Letters to the Editor
sesanders
Published Letters: 337 Editor's Choice: 18
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Thinking Outside the Box
[Read the article: Not in my backyard, either]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a deeply disturbing article. It forces us to come face to face with our own attitudes. If we are willing to do a little introspection, and we should, we have to take some kind of stand on the issue of the poor, untrained, unwashed we have in our midst.
Perhaps it is already being done, but I doubt it...the poor could at least be educated in general hygiene by our service organizations.
I saw a program on tenement living in which mothers were being given instruction on how to supervise children. I was shocked that many of the mothers didn't even know that it is dangerous for their children to play with knives and sharp objects. But these mothers were actually learning how to be cautious child rearers, something most of us take for granted, and they were very happy to be getting the help. I don't think that the majority of people can fathom the depth of the cultural divide! I am not criticizing ...I wonder how many of us would be cautious parents if we had never experienced it from day one. There is a gulf between the very poor and the middle class. It is so easy to become disgusted but should we just give up on this and all become right-wingers? I don't think so. First, we have to understand the attitudes out there and come up with creative ways to deal with it. This is not easy but if we are to be humane, we must open our eyes and shut our critical mouths.
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Friends and Lovers
[Read the article: Sexless and loving it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is something to be said for keeping sex out of the picture in early relationships. Actually, a protracted period is even better because the individuals don't have to perform or prove their desirability...they can get to know each other and actually become friends, simply enjoy being companions. I know because I did it and I was not following any religious notion at all (I am agnostic)...I was simply soul-searching and being careful after an horrible dalliance left my personal life in tatters. Out of a prolonged sexual abstinence, I entered into a relationship with a person with whom I had been simply a friend for two years. We eventually married and have stayed that way for nearly twenty five years. Ours has been a walk through life together with its up's and down's. I'm not sure we would have been able to weather some of the down's if we had not, above all, been friends.
A religious conversion does not have to happen in order to decide to keep oneself out of the fray of the meat market. It is possible to decide to take stock, to find oneself, to become comfortable with the self without all the thou shalt not's found in the religious arena.
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Public Confidence Is Earned
[Read the article: Keep hope alive]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Mr. Conason's contention that the public can easily turn against the Democrats is absolutely correct. If Congress continues to accept gifts from lobbyists, we can kiss goodbye any hope of reinstituting confidence in our politicians and the Democratic Party.
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Horrible Upheaval
[Read the article: Saddam: The death of a dictator]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Apparently, Iraqi's (and many Americans) think that violence will solve everything...Saddam's hanging is just one more violent act amongst all the others. Saddam did give Iraq some stability and we have destroyed any semblance of order in that country. Iraqi’s are fleeing their country in droves causing strain on neighboring countries. What horrible upheaval! All because we let some spoiled, prodigal son with name recognition into the White House! This is an awful, awful disaster!
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What's wrong with talking?
[Read the article: Stopping the surge]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Above all, we should engage Syria and Iran by beginning talks with these governments. First of all, these countries have had to absorb huge numbers of fleeing Iraqi's and this has posed a strain. Perhaps they might be more amenable than Bush thinks in quelling the violence. How can anyone get peace without engaging the principal players? It is this stance, above all, which tells me that Bush is just going to give us more of the same but with an added surge. Our troops will be chewed up one by one because he won't admit his policies are a disaster and we are going to be throwing more of our treasure into the desert winds!
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A Neocon Nightmare
[Read the article: The real Iraq Study Group]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those additional 25,000 troops had better watch their backs as the people they are protecting pick them off one by one.
By the way, while they are holding those neighborhoods around the Green Zone in Bagdad, what is happening in the rest of Iraq? I guess the terrorists will be sitting around drinking tea!
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Something Out of Nothing!
[Read the article: Penalty Boxer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a non-story seized upon by right-wing ideologues trying to deflect attention from their failed policies in Iraq. Sen. Boxer's comments were entirely appropriate to the subject at hand. Condi Rice is playing "the poor little me" card and Tony Snow is attempting to make something out of nothing. This is a transparent ploy!