Letters to the Editor
blunderdog
Published Letters: 509 Editor's Choice: 10
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Nothing Special
[Read the article: The GOP attack plan for Hillary Clinton]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The GOP attack plan against Clinton is to point at her and say, "Look! It's Hillary Clinton!"
That may be all it'll take. There's a pretty big anti-Clinton crowd, and it even includes a lot of the people who did better under Clinton than any other administration.
That's not easy baggage to leave aside.
I'll vote for her if she takes the nomination. McCain's crazy.
I prefer Obama at this point, but I miss Edwards.
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Results of My Poll
[Read the article: Polls: Obama weathers Wright controversy ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]20 non-randomized, non-anonymous subjects, working at a small techie company in NYC thoughts on the Wright controversy:
12 thought his speech "fixed things"
4 thought that it would seriously harm Obama's chances of winning the general
3 were totally non-committal about everything
1 is convinced that the 3 minutes of Wright sermons on YouTube that everyone saw prove that Obama has poor judgement
The more interesting result, however, is that 19 of the 20 believe that it's a complete waste of time to be discussing the issue, and that there's no reasonable way to argue that Obama should be judged on the basis of a few selected out-of-context quotes of his preacher.
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Netflix doesn't have it!
[Read the article: Scott Bateman: "Everybody can't janitor"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I gotta see the original...
(BTW: I've done some damn nasty ass janitorial work, but I found this funny. Lowbrow, yeah, but funny. I think if you're clicking on the Salon comic links, you gotta be braced. Remember, in '66 all the white janitors really had to be watchin' their ass. Was the title a hint?)
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Bit of speculation...
[Read the article: Mariachi women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've spent a fair amount of time around "bands" and band-people. Two things became obvious to me.
1) Most bands suck
2) Bands that suck don't get gigs and have to really work/practice/compose all the time if they want to work
Given those facts, I'm not at all surprised that there aren't a huge number of all female bands. I think the narcissistic impulse that drives sucky bands to really struggle to succeed is more often found in males.
Most of the sucky bands I knew that were functioning had at least one wacked-out-enthusiastic dude devoted to making sure the other musicians showed up and stayed involved. I don't think I've ever known of a band where that character was a female. (Obviously just personal anecdote, speaking of the 60 or so bands I've known.)
So the all-female bands might have less of a chance of surviving long enough to break out.
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Mortgaging of the Future
[Read the article: The Great Depression: The sequel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](Who is responsible for this enormous outpouring of venomous "common sense"? Who linked this to where, now?)
All in good fun.
It seems to me that parts of the issue are generational, and parts are educational. Comparing the quality of life of American society to most of Western Europe is humbling, and for anyone examining the issues fairly, to deny that merely indicates provincialism become chauvinism.
It would be amazing if everyone who wanted to learn how to contribute something could get an education here in the US. That's a good "real basic" goal to shoot for. It might even help our electorate make some better decisions in the long term.
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Strong Ambivalence
[Read the article: T-shirt: "I was raped"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Putting a message on a T-shirt is a terrific way to make the message so banal and cheap that it gets tuned out by a public subjected to screaming advertisements 24x7.
It's tempting to imagine a wearer of the "I Was Raped" shirt in cleavage-revealing low-rider jeans and a visible thong, or perhaps a pair of sweatpants with "JUICY" stamped on the ass, while she drains a Jager shot and shouts "Woo!"
Perhaps not helpful given the seriousness of the subject.
My T-shirt of Charlton Heston kissing a chimp (a still from Planet of the Apes) isn't helping raise awareness about bestiality or white slavery.
Really, though, is raising awareness about rape what this T-shirt is "about"? I kinda get the impression that the seller is actually just trying to make some money. That's where most T-shirt ideas come from.
Would anyone who chose to wear such a shirt be receptive to total strangers walking up to them and asking about the rape experience? Should they be, if they're wearing the shirt, or should observers see it as a sign to stay away?
I see nothing clear about it.
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Seems to me
[Read the article: The loneliest female gamer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that if the "gaming population" is now 39% women, there should be plenty of girls motivated to become game-designers when they think about careers.
This should basically correct itself within 7 years at most. The video game market changes/adapts as quickly as any software market can.
It is, of course, disappointing that smart, creative people are sinking huge amounts of mental bandwidth into video game "breast physics," but perhaps we'll see valuable spinoff technology in porn.
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How sophisticated are we with this kinda surgery?
[Read the article: Margaret Cho's "gel insole" for her G spot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Can I get another dick somehow added on? So I could fuck two girls at once?
'Course...then I'd need like a meeeeeeellion dollars...nevermind.
I am fascinated by Ms. Cho's investigation. I am also a little revolted. She's quite a person, for sure. More power to her.
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Hatahs
[Read the article: The Obama difference]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Having just read the letters to the Clinton piece above (the "Bridge" and whatnot), and having just finished these, it sure seemed to me like these comments were hecka lot nastier.
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Lest We Mention
[Read the article: The trade follies of Austan Goolsbee and Mark Penn]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Would a Colombian Free Trade treaty help reduce the cost of cocaine?
That'd have an impact in the US.