Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 187 Editor's Choice: 1
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But first, a quibble!
[Read the article: Work sucks? Blame her!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is not a Boston Globe editorial, and it is not an article. It is an op-ed piece. It was not written by any of their regular columnists, but by an outside columnist. So it in no way represents any sort of official opinion, nor is it a case of "the man" trying to assign blame to women or feminism.
I read the piece, and I disagreed with the thrust of it. However...
There is the law of supply and demand. With more women in the work force, there is greater labor supply, therefore downward pressure on wages, for all workers. If half the workforce, of whichever sex, stayed home for the next year to take care of their kids, pay would very quickly rise.
This is a largely a blue collar vs. white collar issue, although that is becoming less true with time. Office workers are working many many uncompensated hours. Not so with the trades. I first noticed this in the 1980s, when I was working in a printing shop. We did a lot of the work for local businesses: publishers, PR firms, all kinds of stuff. We had regular breaks and left at 5:00. The office workers had mandatory working lunches where they paid for their own pizza, unpaid overtime, mandatory neetings. Yes, a lot of those workers were women, and young just-out-of-college women in particular. They were given titles instead of money, status instead of cash. This was the beginning of the era of "associates", "co-ordinators" and the like. Put the word "project" in front of anything and suddenly, you are not a "worker" anymore, are you? I saw the same thing when I worked on the killing floor of an insurance claims company. Assembly line workers with computers instead of hammers, but they were all "associates" or some such. Take a look at your own work -- are you really a superviosry employee? What would it mean if you were not? Would you be willing to trade the status for the cash? Get paid all that lovely overtime? Become a steelworker in a pantsuit or suit-and-tie?
As someone above mentioned, this is not so much a woman’s issue as a labor issue.
As I like to say, the Family Values folks value families so much they want them all working as many hours as possible.
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Salon 1999
[Read the article: The best-laid plans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Carina Chocano and Cintra Wilson when she was funny.
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Glib and aloof
[Read the article: Why John Edwards hasn't endorsed Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is going to be a big issue for Obama in the general. Obama has the AUDACITY to HOPE, after all. Whatsamatter, don't YOU have the audacity to hope??
If he comes across as so "I'm much better, smarter, more moral than you" it will be a big turn-off to a lot of folks in the middle. Audacity is such a 50-cent word. Americans don't like to be reminded that you are so much smarter than them. Bill Clinton's pizza slob affect was part of what made him appealing to the middle, despite the Rhodes Scholarship policy wonkery.
Too bad Richardson endorsed Obama. It will make it impossible for him to be Clinton's VP, should she by some miracle win the nomination.
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The problem lies at the top of page two
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The first letter on the second page. Read it.
An Open Letter To Those Who Need To Hear It:
Read that letter. The attitude expressed is what is wrong with the left, the Democratic party, far too many so-called "liberals", and a good chunk of alleged progressives, and may well be what costs Obama the general.
It is why a good chunk of America hates your guts. It is why Limbaugh and Michael Savage have such huge audiences. It is "What's the matter with Kansas?" It is why the Republicans have been able to make "liberal" the premier political epithet of our age.
I work in a university, in a technical field, not an academic. There are a thousand little shitbirds who float through here every year with exactly the same type of smug, dismissive attitude displayed in that letter. Some of my co-workers fit that demographic exactly - you might be able to substitute the exact religion - and they hate your fucking guts. Because you are an asshole. Because you look down your nose at them and their Yuengling drinking ways. (BTW, it's WAY better than Bud.) And they know it. And they hate you right back.
They might go bowling. Because they actually like bowling. Or maybe their friends bowl, and it's something to do and a chance to get out of the house on a Wednesday night. Not because, you know, it's like so cute and so retro and you thought it would be cool to go slumming in what you regard as an inferior culture by actually going BOWLING.
You are looking down your nose at them, and they are looking right back at you -- through an upraised middle finger.
You lost this election 20 years ago, you stupid fucks, by being a bunch of smug, know-it-all pricks. I hate you too.
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Take a chill pill, y'all
[Read the article: Why Hillary Clinton should be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Slider is right. If you don't vote for the eventual nominee, you will condemn us all. That goes for both Obama and Clinton supporters -- I've heard the same shrill cries from both camps.
Now, take a look at the map. Obama did well where Romney and Huckabee were strongest. Would either Clinton or Obama win even half those states?
Assuming that Ca and NY go Democratic and Texas goes to the Republicans, then Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Florida and Virginia (went for Obama) become very important for the Democratic candidate. I don't think it's heresy or "bias" to point that out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/primaries/
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Well, Hell's Bells
[Read the article: No, Hillary Clinton shouldn't be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We've got, on the one hand, Inexperienced Skinny Black Guy With Muslim-Sounding Name and, on the other, Woman That Half the Country Loves To Hate.
If electability were the issue, neither one would be anywhere near the nomination.
I'll be voting for either one come November. And you should too.