Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 137 Editor's Choice: 37
-
One of the basic problems is...
[Read the article: Weekly Standard: Bush has "near dictatorial power"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... that the following is in fact no longer true:
All of this is excruciatingly basic and obvious, really not much beyond what seventh grade civics students are taught about what distinguishes a Republic from a "dictatorship." [emphasis added]
Not to get all culture war, but one of the disturbing trends since, yes, the 60s, has been the de-emphasis on American history and especially American government in our schools. Not all -- perhaps not even many -- schools really engage students with the form of their democracy. Partly it's because conservatives believe government is eeeeviiiilll, so we shouldn't study it. Partly it's because liberals believe that the conduct of our government has been to repress the oppressed, so we should tear it down rather than study it. Mostly it's because any serious engagement will involve controversy and school administrations are notoriously controversy-averse.
But for whatever reasons, we've stopped teaching people about the Republic they inhabit. The past six years has been just a first payment on what's going to come due for that.
-
Don't hang Karl.
[Read the article: The "gray area" that isn't]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We aren't barbarians and it isn't that bad. Put Karl in prison. Make him do the perp walk. Make it a regular prison, not Club Fed. But don't dignify him by anything so grand as a hanging.
These guys, for six years, have been writing this fantastic narrative of their epic struggle. But you know what? They're just ordinary crooks and thugs. It's time to treat them as such. Jail is exactly right for them.
-
Oh, it's better
[Read the article: Setting the bar low]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's not just that poor Alberto "answered every question he could possibly answer" that's funny. It's the qualifier:
answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer
You see, the questions he fudged on were the ones he couldn't answer honestly -- the ones he'd have to lie about. The hilarity is magnified by
he answered as honestly as he could.
implying that, for this AG, honesty is not something that comes easily. He has to work at it.
-
The Fix
[Read the article: Things I got wrong, and right]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's fine that you're listening to everyone who loved it and misses it. Please, though, don't forget to factor in those -- and I'm one of them -- who hail the loss of the Fix as the best change Salon has made in a year or more.
-
If only...
[Read the article: Cheney: "We didn't get elected to be popular"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... oh, if only, back in August 2001, they had "sit there every morning and read the intelligence reports in the Oval Office" -- especially the one that said, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S."...
-
It's a pet peeve of mine, but...
[Read the article: Back to the future]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... could we all just stop equating cell phones to Star Trek communicators? Yeah, they look similar (by design!) but they're not the same. A cell phone is a tiny cog in a vast fixed telecommunications infrastructure. Its range is measured in the tens or at best hundreds of meters. Kirk's gadget could talk to a starship in frakking orbit, for Pete's sake, and did so with a form factor smaller than your palm. Clunky giant "sat phones" notwithstanding, we still don't have anything like that. And even though your GPS "works via satellite", it doesn't talk to the satellites. It's just a glorified radio receiver with a clock.
Cell phones are amazing but Star Trek they're not.
-
News Flash: Music critic claims the key to Rock and Roll is...
[Read the article: Why is "Sgt. Pepper" so overhyped?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... music criticism.
Shocker, that. It's the sort of self-indulgent self-important claptrap that has rendered music criticism irrelevant since... well, come to think of it, ever.
-
Isn't this an admission...
[Read the article: Fair and balanced, baby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... that Fox planned to be a hostile host?
-
Oh, that's a brilliant ploy...
[Read the article: "I think the best thing for me to do is just talk about the facts"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's stress over and over again that Russia is "no military threat". Sure, Putin is riding a cresting tide of resentment over Russia's reduced place in the world. Sure, Russians resent being relegated to second-tier status and cut out of "big boy" politics. Sure, the military in Russia has been fuming for nearly two decades now that the West trivializes them and humiliates them. I'm sure this won't harden anyone's heart against us.
Hey, Mr. President, I've got a suggestion. Why don't you look Putin square in the eye and open with, "Look, after we bailed you guys out in World War II..."?
-
Intellectual property is to property...
[Read the article: Talking to the publisher who stole Google's laptops]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... as fool's gold is to gold.
Damn, I wish the SATs still stressed analogies.
-
When they guess well...
[Read the article: Cellphone charger totalitarianism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... totalitarians will do well -- probably better than the market. That's why they can, for a while, make it seem like they "keep the trains running on time".
But when they guess badly -- oh, dear Lord in Heaven, watch out! Ukranian collectivization by the Soviets, anyone? Over six million dead! (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/ukra.html).
And it all demands an answer: How did the Chinese figure out what standard to enforce? Would China on its own have come up with the USB charger standard? As someone pointed out, there used to be many different serial standards, including RS 232. The fact that USB is dominant now -- hell, that was a market choice.
It's fun and all to bash Western democracies and crony capitalism and the evils we all do. But the fact of the matter is, there are "special interests" in China too and there are cronies and creeps and idiots there as well. At least in a liberal democracy there's a hope that the truth will out and the system will get fixed. What will it take in China to do the same?
-
The Purpose of Life...
[Read the article: What is the meaning of life?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... is to end. Good-bye, Mr. Anderson.
Sorry, couldn't resist throwing in a little Matrix Revolutions. :)