Time Magazine
cover date 17 December 2007 {on newsstands 7 December}
Inbox Department [page 13]
Mind Your Morals
Morality is bunk. What separates man from the beasts is the capacity to reason. Yet we seldom do – we're too busy moralizing. Reason is the only frontier left.
Gary E. Nordell
Belén, New Mexico
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Valencia County News-Bulletin
Wednesday 8 August 2007
Opinion / Letters [page 5A]
What if other side had given out flyers?
The self-righteous "pro-life" contingent of Valencia County proudly pat themselves on the back for their one-sided contamination of the Fourth of July parade.
Imagine the uproar and the language in Letters if the pro-choice, side — say, Planned Parenthood — had distributed flyers to the crowd at the same parade.The "pro-life"
(contingent) ... of Valencia County would have been in the streets with pitchforks and torches, no doubt.
G.E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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Albuquerque [New Mexico] Tribune
Saturday 10 February 2007
Letters [page ??] [online 9 February]
Red-light cams? Not a problem
(Re: "Legislator calls red-light cameras `traps'" in the Feb. 6 Tribune.)
At the risk of seeming weird, what is wrong with obeying the speed limits and the traffic signals?
Cameras? No problem.
G.E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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Valencia County News-Bulletin
Saturday 30 December 2006
Opinion / Letters [page 5A]
Churches must take a stand against gangs
The crime rate in Valencia County is the result of widespread tolerance of the gang ethos. There is not one clergyperson in the county, for example, who has taken a real stand against gang members (beyond verbal tsk-tsk-ing).
Virtually all the churches here are Bible-based, and the First Commandment states that no one shall have any allegiance higher than the Judeo-Christian God. Allegiance to a gang is in conflict with the First Commandment.
When the pastors and priests of Valencia County enforce a policy that no one holding allegiance to any gang can participate in, say, communion or confession, then the gang problem will be gone.
Gary E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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Valencia County News-Bulletin
Wednesday 11 October 2006
Opinion / Letters [page 5A]
Plame's life on line in undercover work
H. Stansell's gleeful repetition of bogus right-wing talking points does not change the facts.
1.) Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent, and her life was on the line when she traveled on CIA business — she could have been shot as a spy.
2.) Plame's "brass plate" cover operation was closed down the day Robert Novak's second article was printed, based on information given to him by the White House. The purpose of the Brewster Jennings front company was to conceal investigations of WMD around the world. Foreign agents were killed because this information was made public.
3.) The Plame-Wilson civil suit will indeed go forward; nothing has changed, except that they can add Armitage as a defendant.
4.) Rove, Cheney, Libby and Dubya are still guilty of multiple counts of treason. That Armitage was first to commit treason does not excuse later acts of treason by others.
The analogy is this: Mr. A shoots Mr. Z in the back, then Mr. B shoots Z, then Mr. C shoots Z, then Mr. R shoots Z — ALL are guilty of murder, not just the first shooter.
Concerning the outing of Joe Wilson's wife, the whole Bush Gang is guilty of treason and other felony crimes, committed as part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the White House. When the Democrats regain control of Congress and Constitutional law is restored, the Bush Gang will be impeached and removed from office.
Gary E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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The Sun Monthly of Santa Fe, New Mexico
September 2006 {Issue 278} / Letters [page 15]
Fan of Ayn Rand
The July issue of Sun Monthly was full of great ideas (see especially "The Twilight of Capitalism" by Natylie Baldwin). However, America is not a capitalist economy. Ayn Rand stated 40 years ago that there has never been a capitalist economy (see her book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal). This has never been more true than today, as the capitalist elements of the U.S. economy are increasingly at risk to a neofascist takeover.
I use the definition "capitalism is the creation of jobs and products and services," and your readers can determine for themselves whether their workday even pretends to such practices. Advertising, for example, is merely propaganda for goods and services already in existence or production; eliminate the high cost of perpetual media bombardment and the goods and services are still available, without wasted time, effort and paper pulp, and at much lower cost.
The American system is an oligarchy, which does away with capitalist practices, such as competition, with ever-increasing momentum. Jobs are moved overseas, products are promoted so that the economy does not collapse, wages are reduced, benefits are eliminated, and the oligarchy reaps record unearned wealth.
Detailed coverage of these issues is posted at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay51.htm, "The Three Economies"; http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay46.htm, "A Living Wage"; http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay42.htm, "The Oligarchy"; and http://www.working-minds.com/WMessay40.htm, "Paleo-Capitalism"; with the full list of essays at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessays.htm.
G. E. Nordell
Belén, New Mexico
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Valencia County News-Bulletin
Wednesday 30 August 2006
Opinion / Letters [page 5A]
Wiretaps without warrants are illegal
Disinformation abounds in recent letters to the News-Bulletin. Here are a few facts:
1. The forged documents about yellow-cake uranium and Iraq were disproved by British and Italian intelligence before the invasion of Iraq. George Bush knew that (and he lied.)
