Letters to the Editor
Kevin C
Published Letters: 142 Editor's Choice: 23
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Killed by capitalism?
[Read the article: You can't stop a tidal wave with a fork]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ok, fine, but weren't they elevated to the point they were in the first place by capitalism also? His father was "organization man" and his partner was an entrepreneur. What were they supposed to do? They were rolling up typesetting (and partially offshoring it themselves, by the way). They were outmaneuvered by Indians doing the same thing.
So capitalism goes by the wayside--what is going to make them happier, subsistence agriculture? Communism? The Great Leap Forward never killed anyone, I guess.
Government intervention rarely has the intended consequence, and virtually never actually protects the majority of Americans (or what have you), especially in a democracy. After all, we are all being poisoned by high fructose corn syrup (if we are) because of Cuban emigres in FL and corn farmers in the midwest. They don't give a crap that we can't have sugar in our Coke. In a democracy, those that complain the loudest get the protection, i.e. those with a vested interest. At least with capitalism, there is a mechanism that tries to allocate things based on worth, not on complaining/bribery/what have you.
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Ok, why is this just Catholic?
[Read the article: Why I won't stay silent anymore]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Do only Catholics object to so-called "partial birth abortions?" Just because the ban fits in with Catholic teaching doesn't mean that that is all it has to do with. Pro-choice arguments that are absolutist aren't going to win the day. When you talk about procedures performed in the third trimester when a fetus is potentially viable outside the womb with today's technology, you have to take into account justifiable repugnance to certain procedures. Those of us that are pro-choice can't just say "well it is nobody's business aside from the woman and her doctor." It isn't a woman's appendix we're talking about here.
I just don't see the benefit outweighing the risks of fighting for something that the majority of people find morally questionable. Why risk the whole right to choose for a small portion of abortions, where alternative methods exist?
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Some airport opinions
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think folks can judge JFK unless you do it on an terminal by terminal basis--the new Terminal 9 is nice, although it takes FOREVER to get to the far gates (I think that is the legacy of leaving the old terminals 8 and 9 open while building the new one.
RDU is one of the most depressing airports (although I haven't been there since '04 or '05. Just comparing it to when it was an AA hub to now is pretty sad. Now it seems like a half-boarded up DFW.
Biggest improvement, in my opinion, is the new DFW train being INSIDE security. Why can't they have that at more airports? DFW's older terminals' security is annoying, however. I always think that I'm in the longest line in the terminal, but there is no way of knowing if you don't walk to the next one.
The worst thing about DTW, at least when I flew out of there regularly for a while in 2000, was that none of the restaurants stayed open late--this is Northworst we're talking about--none of the flights left within hours of when they were supposed to on a Thursday evening. Having the only food option a Burger King that took advantage of the situation by serving whoppers only to trapped travellers didn't make the experience any better (oh, there was also guessing which flight to LGA would be the one that went since they'd usually cancel all but one).
LGA is kind of dingy in the main terminal, but convenient. It'd be more convenient if you didn't have to go through security again between concourse C and D of the main terminal. The US Airways terminal is also kind of depressing since it seems like it was designed to be more than a hub for regional jets like it is now.
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Kay
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually Kansas City's code is MCI, although everybody, including the airport, calls it KCI. Not sure the origin (like ORD being from Orchard Field, for example).
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Points about rail in the US
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A. Distances are much further--London to Paris is a 216 mile flight--and as pointed out, people do take trains for that in the US--those are NY to Boston or NY to Washington comparable distances. But do execs in Europe take the train from London to Istanbul (in the ballpark for NY to Dallas distances), or London to Rome (in the ballpark for NY to Miami). The population density in the US outside of the Northeast doesn't really make rail as attractive. Amtrack loses a ton of money operating passenger routes outside of the NE because the population centers are just too far apart.
B. Amtrack doesn't own the tracks--they are using tracks owned by freight carriers. I don't know how easy it would be to get the freight companies to dedicate tracks for trains that they don't own. Plus getting the rights of way for new track wouldn't exactly be easy.
I think more rail would be great, but passenger rail faces a lot of challenges here.