Letters to the Editor
Tom in Central Illinois
Published Letters: 205 Editor's Choice: 13
-
and it is the return of the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth
[Read the article: Ghosts of dirty tricks past]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]back in 2004, every time one of these Swift Boat swamp rats opened its mouth, I kept wondering on which armored barge it was standing to watch John Kerry in combat; by all accounts, John Kerry's patrol boat was engaged in hostile fire with enemy soldiers on the river bank....for any of these Swift Boat yahoos to see everything without being themselves exposed to hostile fire would have meant the presence of an armored barge either just behind or to one side of Kerry's boat
in short, the Swift Boaters were lying at full volume then and their successors are continuing their dirty deeds today
if John McCain claims to be such an "honorable man", why does he not publicly repudiate and denounce these thugs? or does he accept their existence in order to appeal to the race-baiting, golden calf worshipping Religious Right?
-
and by the time, the skeptics are convinced.....
[Read the article: Breaking news on climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]it will really be too late.
-
there is a cycle, of sorts, with hurricanes / typhoons / tropical cyclones
[Read the article: How many Katrinas in a lifetime?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]working with about 150 years or so of weather observations, researchers found there appeared to be a 50 year cycle of tropical system formation, with 25 years of relatively little formation followed by 25 years of very active formation; 150 years of observations is not enough for truly rigorous longitudinal studies but it was the most that anyone had; for the North Atlantic basin, the years from 1970 to 1995 were relatively mild as far as tropical system formation went while the years from 1996 onward have seen very active formation; according to this model, the 2006 North Atlantic season would have been worse than the 2005 season and the 2007 season or 2008 season would have been the "peak season", with things beginning to settle down from 2009 onward
it is nice that the 2006 season gave the North Atlantic basin a respite after the 2005 season but I would not place any bets on 2007 or 2008 also being mild
I would also not, repeat NOT, build any more beachfront houses or hotels.....for at least 10 to 15 years
-
Are we discussing batteries, capacitors or small generators?
[Read the article: A hint from Bush: Go long on lithium?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Before we get too euphoric over the subject of alternate power sources that can free an entire household from the electric grid for hours, days, weeks and so on, we need to remember that the average household soaks up a noticeable amount of power each day to keep food properly chilled, to keep the inhabitants either properly warmed or properly cooled, to provide sufficient illumination for the interior of the house, to provide sufficient energy to power the domestic chores machines (washer, dryer, range, oven, microwave), to power the communications devices (radio, TV, PC, VCR, cell phone) among other duties. Present day technology dictates that an energy storage device that can hold enough "juice" to do all of the above, will something as large as a minivan (at least) and it will need a well-ventilated, properly secured storage building of its own. The lead / acid battery is a well-proven technology, and succeeding generations of auto mechanics and auto designers have managed to eliminate the glitches and gotchas from the manufacture and installation of these batteries. When the lithium-ion and other battery technologies are as robustly and effortlessly reliable as the lead / acid battery, then the automakers will start to shift over.
-
dual command of allied forces has happened before.............
[Read the article: Hawks knock surge plan's command structure]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]it was the Sicily campaign during World War II, as famously retold in the movie "Patton"; British commander Montgomery took his country's forces along one coast of Sicily, while U.S. commander took his country's forces along the other coast of Sicily in a crazy attempt to capture Messina before Montgomery did; General Omar Bradley was left the unenviable task of pushing through the center of Sicily while guarding the flanks of both Montgomery and Patton.... in their zeal to outrace each other, Montgomery and Patton permitted the bulk of the German forces to escape from Sicily into Italy; I hope that history is not about to repeat itself
-
what we need is a Strait of Hormuz incident
[Read the article: The danger of Bush's anti-Iran fatwa]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]as the great U.S. Navy aircraft carrier moves through the Strait of Hormuz, suddenly a swarm of sea skimming missiles strike it in the side and the ship begins to sink; this incident is used as the justification for a massive invasion of Iran, the imposition of martial law in the USA and the coronation of George W Bush as the Eternal and Most Holy Emperor of the USA; conveniently ignored is the fact that the missiles came not from the Iranian side of the strait, but rather from the Saudi side and that the wreckage of the missiles bore U.S. markings
-
Time to torpedo the Right-wing Noise Machine
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When the current noise about Barack Obama began, I knew that the scroundrels known as the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth (aka the Sleaze Boat Varmints for the Coronation of Bush) had surfaced again. Back when Barack Obama was running for the U.S. Senate, his Republican rival (an idiot named Jack Ryan) had a Republican staffer follow Obama all around the Illinois statehouse with a videocamera. The whole scenario was so absurd that even the Republicans disowned their candidate (Jack Ryan, at the time was married to the actress named Jeri Ryan ('Star Trek: Voyager' and 'Shark'), and he had stated the desire to have a film made of him and Jeri having sex and then selling that film on the open market). When even a straight arrow like McCain is treated with disdain by the right wing twits, one has to wonder to which plane of existence the right-wing has chosen to move.
-
actually.......$50 is less than what I give
[Read the article: How to fix campaign financing forever for $50]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I participate in several funding mailing lists for the Democratic party; over a year's time, I may well give $300 to $600. This is obviously far less than the Shrub's millions but it is what I can afford.