Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor Sanders Just Another Politician I started reading the December 2005 interview with Bernie Sanders and was favorably impressed (Interview by Ruth Conniff). It wasn't until the...
...No one can doubt that these energetic little swimmers are alive...
...Letters may be e-mailed to: editorial@progressive.org Please include your city and state...
...Donald M. Lowe via e-mail Pro-Life Plans Barbara Miner's article on "pro-life" groups' opposition to birth control raises a question that has been puzzling me for a long time ("Next Target: Birth Control," January issue...
...But he's vague about what to do to counter the Republican juggernaut of lies...
...A Buddha is not a god (in Buddhist cosmology, gods come and go...
...Joan Manning Shasta Lake, California Conniff on the Dems Ruth Conniff claims the "Dems Speak Up" (January issue...
...Let's set the record straight one more time...
...Even an Administration not as practiced in deception as the present one can find a way to justify in the public mind any war it chooses to fight...
...Sanders says, "At this particular moment progressives have got to unite...
...What is she reading and/or smoking these days, other than The Progressive...
...Where there's money to be made and politicians willing to meet corporate expectations in return for campaign contributions, then "enemies" will be invented and wars initiated...
...Save Social Security...
...So-assuming that one doesn't discard all scientific approaches as irrelevant-one has to wonder why these people are so opposed to abortion and birth control when what they apparently consider God's plan destroys more embryos, fetuses, or "unborn children" than either...
...How can we prevent war...
...Peter Stekel Seattle, Washington Thoughts on the Dalai Lama I wish to express my thanks to the editors and to Amitabh Pal for interviewing the Dalai Lama and sharing the wisdom of this genius of humanity (Interview, January issue...
...The question of when life begins can be answered by looking through a microscope at semen...
...In giving voice to the former head of a theocratic "community" who un-Buddhistically came out for Bush's war, is The Progressive supporting a lost horizon against communist totalitarianism...
...awoke," or became the enlightened one, a Buddha, he had realized how every sentient being can also achieve liberation from cyclic existence...
...I know where he is coming from-I'm a Vietnam vet...
...All letters may be edited fror clarity and conciseness, and may appear either in the magazine or on its web page...
...Linda Sleffel Columbus, Ohio It is time for anti-abortion and anti-birth control factions to take their philosophy a step further toward more conservative and more restrictive sexual practices and live up to the name they would like to be called: pro-life...
...His group and the American Life League could set an example for the rest of the population and put a stop to ejaculation by choice...
...One day some fool-ours or another's-may push the fatal button and begin the first-and last- nuclear war...
...Bill Bokamper via e-mail I am sure there are those who will call Howard Zinn na?ve, foolish, or even a nutcase for advocating against all war...
...When Siddhartha Gautama (born 563 B.C.E...
...Kerry, like Gore, lost fair and square...
...And he blames Ralph Nader for Democratic losses...
...Although Buddhist literature, art, and meditation practices are replete with images of Buddhas, saints, and bod-hisattvas, these function as guides but, in essence, are also empty in nature...
...To determine which wars are just and which are unjust is a task for historians...
...They lost because they had nothing to say...
...It also concludes that 15 percent or more of pregnancies end in spontaneous miscarriages...
...Causing sperm to be ejaculated means sure death to millions of sperm and should not be tolerated except for the sole purpose of being used for procreation...
...A more thoroughgoing change is required if we are to avoid an eventual nuclear holocaust...
...The only sane position is to be against all war...
...Those couples that have all the children they want, or those in which the wife is beyond child-bearing age, and any man who has no wife will be denied an ejaculation permit...
...The inaccuracy is in saying that Buddhism is theistic...
...that is, we are caught in the law of cause and effect-karma...
...William Steinsmith Williamsburg, Virginia Kudos to Howard for another great article...
...Even guys like Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders seem to let us down every once in a while...
...Behind whom...
...Wars are very profitable...
...To awaken to our most primal essence-our Buddha nature- the Buddha taught that all beings must realize that the causes of suffering stem from our desires, aversions, and our ignorance of our essential nature, and that we must follow paths away from these causes...
...He bashes Republican indifference and incompetence...
...They didn't lose because Nader stole their votes...
...Howard Zinn is right...
...Jacqueline Pagani Evansville, Indiana I am befuddled...
...It wasn't until the end that I realized that Sanders is no different than all the other poor excuses in politics today Oh, sure, he knows all the progressive buzzwords and phrases (Health care for all...
...There isn't a roll call in Congress that shows a consistent and viable opposition party...
...First they have to find candidates who don't talk like Democrats while they think and act like Republicans...
...I'm sure that Pro-Life Wisconsin's Legislative Director Matt Sande would want to be the first to submit to this requirement...
...Any man desiring to ejaculate will have to file for a permit and show evidence that his wife is expected to ovulate...
...Even if you are for it only sometimes, there will always be more Vietnams and Iraqs...
...Jan Isbell Cedar Creek, Texas The End of War It was refreshing to note that Howard Zinn has explicitly stipulated the true character of World War II, which, like World War I, was essentially a struggle between two imperialist camps ("After the War," January issue...
...However, scientific research shows that many of these fertilized eggs fail to become implanted in the uterus and develop into fetuses...
...You are either for war or against it...
...All in the name of profit...
...These groups oppose abortion and also birth control because they believe God implants a soul in every fertilized egg at the moment of fertilization...
...We progressives will have to choose: Do we stay with the Dems and work from within or start to mobilize a real third party...
...Until we each "wake up," we condemn ourselves to cyclical existence...
...Don Sloan New York, New York The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...But when you think about it, there is no middle ground...
...He knows how to push our buttons at the perfidy perpetrated by Republicans...
...Politicians shaping public opinion will frame every war as just, and disparage anyone who disagrees...
...A sperm's sole purpose in life is to penetrate an egg, which can then grow from a group of cells into a viable fetus...
...Zinn suggests we will be so burnt out over this one that we will be quite reluctant to get into another one...
...It is the height of arrogance to say that all Democrats must vote the party line-no matter who the candidate is...
...And how long will our "burnt out" condition last...
...On a point of religion, however, I suspect that Pal may have misunderstood the Dalai Lama when Pal quotes the Dalai Lama as saying that Buddhism is theistic and that the law of karma is recognized in nontheistic traditions, such as ancient Indian thought...
...Just when you think there is a cadre we can count on, the next time around a bunch of those blokes goes along with the President and his criminally irresponsible cabal, and always with some sort of mealy-mouth excuse as to why...
...What about the rest of the world...
...This could prevent 99.999 percent of all abortions...
...Eligible men will be allowed to ejaculate only when a commitment to parenthood has been signed...
...He's so quick to condemn the Republican politics of character assassination...
Vol. 70 • February 2006 • No. 2
