Web Letters | The Nation

Jeremy Scahill: The War Against Whistleblowers

Outrage over the killing of a single American. Utter indiference to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis in wars of choice. Or the killing of scores of innocent children by drones. Or the death of half a million, mostly children, by sanctions depriving its victims of needed medicine or food. Or the sickness and death of thousands more that will come in the future from depleted unranium. Or the torture of foreigners in military prisons or Americans in supermax facilities. This is who we are.

A 'Feminist Army' Storms Texas

If you examine our society today you see the degrading effects that rebellious feminism has brought about...at war with God and men, the movement has spawned women who look and dress like ragamuffins or whores, swear like drunken sailors, think it’s cool to whoop and holler at parties and in our streets, dirty dance with each other in our discos and bars, not to mention kill their babies at an alarming rate even if they are twenty weeks old... and it’s becoming clearer and clearer that it is a stupid, vicious, slandering, blood-spilling movement... men are starting lose patience with it, and their disgust is growing as women have lost their dignity and their mystery and have grown dumber and dumber... What distinguishes the woman of today is their lack of ethics... we men don't want these kind of women and their chances of happiness that comes with bonding in families and finding true love is diminishing daily as they have misjudged what the opposite sex desires...a righteous woman ennobles man... makes him want to be a better man... with these women, who cares?

Pandora's Terrifying Promise: Can Nuclear Power Save the Planet?

The central thesis of Pandora’s Promise is that the dangers of radiation produced by nuclear power have been exaggerated, and that these dangers should be reconsidered in the context of the perhaps greater dangers of global warming. By itself, this is a reasonable stance. What is missing, however, is the arrival of a new generation of nuclear technology that is safe, clean and competitively inexpensive. Perhaps most surprising is the fact that one version of this new technology consumes existing nuclear waste. So while the perspective that global warming requires that we accommodate to the problems of (existing) nuclear technology, the bigger, better news is that we don’t have to. There is plenty of material available with which to become informed. Numerous links to expositions that I find especially informative are contained in my “Point of View” essay in Physics Today:  Any thought that the virtues of the new nuclear technology enumerated above are overstated should be reduced, if not eliminated, by the technical team that Transatomic Power has assembled. Transatomic is an MIT-based startup focused on the commercialization of the form of the new technology that consumes existing nuclear waste—while producing safe, clean and inexpensive power. Its technical team reads like the Who’s Who of nuclear power, both academic and industrial.

So, please get informed, and write a follow-on article.

Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek

Arguing that an idle rich class living off inherited wealth produces superior cultural outcomes is a proposition that could have been put forward by feudal lords during the Dark Ages. This philosophical approach only benefits the plutocratic few while abandoning the many, i.e., the “peasants,” to poverty and misery—and is not so much a rational argument as an attempt to defend the indefensible. But of course, touting the interests of the wealthy always pays much better than advocating for the poor.

The Meta Question

While essentially accurate, this assessment fails to take into account the large quantity of research being financed by governments and corporations on using metadata to discern influence in social networks. The most influential are not necessarily (in fact, research is showing that they frequently aren’t) the most visible or verbose. This information is not only valuable in redirecting social norms over time, as is suggested, but also quite useful in quashing or controlling insurrection by quietly disabling influential members who are not highly visible. Or, what a government or corporate entity that has access to this data might define as “insurrection.” That frequently includes anything having to do with “protest.” IMHO

Corporate Influence at the Center for American Progress?

Thank you, Mr. Silverstein. I have assumed that this so-called think tank is but another iteration of the DLC, NDOL, Third Way, New Democrat etc. etc. in an attempt to sucker Democrats to accept old Republican ideas to get rid of the social improvements formerly supported by the Democratic Party.

The endless duplicity of Clinton and Obama in attempting to have a Democratic Party that is just the old Republican Party with a few social changes but no SS, Medicare. Medicaid etc., is obvious to me.

I do not accept this change. Thank you for your efforts.

Hitler's Classical Architect

Interesting article on Hitler’s master builder. Hitler gave a direct order to another master builder, SS General Hans Kammler, the architect of the tunnels at Ebensee, Austria. These tunnels, built by 25,000 slave labor prisoners of war and political prisoners, were built for an American hero—Nazi SS officer Wernher von Braun. Eight thousand died while constructing the tunnels until the remaining almost 17,000 were liberated on May 6, 1945. The stories of these American GI liberators of the Ebensee concentration camp are covered in the book Inside the Gates—The Nazi Concentration Camp at Ebensee, Austria. My father was commanding officer of the 139th Evacuation (MASH) Hospital at Ebensee. Under his command, those remaining living, walking dead were triaged in just five weeks to freedom.

Hitler's Classical Architect

It was such a pleasure to read a frank assessment by a discerning critic and forceful writer, though a voice in my head kept teasing, “Tell us what you really think!” It was critique without contrast, though for once none was needed. Speer’s buildings are indefensible, which is why those who feel they must defend them look for a good offense to substitute for the defense they can’t make. Looking at Speer’s dome (which, by the way, sank into the soft Berlin soil, being too heavy for the site), I can only wish Etienne-Louis Boullee had been able to build his memorial to Isaac Newton, thus giving the lie to Hitler and Speer’s idea of proportion and originality-within-tradition. Speer neither built nor even designed a good building, so far as can be told without actually visiting one of his glandular distortions in person (the only way to truly judge a building being to walk it). I will keep this to inspire me when I wonder if art criticism serves any purpose. It does, and yes, aesthetics and ethics are never in conflict!

Too Often, a New Baby Brings Big Debt

I am the founder of Better BedRest, Inc. We support moms on bedrest due to high-risk pregnancies. This invisible population needs to become visible to states around the country. We have seen too many moms go into eviction just because they don’t have paid leave and still have a job to go back to.

In some states there is not emergency cash assistance. Their bills are late and credit is ruined. There is not enough help for other siblings. A time that should be a happy occasion for our bed-resting moms becomes one of sleepless nights.

I am an Obama supporter and one night wrote to President Obama and Michelle and weeks later got a form letter back.

I am convinced that “women on bedrest for high-risk pregnancies’ is just not on the radar screens and certainly not a check box on the computer screens.

We must empower the public to understand what a bed-resting mom and their families go through during this time. Please go to www.betterbedrest.org and watch our video and you will know what it’s like to be on bedrest. We are celebrating twenty years this November as a nonprofit committed to supporting these moms and helping them with a grant up to $500 if they have to leave a job due to bedrest. We are there for them. Let’s find others who will be there for them as well.

Cashing In On Breast Cancer Awareness

The difficulty of thinking through statistics is nowhere better demonstrated than the oft-quoted canard about flying being safer than driving. As was demonstrated long ago, while flying is statistically safer than driving when measured in miles traveled, it is not safer when measured in time spent on the activity. That is, when I fly across country I cover thousands of miles; driving that same distance, my chances of having an accident are greater. But I spend a paltry few hours in the air, where the drive might take me days. Add to that the statistic that most car crashes are minor, while plane crashes … well, you get the idea. Add it up and an airplane is a safer way to cover distance, but a far more dangerous way to spend a few hours.

As for the profits made by drug companies, this is vintage Nation stuff. Are we supposed to ignore our health until economic and legal justice become reality? How about focusing on realistic solutions? How about a tax on actual healthcare expenses to pay for those who can’t afford them? That might also undermine the profit motive for those who charge such outrageous fees. Speaking of those, I hate to say it, but my favorite opinion journal was utterly scooped by the cover story in Time about the fictitious nature of those fees. Opinions are easy… where are your facts?