Vera Mont

Why do you keep harping on famines? Famines are caused by various factors, including climate, war and politics. Like Stalin's making of the famine in ...

That doesn't stop anyone from doing anything, because hardly anyone takes Logic Exams - or even cares what Logic Exams are for. However, many people w...

Coulda swore that was down to communist central planning and rigid birth control. Pfth! Nothing complex about. Somebody with a big gun comes along, bu...

I never claimed that the west had the poorest people; I said that making the rich even more rich keeps making the not-rich even less rich. As for the ...

Governments that do keep tight control on information are routinely disbelieved by the populace. However, even when everyone knows the government orga...

Yes, the post WWII to the Reagan/Thatcher Axis, were a period of liberalism, tolerance, and broadening of vision. In the new Conservative dark age, it...

Thanks! I was familiar with abe as a vendor; until recently, we had some 6000 listings on there and it was my first look-up for availability and price...

You don't come into the world as an adult shopper walks into a department and choose beliefs. You enter light and noise as a blob of sentient humanity...

Too little, too late; running out of water. No, they live on a princely $2.15 a day, instead of $1.90. Terrific! Yes, in the context of possible redis...

It's pathologically protracted case of the sulks; a spanked child plotting revenge for his humiliation. 20 years later, he comes home with an M16. We'...

Government can't possibly work anymore, because there is no consensus as to its functions, limitations or even the principles on which it operates. 23...

You're way too kind! I'm just groping for some human connection in these bleak and lonely years. (Oh, shit, that sounds pathetic! And false. I have a ...

With the appearance of mental calmness. Fear is concealed in different ways: some people put up a show of defiance; some, of injured pride; some blust...

Her thoughts are all over the place. She didn't notice the rain stop, neglected to keep track of fuel consumption or time; swears at a coyote one minu...

It all hinges on a flimsy string of 'if's. You did not establish - the purpose or benefit of moral growth; why humans need it or should want it - why ...

No. It's the underling who defies the one charge, not the other way around. They have cigarettes west of the Mississippi. I have no reason to think sh...

Good workmanship is not 'a struggle'. The struggle goes before, in the shaping of ideas and making oneself face that most formidable of adversaries: t...

Odd - not many dashboards display military time. for hours since Parker, or the 86 turnoff, or some location to indicate whether she's on I95 from Los...

Okay. That's a valid option. Against whom? The woman is gone. He can accuse the cop of either abducting or assaulting him, but I doubt that would go o...

I'm fairly jaded, but I still keep thinking of police officers as people - capable of good, evil, cruelty, kindness, deception, self-deception, venali...

So, like, he failed the frog-to-prince test? It wasn't quite like that. I put it aside when I got my heart broken, and then again when I contracted to...

That sounds really intriguing! I would love to read it when it's done.

Perseverance is not about success for me. It's a life-vest: I have to get something written every day, good, bad or lackluster - and it may well end u...

I think I promised... Lovely image; I find no fault with rhyming, though I would prefer it be consistent. Say what? Wonderful! You don't get to modify...

It seems concise and polished to me. It was in my top three favourites, exactly because it's so well crafted.

Thanks, I didn't know about this. So many good people still fighting the good fight!

Part of that is plausibility. With slightly different details, it might have been plausible, which would help the reader suspend their disbelief ratio...

I've read and admired many haiku, but have never before taken to heart the rules of the form. The ones I've written did not comply. But I like the eco...

Hey, I've made my deposition; not sure I can keep defending my version after this ^^ revelation. Suffice to say it's an amazingly good - intriguing, e...

Now, I understand. Nobody here would understand that Olmo was a dog. I've known a couple of charming boxers in my time.

I have no problem with that - just don't scare the horses.

Absolutely! Reading is the best way. My mother (who came here at 35, without a word of English) and husband (who had taken some courses in highschool)...

Next time, I suggest you don't translate, but re-tell it from memory. Translation has to overcome not only vocabulary gaps (that's the easy part) but ...

Seems kinda pathetic. I mean, what do you win?

I think that proposition is way overcomplicated. Doubt is simply a lack of conviction. Maybe it's so, maybe it ain't; all the evidence isn't in yet. S...

Next time, I may even try to build a poem. I could when I was 17 - or at least, I thought so.

Oh, Calliope, I hope not!

By a somewhat tortuous route. I have to proceed logically and chronologically, or I get confused. Even so, it's hard to keep track of consistency in n...

That sentence immediately intrigued me. Why a glass of tea? Is it iced? Is it hot outside? Has he been doing something strenuous? Or is he having tea ...

Not for these arthritic old wrists! The wrung-out ones can go hang. What I'm procrastination about now - Hark, is that the kettle? Does Idiot Cat want...

No - I started reading it with alacrity, but after about three paragraphs, I just didn't understand it. Similar problem with the poem: I have no frame...

Yes, I think that's vital. Sometimes it doesn't flow - or even trickle; sometimes you have to wring out every word as from a heavy wet towel. On those...

f I'll try, but if it's Dead in the Water, I have to stick to technical critique. I don't mind dark subject matter, but I have a couple of severe alle...

Conventionally, more or less. I have a germ of a story idea and I ask myself :"What is this really about?" What's the underlying theme? Having identif...

My most heartfelt and profound apologies! It's probable your subjects are among those on which I feel unqualified to comment.

The poetic side of it had not occurred to me. What bothered me was the anonymity of the one being evoked. I remember a necklace I was fond of and lost...

I loved the first paragraph, too. Then the birds started doing weird things that made no sense to me, so I tuned out. I tried to pay attention to what...

No, we can't. I have not challenged your interpretation of the story. If you dislike mine, that's unfortunate, but I'll live - unless you indict me of...

I would have liked a little more attention for this one. It has no lure of suspense or violence, but the gentle, mindful, careful description of thing...