Letters to the Editor
Herself
Published Letters: 182 Editor's Choice: 17
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Sexism, Racism
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it is interesting that the media and members of the public have managed to hold their racism in check to a greater degree than they have managed to hold their sexism in check. Of course, it could be something else. It could be issues that people have toward their childhood authority figures - the mother, the schoolteacher, the babysitter. Like it or not, we're raised by women. Americans, especially, like to think of themselves as rugged individualists in a wild West with no laws and a six shooter to protect themselves. So, when they are reminded of the kind of personal authority that women held over them as children, they feel put down, infantilized and controlled.
A lot of the negativity sounds like schoolboy taunts - the kind of thing that children say out of earshot of mom, especially the word "cunt". I have not heard non-British men use that word and not its popping up everywhere.
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I guess I did not get the memo?
[Read the article: Ladies, fight rape with ankle bracelets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is rape suddenly a new crime? Is this something that never happened before? No. I did not think so. Truth be told that stranger rape is still very unusual and its usually a boyfriend or male relative. Why is everyone getting so pissy all of a sudden about something that's been happening since before we were people? What's with these "highly publicised" rapes that are so different than the countless ones that happen every day? Women can do what they have always done - carry a rat tail comb and poke the mofo in the eye. Odds are that she'll not have to use it. I think this is another Media Kerfluffle to frighten us. Nothing like keeping the population good and frightened in order to push some weird-assed agenda that makes us poorer and less free. There is no technological fix for this kind of crime (other than self defense) and it is arrogant and stupid of men to think that there is a woo-woo technological fix for it. I think that's the problem. Let us take care of ourselves and our own and don't turn it into some kind of money-making or Big Brotherish scheme.
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Driver's License?
[Read the article: So long, Canada]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What if you are blind? Also, not everyone can pony up the money to get all the certificates and paperwork to get a passport. This is such steaming horseshit.
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How's Mass Transit In Turkey?
[Read the article: Who pays the most for gas?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just wondering...
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Suggestion
[Read the article: My Laughing Buddha is smirking]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Replace the baby heads with Barbie heads. Or leave them headless and take some red nail polish and paint the stumpy necks. Did I mention I am still single?
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The Explanation is Simple
[Read the article: This little piggy was hideously mangled]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Someone wants to use this "news" as a way to make money. Ooga booga! Now, step into my office, I will "treat" you, and you will pay me a fee.
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Hoofstock
[Read the article: Where's the girl horse?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope someday that children won't have to root for the "girl horse", because the horses won't be run to death for the bettors' pleasure. I hope someday that horses will be animals who are not run to death, but ridden with mutual pleasure, enjoyed as historical icons, and treated kindly as little girls' large pets.
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Bonobos or Chimps?
[Read the article: Michael Wolff on sex and the Dems]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We have a lot of DNA in common with them. Are we the constantly groping, humpy sorts, engaged in a lot of bonding via frottage? Or are we the violent, forceful types, beaten down by large silverbacked males, supported by their large alpha females. Hard to tell. I learned a lot about people with my flickr account. I have a lot of photos up. A bunch are of the freeway overpass that melted when a gas truck blew up. That got lots of hits. The rest of my photos are of pets, landscapes and zoo animals. The one that gets the most hits of all the animal photos has "mating behavior" as part of the title.
We primates are sex obsessed, and no one does it like Americans. Israel had Golda Meir. Ireland's had two female presidents. The Brits have the Queen and had Thatcher. There was Benazir Bhutto and Indira Ghandi. I don't recall a lot of handwringing about their sex lives, tho I did like the UN picture where the president of Ireland wore a sassy red suit that really made her stand out.
I'd hate to think we are still lumbering, ball sniffing apes in this country and that our president will be chosen, based on some stereotypes of "post sexual" (my shiny white ass) women or men fantasizing about getting some arm candy with that hip replacement. But, I would not be surprised.
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Conflict
[Read the article: Are women bad at friendship?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Novelists and screenwriters know that conflict sells. Conflict is interesting. Why is this news? Why is the focus suddenly about women? There are tons of movies and stories about men in conflict. Why not women? In real life, things are a lot more nuanced.
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Hmmm
[Read the article: Quote of the day: Mildred Loving ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Read the whole story and you discover that she was 11 years old and he was 17 when they started dating. That sort of put a strange spin on the whole thing for me...
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Your Mileage May Vary
[Read the article: Are laptop PCs the environmentally correct choice?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I tend to use my laptops for about 7 or so years. Of course, I use them to read email and surf the web and maybe play games. If I wanted to use Word, I'd just let it age with the computer. Its not like I need all those weird new macros and ooh ahh features they add to software. (The real reason they add stuff to software is some senior engineer wants job security or some marketing person is high on Red Bull and narcissism.) The batteries tend to be useless, so I take them out, put them on a shelf and plug the computer in to the wall. When I am not using a laptop, its turned off. It amazes me how people leave them on, enticing .ru script kiddies into zombifying their machines.
Most people don't upgrade their towers. They put them in the garage and buy new ones, so that's a nice argument in Nerdland, but most people could not be bothered. Many "civilians" I know are so hands off that they have to call up the "Geek Squad" to clean up their messes when they click on the wrong link.