Letters to the Editor
Serai1
Published Letters: 527 Editor's Choice: 33
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Dry, dry, dry
[Read the article: Cry "fire" and let loose the dogs of climate change!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Southern California burns every year. Most years it's not so bad; some years it's very bad, like this year. But it is indeed a yearly occurence and always has been. (I can still remember the HUGE Malibu fire in the 80's that rained ashes down on Los Angeles.) Global climate change doesn't cause the fires at all, although it can make them worse as the article said, by bringing more growth to the region to feed the fires.
The way climate change will have a significant impact on the situation is not through fire, but through water. Over the last decades, the Colorado River has been keeping an unsteady equilibrium. The river that brings water to just about the all of Southern California is now drying up because of reducing snowmelt and increasing population demands all along its length. The decrease in water has already devastated farms south of the main water-drawing corridor, and it's being predicted that within a decade there will be an exodus from the L.A. area due to rising water prices and/or lack of water.
So over the next years we'll see a reduced ability to fight these fires due to lowering water resources. Not as sexy a problem as "Global climate change makes deserts EXPLODE!!" but far more accurate, nonetheless.
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Request to Salon
[Read the article: Pam Spaulding for Glenn Greenwald: "For the Bible Tells Me So"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those posters you have up with this article - could you resize them larger? I don't mean the thumbnails in the text; I'm talking about the image I get when I click to make them larger. Even the larger version is really too small. Some of us can't read the itty-bitty print in the second poster, for instance.
Please remember that not everyone online has perfect eyes. Some of us need help with the tiny stuff.
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Also, a useful link...
[Read the article: Pam Spaulding for Glenn Greenwald: "For the Bible Tells Me So"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...for anyone who wants to argue against the Christian prejudice against homosexuality:
http://www.otkenyer.hu/truluck/six_bible_passages.html
The above is an analysis of the six Bible passages that are commonly used to bolster anti-gay prejudice, and why those assumptions are WRONG. Reasons include mistranslations, words taken out of context, etc.
Very useful stuff.
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To Mary Shannon
[Read the article: Is thyroid disease the new hysteria?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have no objection to anything you say in your comment. Women should definitely ask for tests that might diagnose a condition, and fight for them if they feel it's necessary. You'll get no argument from me EVER on that score.
My comment was meant to point out the weird flip-flopping on Carol's part - that of a supposed feminist saying it's wrong to tell women to stand up for themselves. When a medical problem is at issue, of course the medical testing and treatment is paramount.
BUT - there's nothing to prove that urging women to stand up for themselves in their own lives WON'T help, either with this condition or any other. It's not a cure, as far as we know, but it certainly cannot hurt these women's predicaments. In fact, by your own words, it could help, if in no other way than giving them the support to ask for the very tests and treatment they need.
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@zorro
[Read the article: Anonymous Liberal for Glenn Greenwald: Giuliani on torture]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Be-bop-o is our resident poet. If you like playful language and the interweaving of conceptual threads, he's like a cool glass of water, all rimey with droplets.
On the other hand, if you're not interested in expending any energy on the words you read, just skip him. I'm sure he won't mind.
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@cinderellaferret
[Read the article: Anonymous Liberal for Glenn Greenwald: Giuliani on torture]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yikes. Terrorism indeed. Not as unprecedented a thought as some would have it, though. During the 80's many of us were humiliated and distressed at our government's involvement in the foul mess in Central America. What we got our hands into in El Salvador, for instance, could hardly be called anything but terrorism. Such tactics have always been on the table for Washington, whether the citizens have known it or not.
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Jack Bauer to the rescue
[Read the article: I can't believe it's not torture! ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People here seem to underestimate the power of mass entertainment. Is it really so strange that all these Republican candidates are falling all over each other to legitimize torture when one of the highest rated TV shows in America features a protagonist who engages in this practice with impunity?
The new "trailer" for this year's season of 24 has just been released, and guess what? Jack's torturing again!! And this time he regrets nothing about it, apparently. At last season's finale, it seemed like maybe the producers were starting to HEAR the people complaining about the incredible inaccuracies of their show - how their ideas about torture are completely untrue, etc. - when they ended with Jack having a crisis of conscience about his activities and perhaps getting ready to quit the spy business forever.
But no. The trailer released shows that the producers have in no way made the decision to change direction. Jack is now proudly declaring that his actions are fine, and saying "I'll enjoy that" when he's ordered to do whatever he needs to get the information, "torture him if you have to".
In this political climate, that's the worst kind of rank irresponsibility. I don't think people understand just how influential this show has been in politics over the last few years. I would never have thought so, but the evidence is clear that these right-wing gung-ho nutjobs really do think 24 offers sound advice on these matters.
It's possible the trailer is deliberately misleading the audience, and that the central character has something up his sleeve to take down this whole mess, but frankly I doubt it. Subtlety of that sort is rather rare in entertainment these days, I'm afraid. As long as bull-headed shows like 24 are around glamorizing the process of cutting off people's fingers and choking them with plastic bags, it'll be damn hard to counteract its ideas.