Dear Colleagues and Friends:
In the past few days there has been a lot of impassioned debate about the proposed sale of KPLU to KUOW. There has also been a lot of misinformation and misinterpreted facts. Following is some context:
This is a strategic decision based on careful analysis of the future of radio and a concern about how best to sustain public media in the region for as long as possible. The reality is that there is a finite audience that is willing to fund public radio in the greater Puget Sound region, and right now each station operating independently is not fully engaging, and rather competing for, that audience. We think it only makes sense for the two stations to pursue a shared vision for developing and funding content.
KPLU’s jazz listeners will have full-time...
Lifestyle
Dear John,
It has been a long time since we have had contact. As you might remember, our very first meeting was at VVAW’s Dewey Canyon III, "A Limited Incursion Into the Country of Congress," April 19-23, 1971, in Washington, D.C. I’m sure you remember asking the Senate that week in an impassioned speech, "How do you ask a man to die for a mistake?" You also stressed the importance of being "totally nonviolent."
Our second and many subsequent meetings occurred in Massachusetts after you were elected Lt. Governor, 1982-84, while I was active in veteran’s issues in Western MA. As director of a veterans outreach center in Greenfield, and the Western Massachusetts Agent Orange Information Project, I served on the Massachusetts Agent Orange Task Force under Governor Dukakis’ veterans...
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Greetings,
On behalf of all Veterans I want to thank you for just rolling over and caving into the White House yesterday and not even asking the tough questions that should have been asked of Bob McDonald that I and many others have raised since his name was put forth by the White House.
I was so ashamed of my fellow Republicans in not standing up for Veterans yesterday. Yes we need to install a new leader to take charge of a totally broken VA agency but with someone who is obviously more qualified and prepared to assume those leadership responsibilities without having to hire/engage outside consultants to guide his decision making process from Day One.
Really Sen. Burr, you stated: “It’s hard to know why anybody would take this job.” To which McDonald responded: “If not me, who...
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Dear Fans,
Friday was a very special day for me.
In my first at-bat against the Tigers, I was fortunate enough to collect the 3,000th hit of my career. At Yankee Stadium.
And it was a home run.
As I was circling the bases at a pace respectful to both my opponents and the game we love, I pinched myself to make sure it was all really happening.
It was.
The ball was really in the right-field stands. I was really in the middle of a home run trot. I was really living this dream.
And all I could think was: I am humbled by the opportunity to be a member of the 3,000-Hit Club, the most important club in sports history. There may be even fewer people in the 600-Homer and 2,000-RBI Clubs I share with only my hero Hank Aaron, but none of them means as much as being a part of...
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Dear brothers and sisters,
I am writing to you on this Veterans Day not as foe but as friend. I am penning these words with a heart toward convincing you that any commands you obeyed and the services you rendered were a detriment to you, your brothers and sisters, and all the people of the world. It is not my intent to be ugly, to shame, to condescend, or incite you to anger or the desire to hurt me. I only wish to connect with you on a humanitarian level, thus I humbly request your attention to my perspective, to my truth. With that said, the things I say will not be easy. They do not come easy, either.
Some of you will be reading this note from the confines of a wheelchair, from the safety and antiseptic ward of the hospital bed where you may be recovering from an explosion, from...
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Dear BDD,
There's a lot I'd like to say to you. Above all I’d like to ask why? Just out of curiosity, why did you choose to prey on the mind of a vulnerable nine year old, and infest her brain with wicked thoughts? Why have you made me say such evil things to myself, why does malice drip from my words like venom?
Why have you made me feel like I'm not good enough, that I don't deserve to be here, that my presence is such an eyesore on society that the only way I could rectify the selfishness of my actions was by removing myself from the planet?
Why have you conditioned my brain to think that no matter what I think, say, or do, it is all worth nothing because nobody will be able to see past my hideous exterior?
Why did you make me stay indoors for so long? Why did I have to...
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Dear Orson:
I have always been a fan of your work. Speaker for the Dead is one of the finest books of science fiction ever written. When I was a Mormon, I was proud to share that distinction with one of the greatest living science fiction writers. I have signed copies of Ender's Game and Xenocide, which sit next to autographed books by Herbert, Asimov, and Le Guin.
When I read your Greensboro Times article, I was blown away. Do you honestly believe that there is not a "shred" of evidence for a biological basis for sexual orientation? Have you not heard about the studies involving sexual dimorphism in the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men? Have you not read any studies about the concordance of homosexuality in twins? Are you being willfully ignorant?
I have to...
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Dear Ian McEwan,
In response to your complaint, I do respect every person's right to decide. Still, there are two things to consider. 1. Grounding your acceptance of the Israel Prize on the fact that other famed writers before you have done so is unsafe. We cannot know whether they would have willingly accepted it under present circumstances. This is especially true of Bertrand Russell who accepted the prize in 1950, but castigated Israel in 1970, insisting that it withdraw from the territory occupied in 1967. 2. As for the arts having a longer reach than politics, this might be true, but your accepting the prize is not art. It is a political act. And with respect to the East-West Divan orchestra, I recommend that you read PACBI's stand on this, a response to Miriam Said's...
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Dear Congressman Nadler:
Thank you for explaining the reasons for your support of the current Iran deal. Reading and re-reading your rationale for support of this deal has not changed my thinking on this. It only explains why you feel it should be supported.
Perhaps you had occasion to hear your colleague Senator Menendez of NJ at Seton Hall. He gave a very compelling, dispassionate and cogent presentation as to why he is not supporting this deal in its present form and he also presented alternatives for obtaining a better deal for America and the free world.
In light of the above I will respectfully ask that you reconsider your vote of support and request of the Administration a real deal. A deal that is not one sided benefiting Iran only and one that will assure increased terrorism...
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Dear Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar,
There are many of your practices I don’t agree with - blanket training, spanking children with rods, following Gothard (a registered sex offender)’s abusive teachings “To Train Up A Child,” not allowing your daughters to pursue higher education in anything other than midwifery or nursing, not using birth control or allowing your children freedom of expression in their outward appearance or tastes, being vehemently anti-LGBTQ, etc. - but making victims out of your daughters in order to save face for yourselves and for your son is something that even you should have known better than to do. You have condemned your daughters to a lifetime of being owned not just by Jim Bob or their eventual husbands, as the Quiverfull movement you follow states, but by your...
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