Letters to the Editor
Valkyrie607
Published Letters: 144 Editor's Choice: 3
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Eh.
[Read the article: Used women are like used cars?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wasn't gonna comment, originally. I thought this was a non-starter (so to speak).
But now, after reading comments, I have to ask: what the fuck is up with guys who get all hot and bothered, just because women, like Geogre, and myself, and Ms. Clark-Flory, are tired of being portrayed as commodities?
What PRECISELY is the problem with us not liking this ad?
The ad's not a big deal. Like you say, the sex (with women! for men! not the other way around) = cars equation has been around as long as cars, and probably longer.
Is it a given, then, that it shall be around forever? Should it be? Am I a brazen feminazi hussy for simply raising the question?
My sex is not a car.
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...One more prediction...
[Read the article: The K Chronicles]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You will grow arms!
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With regards to posters younger than Jim White...
[Read the article: The right-wing understanding of Government]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I graduated in '96 from a pretty good public school.
We had a class called Participation in Government, contemptuously nicknamed PIG, which lasted only one semester. It was widely regarded as a joke, an easy A. It mostly consisted of assignments of writing letters to the editor, and a cursory description of the three branches of government. My most vivid memories from that class are some beautiful doodles I did, and a heated discussion about gay rights.
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Speaking of Confederacies...
[Read the article: Bob Barr endorses Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows coalition]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a student of environmental science, a farmer, a builder, and a long-time follower of the curve of the oil supply, I have often doubted whether the government of the US can survive teh era after peak oil is reached (i.e. the era that is starting right now).
Oil is central to the power-grabbing and corruption that's going on at the highest levels of our government. Oil fuels the military machine; if it weren't for the fantastic efficiency of oil, "free trade," a la Friedman would not be possible or even thinkable.
In my visions of the future I see the federal government dissolved into a series of states, a loose confederacy of sovereign bioregional states, centered around major metropolitan areas, with a compatible framework of laws to allow trade and free movement.
This vision means the destruction of the bureaucratic edifice that calls itself my government. Once I realized that, the fact that most of the "policies" my supposed representatives advocate are indeed a form of warfare, part of a war declared on me and people like me, to preserve their hold on power at all costs.
Though many of my friends have concluded that the best thing to do is retreat to the hills and concentrate on getting off the grid, I see a need for an institutional framework to make sure the transition to the post-oil economy isn't violent. In order to put that framework in place, like-minded folks need to use existing governmental structure. Personally I think state and municipal governments are where we can have the biggest impact. However, it's also clear that with an authoritarian regime that does not hesitate to spy on and imprison its own citizens at will, these efforts will be greatly hindered.
Of course, if we can manage this transition without dissolving the federal government, that's fine... I'm just mad skeptical about the prospect. Mostly because I'm looking at things with an ecologist's eyes. This country is just too big.
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Dangit
[Read the article: Bob Barr endorses Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows coalition]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Put on my editor hat too late...
I meant to say that the fact that the government's policies amount to war against me and mine no longer surprises me.
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@ Walter_map
[Read the article: Bob Barr endorses Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows coalition]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Very well, I shall.
Bring it up more often, I mean.
I reckon that, in the minds of those with power, this struggle is a struggle for their own survival.
I certainly view it as a struggle for survival--if not my own literal survival, then perhaps the literal survival of my children and grandchildren (yet unborn).
Everything is at stake.
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Justice & the importance of laws
[Read the article: Political harmony v. the rule of law: an easy choice for the political establishment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why is the fight against the FISA reform bill of 2008 so important? Why is the sense of betrayal and anger about the misdeeds of our alleged Representatives in Congress so profound?
"The law and the legal system are not just rules people must live by; they define reality in areas that are important to us. When justice is corrupted and people are told that what is unfair is really fair, it toys with significant elements in their reality sense...
"In addition, however, on a more societal basis, a sense of justice creates feelings of empowerment. An empowered society will produce more and build a better nation. If people feel they cannot correct an injustice, it creates perplexity and often they will have a tendency to avoid even acknowledging it. They close it out of their reality system entirely. That is one reason why an unjust system, as we observe in authoritarian nations, is mentally debilitating.
"Unacknowledged injustice discourages recognition of significant problems in society that need to be addressed, whether they are war and peace, social and economic justice, or environmental and economic responsibility. When people recognize on an unconscious level that their world is unjust but feel they cannot do anything about it, they shrink away from that world often into a debilitating form of social and emotional withdrawal."
--Bryant Welch, State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind
An accurate sense of reality is a precious commodity these days.