Letters to the Editor
gbarton
Published Letters: 107 Editor's Choice: 8
-
The literary expression of the "information age"
[Read the article: Dumbledore? Gay. J.K. Rowling? Chatty.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kids these days (and I count myself as one of them, even though I'm 37) want to know more about the characters they read about. More, more, more. They want fully fleshed out virtual realities. Why do you think Star Wars and Star Trek have endured for decades? They have meticulously constructed universes, constantly spawning all sorts of media: tv shows, movies, books, video games, fan fiction, comic books, role playing games, art, music, conventions...you name it. It's a new art form in and of itself: the alternate reality. And the alternate reality is fed by information, such as facts about the characters. Otherwise it ceases to be a communal construct (commonly agreed upon reality) and fractures into a bunch of little realities. (the individual imaginations of the readers/watchers) Folks these days want the communal experience more, mainly because it's much more possible than it was in the past. (There's cultural infrastructure to support it.) And with Harry Potter, there's just going to be more. Just wait until the "Unabridged Harry Potter Encyclopedia" comes out. :)
-
This story has been held in reserve
[Read the article: A very familiar story about Rudy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This story is now being used to beat on Giuliani. Why? The religious right wants to sink his campaign, that's why. Other elements of the GOP probably want to beat him down as well because they know that, if Giuliani is nominated, their party will be divided.
Little do they know that, no matter who is nominated, their party will be divided.
Poor, sad GOP.
-
Deja Vu: Greece
[Read the article: Quick, somebody bomb Iran!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is the same script as the fires in Greece earlier this year.
-
How about White House -> Fred Phelps?
[Read the article: White House: "Congress is being run by Code Pink"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If they can say the Congress is run by Code Pink, can we say the White House is run by Fred Phelps?
-
Masters of the lie of ommission
[Read the article: Abject stupidity defined]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From your post: 'The individual who calls himself "Dr. Rusty Shackelford" says that I "edited the email to [my] best advantage" but that "the full text is here [at Dread Pundit's blog] with the portions Greenwald left out in boldface."'
These people are masters of the lie of omission. Everything in that quote is true. (or arguable opinion) You did quote certain passages. The full text is on Dread Pundit's blog. They leave out the easily verifiable fact that you reveal the full text yourself. They are masters of this tactic.
But that's just the thing: they're masters because it's so easy to do this with their target audience. Their audience trusts them fully, so they'll never verify their assertions.
-
Shouldn't the FBI be investigating?
[Read the article: Abject stupidity defined]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If there is someone forging e-mails from an assistant to the military leader in Iraq, shouldn't the FBI be notified? Isn't that cyber-terrorism? If Col Boylan is a victim of identity theft, isn't this also the case? (He's admitted that he's under attack: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/#postid-updateB3)
-
Contact the FBI
[Read the article: Follow-up on the Col. Steven Boylan e-mail exchange]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The FBI should be contacted about this.
"Dear FBI: I have reason to believe a vital member of the armed forces deployed in Iraq, Col. Steven Boylan, is being illegally impersonated on the internet. I received an e-mail I thought to be from him, but he has denied ever sending it..." Etc, etc.
This incident must be investigated as a criminal manner. Copies of Glenn's e-mail logs (both local to his computer, and on the ISP level) of all messages to/from Col. Boylan should be provided to law enforcement. Most importantly, Col. Boylan should inform the FBI, under oath, that he is not the author of the e-mail. At that point the true perpetrator can be tracked down.
Justice, and the safety of our armed forces, demands it.
-
Brilliant!
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I haven't laughed that much in a while. Thanks.
-
Dallas driver here
[Read the article: The Smart car is coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been following the Smart for a while now and was seriously thinking about getting one, until I saw this:
http://flytheroad.com/
That's captured my heart now. :) Hopefully they'll get their shit together and actually make a vehicle...
-
I was all hip on Ron Paul...
[Read the article: Ron Paul distortions and smears]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...until I found out he's all hip on a theocracy:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul148.html
"The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers." - Ron Paul
-
I didn't even read her drivel
[Read the article: Queen Hillary's disruptive court]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Didn't have to.
I did notice that her article was put at the very end of the day's content, below the comics.
Good job, Salon. I'm sure Paglia has a contract you have to honor, or some such, but at least you had the decency to put her crap deep in the D section, below the fold, next to the obits.
-
We don't want to pull the rug from under the troops...
[Read the article: "Radical groups"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...we want to pull the troops off the rug.
-
Of course there's sexism in lifesaving!
[Read the article: Is there sexism in lifesaving?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Haven't you ever heard of, "Women and children first!"
-
Neuroses vs the Uncanny Valley
[Read the article: "Beowulf"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yep. It looks like the uncanny valley is particularly treacherous for neurotic movie critics. Look out! You may be eaten by a Grue...
-
My wife didn't take my name...
[Read the article: Should I take my husband's name?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...and it's just fine. She's still Welch, I'm still Barton.
Funny thing is, we get called Mrs Barton and Mr Welch all of the time. :)
Before we got married I tried to find a name that was a mix of both of our names. I even wrote a computer program that searched the last set of census data for a name with a combo of our letters, but none of the ones that popped up were a fit. Mr and Mrs Belch was out of the question. :P
Our daughter was born three months ago, and she took my last name, and the names of her grandmothers as middle names. We would have used grandfathers if she was a he. Last names of any future kids is up in the air. Frankly I could just flip a coin.
It's all good.
-
We're the security contractor
[Read the article: A new player in Afghanistan's Great Game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]By financing our debt China is effectively paying us to police Afghanistan. E've become the world's security contractor.
-
This would push out Ron Paul voters
[Read the article: The GOP's loyalty oath]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It may not be the intent, but this would push out Ron Paul voters. They know their guy won't get the nomination, and they're more likely to not vote for any other Republican besides Paul.
-
FoxNews giving tactical information to the hostage taker
[Read the article: Hostages taken at Clinton office]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]MSNBC and CNN are delaying their coverage by a few minutes. They've both explicitly mentioned that they don't want to give any tactical information to the hostage taker.
FoxNews is broadcasting live images from the scene.