The following letter appeared in today's San Francisco Chronicle, referring to this photo, which the Chronicle chose (badly) to commemorate Sept. 11
 | LEFT IN TATTERS Editor -- What an appropriate front page for Sept. 11! With the Bush administration's assaults on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the environment, civil liberties, personal privacy, women, endangered species, workers' rights, national forests, not to mention international law, that tattered scrap of a flag is about all we have left. L. M. ARNDT |
But I guess Louisa's letter helps kick the legs out from under the argument that feelings of rage and oppression are necessarily caused by poverty.
[enter parcel 164-021-08 at the Marin County Assessor-Recorder site to see the details for Louisa Arndt's fabulous house.]
UPDATE: Louisa Arndt has also gone on the record demanding insane, draconian government regulations that would cause near-total economic constipation:
Genetically engineered foods, and in fact ALL products and systems that pose potentially catastrophic risks, MUST BE REQUIRED TO PROVE THEIR SAFETY BEFORE BEING APPROVED BY OUR GOVERNMENT.I like it! A luddite world where fear of imaginary risks stifles life-improving innovations, and where we are all left to die from naturally-occuring catastrophic risks like starvation, disease, skin cancer, earthquakes and whiny selfish idiots who aren't even grateful for their own fancy houses.
UPDATE: L.M. Arndt sent me an email
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 12, 2002 02:01 PMI think you seriously underestimated the value of her home. Add at least a couple hundred thousand more.
Posted by: Sherry Gaskin on September 12, 2002 05:15 PMThis is so cool. Very smooth, Mr. Sharkansky.
Posted by: Quana on September 12, 2002 05:23 PM"Left in tatters"?
They may as well be. :)
Ah, the world of the limosine liberal. So free from, er, thought.
Extremely well done.
It's so easy to be critical when life is so comfortable.
Now if there were just some way for you to expose all of the rest of the hypcrite whiners out there....
Posted by: nancy on September 13, 2002 06:28 AMThe Marin Co. assessor appears to have scratched the record. Is that possible? A response to all the hits they got?
Posted by: Sergio on September 13, 2002 07:30 AMWOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!
That is one of the most perfect answers to a typical Marin County whiner that I ever have or will see.
Magnificent bite, there, Shark!
Posted by: Andrew X on September 13, 2002 08:10 AMVery nice.
Posted by: addison on September 13, 2002 10:25 AMWonderfully wicked retort, Mr. Sharkansky. Borders on the brilliant.
Best, Rick Vaill
Posted by: Rick Vaill on September 14, 2002 11:59 AMyes, kids, the shark can smell one drop of blood from a bleeding heart from many miles away.
Posted by: dan truly on September 14, 2002 12:41 PMI know genetically-engineered food is a Frankenstein monster and all, but has it already become so advanced as to be able to prove its own safety?
Posted by: Aaron Haspel on September 14, 2002 02:59 PMI've been noticing for some time now that the people who seem to express the most outrage at the supposed crimes against humanity, are the people most removed from the crimes effects.
Posted by: TPittman on September 14, 2002 08:36 PMI'm noticing a general trend here: your whininess is directly proportional to your level of leftism + wealth.
Posted by: Elliott Marc Davis on September 15, 2002 07:49 AM[I'm noticing a general trend here: your whininess is directly proportional to your level of leftism + wealth.]
Whininess is not the sole province of leftism + wealth. It's just that rightism + wealth whines about supposed crimes against it's status quo.
Posted by: TPittman on September 15, 2002 08:37 AMDo you really think posting this woman's home address was necessary? I had that done to me recently, seemingly as an implied threat (although the author later apologized), and I didn't find it amusing.
Sure, the information was publically available, but I think you could have made your point without posting the woman's address.
Posted by: Spoons on September 16, 2002 10:56 AMSpoons --
I don't normally post people's personal information. But this entry was precisely about the dichotomy between the depth of despair of the letter to the editor, and the dwellings of its writer. I would never compromise someone's privacy, and in this case the address was in readily accessible free online sources -- both the Yahoo! phonebook as well as other documents the writer had written.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on September 16, 2002 09:38 PMMy, my, my...this country and its constitution are so misunderstood, especially by its citizens.
But that is precisely the point of this country. The flag is of no significance if Americans do not have the right to burn it. That is for what the flag stands. The constitution is of no significance unless it applies to even those citizens who do not know its meaning. We can speak of "civil liberties" without full knowledge of the term or history. And we are free to trash-talk our leaders. And in the USA, unpopular speech is best met with more speech.
Because the government is 'of the people, by the people, and for the people,' there is no "us" or "them." (Ok, maybe "people" should be replaced with "money"). If the government isn't what the people want, there is a way to change it. No one said it was easy or even that it should be.
Still, it is so sad that we are ashamed of who we are. We have no reason to be. We are not perfect and the ideals of America have not been fulfilled. But this is an experiment and you are invited to participate in this great experiment. Consider yourself very fortunate for that opportunity.
Posted by: Ipsofacto on September 17, 2002 07:32 PM