Letters to the Editor
cdunlea
Published Letters: 154 Editor's Choice: 35
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Decline?
[Read the article: History that hurts]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I wanted to suggest that Kamiya might have picked up the popular Fall meme in the same place where Hollywood got the bad hair, the sweat, and the gnashing of manly chompers. This seems to have sailed right past cdunlea."
Reread the paragraph in which Kamiya brings up the subject; he's not talking about Hollywood, but historians and historiography. The Decline meme is something that was bandied about by every authority on the subject, from St. Augustine to Gibbons to Braudel and onwards. Kamiya didn't need to go through Hollywood to pick up that thesis.
"Surely this can fairly be described (at the highest level of generalization) as a history of change and successful adaptation--and one with its highest point during the Empire, not the Republic or earlier, hence not the immediate result of Caesar's murder, Octavian's assumption of power, or the aberrations of preceding emperors. The fact that it ended eventually doesn't disprove this."
No, but it also does not mean that Roman civilization progressed in any measurable way under the Empire other than in gross area conquered, either. The Empire put an end to the intellectual, technological, and economic growth experienced under the Republic. All the great Roman technological contributions--the arch, town planning, concrete, the dome, roadbuilding, water distribution--had been developed by the early Principate. Nothing more was developed in the four centuries afterward. The arts too suffered under the Empire--most of the later poets were highly derivative of late Republic writers. Romans turned to exotic cults because their religion had become sterile. The static social order of the late third century under Diocletian compares poorly with the real social evolution seen in the later Republic, and by the time of the Severi the Empire teetered toward bankruptcy. The army no longer attracted enough men to defend the borders, so the Empire was forced to rely on German and Scythian mercenaries, who eventually turned on Rome. In what way was any of this "successful adaptation"? By 600 AD Rome was a backwater ghost town.
"I get the impression that cdunlea dislikes the Byzantine Empire and doesn't care for Catholicism or Christianity in general."
Byzantium was Roman in name only, having become a de facto Greek despotism by the Ravenna Exarchate, so I don't see how that factors into this discussion. As for Catholicism, well, I can't call the Crusades or the Inquisition advancements of civilization.
"You can't say everything in a Salon letter."
Ain't that the truth, brother.
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Tax bases et al.
[Read the article: Housing starts: The bottom falls out]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd say the tax issue is a local one. In New England taxes are adjusted on every house every year. This is why overrides are getting harder to pass every year; seniors who have owned their homes for 30+ years are paying the same taxes as young married couples with disposable incomes.
I'd be very surprised if defaults on standard loans increase, however. People with good credit and equity are not likely to default unless they lose their jobs, even when they're underwater on the mortgage. They simply don't sell or refinance. Without some disaster, they don't default.
Frankly, I wouldn't read too much into this data. The market goes up and down cyclically.
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US Constitution
[Read the article: I made the government admit it was wrong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was with the author until his bit about the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Technically speaking the original Constitution does allow state governments to establish religions, and although the Fourteenth did away with that, it merely stated that any protections and rights provided by the federal government must be provided by the states; however it did not forbid the states to do anything unless it specifically contradicted federally guaranteed rights. This is why, for example, the gay marriage issue is so explosive; marriage is not a federally defined issue and so the states are left to figure things out for themselves.
Besides, he presumes citizenship candidates will immerse themselves in the minutiae of Supreme Court decisions. The initial answer is still the textbook phrase used in schools today, and the best way of describing the "limited powers" aspect of our system.
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Calling Bullsh*t
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know, Curmudgeon. March 16 seemed odd too until I realized that last Friday here in the BOS area there was a very powerful winter storm, that did partially shut down Logan and paralyzed streets and highways here until Saturday morning. Flights were cancelled en masse. I don't know about the rest of the story but I can at least verify flight conditions here on that date.
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Knowing the culture...
[Read the article: Stirring up the waters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...yes, it is sexist.
And definitely anti-Germanic ("racism" hardly applies to same racial background types here) That factor may actually be stronger, given how Italians think of Germans involved in Italian culture (Italy tried hard to ban imports of German-made pastas in the 1990's).
BUT, if Hai really knew anything about the culture of Venice, she would have known that both would have come with the job. Gondoliers are exactly what they look like--boat cabbies, from a fairly homogeneous city. Why would anyone expect them to not have the prejudices of uneducated cab drivers?
Not an excuse, but when you know you're a trailblazer, you shouldn't bitch about the road being bumpy.