Turn down the Victrola and get with it

Geez, Hasso. While you are just now jumping in response to the new digital TV era (Viewpoint, Dec. 21), I think most of us are running toward it to embrace it. Twelve years warning wasn’t enough for you? High definition TV has taken too long to arrive.

In addition to the digital TV I got a year ago, I got two of the government subsidized converter boxes for my old lesser-used TVs. Hookup is simple. For very old TVs you need to connect only two wires. In and out. If it doesn’t work, switch the wires. If you are connecting to a newer TV (but still “analog”), you need to follow a “color code.”

You don’t have to mail in to get the coupons as your editorial says. Get your grandkids to show you how to use the “Internet” with a “computer”. There is also a toll-free number you can dial on your rotary phone. The one beside your Victrola.

Visit www.dtv2009.gov or call 1-888-DTV-2009. Your grandkids can also hook up your TV for you.

Randy Boyd, Corvallis

How we went wrong in digital TV conversion

Hasso Hering’s Dec. 21 editorial blamed the imposition of installing digital TV converters on the generic “federal government.” Hering also speculated the over-the-air digital TV switchover prompted Comcast to eliminate analog cable service.

In fact, Comcast is initially switching in areas where they compete with Verizon FiOS, such as the Portland area. Giving analog customers free “DTA” boxes is the cheapest way to make space for more HDTV channels and more competitive Internet connections. (Comcast’s current Internet upload speeds are several times slower than less expensive Qwest DSL services.)

Most blame lies with the Republican-controlled FCC for placing corporate interests over those of citizens:

First, Bush’s FCC chairman intentionally allowed TV set manufacturers to profit by not requiring built-in digital tuners until 2007. Most of the need for converter boxes would have been reasonably eliminated by having required that all new flat-panel TV sets include built-in digital TV and scrambled QAM digital cable tuners.

Second, TV broadcast corporations were allowed to save money by delaying conversion. The FCC recently allowed some TV stations another delay to 2012.

Also, Republicans passed a 2005 bill primarily to help corporations wanting to profit from buying or using the space currently occupied by old analog TV channels.

A more reliable foreign DTV standard came too late. As a result, in Corvallis and Albany the American DTV standard, unlike analog TV, often requires an accurately pointed VHF/UHF directional antenna amplified for reliable reception. This can cost more than any converter box.

Thomas Kraemer, Corvallis

Our troops deserve congratulations for winning

The Outrage of the Year Award must go to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who, on the floor of the Senate in March, dogmatically stated that the U.S. “has lost” the war in Iraq. In reality, our brave troops were then, and are now, winning the war in Iraq.

Reid, who is a Democrat, should apologize to the troops for accusing them of losing a war they are actually winning. He should then commend our troops for a job well done. He should, but he won’t.

Larry A. Smith, Shedd

The Taliban among us: Don’t let them rule

Mona Charen claims “The Witherspoon Institute has done a valuable thing by starting a more public conversation about this cultural poison” when writing about porn. Mona is provoked to write her column by an ad for PajamaGrams “the only gift guaranteed to get your wife or girlfriend to take her clothes off.” This almost Taliban-like aversion to female nudity stands in the way of effectively dealing with the destructive effects of porn.

I remember thinking “good show” some years ago when watching a CNN report of a topless protest by middle-aged New Yorkers over the uneven application of standards regarding topless behavior in Central Park. Supported by fully clad young ladies and topless young men bearing picket signs, helping to call attention to the fact that standards for appropriate nude behaviour were not evenly applied in the park — as demonstrated by the arrests of their middle-aged and topless counterparts. There are some folks who get it.

We will never be successful at identifying and correcting exploitive erotic behavior, until we eradicate this dichotomy in our treatment of the sexes. After all, the Taliban amongst us are in the minority, and should not be allowed to dictate the way we treat each other.

Robert G. Gourley, Corvallis