There are no bus stops in San Salvador. Well, there are places where buses stop and people get on and off, but there are no signs with pictures of buses, no benches, no helpful words to reassure you that you won’t just be waiting on the street all day like an idiot. There are also … Read more
How a country that forces you to pay ten dollars per whopper, has a combined total of seventy-five percent for taxes, and has incomes that range only to $57,000 can boast the highest standard of living is beyond me [“They Paid Me Cash for this Baby!,” April]. It sounds to me a bit like liberal … Read more
Many thanks to The Rake and Eric Dregni for the informative essay on the alternative social policies offered by the Motherland. Although Minnesota was settled largely by Scandinavians steeped in the principles of Social Democracy, recent political shifts in both our state and our country reflect a narrow-minded philosophy based on the credo “It’s my … Read more
Eric Dregni leaves out a few very important matters regarding society in Norway, Italy, and the U.S. I also lived and worked in Norway and Italy in the 1980s and early 1990s. Hugh oil revenue to the state underpins the wealth of Norway. I was part of the effort to find and produce this oil … Read more
I’m a Rake fan and this is my first letter. I thoroughly enjoyed Eric Dregni’s article. Enlightening (being paid to have a baby), informative (wages, health and welfare system), funny (the meat bus to Sweden!), and heartwarming (the birth of Eilif). Oh, to live and work in Norway would be a dream come true for … Read more
Regarding “Animal House” [The Rakish Angle, April]: All animals in the entertainment industry suffer; it does not matter if they live at the Como Zoo or are shuttled around the country performing for the circus. No zoo anywhere can mimic the habitat in the wild for captured creatures and I do not agree with the … Read more
I was really looking forward to the article on the MacPhail Rock Band that I am indeed a part of [“Go Loudly Into the Night,” The Rakish Angle, April]. Overall, the article was well written. There were, however, some things that puzzled me. The primary thing was that you say there were only three students, … Read more
The PRT system you mention in Cardiff [“My Pod,” The Rakish Angle, April] has never been built (and won’t be). It is one example of the many half-truths and outright lies that Ed Anderson and PRT proponents tell elected officials and the public. The PRT advocates would have you believe that their system is more … Read more
Shanghai’s Taikang Lu is a crowded market street, its length disordered by listless bicycle rickshaws, old ladies with shopping bags, and angry taxis. Narrow Lane 201 opens into the middle of it, defined on one side by an old factory and, on the other, a modest rose-red building that houses Hands in Clay pottery shop. … Read more
I just read Clinton Collins on gay marriage [Free the Jackson Five, March]. Thank you for writing such a thought- provoking and insightful article. I could not have said it better myself. If two people want to spend their lives together, it is nobody’s business but theirs.Lisa Carlson-DoumaMinneapolis