2. U.N. inspectors on the ground in Iraq testified to Congress that there were no active programs to produce weapons of mass destruction. The few barrels of recently found bio-weapons were defunct when they were buried 10-plus years ago.
3. George Bush and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby and Robert Novak each committed treason when they conspired to reveal Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent ...
4. George Bush had nothing to do with capturing the London bomb plotters (though he took credit for it). He was told of the plot on Friday and advised further on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, the GOP spinmeisters flooded the weekend talk shows with propaganda calling the Democrats "weak on terrorism," as a diversion from the Connecticut primary. In addition, Bush pressured Britain to make and announce the arrests on Monday for the same reason. (And the British police are upset because the early arrests weakened their legal case.) Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman anyway.
5. Wiretaps are legal, inside the FISA provisions. Wiretaps without warrants are illegal, data-mining is illegal and any evidence obtained that way is useless in court proceedings. In any case, Judge Taylor is correct in finding that warrantless wiretaps violate various laws besides the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution – all are felony crimes.
G.E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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Valencia County News-Bulletin
Wednesday 22 March 2006
Opinion / Letters [page 5A]
Trolley would be good for downtown tourists
The recent article on the Heart of Belén redevelopment mentions access to downtown Belén from the Rail Runner station via elevators on either side of the Reinken overpass. Not mentioned is that such an arrangement would require pedestrians to cross somewhere mid-bridge and often in the dark.
Given Belén Police Department's lax enforcement and local drivers' habit of ignoring speed limits, etc., this is a supremely bad idea, one likely to result in occasional dead tourists.
A better idea might be a pedestrian walkway across BNSF tracks, such as the several such crossings over Tramway near I-40 in Albuquerque. Difficulties arise, however, from issues of safety and negotiations for rights-of-way.
Another idea may actually prove cheaper than either of the above: A rubber-tire trolley such as operate in many "Old Town" districts across America.
The route would be train station to Wisconsin to Reinken to Third to Harvey House and through downtown Belén and back again.
The trolley schedule would, of course, be matched to the Rail Runner's departures and arrivals.
Gary E. Nordell
Belén, NM
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"The Bulletin" of American Mensa, Ltd.
November-December 2001
"The 2% Solution" Column [page 24]
Question 166: What might we do to get the process of colonizing other planets, moons, or galaxies moving ahead?
A few respondents focused on the mess we've made of Earth and even doubted whether we were worthy to inhabit other planets. Perhaps the most damning of those letters was this one from G.E. Nordell, GENordell@working-minds.com
Before Homo sapiens deign[s] to infest other solar systems or galaxies with our spoor, we must clean up our act – literally – here on the home planet. The assumption that preservation of the species is a 'must' has no validity. The rapacious actions by H. sapiens upon the environment belie any such intention or compulsion. The present state of the ecosystems needed to support life on our tiny blue orb suggest that H. sapiens will not survive here without extraordinary commitment and effort by all of Mankind.
We are at the crux of a one-time choice: either Mankind takes action for the restoration and preservation of the entire biosphere – right now, today, this instant – or H. sapiens will likely die off in the next few generations.
If we cannot muster the will to reverse the intellectual, economic, and ecological diseases propogated by the dominant Oligarchy, then from whence will the will arise to attempt preserving Mankind's precious DNA by constructing a 'lifeboat' bound for Alpha Centauri?
The preservation of life here on Earth requires a planetwide act of will, a commitment by billions of individuals to take action right now – or Mankind effectively has no future and no time in which to design and build any such lifeboat to the stars.
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L.A. Mentary [publication of Los Angeles Mensa
September 2001
Letters [page 12]
The whole 'Jack flap' should be dropped.
The many members who assume [that] they have a deity-given right to have anything [that] they send in printed in the newsletter are deluded. How many letters to Ye Editor do you think the L.A. Times ignores every day?
G.E. Nordell
Culver City, California
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Los Angeles Times
Saturday 28 April 2001
Calendar Section / Letters [page F4]
Excuse me, but I see no reason for sympathy toward the complaints of Hispanics about negative portrayals of Mexicans, Latinos, et al in Hollywood movies and other media. ["The Silver Screen That Divides Us, April 24]
The new government in Mexico has a lot of work to do to clean up the mess left by its predecessor, the Institutional Revolutionary Party dynasty. To wit:
The legal system there is Napoleonic, which holds everyone to be guilty until proven innocent.
That leads to culture-wide avoidance of the legal system and the practice of mordida, which is the systematic payment of bribes connected to just about every transaction with government and business institutions.
