Letters to the Editor
swanee
Published Letters: 96 Editor's Choice: 21
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Self-Selected Group
[Read the article: Could parenting get any harder?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My kids have spent plenty of time in daycare, more than enough for me to notice one huge, uncontrolled flaw in this study, which is that parents of children with behavioral problems tend to leave those kids in daycare for longer periods of time. In other words, from what I've observed, the behavioral problems begin at home, and then mom and dad leave the problematic kid at daycare for as long as the center will allow. Of course, this usually compounds the problem because the kids are just trying to get the attention of their parents, so they act out even more. These problems are not the result of bad daycare; they're the result of bad parenting.
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Provincial Losers
[Read the article: Matthew Dowd's not-so-miraculous conversion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As one of those "provincial losers" (thanks, Sid) doing time in a state capital, I doubt that any of Dowd's contemporaries in Austin believed for a second that his leap onto the Bush bandwagon was due to Bush's talent for encouraging bipartisanship. At every level of government, Democrats are well aware that working for Republicans leads to more money, better perks and more opportunities down the road. That temptation is always present. Unless one believes that Dowd was clearheaded before 2000, suffered through seven years of temporary insanity, but now can see clearly again (just in time to catch the shift in political winds!), then it's painfully obvious that his switch to Bush in 2000 was just an opportunistic sell-out. Which, of course, makes him a perfect creature of Washington, D.C.
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Don't Underestimate Dick
[Read the article: The GOP's secret weapon?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course Cheney will run. He's spent his entire life pursuing the presidency. Every move he has ever made has been a step toward that goal, and he hasn't failed yet. The other Republicans running are just straw men for him to demolish in the primaries. What real Republican is going to vote for Giuliani, Romney or McCain? They have no one else. And when Cheney runs, he will run the most ruthless, vicious and corrupt campaign the U.S has ever seen. Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 were just dress rehearsals. Are you folks really that confident that he won't pull it off? The surest way to lose a an election is by underestimating the opposition.
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Avoiding Lawsuits?
[Read the article: Ricki Lake's "awesome" vagina]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So doctors just want to "avoid lawsuits" and that's a bad thing? But a lawsuit doesn't just come out of nowhere. Its existence is predicated on an alleged injury to someone, which in these cases would be the mother, baby, or both. So doctors are bad for wanting to avoid causing injury? Fortunately for my family, we just listened to those bad doctors and my wife gave birth twice via cesarean section to two perfectly healthy children, with no complications for anyone. Looking back, I don't believe their bonds could be any stronger, and taking needless risks in order to have the perfect home birth experience just looks foolish and self-indulgent.
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Tony's Sister Barbara
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: "Is this all there is?"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because she left the family business behind, Tony's sister Barbara almost never appears on the show. She shows up for major family events, with her own family, but never says much of anything. She seems to function like a silent rebuke to the rest of them--showing just by example that another life is possible. This week, she appeared at the barbecue at Christopher's house. As usual, she was introduced and then she disappeared from the scene. I haven't always watched the show closely enough to be sure, but I have a feeling that her appearance is a harbinger of death or karma, or both, for the family, and her coming to Christopher's house means that his days are numbered. No surprise there, but it's another great detail from David Chase.
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Harding
[Read the article: The George and Tony show]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Washington? If only Bush would read up on the presidency of Warren G. Harding, then he might learn something relevant to his own administration.
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It's All About the Kids
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: The blood-dimmed tide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Chase is saying that Tony's compartmentalization of his life was always destined to fail, and that this failure will destroy only thing he really values--his children. AJ was almost seduced by the power and violence of his father's world, but in the end just didn't have the stomach for it. The only way out for him is to join up, kill himself or walk away. He's tried the first two and failed; I'm guessing that he ends up succeeding at leaving.
Meadow is the harder case. Like Carmela, she loves the status, power and money that come from being part of Tony's family, but she's deep in denial. She can't give it up, even though she knows it's wrong. But this week is the first time that she's actually made herself complicit in a criminal act. When Tony asked her what had happened to upset her, she held back, knowing that if she told him exactly what had happened, he would have to act. In Tony's world, he could never ignore an intentional insult to his daughter, and she knew it. When he pressed her, she gave in easily, because she wanted him to do something. She wanted revenge. And now she's dating a boy from the neighborhood who clearly has roots in her father's world.
For Tony, these outcomes are disastrous. AJ, his heir, is headed away from the family toward the unknown, and Meadow, whom he tried to completely insulate from his world, is headed directly into it.
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Dems Off Course (Again)
[Read the article: Trying to change the subject?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If anyone is guilty of changing the subject, it's Rep. Cohen. Trashing Regent U. and its law school might be fun, but it's the kind of talk best reserved for Georgetown cocktail parties. The focus should be on Ms. Goodling's actions and recollections. When there are serious issues on the table, it's appalling that we're wasting time on this garbage. It also supports Republican claims of Democratic elitism and hostility towards Christians and their institutions. Most voters didn't even go to college, much less Harvard or Yale, and indulging this kind of mindless snobbery during a congressional hearing only hurts the credibility of Democrats everywhere.