Letters to the Editor
swanee
Published Letters: 90 Editor's Choice: 20
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Osama
[Read the article: What the Bush administration wants]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wish some Democrat in Congress had the guts to state the obvious: the Bush Administration doesn't really want to catch Osama bin Laden. If he were in custody, they wouldn't be able to scare the bejesus out of millions of Americans on a regular basis. Ruling through fear has proved to be very effective for them, and they don't want to give it up. They also would prefer to avoid riling the Saudis and their American friends. The Saudi royal family may not like Osama, but they would hate to see him in American hands. Seeing Osama put on trial in the U.S. would be a public relations nightmare for the royals in Saudi Arabia. Plus, they also benefit from having him on the loose, because they can use him to scare their people too. All in all, Osama is much more useful hiding in Pakistan, where he can make tapes that play endlessly on Fox and CNN.
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A&F and the War Against Boys
[Read the article: The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One trait that A&F boys clearly do not possess is brains. Studying, working too hard, actually caring about something other than your appearance--these are all hopelessly uncool. Then again, boys can be manipulated so much more easily when they are uneducated. If anyone is waging a War Against Boys, it's A&F.
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Anti-Roe Majority?
[Read the article: The next Alito, and why "more Democrats" isn't enough]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even if Bush gets another appointment to the Supreme Court, there still may not be an anti-Roe majority on the Court. I agree that Alito probably would vote with Thomas and Scalia to overturn Roe, and we can assume the same about the next new Justice. However, I'm not convinced that Roberts would vote to overturn Roe. He reminds me of O'Connor, Kennedy and Souter--very conservative, and therefore resistant to striking down major precedent like Roe v. Wade and all the related cases. Scalia's and Thomas' conservatism is much more radical and more difficult to find within the judiciary.
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Duck!
[Read the article: Cheney shoots a man in Texas, but you don't need to know]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Come on now, who really believes that Cheney has ever done anything "accidentally"? If I were Whittington, I'd get the hell out of the country, because Cheney is not a man to leave a job unfinished.
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Hedrick is no Heiden
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]NBC is giving Shani Davis a raw deal. They can't refer to Chad Hedrick without attaching their mantra, "Chad Hedrick, on his quest to equal the great Eric Heiden and win five gold medals," and then blame Davis for Hedrick's failure. But Hedrick is no Heiden. Eric Heiden won five individual gold medals. At the 1980 Lake Placid Games, Heiden won all five speed skating events from 500m all the way up to 10,000m and he set an Olympic record in every one. Hedrick didn't even try to equal Heiden--he didn't skate the 500m. He had to beg his teammate, Shani Davis, to help him win gold medal #2. Heiden didn't need any help--he did it all on his own.
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NBC sucks life out of Games
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I loved the Turin Olympics, but the NBC coverage drove me nuts. Every time they cut to an interview, there was some sportscaster bitching another American athlete out for not doing well enough. Bob Costas spent about five minutes torturing Sash Cohen with various versions of the same question, which went something like "Silver medal aside, aren't you really just a big loser for not winning the gold and won't you regret it for the rest of your life?" Then Julia Mancuso won a surprise gold in the slalom, and all the NBC interviewer wanted to talk about was the "controversy" over her toy tiara. I was really hoping that Bode Miller would show up at the closing ceremonies in Mancuso's tiara, just to give the talking heads the finger one last time. When did sports and fun become mutually exclusive?
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No Narcissists?
[Read the article: Oscar castrates himself]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cintra must have missed Robert Altman's speech. Near the end of a pretty boring, standard thank-you, he said that he was living on borrowed time, because he'd had a heart transplant about 10 years ago. Then he said that the donor was, he thought, a 39-year-old woman. Obviously the woman is now dead, so the transplant must have been pretty tragic for the donor and her family. Did Altman mention this? No! He didn't thank her or her family, didn't even mention her name! He just crowed that now he would be around for a long time! It was an awesomely horrible moment, and definitely put a capital "N" in Narcissicist. Thank you, Robert Altman.
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Many Could Challenge Law
[Read the article: Can we save Roe by ignoring South Dakota?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's an interesting idea, but it won't work. It assumes that Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations can control the timing of a challenge to the law, but they can't. Any woman or doctor whose behavior is criminalized by the law could challenge it on constitutional grounds. As soon as S.D. starts enforcing the law, someone being prosecuted under it will challenge it.
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Cheney in 2008
[Read the article: Why Cheney won't go]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"'I didn't ask for this job,' Cheney said. 'I didn't campaign for it. I got drafted.'" What?! As I recall, Bush put Cheney in charge of the search for his running mate, and Cheney chose himself! Cheney has spent his entire life pursuing power. Not only will he not resign, but I'm betting that he runs for President in 2008. And even then, he will claim that he doesn't really want to be President, he's just responding to the entreaties of all those faithful Republicans who are begging him to run. They're not begging yet, but they will be soon, because someone will let them know that it's time to commence pleading for more Dick, loudly and publicly.
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Not Deductible
[Read the article: Charity begins at home]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If Mrs. Bush placed that kind of restriction on her gift, then the gift is not deductible, because it is not "charitable," according to the definition under federal tax law. Of course, Mrs. Bush is probably not at risk of being audited. However, this little episode again demonstrates that the Bushes (1) have no shame, and (2) are completely surrounded by yes-men and nitwits (i.e., any moderately skilled accountant or tax lawyer would have put a stop to such a pathetic scheme).