Letters to the Editor
Leeandra Nolting
Published Letters: 177 Editor's Choice: 10
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dataguyx...
[Read the article: Why they stunted their daughter's growth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My grandmother wasn't merely senile, forgetful, etc.--as I said, for several years at the end of her life, she was in much the state Ashley was: diapered, unable to hold the weight of her own head unassisted, fed only liquid food, unable to talk, etc. She certainly wasn't the same Grandma I knew growing up. But if she wasn't a human, albeit a very sick and helpless human, what had she become? She certainly wasn't a dead body. (BTW--she had a living will. There was to be no CPR etc. What the nurses did for her at the end was basically the care you'd give to an infant, plus pain relief.)
This is an oversimplification of things, but I've found that those that argue for euthanasia fall into two main categories: those that argue that candidates for euthanasia are not really human beings, and those that argue that candidates for euthanasia ARE human beings, but that societal burdens of caring for these people etc. are enough to justify the act. (IMHO, the first one is more insidious--this was the justification for the euthanasia of the mentally retarded and mentally ill under the Nazi regime.)
It's interesting that you ask about the possible purpose of the life of the retarded guy at your church. Out of curiousity, may I ask which denomination? Pretty much all of the major religions--regardless of their stance on euthanasia--teach that just because the meaning and purpose of a given situation is incomprehensible to us does not mean that the situation is devoid of meaning and purpose.
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very South Park...
[Read the article: Are you offended by a tampon ad with a beaver?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In the episode (I believe it's called) "Are You There, God? It's me, Kyle," Kenny dies from having a "Beaver Dam" brand tampon shoved up his ass.
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no, Amity, my grandmother was not physically missing most of her brain...
[Read the article: Why they stunted their daughter's growth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But she was missing most of her day-to-day brain function.
At the end (and this drug on for a LOOOOONNG time; it was extremely hard on all involved), she
1. was strapped into a Geri-chair (basically, a cross between a wheelchair and a Barcalounger) with her head supported by special pillows.
2. completely incontinent.
3. unable to speak or communicate (BTW, she had been extremely hard-of-hearing/deaf since the age of 32, and died at the age of 82).
4. unable to feed herself or be fed anything other than liquified (not merely pureed, she drank her green beans through a straw) food.
5. had, according to all doctors and medical personal involved, no hope of recovering any of these bodily or brain functions. (She did not recover, no one in the family believed she would recover, and she died in July 2007.)
Dataguyx claimed that people could lose their humanity when they became like this. Since she was most definitely a sentient, intelligent human being BEFORE her downhill slide, I was wondering WHEN exactly she stopped being a human and started becoming a "person-shaped object."
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of course she shouldn't have left it in the car...
[Read the article: Have you ever left your toddler in a car?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The dingos might have got her baby.
Seriously, the officer should have waited by the car and warned the woman not to do it again, NOT arrested her, NOT taken the toddler into protective services, and NOT LEAVE TWO OTHER KIDS STRANDED.
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is there a higher value on virgin camels?
[Read the article: (Weird) quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's what got me as weird. I can see a higher value on camels that have not been pregnant/given birth yet, but a VIRGIN?
Then again, a sexually-active camel that hasn't given birth might go down in value because it's sterile.
(Considering I use my real name to sign these letters, I can't wait till the next time my friends Google me and THIS comes up.)
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Tina...
[Read the article: (Weird) quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm from the country too, though not a farm girl, and I did think that a "proven" animal would sell for more than an untested one.
I'm wondering if this particular camel was for show/racing purposes, where conceivably (pun intended) pregnancy would take its toll on the animal's beauty/speed.
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well, I have a pet cockatiel
[Read the article: (Weird) quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that will give me a kiss on command. He presses his beak up against my mouth and makes a smooching noise and squawks "I love you!"
I don't have a female cockatiel for him, so he's decided that I'M his mate--screams when I leave his sight, tries to groom me, etc. (Birds will do that.)
He is quite a handsome bird with long eyelashes and black eyes, but I think I'll stick to human males;).
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I think the actual word for them is "posers", not tomboys
[Read the article: Are urbane tomboys truer feminists?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm with the first poster--it ain't liberating if you're only doing it to fit in and impress the guys (though your Converse All-Stars won't damage your feet like your stilettos will).
I also find it funny that this article said these women are the direct descendents of Audrey Hepburn's style. Uhhh...has the author of this article SEEN a single photo of Audrey Hepburn? She had the figure of an 11-year-old boy, but she sure didn't dress like one. Also, she wore quite the plethora of eye makeup. (I went as her for Mardi Gras. It took me a month of practice to learn how to do the mascara and eyeliner just right.)
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Anybody else read "The Debutante in Blue Jeans"?
[Read the article: Are urbane tomboys truer feminists?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The strictures of traditional femininity aren't bound up in the specific clothing you wear, but WHY you wear it. If you're wearing jeans and a hoodie because it's comfortable and who gives a damn what anybody thinks, that's one thing. If you're wearing jeans and a hoodie because guys are oogling Ellen Page and you want to catch you a man, that's another.
Tom Wolfe wrote about a similar issue in a 1978 essay called "The Debutante in Blue Jeans." (He was talking about clothing as a marker of social class, but there are a lot of paralells.)