Letters to the Editor
Jeff Bowles
Published Letters: 111 Editor's Choice: 12
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The story *is* getting out...
[Read the article: Army deployed seriously injured troops]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]cosmique asks:
Why is this not being featured in every news outlet?
There is something very wrong when this big a story isn't published everywhere.
Yes, but it was published here. That's a start, and was enough for the following text from a later bit of [salon.com] reportage:
Army pledges to investigate injured troop charge
Murray took the lead over in the Senate during a hearing of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, peppering Geren and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker with questions about Salon's article that depicted an effort by the 3rd Brigade of that division to deploy troops with serious injuries, some severe enough that doctors had previously said the troops seemed unfit for combat.
- Salon.com - March 15, 2007
By the way, that March 15 text was taken from Senator Patty Murray's web site.
JFB's comment that "Seriously. There is much better news out there," might be right and might not be right. (Is there a limit on the number of things we can ask about, and new stuff needs to be prioritized by someone official before we can report on it?)
I'm just happy someone reported it, a senator asked about it, and an Army chief-of-staff was chewed out about it.
Now, let's see what happens next.
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Attack of the manipulative lesbian...
[Read the article: Lesbian fights gay adoption]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see now.
We find, in digg.com:
The family of the man who built IBM into an international computer empire is being torn apart after his daughter ’s estranged lesbian lover claimed a share in their fortune — because she had been legally adopted by her partner.
Now, we see in Broadsheet:
In order to win custody of her biological son, a lesbian in Atlanta, Georgia is arguing that gay couples aren't legally allowed to adopt.
In both cases, a lesbian partner is using a previous legal-but-novel arrangement ("let's adopt you to protect you, financially, in case I die" and "let's adopt the kid I just delivered, since we want to both be his parents") and, when the relationship sours, asking the courts to respect a needy grab-what-I-can while stepping on the gay community.
(I say "stepping on the gay community" because these dumb legal tap dances are all we have. Adult adoption. Adopting the kid your lover just handed to the world. Enriching a lawyer to try to get a visit to your dying lover, because his family is very nasty indeed. Buying the house with works in the title that guarantee leaving the house to each other, because wills can be broken by families. The list is a big one.)
In both cases, I would hope a judge would look at the intent of the partners as they used what meager protection available - at that time - under the law. (To my thoughts, that leaves an IBM ex-partner out in the cold or in divorce court, and leaves two lesbian parents in custody court with no preference for "let mommy raise junior" because it's inappropriate and sexist - but that reasoning always was inappropriate and sexist.)
See how many stupid lawsuits would vanish if there were gay marriage?
(Quick aside: "We don't want gay marriage - we want a way to have clean divorces! Show us some compassion, and let us have our day, on marriage licenses and in divorce courts!")
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The letter of the law, the spirit of the law...
[Read the article: Follow the e-mails]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While they are at it, a subpoena to Yahoo! asking for the archives of certain email accounts is in order...
Anyone who has not seen the Hitchcock's "I Confess" (with Montgomery Clift) should do so. It is, indirectly, a blueprint for what's going on.
We have folks in the Executive Branch who are "gaming the system," as it were.
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They realize that they can mutter propaganda, masquerading as national secrets, into the ear of a reporter; the reporter will not betray a source, and many fun times can be had at the expense of the reporter.
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They used a well-known tradition (the executives can get advice how they want, from whom they like, etc) to run a War Council out of Cheney's office. Oil executives deciding US energy policy, with an army to change things as needed. All without oversight.
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They realize that they can invoke the name of someone's God, reaping loads of political benefits (and votes and money and power); they seem to have no interest in the basic teachings in those religions, such as compassion or decency or kindness.
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We have folks who take correspondence "off-line" (outside of the White House email network) in order to avoid the legitimate (and legal) record-keeping demands of their jobs. Why? To discuss the illegal things without oversight.
At some point, you would think that the reporters, the oil execs, the faithful, and the federal attorney-level legal folks, might want to get together and have a nice friendly chat.
Maybe even include the Abrahammoff indian tribes. You never know.
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Junior's looking...
[Read the article: Is my 13-year-old son gay?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think that there's a few easy things to say...
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"Junior, your web surfing seems to be taking you in all sorts of places. You have younger brothers/sisters, so you need to be cautious what you bookmark or what's in your history. Do you know about anonymous browsing?"
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"Junior, you're 13. You're going to probably examine lots of different lifestyle choices over the next decades, to see what's the most comfortable and fits you the best. We're with you on this -- you'll always have our love and support -- but please don't forget that we have information too. You have heard of sexually transmitted diseases, haven't you? Oh, you haven't? Let's start there."
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"Junior, anything with crotch shots is really a bit much for our family computer. Male or female, it's not good to have lying around for your kid sisters/brothers. Could you cool it a little?"
And, of course...
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"There's not much you could do, to stop us from loving you. It's our job. It's in the job description for 'parent', and we have to love our kids, even when they're teenagers. Just don't scare us - parents do not like being afraid - and everything will be fine."
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