Letters to the Editor
Foilwoman
Published Letters: 34
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Geography is your friend
[Read the article: A girl named Metallica]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Right up there with Anonymous. Switzerland and Sweden really aren't the same little country with blonde people. And I'm wondering if the bureaucracy in this is really the tax board or some other government agency.
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Peabody Awards
[Read the article: National journalists believe you should trust them]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, I've won a Thinking Blogger award, which I assure you is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Really. Some people even trust me. (They are probably foolish to do so, but hey.) So ABC has won a Peabody Award. Once upon a time, one of their reporters might have even won a Pulitzer Prize or an Emmy or something like that (or, a Clio, depending on the nature of coverage). Let's just quote the mutual fund industry: past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
At least with mutual funds, you know what the performance really was (plus or minus all applicable fees). With journalism, we don't know without copious research, which I, for one, can't take the time to do right now. Did ABC correctly report on WMD? Always? The non-existent Saddam Hussein/Al-Qaeda link? What's their accuracy rating? How many retractions have they issues and how many retractions haven't they issued that they should have (I'll go with Mr. Greenwald's assessment here)?
No, I'd like to know. Is a source at least a "high-ranking Administration official*? A knowledgeabe NGO investigator on the ground in Iran**? A military or intelligence staffer on the hill or at the Pentagon or CIA?*** Heck, do they have an actual source, someone who works in the Iranian nuclear program, has a relationship with someone who does, or can actually see and is able to interpret appropriate satellite and other intelligence on this subject?
Those do help me make up my mind. Peabody Award? Feh. I'm a Thinking Blogger.
*Otherwise known as "people who have a history of lying to Congress and the media without blushing or batting an eye".
**More trustworthy that *, above, but really, anybody is more trustworthy than an Administration official nowadays, and without knowing the type of NGO, etc. we're still at a bit of a loss.
***If military, you have my sympathies: these are hard times for you. If intelligence staff on the hill, which party or allegience? If CIA, heck, they haven't known what's going on for a long time. Can this person even speak Farsi, and if not (as is most likely) how exactly do they understand human intelligence coming from actual Iraqis?
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Correction
[Read the article: A girl named Metallica]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When did the correction (the sudden and stunning realization that agencies in Sweden are most likely Swedish and not Swiss)occur. And who stole the globe and access to Mapquest in the Salon offices beforehand?
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Circumcision
[Read the article: New York's circumcision campaign]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Circumcision may reduce the spread of AIDs in Africa, in environments where women may not have the right to refuse sex or require condom use. The study still shows that condom use is much, much more reliable. Men need to wear condoms and women need to require that they do.
We really don't need men telling women that their circumcision means that the woman is less at risk for AIDs. The man may be less at risk of contracting it if he's circumcised and is always the penetrator (Not a given either, right?), but having sex with uncircumcised partners who refuse to wear condoms will not help women. Make him wear the raincoat.
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The Mechanism
[Read the article: New York's circumcision campaign]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bushwacker: The study compared men who were circumcised with men who weren't (less foreskin to pick up tiny viruses, get infections, etc.) and the result was that circumcised men got infected less frequently than uncircumcised men. The transmission rates were still much higher than with condom use. The study was performed, in part, because despite the efficacy of condom use, many African women don't have the power or right to demand condom use or refuse sex. Thus the logic was that if circumcision could reduce the rate of transmission even slightly, that would be a net improvement for everyone.
Of course, improving the status of women in Africa so that they can refuse sex or insist on more reliable protection to protect them from AIDs (condoms) would be more effective, but I guess that option isn't on the table. In the U.S., forgoing safe-sex behavior and promoting circumcision is ridiculous.
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Who Is Responsible for Rape in Any Environment
[Read the article: Military rape a result of "feminist pressures"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see, wouldn't that be the rapist? I'm sure anyone suffering from any crime in a war zone has responsibility by being in that area (less safe than a nice safe house in the suburbs, doncha know?), but really, muggers are responsible for mugging (and are the people who need to be restrained), murderers for murderings, drunk driving for driving while drunk, and rapists for raping.
Yes, women would be free from rape if women would just stay out of areas where men might feel sexually aggressive toward them and act on that feeling. Conversely, women would be free from rape if any man who might conceivably be sexually aggressive toward women could be made to stay out of areas where they might be confronted by those maddening rape-inducing women. Neither solution would work in a free society. So let's focus on the rapists: educate, punish, report, whatever. I've no expertise in criminal behavior, but one stops crime by stopping the criminals, not the victims.
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Well, I'm Shocked, Shocked to Discover This New Health Care Product Generally Favors Men
[Read the article: Consumer-driven health plans hit women harder]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll also be dreadfully surprised if consumer health care plans don't continue to cover Viagra as a rule while not covering birth control. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll be just a smidge happier.
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Kathleen Parker: More "Men Are Less Valuable Than Women" Crap in the Washington Post Now
[Read the article: Military rape a result of "feminist pressures"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Check this out: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601549.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
I won't comment here, as I've already written about it at length, but who is publishing this person and why? Or more to the point, why is the Washington Post publishing this person?