Letters to the Editor
Lone Rider
Published Letters: 12 Editor's Choice: 3
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Dualism
[Read the article: The Jesus symbol, the witch and the wardrobe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Laura Miller ends the arguement attributed to Goldthwaithe with: "For purely evil creatures to exist, God would have had to create them, and God does not create evil." This is the same argument that is more briefly stated in The Confessions of St. Augustine, whether the arguement is original with that saint.
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Biodiesel Ingores Global Warming
[Read the article: Biodiesel: Bane of the rain forest?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Replacing a rainforest with a palm plantation to produce biodiesel will, of course, only increase the amount of carbon dioxide that will be subsequently emitted into Earth's atmosphere, and not only from the exhausts of the vehicles in which the biodiesel is burned. Since a substantial percentage of the rainforest biomatter will almost certainly be burned, simply to clear the land, carbon dioxide is added even before the palm oil is burned as biodiesel. Had the rainforest remained, it would have removed more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it would, in and of itself, contribute (largely by sequestering carbon in the form of vegetable matter).
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Here We Go Again ....
[Read the article: The Pentagon may be watching you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]".... The Defense Department refused an interview request from NBC, but a Pentagon spokesman told the network that all domestic intelligence information is 'properly collected' and involves 'protection of Defense Department installations, interests and personnel.'"
I am not a lawyer, but, at last report, the protection to which the spokesman alludes is neither the duty nor the role of the Dept. of Defense, i.e., of its personnel, agents and/or contractors, and they do not have any legal authority to directly collect data on such matters. Whether the data that is in the database that NBC obtained was collected directly by DoD personnel, agents and/or contractors is not clear. Such data can only be collected pursuant to a criminal investigation(s), usually requiring a warrant(s) from a judge(s), by federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Protective Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and, sometimes, various and sundry federal marshalls. Be that as it may, the Bush Administration has constantly sought rationales for bringing military forces into domestic situations, whether they may be hurricanes, floods or "riots".
We the people don't need them, but the reactionary fascists do.
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What They Say About You
[Read the article: The real Eugene McCarthy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Keillor writes: ".... You can work hard all your life and in the end they will get you wrong. It's merciful that you get to die before you have to chance to read what they say."
Have you ever watched the movie The Ballad of Cabel Hogue?? At the end, Cabel says that the worst part about dying is that you never get to hear what they say about you afterward, and demands that the preacher begin his eulogy as he is dying. So, which one is right? It seems to me that you can't be spared the bad without giving up the good as well.
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What's With the Volume?
[Read the article: Daily Download: "Don't Hold Your Breath," Calla]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On this recording, at least, the musicians and/or the recording engineer(s) are playing games with the volume. In particular, the words sung/spoken by the "singer" are barely audible relative to the "music". If I turn the volume up loud enough to hear the lyrics, then it is loud enough to pose a significant risk of damage to my hearing. People who record their sessions in such a way are only expressing their arrogance and their contempt for anyone who doesn't want to literally sacrifice their ability to hear well to hear the lyrics. There is NO song or singer or band in the universe to whom it is worth listening if doing so damages one's ability to hear. That is a FACT, Jack!!!