; the former was/is predominately gay and the latter was/is a hippie heaven. Both are under assault from gentrification by yuppies with $$$ who are changing the face of the 'hood.
The Bowery in New York City...haven of drunks, druggies and the down-and-out of "regular society"...is now one of the hottest areas of resurgent and gentrifying Manhattan. Good? Bad? Both? Neither?
Money always seem to talk louder than anything else. Re-habbing areas of cities for those who can and will pay more in taxes is a no-brainer for most Mayors and Councils who are always looking to increase revenue.
Making those who are better able to pay those higher property taxes do so is always preferable to raising taxes on those who can barely just hold on; whether or not it destroys neighborhoods seems to come in a distant second.
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Romney: Mr. Macho Chickenhawk
[Read the article: Mitt Romney: Perfect tough guy for right-wing war cheerleaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ah, yes. Mr. Romney is waxing macho and rattling sabers at America's enemies. He is a chickenhawk of the first magnitude. Here's why:
He has five sons...none of whom have ever put on a uniform and served the country that their Dad so wants to lead. What kind of pro-America bloviation has he made at home that would cause all five of his sons to eschew military service?
Typical Republicans: send other people's children off to war instead of their own.
Makes one want to hurl...
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Drip...Drip...Drip
[Read the article: Rudy Giuliani's ties to Fox News]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Taken as a single event, Rudy's bastardized comity with Bernie Kerik might be no big deal. However, combine that event...and, it promises to mushroom...with his many, MANY other problems and mistakes and he will be an "interesting" Republican candidate...to say the least!
If you thought John Kerry was SwiftBoated last time...just wait till our side finishes with Rudy this time. Paybacks are, indeed, a bitch.
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Shooter242's "contributions"
[Read the article: Mitt Romney: Perfect tough guy for right-wing war cheerleaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You'll have to excuse Shooter242's muddled and inane postings; the Journal of American Psychiatry reports that people like him/her/it usually do post such scribblings while engaged in auto-fellatio.
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I Defer To Prunes & MattyD
[Read the article: Mitt Romney: Perfect tough guy for right-wing war cheerleaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your answers to Shooter242 were better than mine; I salute you!