Letters to the Editor
dawdler
Published Letters: 98 Editor's Choice: 10
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Try to be more empathetic, Patrick
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"(I also advocate the mandatory muzzling and sedating of all infants and toddlers, but that's a different issue.)"
Children are hard. They're not iPods or laptops that you can just "turn off". So all you single people out there need to try to grasp that parents can only do so much to control these little tornados. Some kids are easier than others and some parents are more diligent than others.
Most parents do their best on airplanes.
We should do our best to understand the difference between things that are under our control and things that are not.
For example, on a recent flight before takeoff a woman behind me held a conversation on her cell phone at what was literally I think the top of her lungs.
She had a choice.
Sometimes a little baby can't equalize the pressure in their ears and it hurts. They cry. They have no choice.
I say we reserve our nasty comments for people who actually have an option to do something about what's bothering us.
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People who don't vaccinate are free-riders
[Read the article: What the Poling autism case means]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem
In my humble opinion, as it stands now, based on all of our medical research, the risks to society of people not vaccinating in any substantial number far outweigh the possible risk from vaccines.
For one example, Polio is still killing people. And it is without a doubt the polio vaccine that saves lives:
http://www.endofpolio.org/thechallenge_priority.html
People who don't get vaccinated are selfish and short-sighted.
I'm not saying that it's completely out of the realm of possibility that there is a problem with vaccines. But nobody has shown it yet and the downsides of not vaccinating are astronomically higher. Any rational person will vaccinate.
These diseases CAN come back - especially with our globalized world and increasing global temperatures.
But then again, supposedly rational people play the lottery too, so ... [shrug]
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Adopt
[Read the article: I need a new dream]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't mean to be glib - that's just my opinion. I think you think you can't but I think you can. So there.
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silly people and their dogs
[Read the article: I'm living in filth!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]haha - this reminds me of a friend. he and his wife have four dogs. i remember visiting them one year. i was sitting on his couch when the gigantic labrador/great dane mix walked into the room, looked me right in the eye and proceeded to piss on their carpet.
the best part is that my friend didn't bat an eye. nobody seemed to even care.
anyway - the dogs are great and he really loves them. since then he's bought a house and now instead of peeing and pooping in the house, the dogs pee and poop on his tiny lawn.
needless to say, he pays his gardner extra every week to clean up all the filth outside.
the point is, LW, my friend is resigned to the filth. he accepts it as a price to pay for living in a frickin' zoo. (albeit a very loving zoo).
you either need to deal with your problem or just give up and not worry about it. either solution requires effort, though.
the worst place to be is where you are - living in filth AND feeling guilty about it.
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Tenuous logic
[Read the article: The Bear-Stearns Microsoft/Yahoo connection]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From Yahoo's perspective, in a world where companies can be worth $30 billion on a Friday and $270 million on a Monday, an offer in which shareholders could receive $31 a share might suddenly look a lot better than it did prior to collapse of Bear-Stearns.
The financial sector is getting hammered because of their exposure to exotic mortgage-backed securities. Unless Yahoo is somehow significantly exposed to the subprime mess, then I don't see why Yahoo would expect to see the same type of massive devaluation as Bear did.
Yahoo should, and probably is, looking at the facts relevant to this deal.
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Humane treatment vs. Human Rights
[Read the article: An Olympic disgrace]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A lot of people are conflating humane treatment with actual human rights.
I think most of the civilized world agrees -- in principle -- that every animal deserves humane treatment, whether you plan to put a sweater on it and let it sleep in your bed or put A1 sauce on it and eat it medium-rare.
Whether an animal deserves rights beyond humane treatment -- i.e. the rights of humans -- is much more debatable. Most of the world does not consider animals people.
So the question is whether your issue is with the Chinese slaughtering their dogs in an inhumane fashion (which I would agree is wrong) or with eating dogs and cats is inherently wrong.
From what I've read pigs are at least as smart as dogs. And cows are pretty cute, if not smart (...:).
So people who have an issue with eating dogs better be vegetarians too.
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Feel Sorry for the Kid
[Read the article: Is Briana Waters a terrorist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Funny - as a new parent I'm sitting here fuming not about the arson but that any parent could take such a risk.
A person who is so callous and indifferent to the welfare of her child as to expose herself to this type of prosecution is beyond comprehension to me.
If you're going to be a radical extremist - please - don't have kids.
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Value is Subjective
[Read the article: The parent trap]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People buy $60,000 sedans and McMansions and $800 strollers and all kind of other things that are "unnecessary".
If we only bought things that are "necessary" we would have a completely different economy. Who is to say if it would be better or worse, but it would be profoundly different.
Other people wag their fingers and rail against bad taste and excessive consumption.
And the world keeps turning.
You simply will never convince everyone that your taste is better than theirs.