Every single illegal alien, from whichever country, committed a crime in the moment that they stepped across the border into the United States, for which they take no responsibility. {**}
Rather than trying to alter the image of Mexico and Latin America, it behooves Hispanic activists to stop whining and to get to work on the reality of the Mexican culture – on both sides of the border – as President Vicente Fox is committed to doing.
G.E. Nordell
Culver City, California
** Strangely, the editors removed a line here about the illiteracy rates in the U.S. & Mexico.
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Los Angeles Times
Saturday 12 August 2000
Calendar Section / Letters [page F4]
"Gidget -- The Musical" sounds intriguing. And any new work by auteur F.F. Coppola is bound to be fascinating. But the article does not even mention the creator of the semi-fictional Gidget, Frederick Kohner. His best-selling novel of 1957 pretty near invented the surf-culture industry. The half-dozen Gidget books and feature films, two TV series, several TV movies and other non-Gidget novels followed a long career as a Hollywood scriptwriter, including a 1938 Oscar nomination.
Without "Doc" Kohner, Coppola would have no cultural icon to put music to, nor would your reporter have anything to report.
G.E. Nordell
Culver City, California
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Vocabula Review
Monday 16 October 2000
Vol 2 # 10 / Letters #7
I am come late to your debate about the correct stance on proper use of language, especially of English, and maybe I can thereby add some fresh perspective.
What separates mankind from the other beasts is not language: the dance of the bees is language, as is the chirping of the birds and the keening of
the whales. Mankind is superior because we have reason. Reason is
mankind's primary tool for survival as mankind. Therefore, we cannot tolerate sloppy use of this tool.
Those who justify bad grammar or inept diction because the masses persist in such sloppiness reduce the power of language, and thus reason. Such an irresponsible position is just as untenable as condoning incompetent driving practices or child abuse or bigotry simply because they are common.
The purpose of academia, in fact of all of mankind's intellectual pursuits, must be to raise the standard, and not to succumb to the lowest common denominator.
I admire the Vocabula Review (what I've read so far) because it addresses the issue of standards, which other venues do not. Should the average
citizen ever meet the high standards advocated by some academicians and some concerned amateur thinkers, we then should raise the proverbial bar still higher: laxity does not serve the future of mankind.
Reason is the only frontier left.
G.E. Nordell
genordell@iccas.com {email now defunct}
RESPONSE in Vocabula Review
Monday 20 November 2000
Vol 2 # 11 / Letters #4
I love TVR -- it is a must for anyone with an interest in communicating through words.
For G. E. Nordell [Vol. 2, No. 10, "Letters to the Editor"], I suggest that a real difference between mankind and other beasts (in relation to communication) is our ability to transmit communications by writing and reading our languages. A beast could well reason that it would be pointless for him to try to read and write.
April Pressler, Director
Image Abroad Network
AprilP @ one.net.au
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Los Angeles Times
Monday 18 January 1999
Metro Section / Letters
About the various stadium proposals (Letters, Jan. 10), the toughest part of any such project will be choosing a name for the NFL team that reflects some aspect of life in Southern California. The perfect team name is the L.A. Lemmings.
G.E. Nordell
Culver City, California
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Los Angeles Times
Saturday 20 March 1999
Sports Section / Letters [page D3]
What to call the new team? The only name that truly evokes the in Southern California lifestyle is the L.A. Lemmings.
G.E. Nordell
Culver City
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K.C.B.S. Radio 93.1 FM, Los Angeles
Thursday 1 April 1999
Arrow 93 Sports with Scott St. James
Finally... Last week we told you about this poll L.A. Times columnist Chris Erskine is running to name L.A.'s new NFL team, assuming we get one. We told you that of all the names Erskine listed, our favorite was the L.A. "Road Rage". And the way these gas prices are going up...
Culver City's G.E. Nordell faxes us this team name suggestion: The L.A. "Lemmings". Unlike listener Nordell, I'm not educated, so I had to look that word up. "A rodent known for its periodic mass migrations." Or in other words, the L.A. "Rats".
That's Sports. Scott St. James, Arrow 93 FM...
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Los Angeles Times
Wednesday 7 April 1999
SoCal Living Section
"The Guy Chronicles" column by Chris Erskine
Lots of readers took the opportunity to poke fun at L.A. of all places, the little city by the sea, a town that always generates a lot of envy. It's disguised as ill will, but it's actually envy.
"There can be only one name for the new NFL team, a name that perfectly reflects the Southern California lifestyle: The L.A. Lemmings!" wrote someone from Culver City, itself a national treasure.
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Los Angeles Times
Sunday 3 March 1996
Sunday Magazine Section [page ?]
L.A. & The N.F.L. Update
{have to locate the text...}
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| Encyclopædia Britannica's article on 'Lemmings'
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Parade Magazine national supplement
Sunday 23 March 1997
Walter Scott's 'Personality Profile' column [page 2]
Q I believe your recent item on Mel Gibson's future projects was incomplete. Isn't he planning a remake of Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'?
