Letters to the Editor
Hairhead
Published Letters: 4 Editor's Choice: 1
-
Tony is completely consistent, and this episode is only shocking, not surprising . .
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: Uncomfortably numb]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Look three years ago when Tony found out Michael's smack habit and confronted him, Tony held Michael's head gently in his big hand and said, "If you wasn't my nephew, I'd a whacked you already."
Tony killing Christopher is completely consistent with his previous character, actions, and statements. Christopher admitting he is high and holding was a death sentence, in Tony's mind, quite reasonably so. His instincts and his experience tell him a junkie is inherently unreliable and will always be capable of being turned. Christopher was already on the point of ratting; in the screwed-up world of the Mafia, Christopher left Tony no choice.
Others have expressed surprise at Tony's killing Michael instead of letting him die naturally, or calling the ambulance. Look, Tony is the CEO of his own little operation, and he won his place at CEO by being able to synthesize many facts quickly and making executive decisions under pressure, and very fast. His murder of Tony was expeditious, once he had made the decision, because any waiting left him (Tony) open to danger from Michael.
I don't think Chase is telling the audience that we're scum; I think he is simply following the inevitabilities written into the story long since -- the inevitabilities mediated, of course, by the unpredictabilities of life (car crashes, illnesses, infatuations, and similar arbitrary whimsicalities which affect the determinism of our characters and past lives).
-
Let's talk brass tacks -- money, time, and treatment in a specific case -- and compare
[Read the article: "Sicko"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am a Canadian, and here's my story. Okay, two months ago I was out running in the early morning, caught my foot in a protruding tree root and hit the sidewalk with some violence: both knees scraped, both palms, left hand knuckles scraped down to the bone, bruise on my face, and what seemed to be a broken arm. Those are the injuries.
Following are the times and cost.
1) It happened at 6:30 am. I walk back home, clean myself up a bit, wait until 8:45 and head for the doctor's office.
2) Office opens at 9:00, I see the doctor at 9:30. He sends me down the street for x-rays.
3) By 10:30, I have had my elbow x-rayed in 6 different (painful) positions.
4) By 10:45, I am advised to go to St. Joseph's emergency room, where they are expecting me. They give me the x-rays to take with me.
5) I get to St. Joe's, am seen by the admitting nurse in 10 minutes, asked two minutes of questions, mostly about who my contacts are in case I should have a fit, go unconscious, or whatever.
6) I see a doctor at 11:30. He confirms I have a broken elbow and gives me a treatment plan. Then a nurse comes, disinfects and binds all of my wounds. She gives me two slings and a package of bandages to take home with me.
7) At noon I am back home, bruised, but treated.
Cost out of pocket: zero
Times I showed my medical card: zero (they had me on file at the doctor's office and simply sent the info ahead to the other care providers.)
What I want to know from one of the Americans in the thread is: how much would it have cost you and how long would it have taken you to get the treatment I got. I'm asking this in all sincerity because I have NO idea what the American medical is like.
-
A Disappearing Border?
[Read the article: Hey, at least he didn't call it "America Junior"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't hold your breath, Gillian, it's not going to happen, simply because the cultural differences between Canada and the U.S. are becoming greater all of the time. Try reading "Fire and Ice", which measures how much farther apart the populations of the U.S. and Canada are in things like religiousity, education, healthcare, etc. Oh, and we (Canadian citizens) still vote in large enough numbers that a self-appointed elite won't impose it on us.
Fasten your seatbelts, the next few years are going to be a bumpy ride.
-
GREAT LAKES WATER
[Read the article: How to solve America's water problems]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Um, I notice that neither the article nor any of the letters so far have mentioned one little obstacle to directing the Great Lakes water south.
Want a hint?
Neighbour to the north. Your biggest trading partner. 2nd-biggest country in the world by land area.
Yes. Canada co-owns four out of the five Great Lakes, and because the lakes cross both our piddly national boundaries, the entire drainage basin is actually a shared responsibility and a shared resource.
There's not going to be any draining of the Great Lakes simply because that project might kill the entire heartland of Canada, and as not-Americans, we have interests which are not American.
Not going to happen.
There's going to have to be conservation, limits on growth, and other such things.