Patently false
Paul Grindrod's criticism of Teresa Nyholt's letter to the editor (2/22/08) makes the extravagant claim that "human-caused global warming" is unsupported by peer-reviewed scientific publications, and then focuses on the inadequacies and inaccuracies of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth as proof that global warming is a "public fraud" perpetrated for political reasons.
His argument is patently false, ignoring the mountainous quantities of peer-reviewed literature in publications. And it's disingenuous by design in holding up the limitations of Gore's presentation as a proof refuting the hypothesis.
An Inconvenient Truth is inaccurate, incomplete and wrong in many points. It is also quite correct in many others. It is not, nor does it present itself to be, a definitive scientific treatise.
Mr. Gore is not, nor does he pretend to be, a scientist.
Mike Kiergaard
I take exception to Dr. Grindrod's letter opposing the notion of global warming. I do so not because I am an expert on global warming, but on the basis of Dr. Grindrod's failure to use scientific objectivity. There is always going to be a mixture of public opinion and political exaggeration on every issue that has a time scale that is much greater than our lifespans.
Daniel Sebald, Ph.D., Arlington Heights, Ill.
Whether global warming is a manmade or natural phenomenon is a pointless distraction. It's the people/ resources ratio that will cause a global meltdown. Oil is what currently makes life comfortable. Any decrease in this resource increases the price of all commodities.
What we need is a science renaissance, but you won't get one because "the biggest public fraud" ever perpetrated is not what caused global warming, but the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. Let me break the news: We live in a Newtonian universe.
Physicists admit there appears to be something wrong with the "standard model"; they just count on you being too science-illiterate to give them any trouble.
Barbara Franz, Evansville
Kennedy murders solved!
Dean Robbins (Television, 2/29/08) writes: "I don't understand why Download is so hostile to traditional media. Is old-style journalism really evil, as a young web entrepreneur suggests?"
The short answer: YES! America's corporate media (including PBS) deliver nonstop big lies in service to the murderous financial elite which, as FDR put it, "has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."
The media have lied us into every war since the Spanish-American War.
Even now that the CIA's Howard Hunt has confessed to the JFK hit (he said it was a CIA job okayed by LBJ), and the Guardian has pinned the RFK hit on three CIA officers caught on video fleeing the scene, the corporate media continue to cover up these 40-year-old stories. Shouldn't Americans know that their tax money killed the Kennedys?
Kevin Barrett, Lone Rock
I don't own a television but I read Dean Robbins every week. His writing is wonderful. He tells me all I need to know about the box with wit and sensitivity. Keep it up.
Terry O'Laughlin
Beyond infantile
Wow - here we are in progressive (faux, but whatever) Madison, and what do we get for the height of cartoon humor? Sub-infantile, gross-out garbage ("Lulu Eightball," 2/22/08).
Marianne Bell, DeForest
Homeless vets
Thanks for Nathan J. Comp's candid "The Edge of Homelessness" (2/8/08). As a social worker who assists homeless veterans, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that 14% of single homeless men in Madison are veterans. Though lower than the national average (25%), it is still a high proportion.
Coming on the heels of your earlier cover story ("The Wounds of War," 1/18/08) and other media coverage of veterans, I think it's important to remember that one of the best ways we can "support our troops" is by having strong community services in place to keep them from becoming homeless.
Edward Zapala
The war remembered
Regarding the State Street historical marker that cites how the Vietnam War protests "turned violent": There was nightly prophylactic use of tear gas. The police carried unsheathed nightsticks at all times; my sister got a shove in her back one day while she was walking down State Street.
Paul Soglin's response to the plaque's inaccuracies was admirably restrained (Watch Out! 2/8/08). I will never forget the feelings of frustration, helplessness and desperation that accompanied my college years. I'm still angry.
Valerie Mellerop
Saved!
Regarding your review of Samba's Cabana Room ("Super Cabana," 2/22/08): Thank you for recognizing the building as the historic Woman's Building and the effort it took to save it from "the developer's ax"!
Too many buildings that add to the character and livability of our downtown have been felled by that ax.
Ledell Zellers
