Letters to the Editor
Susan Wood
Published Letters: 379 Editor's Choice: 27
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Tyler_Mason, "access" has been tried.
[Read the article: McCain gets donuts; Obama gets likened to a terrorist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Remember Al Gore, chatting with reporters in the wee hours of the morning Air Force 2 during the 2000 campaign? He offhandedly mentioned, as an amusing but not very important anecdote, that he'd gone to college with Erich Segal, who had identified him as one of the models for the preppie character of Oliver in Love Story. That, as it happened, was true, although Gore mistakenly said (quoting a newspaper article) that Tipper was also a model for the character of Jennie. Well, we all know what happened: Mowdy Doody, who hadn't been at the interview, combed the transcripts for something of true substance, something revealing of deep, fundamental character issues that could determine who should lead the free world. Environment? A snooze. Economy? Boooo-ring. Foreign policy? Strictly for wonks. An offhand reference to a celebrity acquaintance and a movie? BINGO!
This is what happens if the script is already written and journalists are just intent on pounding the candidates into the roles that have already been chosen for them. McCain is the Macho Man who is Strong on Foreign Policy, so that if he's flummoxed into incoherence by a cordial but challenging question from a 16 year old, he's a valiant warrior dealing with "incoming" from a "heckler." Obama could rescue an old lady from a flood and be accused of pandering to the AARP vote.
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Who you gonna believe, us or your own eyes?
[Read the article: Media hypocrites love personality politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This may not be the most important aspect of the media obsession with superficial appearances, but it's one of the most infuriating: even when physical appearance is in the wrong guy's favor, they turn it against him. John Kerry is noticeably taller than George Bush, which is one reason why little Georgie stamped his feet and held his breath till he turned blue about having to stand at a lectern too close to him during the debates. So how did the press play it? Over and over again we heard that he "looks like Lurch" on the old Addams Family series. And of course he "looks French," whatever on God's earth that may mean. I've traveled in France many times and have yet to identify a typically "French" physical type. And Hillary Clinton is ugly because of her hip size, although photographs of her side by side with Laura Bush show that Laura has exactly the same physique. Any mention of Laura's jeans size anywhere in the media? (Crickets).
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"If you're uncomfortable with it, change the rules or don't run for office."
[Read the article: The harmony between the Right and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Changing the rules sounds like an excellent suggestion, and Obama might just be the man to do it. After Hillary's disgraceful performance with the so-called "bittergate" nonsense, I'll never vote for her for anything, although I did sympathize with her when she was on the receiving end of the same kind of nonsense. Well, "I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn/People to whom evil is done do evil in return." The "liberal" media is so paralyzed with Stockholm syndrome that I think it just needs to be institutionalized and fed oatmeal with plastic spoons for the rest of its life.
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I wonder what's happened to some of the old phone scams?
[Read the article: Loves walks on the beach and ... money laundering]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Caller ID has driven them off the telephone lines, but they've got to be around in some cyber form. Here's one that was tried on me a couple of times in the old pre-caller ID days:
"Hello!" Pause in the hopes that you'll think you recognize a voice, and provide the guy with a name. If you don't read the script the way he wants you to, and instead say "Who is this?" he'll say "Guess." If you still won't take the bait, he'll say, "This is Bill," and then, hurrying on before you have a chance to ask for a last name, "and I was talking to an old girlfriend of yours who's moved away, and she wanted to know how you were. And by the way, she knows a guy who's just moved into your area and she'd love for you to meet him, and . . . "
The first guy who tried this on me read his script so ineptly that I thought it was supposed to be a joke, and finally he hung up in frustration. The second guy was a bit better rehearsed, but unfortunately for him, I now recognized the script, and so as soon as I heard the words "an old girlfriend who lives far away . . . " I immediately asked "Really? What was her name, and where does she live now?" After that, his spiel pretty much disintegrated, although he did pointedly show me that he knew my name and address (probably from some envelope he'd scavenged from the trash. It's not hard to figure out that a woman is single if all the bills are addressed to her).
Old scams never die, of course, they just mutate like viruses. So let me just put this information out there -- if anyone claims to be contacting you on behalf of an old girlfriend, just ask him to give you her name and e-mail address so that you can contact her yourself. You won't hear from him again.
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Exclusive video footage of the reporters from the "Straight-Talk Express!"
[Read the article: It goes well beyond the Keating Five]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hX_l1I6kI
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Why not duct tape?
[Read the article: Does that Vera Wang come in two-ply?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Every now and then, doesn't the duct tape industry challenge high school kids to design prom gowns out of duct tape? The kids come up with some absolutely brilliant solutions. This could really add some much-needed fun and humor to the wedding preparation process.
You can blame Queen Victoria for all this, you know. Before her marriage to Prince Albert, brides just wore their Sunday-best dresses, no matter what color, and didn't buy special clothes for the occasion. Royal marriages, however, usually involved cloth of gold or silver, obviously beyond the budget of commoners. But then Victoria, who was getting married during an economic crisis, decided it would be unseemly to spend a fortune on cloth of silver, so she went with white linen dress. And badda boom, badda bing, something that every bride could afford, a brand new tradition, and one that led directly to white cloth dresses that cost a heckuvalot more than that cloth of silver would have cost Victoria.