Letters to the Editor
fulanodetal
Published Letters: 8 Editor's Choice: 1
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Violent porn?
[Read the article: U.K. to outlaw violent porn after woman's death]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know if it's common, but I've often gotten spam with subject lines like 'Cruel Rape'. More curious than judicious, once or twice I've looked at what they were offering, and it's not good. Would you like to see a video showing some guy stalking, chasing a woman through a park, catching her, violently tearing off her clothes and brutally raping her? I don't know how far they went with it, if there was serious physical injury or death depicted (I didn't join the site, it's not my cup of tea). I don't know if the actress was okay with what she was doing, but they certainly did their best to make it LOOK like she was in a lot of pain.
In my opinion this has much in common with child porn. Maybe it is victimless if there's no one hurt or coerced and the 'children' aren't really minors, or are made to appear to be in blatantly sexual situations through computer manipulation, but our society has decided that it's not okay to encourage this kind of fantasy. Presumably the reason is that some will be tempted to make it reality..
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Jackson Pollock
[Read the article: WayLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Usually I like Carol Lay's stuff but this one I don't understand at all...
The woman's pregnant, the baby's born, then gloved hands are pushing away booze and a car? What's that? Maybe "don't drive drunk"? Then a typical Pollock-style splat followed by a doctor holding up a baby by its ankles, covered by scribbles? Maybe it's just me but I don't get it.
By the way the ethnic slur is "polack", i.e. Polish. Pollock's close, but no cigar, as they say.
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Car Bombs?
[Read the article: Bomb plot tests British again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think we're getting the whole story on the "car bombs" in the UK yet at all...
On the radio Tues. AM, CBS said they had arrested five medical doctors (?) of Middle-Eastern origin in connection with these sorry attempts at attacks.
Doctors are trained to think carefully and logically, how to evaluate cause and effect, how to corroborate diagnoses, etc, etc. They also have relatively good jobs, high wages, respect, etc.
If someone like this, in this kind of position, were to feel compelled to carry out a bombing at an airport wouldn't they take the time to use a bomb that would in fact detonate and 'go boom'? It's not hard to test detonators - if they can set off a firecracker then they'll work. These "bombs" appear to have been completely untested and less than amateur-level design. It doesn't make sense. Only a moron would try this. These guys weren't morons. Or, it wasn't these guys.
We're not getting the whole story here.
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Greening SUVs?
[Read the article: Bill Richardson on greening SUVs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As Chernobyl Kid put it, there are going to be three ways to adjust to a new world without cheap oil, and back off on global warming at the same time:
1) The hard way;
2) The very hard way; and
3) The unbelievably fucking hard,passing-a-kidney-stone-the-size-of-a-bowling-ball way"
In my opinion it's likely our choices are going to fall somewhere between 2) and 3). Probably closer to 3).
No politician can say that and have ANY chance of being elected. The US public will have to gradually come around to the realization, be dragged kicking and screaming to the idea that they can't afford their own cars or any of the over-consuming disposable lifestyle of which they are so enamored.
What Bill Richardson is saying makes more sense than any of the other wannabe "serious" candidates. He's got to sell his product to the US public. Give him a break if he sugar-coats it a little.
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sewer gas high?
[Read the article: Smoke this!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I majored in chemistry in college (never graduated) and since have done a lot of composting - both urine and feces are great ingredients in compost - and I can say with confidence that the main gases that come off decomposing piss and shit are ammonia, hydrogen sufide and methane (if there's no oxygen present). The first two are quite toxic and might make you feel a little dizzy/high if you could inhale much of them, but they'd definitely make you feel like shit afterwards (pun intended).
If street kids in Africa ARE getting high from sewage gas there might something else mixed in the sewage, but if straight sewer gas could get you high, pig farmers everywhere would know about it.
I say the whole thing's a hoax.
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@jared2
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Cell phone calls during 9/11
"The passengers on the flights involved in 9/11 did use their cell phones, right?
I think it's interesting that cell phones can actually work when you're 40K feet up. What tower are they connecting to?"
Unfortunately, Mr. Smith is disinclined to address the many absurdities and impossibilities in the official 9/11 story. It is easier to dismiss all who question the official story as "kooks". Fortunately, their are highly experienced pilots who do question the government version of the events of 9/11. These include, to name a few:"
- Jared2, you provided no link to whatever document it is that these pilots have apparently endorsed or signed - I'd be interested in seeing it, myself.
I have always thought that the "official" version of the 9/11 events was, at least, sanitized; and at worst, entirely fabricated. Why the plane that hit the Pentagon did not have an escort of 10 or 20 jet fighters before it got to DC has always seemed very strange to me....It took about an hour to get there from Boston, the FAA knew it was hijacked, knew two similar jets had already hit the WTC, etc, etc.
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semen detection?
[Read the article: The evil future is now: Semen detection kits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I get a catalog from "J&L Products" (a police- and security-oriented mail-order supplier in West Virginia) that's been advertizing a similar-sounding semen-detection kit for the last couple of years. The way they pitch it, it's to catch wives and daughters who have been up to "no good". Many of their products are a little doubtful, to put it charitably, but not all; I've gotten a mean wrist-rocket slingshot and various weapon-type toys for my sons when they were younger. No semen detection kits though.