Letters to the Editor

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Felix

Published Letters: 208     Editor's Choice: 18

  • The link is fine

    [Read the article: The top ten myths about Iraq in 2005]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    If you use google to find Juan Cole, it goes to the same web site. Maybe he keys off referrers and rejects some of them.

  • Probably B-24, not B-17

    [Read the article: Ask the pilot]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    B-17s have a wide chord and deep wing structure and were famous for coming back with big chunks of their wings missing. The B-24, on the other hand, have a long narrow efficient wing which was notorious for folding under damage. A friend won, I think, the Silver Star for getting the crew out of his damaged B-24 when the pilot froze. They had an engine and wing on fire and had to get out before the wing collapsed.

  • And there are always "birth"days

    [Read the article: A "trick question" on abortion?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Why do people in general and Christians specifically celebrate birthdays and not conception days? Is it because, perhaps, no one really thinks life starts at conception?

    Some smart pro-choice legislator should introduce legislation basing all age-based legalisms on conception instead of birth.

  • Endangering fetuses

    [Read the article: A "trick question" on abortion?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Suppose a constitutional amendment is passed stating that life begins at conception instead of birth. It's illegal to supply drugs, especially tobacco and alcohol, to minors. Will we prosecute pregnant women for drinking and smoking, or people in general for smoking near pregnant women? You can't very well jail the mother without jailing the fetus, and not all convicted felons reform into nice law abiding citizens; will we put these evil mothers into artificial comas or chain them to hospital beds with 24 hour guards to make sure they can't harm their fetus? It would be pretty darn hard to punish the mother without punishing the fetus.

  • The fallacy of life begins at conception

    [Read the article: The baby and the petri dish]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    These hypotheticals all have one purpose, to show that those who claim to believe that life begins at conception do not really believe it. I like to challenge them on birthdays vs conception days for the same reason. They don't walk their own talk. They are like prohibitionists with their own stash of bootleg rum, or drug users supporting the war on (some) drugs, or closeted gays supporting homophobic laws.

    They don't answer because there is no answer consistent with what they claim to believe.

    I sometimes wonder how these people can live with themselves, saying one thing and acting otherwise. They have long since ceased to think.

  • Don't say this!

    [Read the article: At what point can I just give up on my son?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    You say, If you don't see progress, that doesn't mean progress isn't being made. You have to pick a path and stick to it.

    Good gosh Cary, that's so wrong on so many levels. All you need for proof is to hear The Current Resident saying the same thing about Iraq.

    You have to allow for corrections in your plans. Roads have turns, they have detours, one way streets ... life does too. You HAVE to continually evaluate situations and change plans accordingly. You can't just blindly charge forward and charge forward and charge forward.

  • Minor quibble: not a fighter pilot

    [Read the article: Like father, like son]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    He was a torpedo bomber pilot.

  • Whoa, hang on, wait a minute!

    [Read the article: Ask the pilot]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    You got a ride in an F-4? There's the basis for a column or three. How? When? What was it like? How fast? How high? How many Gs, positive and negative? How close to getting sick did you get? Get to fly it any? Prep, ride itself, after?

    C'mon, spill the beans!

  • Impatience vs in a hurry

    [Read the article: The needle and the damage undone]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    The attitude represented by Insite, compared to the attitude of the War Against Some Drugs, reminds me of speeders on the freeway. Some people tailgate instead of changing lanes and going around, others simply go around well before they reach you. They are the ones in a hurry, places to go, things to do, and Insite reminds me of them. There is a problem, and they want to fix it. The tailgaters remind me of the War On Some Drugs, where the appearance of being in a hurry, of pretending to want to do something, is what's important to the control freak within. They are not really in a hurry, they don't really want to do anything, but they want to present the appearance of doing something, so they tailgate and flash their lights when there is a perfectly open path right there for the taking -- if they were truly in the hurry they claim to be.

    And no, I don't drive down the fast lane at the speed limit. I am talking about empty save for me and the speeder, where there is no excuse for tailgating for those who truly do have places to go and things to do. It is only the impatient with nothing else to do who tailgate.

  • 12,000 pounds isn't that much

    [Read the article: Ask the pilot]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Even if you only include intentional explosions, the British had 22,000 pound Grand Slam bombs in WW II, altho I don't know how much of that was explosive. There were also other explosions -- The British and Canadians blew up a ship in a German occupied harbor in France, St. Nazaire? Ammo ships and fuel tankers were intentionally targeted and had thousands of tons of explosive go off. Heck, even the Arizona explosion at Pearl Harbor was a magazine explosion and certainly had more than 6 tons of explosives go off.

    Naw, I think Patrick has finally made a mistake :-)

  • Conception at birth

    [Read the article: How would Jesus vote?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    I sometimes wonder if people know what they are asking for to have life declared beginning at birth. It wouldn't take long before the anti-spanking crowd extends that to fetuses and starts charging pregant women who drink or smoke with child endangerment. These wingnuts who talk about Hillary as if she is the anti-christ had better stop and think what she and her ilk would do if the constitution were amended to say life begins at conception. If it's illegal and immoral now to give a beer to a one month old baby, how much worse it must be for a pregnant woman to drink or smoke!

  • I need a dry humor tag here

    [Read the article: One week out from Election Day, the GOP is in for a scare]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    If the election were held today, and if the latest polls turned out to be accurate predictors of the outcome -- and let's be clear here, it's too early to start assuming either of those things --

    I'm glad you're clear about that.

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