Letters to the Editor
AKA Smith
Published Letters: 4545 Editor's Choice: 83
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Start with the cats.
[Read the article: I'm ashamed to be ashamed of my father]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For one thing, they're probably sick. Gather them up and take them to the vet and have them evaluated to find out what is causing the diarrhea. After that, you can determine what can be done to help them find their litter boxes. It could be that your father just is not cleaning out the boxes enough for them to want to use them. It could be they need a change in their diets.
Discuss with your father his responsibilities for minimal care for the cats. They're his cats, thus his responsibility.
I do not suggest that you do as much for your father as Cary suggests. You mention your fears of becoming like him. Perhaps you are not really capable of undertaking all these changes at such a distance. It is also important to keep the work you enjoy and which is important to you.
However, you should ask your father about his medical care. It could be he needs a change of medication. The weight gain and the amotivational symdrome could actually be due to his medication. For instance, if he is taking SSRI antidepressants, you need to know that they have a wear off problem in that they lose effectiveness after awhile, and another form of antidepressant may be more useful. Ask your father if you can accompany him to the provider of his psychiatric care and tell the provider what you are observing in terms of your father's difficulties with activities of daily living. You may learn some interesting and useful things that will help you to help your father improve his health. The provider may be able to refer you to a rehabilitation program for your father (sometimes called a PSR) which will help him cope better.
Realistically, your father may allow you to help him with certain things and not allow you to help him with others. Unless you suspect the beginnings of dementia, I do not think that the time has come to consult a lawyer or begin any legal steps other than to ask your father if he would like you to have his durable power of attorney for medical care. Keep in mind that this only allows you to help him out in medical matters. It does not give you access to his finances.
Do not disempower your father. To disempower him is to disrespect him in the worst possible way. He is living on his own, although not to your standards. He is doing better than many other seriously depressed or mentally ill people. Every step you take with him should have the effect of helping him take more responsibility for his own life. Don't abandon him, but don't take over his life.
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"You sound just like a story made up during a "Take Back the Night Rally" - not just a rape victim, but intimate with gang rapists as well!"
[Read the article: District attorney won't take gang rape case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And Anonymous, you sound like someone phishing.
Sorry. You will be no doubt sad to hear that I have never been a rape victim. I have never been to a "Take Back the Night" rally.
I have been a CASA and an advocate for victims of crime, so I have sat in courtrooms and observed rapists. As a CASA, I also interviewed a couple of child rapists and was privy to their psych reports. In work with people with disabilities (also privy to pysch evals), I once had to find employment for an excon who was a rapist, which wasn't easy. Most employers don't want to hire excons.
There now, don't you feel better. I have helped you gather some personal info on me. Feel empowered?
BTW, I feel people that mount spirited defenses of rapists are likely to be rapists (or have that tendency) themselves.
The difference between rapists and strippers is vast, but one difference is that strippers can be generally nice people and rapists never are. Strippers can live lives quite separate from their jobs. Rapists are rapists wherever they go.
Oh, and don't go saying I have mounted a spirited defense of strippers. I think the overwhelming majority of them are making a serious career mistake. It is even harder to find jobs for ex-strippers (if that is all they have done) than it is for excons.
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Interloper:
[Read the article: District attorney won't take gang rape case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1. Intruder 2. Person who interferes in other people's affairs, esp. for profit.
I believe the girls who rescued the girl being assaulted were not interlopers but party guests.
I fail to see what Christianity has to do with any of it.
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Of course
[Read the article: District attorney won't take gang rape case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't include defense attorneys in that assessment. They are just doing their jobs. The legal presumption of innocence within the court system is important.
However, there is no reason that the public cannot come to its own opinion if they are not sworn jurors. I am a great believer in the power of social disapproval and censure.
Clearly something is amiss in the current case under consideration. Whether or not these guys can be convicted in a court of law, if they continued to have sex with the girl after she was unconscious, they are rapists.
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And the public needs to be informed that the term "Unfounded" . . .
[Read the article: District attorney won't take gang rape case]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]does not mean that no crime occurred. It can mean anything from the DA being uncertain to the DA not wanting to risk messing up a conviction record with a case that may be difficult to prosecute.
This is simply the way that it works in the real world.
What makes cases difficult to prosecute? Often it is just public perception or prejudice.
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Look at all the signatures!
[Read the article: The Libby letters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How huge they all are! Now I know I need to start using a large signature if I want to be a big cheese-whiz.
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Timbukton, I cannot agree with you . . .
[Read the article: The Libby letters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]on the A that you give Matalin. Note the grammar error in the fifth paragraph from the bottome when she says "Scooter and I."
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Note my spelling error of "bottome."
[Read the article: The Libby letters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Can I get away with saying Olde English as an excuse?