Letters to the Editor
Jeffrey P. Harrison
Published Letters: 336 Editor's Choice: 39
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I have one word for you - humility
[Read the article: Why Jeremiah Wright is so wrong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As you yourself admitted, much of what Mr. Wright points at is true. The United States has perpetrated much evil in this world - ask the Indians, the blacks, the Japanese-Americans, the Vietnamese, the Iranians, the Iraqis etc, etc. It should come as no surprise that we have brought much good to the world also. In former times we were a beacon of hope and freedom to the world, we almost single-handedly broke the cycle of hate that brought the world WWI and WWII, we brought the world science, technology, and innovation that has saved millions of lives, and brought surcease and joy to millions of others, and so much more. It is a perfect example of my dictum that anything capable of great good is also capable, in equal measure, of great evil. Human intervention and human action determines what you get.
I say these things in the (probably forlorn) hope that Americans in general and in particular acquire the maturity to recognize their failures and mistakes and learn from them. In the hope that we'll stop being so cock-sure of ourselves and recognize that we aren't always right and that if we aren't careful we can screw things up worse than they are now, or we can hurt somebody badly, or both. Unfortunately, things don't look good for my hopes; one can but try.
But puleeze! Don't give me this redemption crap. The United States has done zero, zip, nada, nist to redeem itself for its past evils. Indeed, many of the evils are beyond redemption as those we hurt are long dead or close to it. As an example, the compensation given to the remaining Japanese Americans whose lives were ruined by Roosevelt's internment policy can only be described as pasties and a g-string for our consciences; a pittance offered after most of the people we screwed were dead and those that weren't were well into the autumn of their lives. Did we learn anything from what we did? Well, if the roundup of Arab and Muslim men after 9/11 is any indicator, the answer is no.
So back to Reverend Wright... The good reverend isn't wrong but neither is he right (yes, that's a deliberate pun). We need to get over our apparent world view that everything is black or white, good or evil, right or wrong. There's a lot of gray in this world and it doesn't just happen at dawn and dusk.
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Lies, damned lies, and statistics
[Read the article: Overbuilt America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]An interesting set of aggregate statistics....
Questions:
Where are these houses? Are the preponderance of them in economically depressed areas where you would expect unsold homes left over as the owners fled the scene or are they also heavily in economically prosperous areas which would in fact suggest overbuilding?
What are the median and average values of these houses for sale? This would be interesting to know because when I'd drive around the St. Louis area (where I lived before moving away from lots of people), you'd see signs all over for these housing developments: from the 150s/the 250s/350s etc. I'd think to myself, How can somebody making 30/40/50 even 60K a year afford these houses? Why do I never see ads for houses in the 60s/70s/80s/and 90s? Is it greedy developers who don't want to build something unless they can make big bux on it or is it that the accumulated weight of noxious rules, regulations, and bribes to get a sewer hookup or the cost of materials such that it doesn't make sense to build a cheaper home? I dunno. Frankly, if the glut is in those odious McMansions from the 350s, I'd laugh all the way to the home improvement center.
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I agree
[Read the article: I was wrong about Wright]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wright is clearly a black racist (prejudice is a human condition not limited by race, sex, or religious preference). And he's sharp enough to know that what he is doing is going to have a deleterious effect on Obama's candidacy. And therefore, he's doing it deliberately.
I knew most of that already.
On the other hand, Wright shouldn't have an effect on Obama's campaign. After all Obama is running for office, not Wright. Furthermore, all three campaigns have loony bins either on staff or in their respective pasts. Unfortunately, it will also probably help to continue to reduce the population of talent willing to engage in what passes for politics in this country.