Letters to the Editor
RE: Southern Cross
Review Nr. 36
Hello, Frank,
Once again, a host of stimulating and deep articles -
thank you. Have not
covered everything yet, but was very pleased to read Kerry's testimony.
He
echoes a lot of Europeans' indignation at that time
and it is heartening to
know some Americans had the same observations and
moral attitudes. If I had
the vote, he would get it (but I'd actually already
decided that).
I have also ordered the video of Gunga Din - so thanks again!
Jeanne,
Geneva
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OK, YOU ISLAMIC RADICALS! REMOVE ME FROM ALL YOUR
VACUUM BRAINED NON-ANTHROPOSOPHICAL NON-STEINER MAILING LISTS! I AM AN
AMERICAN! THIS BELONGS WITH MICHAEL MOORE AND YOUR OTHER TRASH.
Sheila Pickerill
California, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
RE: Ebooks Library
Frank Thomas Smith and Jo Ann Schwartz -
�
I recently learned of SCR from your publishing of
Tiziano Terzani's Letters
Against the War.�
Thank you for that.
�
Today I received my first (electronic) copy of
SCR.� I'm touched by your mention and support of Escuela El Trigal and by what
it does.� Another example of something being part of the solution rather
than part of the problem.
�
I just made a $25 contribution to El Trigal through
your Amazon link.� 'Tis an honor and a privilege to do so.
The thread went like this.� A Seattle friend recommended Terzani's A Fortune
Teller Told Me.�
Her book club was reading it.�
I'd never heard of him and
googled him.� I
learned that he'd just died (this was about a month ago) and
about the saga of publishers in Great Britain and the
good ol' Yew Ess of Aye being unwilling to print Letters Against the War, and
you folks doing so, so that some of us could have the privilege of reading it.
�
I'm reminded of a passage from John Broomfield's Other
Ways of Knowing -
Recharting Our Future With Ageless Wisdom.� Broomfield quotes Brian Bates, a
University of Sussex scholar of Anglo-Saxon and
ancient Celtic cultures, as
Follows:
�
"The European shamans visioned a web of fibres
that flow through the entire
universe, linking absolutely everything - each person,
object, event,
thought, and feeling.�
This web is so sensitive that any movement, thought
or happening - no matter how small - reverberates
throughout the entire web."
�
Here's to slender threads of synchronicity.
All blessings,
�
Paul McShane
Bainbridge Island, Washington
USA
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RE: A separate
message we sent to SCR subscribers requesting that the U.S. citizens among them
adhere to a moveon.com petition to the president demanding that the assault
weapon ban law not be allowed to expire. The White House did nothing and the
law expired.
Frank,
Have read, and since I am not a U.S. citizen there is
nothing I can do..Still, let me tell you that the whole thing is somewhat
silly. As far as I can recall, the ban was established to satisfy the
anti-gunners without antagonizing the pro-gunners...The "assault
weapons" ban leaves on the market and the street an enormous amount of
weapons all almost equally deadly. Gun bans do not work unless they are total
...Since that seems to be politically impossible in the U.S., it seems to me
that the energy spent on trying to have the ban renewed could be better spent
in a number of other fields. There are quasi total bans in most European
countries (except Switzerland as you probably well know, where it does not pose
any problems).�
So one field that would merit serious and strong
attention and effort is to seek banning violence on screens. It is the culture
of violence, growing everywhere now, that is the problem. The KungFus and the
"tough guy" attitude !! ...That would mean a certain amount of
censorship..and if that would imply changing the free speech amendment then so
be it..Activists should focus on that rather than waste efforts on issues as �
comparatively - minor as the assault gun.
It is unfortunate that people who mean well seldom
take the trouble to get their facts right. If I am not mistaken, there has
always been a ban on fully automatic weapons. So AK47s for instance were sold
with a modification to semi-automatic. There is no difference between so called
"assault" rifles and any other semi-automatic rifle except shape and
magazine capacity..but as you know, changing magazines takes hardly a
second...In fact, you can convert a simple pistol, virtually any pistol, into
an automatic (i.e. machinegun fire) by removing a small part. The pistol�s
useful life will be shortened, that�s all...
Indirectly of course, if Bush is pressed into acting
on a renewal of� the ban that would
probably make him lose the NRA vote, now THAT would be a good thing in itself
!!.
I have read, do not know the details, that in the UK
violent films are banned. Some of the Schwarzenegger have been banned, while
porn is not banned because it is felt that the example of violence is far more
noxious than watching people�
fornicating...At least so it was when I read the article..Dont know about
today.
Have you noticed the gradual change in movie plots and
characters? In the past� there was a
clear dividing line between the good guys and the bad ones..This is no longer
so, in most� movies� both sides are almost equally despicable
from a moral viewpoint. It is only laws that make one "better" than
the other.
Speaking of stupid laws, did you know that handguns in
the U.S. (broadly speaking since States have their differences) are now by law
limited to ten shot magazines. So you can go and legally buy an army model
Beretta and it will come with a 10 shot magazine. But these guns were designed
for 15 or 16 shot magazines...So you just buy the 15 shot magazine separately
!! Bersa here for instance, no longer manufactures its 15 shot model somewhat similar to James Bond�s 380 pistol because much of their production goes to the US. Once in
a while, they put a batch of 15 shots magazines on the market, which of course
fit perfectly in the ten shot model..
Galus,
Buenos Aires
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Interesting how this is presented as an anti-Bush
issue, when the legislature needs to legislate - "if he'll only ask."
I don't have a problem with the issue, but spare me the partisan politics.
Bob,
New York City
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I personally believe that weapons themselves are not
murderous but people are. I say let it expire and watch your wording in the
future.
Leslie Russell
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Frank thank you for sending this to me....I have
forwarded it to� all of my
email friends...
Laura,
Florida
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OUCH!
I disagree *completely* with your take on the ban, and
even if I agreed with
you, I do not like receiving unsolicited political
propaganda from anyone.
Please remove me from your list immediately.
Thank you.
Caryn Sobel
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RE: Knock On Wood
Frank,
Your story about a "Pinocchio" seems to me
as being out of place. The S.C.R. may be read by sincere seekers who may find
its contents scurrilous and vulgar when they read your story there.
Further, your story has a flavour of prejudice fed by
years of watching movies depicting Italians as "mafiosi". If
this is only a coincidence, the fact remains that stereotyping an ethnic group, as
it may appear to you, is wrong. My opinion is that there are undesirable individuals
everywhere, in every ethnic group... Goffredo ______________________________________________________________________________
RE: Downsized Hi Frank, I read your story, Downsized. Is it autobiography? If
it is, I don't know how it squares with your previous story I read about
washing onto the beach and finding the woman you'd lost years ago. Also, the
story doesn't mention your work with the Waldorf school down there that my
memory associates with you. Good story, though. It's one of the best things about
this universe, how it can take a human through a bitter end to incredible
blossoming, as if by chance, by lark, yet suggesting the most vast management
of synchronicity.�������������������������������� ����� Steve ����������������
______________________________________________ Well, brother Frank, That was a rich tale. Reminded me of when I bolted
to Alaska after 19 years in Atlanta. Only I have to say, if you have to have a
mid-life crisis, that is the luckiest and sweetest way to handle it. May the gods continue to smile on you. Bradford - Texas _________________________________________________________________________________
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