Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 13 Editor's Choice: 2
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one problem here:
[Read the article: Coming soon: Same-sex genetic parenting]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Looking at the sex determining chromosomes, all women are XX and all men are XY. So, if you were to create offspring from the genetic material of two women, you could only ever get a daughter, since both parents would have to be contributing an X chromosome to the offspring.
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bizzarre
[Read the article: How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love how O'Reiley et. al. are up in arms about the lack of christianity in department stores somehow eroding their cultural identity as christians. Someone really needs to tell Bill and friends that it's patently absurd to claim that Walmart and other department stores have any bearing at all on their religion, or their freedom to practice it. Its a weird form of idolatry that allows you to mistake consumerism for the practice of your religion. Given that he can still go to mass, wish anyone he pleases a "Merry Christmas," decorate his home any way he pleases, and publicly celebrate the birth of christ, I honestly can't figure out what's crawled up his ass and died. What a fucking blowhard.
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weird
[Read the article: Kid skips school, mom goes to jail]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I really have trouble seeing how taking away the kid's mother will improve his/her attendance. Something about this seems a little backwards.
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Not sure why Bin Laden would be laughing.
[Read the article: The TSA's plan for tricking terrorists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So long as all the proceedures they can choose from are, in fact, useful (I question the removal of shoes to some extent), randomizing your defensive strategy is a good idea from a game-theoretic point of view.
Other than being brown myself, thats my main reason for opposing racial profiling: there are plenty of delusional white kids you could convince to carry something onto a plane. If most of the people getting stopped for extra checks are middle eastern (and I'm not saying that that's neccessarily the case presently), then the terrorists know exactly who not to send to increase their chances of success. They would only need ot find a couple of non-middle-eastern recruits to inflict a lot of harm.
Sounds like TSA is finally making some smart decisions.
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To "One nation under god"
[Read the article: Full text of the bin Laden tape]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You and Osama aren't any different from eachother. I read what you just wrote and a listen to these insane jihadists and I hear the same damned thing: "My religion is correct. Yours is wrong. Lets broadbrush all of your people into one category, pretend like that category's most extreme elements speak for the whole and advocate genocide of the other and take pleasure in any misfortune that might befall any member of that group."
Doesn't your god, in no ambiguous terms, tell you that murder is a sin, no matter whose murder it is? Doesn't your religion advocate charity, compassion, love for your neighbor?
Or does that compassion for your fellow human being only apply to other christians who share your beliefs and march lock-step with the republican party?
You really and truly disapoint me.
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One objection
[Read the article: Letters to the Editor update]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"We know that some of you might be thinking, "Gee, when future potential employers are Googling my name, do I really want them to see this rant?" Maybe that's simply good motivation to write something that you'll be proud of. If you think you won't want to stand by your letter years from now, you might reconsider whether you want to post it at all."
My objection to this line of reasoning is the idea that what one is proud of socially, especially in the context of an online community is not neccessarily what one would want to bring into a professional context. For instance, if one were to apply for a job where the person hiring held extremely socially conservative views. While it would be unprofessional in the extreme for them to hold a letter to the editor about my personal views on, for instance, reproductive rights against me, the point is that I don't think that everyone would want potential future employers to have the opportunity to google out their personal views.
Me, personally, I wouldn't want to work for anyone that unprofessional and intollerant, anyways, so, at least at present, I couldn't care less, but your argument seems a little short-sighted to me.
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swastika
[Read the article: "The birds thought I was their mom"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The swastika is, in fact, an ancient symbol. Its too bad the Nazi's perverted it (granted the Nazi swastika is actually the mirror image of the Hindu swastika), but if you go to India, you'll see it all over the place from obviously religious contexts such as temples to, of all things, buses and trucks.
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...
[Read the article: I used to be funny, but now I'm boring and self-conscious]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hardly think the point of this column is really advice in the sense of "this is how you get from point A to point B in your life." Honestly, I wouldn't read it if it were.
"So, you know, if the whole idea of being a sparking dinner guest itself just seems kind of lame and 19th century, like you should have a starched collar and knickers or something, you can turn being boring into an insidious and soul-killing form of quiet social homicide..." is easily the best piece of advice I've ever heard.
Wonderful stuff, Cary, you just made my day.
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woah.
[Read the article: America's Next Top Racist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So... according to her monologue, liking muslim people is a "liberal" issue???
Amazing.
And to the other letter writier, I don't see what was unethical about airing this. Its not like they goaded her into saying anything. She's stating her views like she's proud of them. When confronted by 3 presumably gay people, she sticks to her guns. Look, deep down inside, I hope every bigot can change. But there is no reason why she shouldn't be held responsible for her beliefs until she does. For starters, how will she change if noone ever shames her for her ridiculous beliefs.