Gary E. Nordell, Culver City, Calif.
A Gibson's plan to direct and star in a remake of the sci-fi classic about censorship and book-burning in a futuristic society is still more a vision than a reality. The Oscar-winning actor-director has described the 1967 film 'Fahrenheit 451' by French director François Truffaut as "dull". Gibson, 41, says he wants his version to be both more harrowing and humorous, and he's waiting for an acceptable script. Bradbury himself and screenwriter Tony Puryear ('Eraser') have done drafts, and now Terry K. Hayes is updating the story.
NOTE: One thing I thought salient about this printed letter was that nobody I knew mentioned seeing it (which is quite normal and by now expected), but a dozen ladies mentioned it to my mother at church the very morning of publication.
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Daily Breeze newspaper
April 1997
Your Views [Letters to the Editor]
Eco-terrorists battling restoration of wetlands
The destruction perpetrated by the eco-terrorists against those working hard to restore the precious Ballona Wetlands is sickening.
Sightings of heavy-footed activists deep inside the delicate wetlands ecosystem itself; graffiti at Lincoln and Jefferson boulevards, on the Culver bridge, and in the dunes area behind Gordon's Market; the pulling up of stakes and the uprooting of flora planted by school children.
Horrible acts.
Well, I believe that I have identified the culprits: a clandestine group going under the name "Wetlands Vandalism Network".
They should be shot.
Gary Nordell
Culver City, California
A truncated version appeared in the sibling Santa Monica Outlook newspaper on April 9th.
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Los Angeles Times
Sunday 22 June 1997
Sunday Magazine Section / Letters [page 4]
A Ball of Fire
Allow me to challenge the claim that Lucy ["The Lucy Chronicles" by Steven Stark, 4 May] was TV's first feminist. Perhaps that designation should be awarded to Blondie, who wound up on TV after making her way successfully through the comic strips, the movies, and radio. The cartoon strip was even named after Blondie, who was the calm center of the stormy shenanigans originated by her lovable and infantile husband Dagwood.
Also, I never particularly liked the 'lie your way into trouble, lie your way out' part of the Lucy ethic.
Gary Nordell
Culver City, California
Editor's Note: The comic strip and movie versions of 'Blondie' did precede 'Lucy' – and television for that matter – but the CBS sitcom was aired later, in 1968-69. It was unsuccessful and not renewed.
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| Yes, quite a coup: two letters in the Los Angeles Times on the same day! [above & below] |
Los Angeles Times
Sunday 22 June 1997
Calendar Section / Letters [page 87]
The Rating Game
The merits of director Lance Young's 'Bliss', either before or after the cuts mandated to receive an R rating are beyond my ken. ("A 'Bliss'-less Rating Game" by Scott Collins, June 8).
But the continuing strife between the Motion Picture Assn. of America's ratings board and various major and minor directors leads me to wonder if the operative mind-set of the anonymous members of the board is not PC-17; that is, Politically Correct for the 17th Century.
Gary Nordell
Culver City, California
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Los Angeles Times
Monday 20 October 1997
Metro Section / Letters / Little Box In The Left-hand Corner
El Nino
Global warming? The magnitude of the El Nino phenomenon is a global warning.
G.E. Nordell
Culver City, California
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Los Angeles Times
Sunday 19 September 1982
View Section / Letters [page VIII-18]
A Lesson From Computers
Curious: Writer Betty Ann Kevles suggests that the "computer-consumer marriage" [has] no real parallel to human relationships ("Computers Settling Into Marriage", Scientific View, Sept. 8).
On the contrary, the problems she describes between humans and speaking computers are directly parallel to lousy human relationships. No computer has ever forced me into anything; no computer has ever hit me; and in my 17 years of working with IBM mainframes, no computer has ever lied to me. We can all learn a great deal about proper and positive working relationships from this new servant that mankind has created and is now bringing into daily life.
Societies and individuals that continue to foster manipulative one-upmanship roles (power over the computer or human) are destined to fail; societies of rational interchange of ideas (power from the computer and from other humans) are destined to succeed.
G.E. Nordell
West Los Angeles, California
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Los Angeles Times
Wednesday 5 December 1979
View Section [page IV-1]
Jack Smith's daily column
G.E. Nordell of West Los Angeles recalls reading a story that Moses actually was given 20 commandments on Mt. Sinai, but the stones were so heavy [that] he only brought down 10. That of course is a mere canard, and unworthy of notice in a serious discussion of the question.
As for an 11th Commandment, Nordell recalls that when he was in the Boy Scouts there was an unwritten 13th Scout Law, to wit: A Scout is hungry. Certainly that is an eternal truth, but it is a natural law, not a divine commandment.
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