(August 26, 2013)
[Please include your first and last names, and your city and state of residence. Thank you.] Manuel García's right on the mark re: Rich & Snowden: Gilles d'Aymery's Blips #137 To the Editor: Manuel García's pointing out the cavalier attitude of Frank Rich's position and the validity of Snowden's actions was on the mark. What else was he to do? From where I and millions of others sit, Snowden had factual information the US government was breaking laws and the Constitution and wanted it to stop. However, based upon the treatment of previous whistle-blowers, it was obvious to him he would be the ultimate masochist if he simply revealed what he knew. And thus guaranteeing the government would lock him up, abuse him and throw away the key....if he was lucky. Snowden's fears that government and the ignorant public would not act dramatically on his revelations remain real. While I hang my hopes a case will be brought before the Supreme Court, which will dictate the insane Patriot Act be destroyed in its entirety. Eddie Stinson Aguanga, California, USA - August 13, 2013 ********** Comparing Scandinavia and the U.S. and wondering where the American Dream, if it ever existed, has gone. To the Editor: Joel Hirschhorn's trip to Scandinavia to see for himself why it outranks the U.S. on all indices was illuminating. It's one thing to read the myriad survey results that place the U.S. at the bottom of developed countries on just about everything in which it claims to be the best (freedom, health care, education, etc.); it's another to get a first-hand glimpse at daily life on the streets of those countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) that by all measures are the best. Meanwhile, here in America, packs of stray dogs -- 50,000 in estimate -- are roaming the streets of the formerly iconic, now decrepit Detroit. Columbia, South Carolina, has criminalized homelessness in order to keep those unsightly, sub-human creatures off the streets, and the wealthy Silicon Valley/Stanford University town of Palo Alto, California, made living in one's car illegal. While Scandinavian countries look out for the well being of their citizens, we have been impoverishing ours over the past few decades, to the point that not achieving the mythic American Dream is becoming a crime, from which at least one of our thriving industries -- the for-profit prison system -- will benefit. Forget humanity -- we've moved way beyond that. What it may take for change in America is that the Walmart and Costco and Apple executives wake up one day and ask, "Where have all our consumers gone?" Jan Baughman San Francisco, California, USA - August 24, 2013 ********** We appreciate and welcome your comments. Please, enter in the subject line of your e-mail "letter to the editor," and specify the article or the subject you are commenting on at the beginning of your e-mail. Also, ***PLEASE,*** sign your e-mail with your name ***AND*** add your city, state, country, address, and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Send your comments to the Editor. (Letters may be shortened and edited.) |