Letters to the Editor
Dennis Colby
Published Letters: 28 Editor's Choice: 3
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What does Norman Rockwell have to do with this?
[Read the article: From Norman Rockwell to Abu Ghraib]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is Mr. Blumenthal familiar with Rockwell's life and art, or is he simply using "Norman Rockwell" as some kind of convenient shorthand?
As others have pointed out, Rockwell was a staunch New Deal supporter. But he was also a brave civil rights supporter at a time when that stance was not overwhelmingly popular. I suggest Mr. Blumenthal look at works like "Southern Justice" and "The Problem We All Live With," instead of ignorantly dismissing the artist as a producer of "sentimental cowboy art."
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Situational ethics
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]San Francisco Giants fans have become the Nietzschean supermen of the sports world: there are no morals, there are no values, there is no right or wrong, we are beyond good and evil. All that matters is Barry Bonds' will to power.
The new wrinkle in the post-morality Bonds defense seems to be that all records are questionable - ballparks, weather, "the era," locusts, the position of Jupiter, etc. In particular, Ruth's record is illegitimate because he never faced any black pitchers (a good argument, I'll grant you) and that Aaron's record is illegitimate because baseball players guzzled speed in his day.
The problem is that if all records are meaningless, Bonds' record will be meaningless, too. And then all Giants fans will be left with is a mediocre team four and a half games behind the Dodgers.
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This thread is hilarious!
[Read the article: The "Sgt. Pepper" discussion continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm reminded of Grampa Simpson's immortal words:
"I used to be 'with it,' but then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm 'with' isn't 'it,' and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me."
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A question for the true believers
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If this was truly the perfect ending for the series, then answer this:
If it had ended any other way - Tony dying, Tony ratting, Tony moving to Ohio and opening up a fireworks stand - how many people would be saying, "Gosh, what a disappointing ending. I was hoping it would just sort of end, with them eating onion rings in a diner and staring at each other"?
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Speaking of Western assumptions...
[Read the article: Ending "the world's hottest war"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Hutus and Tutsis aren't "tribes." They were barely even distinct groups until the 19th century, when the Belgians brought with them the civilized, Western notion of racial superiority. The Belgians believed that "scientifically" the Tutsis were superior because of then-current notions like phrenology; but both groups spoke the same language, had the same traditions, and extensively intermarried. Rwanda is a story about the Western pathology of racism being transplanted to a new environment.
As for Darfur, I say good for the celebrities and whoever else is interested in pressuring the government to try and intervene. Sure, there are a lot of conflicts worthy of U.S. attention - but some attention is better than none at all.
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Fireworks in Ohio
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jonathan,
Illegal? In Ohio? You're missing the hundreds and thousands of levels of complexity to state fireworks laws:
http://www.fireworks.com/locations/ohio.asp
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This is a great idea
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been going to minor league games for years, and now I'm in Charleston, where the Brewers' A-ball affiliate plays to crowds of 5,000 (the equivalent of 10 percent of the city's population). I think some kind of wrap-up show would be perfect, along with a few marquee games - like an appearance by a rehabbing big leaguer. Why not? As King Kaufman points out, it's not like there's a shortage of niche sports on TV.
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Trust the masses?
[Read the article: The Murdoch Street Journal]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Great idea. Everything from the electoral victory of Bush in 2004 to the enduring popularity of fast food positively screams "trust the masses." Sometimes, professionals are just better at things than amateurs. I note no one seems to be clamoring for a bold new era of "citizen surgeons" or "citizen electricians."
The WSJ reporters seem to think this is not a good thing for their paper. Maybe we should give some credence to their opinions.
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You think THIS is the wrong subject. . .
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Boy, would you be steamed if you read the gardening column in my local newspaper. They don't even MENTION Iraq. And in the Automotive section? Same thing. No Iraq. Just cars. So sad. So typically American, to have different sections of news publications address different subjects.
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Inside baseball, with added literary references
[Read the article: Fantasy island]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The spectacle of two former speechwriters fighting over who deserves credit for writing bad, unmemorable speeches is surely something about which most people outside Washington cannot be expected to care.
As for Rove, his point is clearly not that he thinks of himself as Moby Dick, but that Democrats see him as the white whale (the pursuit of which, remember, was ruinous). He has something of a point.
His brilliant strategy of energizing the base and ignoring the middle led to the closest presidential elections in the last 50 years - the first time with his candidate actually losing the popular vote. Not only that, but his supposed "generational realignment" in American politics lasted all of four years. It's hard to imagine Ahab getting obsessed with such a bungler.
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The Cthulhu movie is terrific
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm glad to see Andrew O'Hehir's review of the silent film version of "The Call of Cthulhu." O'Hehir's right in saying the movie strikes the perfect balance between the sublime and ridiculous. It's the most fun I've had watching a film in a long time.
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So much for "no legs on the OJ story"
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If this letters section is any indication, Americans are still willing and able to use OJ as a way to vent some dark and ugly obsessions and neuroses.
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"The water that comes to your house through a pipe is good enough, and maybe better."
[Read the article: Take it from me. Reform feels good]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I live in southern West Virginia, where more than a century of mining has led to the injection of coal slurry into the groundwater by mine companies desperate to be rid of the stuff. The water that comes to my house through a pipe is orange, and sometimes black, which is particularly festive around Halloween. Care for a sip?
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Strummer on film
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Temple's documentary about the Sex Pistols is one of the best films about music ever made, so I'm very excited to see "The Future Is Unwritten." Also, for fans of Joe Strummer documentaries, check out "Let's Rock Again," which is out on DVD. I imagine it's not as artfully made as Temple's movie, but it's a very moving portrait of Strummer's invigorated last few years.
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The artist formerly known as savvy
[Read the article: Prince wants to sue his fans, undo the Internet]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Still, he's a genius, just not at this whole Internet thing.