Posted October 4, 2002

Battlezones' Sales Distribution

Regarding "J.C. Penney Catalog: GI Joe Commandeers Barbie's Dream House," by Eric Garris:

Thank you for posting this item. It is very upsetting, but would be much less so if it proved to be the commercial disaster that it deserves to be. Would it be possible to determine, perhaps in January, how many of these "fully outfitted battlezones" actually sold, if any? It would also be very informative to find out the geographical distribution of sales.

My daughter pointed out your web site to me, and I am most impressed.

~ Gilda S., Canada

Eric Garris replies:

I doubt if Penney's will reveal their sales figures for individual products. But our goal, I think, should be to have it removed from their product list. If they get enough complaints, and the sales are bad, I would hope that they will respond.

The Lie Machine

Regarding "The Lie Machine," by Justin Raimondo:

After reading Justin's latest column, I noticed that -- at 2:30 Monday morning -- Foxnews.com still had the original uranium seizure story on their front-page! ...

~ Mike T.

When ARAMCO Sneezes

Regarding "Why This War?," by Justin Raimondo:

I agree with Mr. Raimondo. The reasons for this rush for war is twofold. One is Israel. The other is big oil. The United States should not send gunboats down the Straits of Hormuz when ARAMCO sneezes.

~ T. Stephen Uebelhor

Casualties

Please consider linking to "Expected US Casualties from War," by Doug Rokke.... This is a very powerful message -- 10,617 dead from Gulf War I, sheesh -- and I only became aware of it today when a friend emailed me the link.

~ Bjorn Rafto, former US Naval officer

Opinion

I have been debating pro-war types for over a month now all over the web and I can tell you it's exhausting and depressing. Many of them simply do not recognize any moral limitations on action for the US because the US is, in their view, simply correct while others are overweeningly confident in the ability of the state to do anything it sets its mind to, in this case pacify and liberalize the Mideast. I think both views are supremely lacking in wisdom but I guess you don't need that when you have "full spectrum dominance." I hope Justin is right that antiwar opinion is growing but I sure don't see it from where I'm standing.

~ John P.

Reply to Boris Wolfe

Regarding Boris Wolfe's letter of September 26:

According to Boris Wolfe, Antiwar.com sucks because it is anti-Israel, anti-India (the good guys?) and pro-China, etc. (the baddies). No doubt China is a dictatorship, but if we apply the criteria touted to attack Iraq, many democratic countries, including Israel, India, and the US, would beat China to the queue. (Mind you, the references cited here are by no means exhaustive!) And why is it that when you are telling something as it is, you must be pro-someone and anti-someone else? If anything, Antiwar.com is pro-truth....

If I’m not mistaken, Stephen Schwartz once sneered that Justin Raimondo was only fit for the “fringe” media such as Antiwar.com and not good enough for the “more respectable” mainstream media, but those of us non-Yanks who could see clearer from afar knew better, that genuine freedom of expression can only be found in “fringe” medium such as Antiwar.com, etc. ...

For that I would gladly go down to the nearest Antiwar.com kiosk -- if only there was one, like those ubiquitous McDonalds or Seven-Elevens -- to donate my meager contribution.

~ Deng Xi Chang, Hong Kong

Proactive Efforts

A federal "No Fly" list, intended to keep terrorists from boarding planes, is snaring peace activists at San Francisco International and other U. S. airports, triggering complaints that civil liberties are being trampled. And while several federal agencies acknowledge that they contribute names to the congressionally mandated list, none of them, when contacted by San Francisco Chronicle, could or would say which agency is responsible for managing the list. One detainment forced a group of 20 Wisconsin antiwar activists to miss their flight, delaying their trip to meet with congressional representatives by a day. ...

The most innocent of actions are under surveillance now -- and under suspicion! What you buy at the grocery store, whether you order a pizza, what you read at the library, whether you pay for something by cash or credit card, etc. ... It's the very sort of thing that Americans used to criticize the communists for during the Cold War -- the paranoia, suspicion and obsessive distrust that characterized the Soviet Union. ... Whether it's this system or another, you can be sure the Beast will want to keep track of everyone in his New World Order!

Of course, it hasn't reached Soviet standards yet, but it wouldn't take too long to do so at the rate things are going. And now they're talking about making "proactive efforts" to track down potential terrorists -- or up-and-coming drug addicts, gang members, and maybe any class of people that society considers undesirable. That might catch a few bad guys and evildoers, but it's sure to ensnare many innocent people as well and ruin a lot of lives.

It's also sure to be misused as society's idea of who's undesirable eventually changes to include those who are religious, the "fanatics" and "troublemakers" who won't bow down and worship the Beast and who persist in proclaiming and preaching the existence of another God!

~ Ted Rudow III, MA, Menlo Park, California

Editor's note:

Backtalk editor Sam Koritz is profiled in the Real World section of October's Smart Money magazine (print version only, not available online).