Letters

...Edward J. Klein Jamaica Estates, New York Right On, Zinn It is good to hear Howard Zinn speaking out on the abolition of war in "After the War" (January issue...

...E. J. O'Neill Jr...

...The sad and little acknowledged truth about the war in Iraq is that it was the invasion of Afghanistan (approved by an overwhelming majority of "liberals") that set the stage for the arrogant and imperial expedition across the desert...

...He cannot function without a war...

...Companies' decisions should just as heavily be based on the desires of the consumer for a better environment and better working conditions and better communities as they are about what the consumer will buy...

...Perhaps what motivates Judie Brown and the anti-birth control movement is a fear that if they don't stand for extremist views that have no basis in reason, they will burn in an eternal fire...

...Anthony J. Palmer Hudson, Massachusetts Preach to the Converted Because much political theater is community-based, we don't hear about many worthy productions that use theatrical forms for social parody and satire unless someone calls them to our national attention...

...But there are a lot of things consumers want that aren't produced, even if economically feasible- because it is wrong to do so...

...Please...

...I commend her for her bravery in expressing her thoughts publicly...

...In the fable of the sun and the wind, the sun won by shining warmth, not the wind by blowing cold...

...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness, and may appear either in the magazine or on its web page...

...Ironically, the part of the quote that was left out is used by some fundamentalist Jews as justification for the Israeli occupation of Palestine...

...The full quote is: "Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you...

...Thank you, Molly, as always, for saying what needed to be said...

...Of course, companies must make products that the consumer will purchase...

...Jill Dolan Austin, Texas Consumer Demand I have a very different view than Mark Gerard of activism against the Ford Motor Company, as well as most other businesses (Letters to the Editor, March issue...

...We are past caring about the lukewarm and namby-pamby equivocating of the DNC...

...This is a sad commentary on an institution that professes to be supportive of human rights...

...Unfortunately, too many people against the war still define it as a "mistake...

...The abolition of slavery was once thought to be impossible, as were most of the humane improvements of life here and abroad...

...Bennett Muraskin Morris Plains, New Jersey Ronnie Gilbert of Weavers fame has written an interesting and thought-provoking article critical of Israeli policies...

...But thoughts of abolishing war go back as far as Emerson, who argued that the bravest would have to go "one step beyond the hero" (the military hero) and refuse violent means, come what may...

...Quite to the contrary, the war was not a mistake...

...Elizabeth DiNovella's "Wal-Mart Send-Up" describes the homegrown Madison musical comedy Walmartopia as an effective comic satire of corporate excesses (February issue...

...Vernon Uchtman Ripley, Ohio Atheistic Blasphemy The Progressive is my favorite magazine of all time...

...What's next, establishing a theocracy...

...Sheryl Lueders Huntsville, Alabama If Molly Ivins is paid for writing her articles for The Progressive, I would like to suggest that she use part of it to buy herself a thesaurus so that she might find words to express herself that are not scatological...

...I am begging you...

...What the accusation misses, however, is that "the converted" don't all think alike...

...The correct citation is in the Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy 16:20...

...He is bored without a war...

...John Kaufman Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Howard Zinn is right on...

...President Bush early on labeled himself as the "War President...

...But DiNovella ends by suggesting that the musical "may resonate best with those who don't shop at Wal-Mart...

...We pacifists have long argued for the abolition of war through legal means as the next step in the moral development of the United States, an argument that even many in the progressive community have dismissed as unrealistic...

...Until we as a nation denounce war and disarm our vast store of weapons of mass destruction, we will continue to reach for violent solutions and cause the sort of tragedies and ill will we are now witnessing...

...What's more, "the converted" need their faith and belief shored up by the pleasure and insights of performance...

...Larry Surber Stoneville, North Carolina The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...

...It's the only place I get to read articles by Howard Zinn...

...Edith Montgomery Ashland, Oregon American Taliban The article "Next Target: Birth Control," by Barbara Miner, reveals that there is an American Taliban as well as an Afghan Taliban (January issue...

...There is nothing else to the man...

...We desperately await the emergence of a candidate who will step forward and say that what is going on with the Bushies is seriously detrimental to our country...

...Please include your city and state...

...In the last line of the article she quotes the Talmud: "Justice, justice shall you pursue...

...Letters may be e-mailed to: editorial@progressive.org...

...Oak Brook, Illinois The War Was Not a Mistake Ruth Conniff's article "Impeachment Buzz" quotes the author John Bonifaz as saying, "The majority of people recognize the war was a mistake" (February issue...

...Once a majority of Americans realize his primitive, crude, psychopathic preoccupation, they, too, will demand his impeachment, if not hospitalization...

...The converted and the infidel are never as monolithic as we think, especially not when they're in an audience, being entertained and challenged by theater...

...Unfortunately, the Roman Catholic Church continues, as it has for centuries, to promote anti-human positions deleterious to any human advancement...

...What would happen if the billions of dollars we spend on killing people were used instead to feed and clothe and house and heal the needy both at home and around the world...

...It was a deliberate policy...

...That is why it breaks my heart to see you running ads for the rightwing magazine Reason...

...The flip argument that the only responsibility of a company is to produce what the consumer wants is just plain shortsighted, and it is a mindset that The Progressive and others must continually work to change...

...It seems almost blasphemous to a hardened atheist like me to see a picture of John Stossel in a publication that has pictured Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, and so many other heroes who tell the truth...

...If anything, she took too long to adopt a critical stance toward Israel...

...The charge of "preaching to the converted" is often leveled at political theater...

...If financial strain has created such bizarre bedfellows that you feel you must advertise Reason, can't you, out of respect for longtime loyal readers like me, at least picture another cover, sans Stossel...

...We await a candidate that will offer us a true alternative...

...James Ajemian via e-mail Gilbert Thought-Provoking I would never call Ronnie Gilbert a "self-hating Jew" or "an internalized anti-Semite" for protesting Israeli policies ("A New Weavers' Song," February issue...

...Anyway, can we assume that everyone who shops at Wal-Mart swallows its bunk and has no critique of its everyday low price, anti-labor ideology...

...I think those people would look favorably upon us and turn away from those who advocate violence...