Letters to the Editor

• LW's fears are based on experience

  [Read the article: At what point can I just give up on my son?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  The Grandmother raises a lot of red flags.

  1) None of her other sons and daughters will speak with her.

  2) She's a religious fundamentalist.

  3) She undermines his mother's authority and teaches her grandson to disrepect her mother.

  4) She is brain-washing him with religion dogma.

  5) She has not been a successful mother herself. Look at the results of her family relationships!

  It seems that this grandmother has a history of manipulation and opportunistic behaviour. When LW was 19, still a teenager for all intents and purposes, she garnered control of her daughter again. Now, I recognize the value and generousity of what she did to help out her pregnant young daughter, but could there be something more selfish going on? Is the grandmother a control freak? Is this why her other sons and daughters won't speak to her now? They found freedom from her and are extremely angry? And perhaps the only way she retained control of LW, is because of her circumstance and need when she was 19?

  And now LW wants to get away from her mother, but the mother has dug her nails into her son, and won't let go. She found someone else to manipulate and control, and her psyche may need it. I have met these religious dogmatic people before. And the most ironic thing about them, is that through religious fundamentalism, they revert to a place of egoism and do not use religion to transcend. These people are selfish, extreme and unreasonable.

  This story goes back to the relationship between LW and her mother. The son is a pawn in their painful relationship. LW needs to assert herself and get her son away from this situation. This is for the good of the son, and the good of her family. Her mother has shown that she cannot sustain healthy relationships with people she cannot control.

  Many commentators have said being away or sent away can be a good thing, and I agree, but boarding school or camp is a lot different climate and nurturing environment than a controlling religious grandmother who wants to take her son away from his mother. This is almost like a V.C. Andrews book with the evil grandmother, LOL, 'Flowers of the Attic' style. Who knows what sort of subverted methods she uses to control her grandson. She won't return phone calls or even bother to update her daughter on how her son is doing. The son is mirroring the behaviour of the grandmother, so you cannot blame him. It's time to get him away from this model of behavior.

  I wish CT had done more on advising her about her options rather than just validating a path to pursue. LW needs to get her son back on the West Coast and to severe her relationship with her mother. She has abused that relationship for too long.

  I wonder, what is LW's relationship with her siblings? Could they be part of the support system she needs? Once they hear that she wants to cut ties with their mother as well, perhaps that is the validation they need to help her? They may resent LW now for maintaining a relationship with her mother because it has been convenient for her in helping raise her son, despite her dysfunctionality. Understanding that LW has come to the same realizations they have, may open doors. She never mentioned her relationship with them...I wonder what that is like?

  If she can garner their support, I wonder if they can be involved in orchestrating the reassertion of her son. He obviously responds well to group-think. If he heard testimonials from his family about how screwed up his grandmother is, perhaps he will be half-convinced that it is better for him to go. Over time, he will hopefully figure out that he came close to living a life that closes opportunity, rather than promotes them.

  This boy probably doesn't feel loved by his family so he wants to be with his grandmother. The typical family is inter-generational, however sometimes it becomes fractured beyond repair. This family can become a new support system of brothers and sisters, leaving their grandmother to her own devices. Showing him that strength, and how they all care for him, would do a lot to prove that he is loved and cared for by many people.

  AS for LW, it seems that she has been negligent in showing strength and desire to be with her son. She has to step up to the plate and prove to him that she wants him. She needs to stop showing waffling behaviour and be strong.

  Permalink Friday, June 9, 2006 12:05 PM

• Ann Coulter is an Asshole

  [Read the article: Ann Coulter, a profile in courage]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  To explain the phenomenon of Ann Coulter (the Asshole), the GOP (the Dicks) and the Dems (the Pussies), please read this brilliant soliloquy by Gary, a Team America agent and marionette.

  Dicks

  written by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Pam Brady

  Gary (on stage at Kim Jong Il's FAG dinner): We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks! And the Film Actors' Guild!.. are pussies. And Kim Jong Il!.. is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks!.. because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes. Assholes who just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way, but the only thing that can fuck an asshole... is a dick... with some balls. The problem with dicks is that sometimes they fuck too much, or fuck when it isn't apporoporate, and it takes a pussy to show 'em that. But sometimes pussies get so full of shit that they become assholes themselves. Because pussies are only an inch and a half away from assholes. I don't know much in this crazy, crazy world, but I do know that if you don't let us fuck this asshole, we are gonna have our dicks and our pussies... all covered in shit.

  Permalink Friday, June 9, 2006 12:36 PM