Letters to the Editor
lonewolfy
Published Letters: 468 Editor's Choice: 20
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But W.E.S. -
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If Dungy elected to kick the chipshot field goal on 4th down - and played the odds that his D could stop 3 runs from the Chargers' backup RB (which is what happened) - then Manning and his offense would not have had to march 70 yds down the field for their final drive.
They would only have had to move the ball, say 35-40 yards or so to get in Vinateri's range for the game-winning field goal. 35-40 yards is a lot more feasible time-wise and completion-wise; plus, the Chargers defense would have needed to defend both the short- and the long-gain plays a lot more tightly, as opposed to just playing an aggressive "prevent" defense.
Of course, the Indy offense might still have stalled the same way; but, IMO, Dungy should have taken the essentially automatic 3 points and not gone for the TD on 4th down.
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Making the workplace more "parent-friendly" is fine...
[Read the article: Goldilocks and the three mothers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...as long as the policies are not unfair (and do NOT overburden) single and/or childless co-workers!
A couple of co-workers at my current workplace are mothers of young kids who work under "Flex Time" options. Here, the system functions beautifully: the moms still get their jobs done, get to create their own schedule, and their coworkers don't bear the brunt of having to do extra "missed" work.
HOWEVER - at my previous job, it was the complete opposite: several moms (and at least one dad) would take every opportunity to use the "I need to go do (kid-related task)" to escape from work...leaving the other kids-free employees like myself with arseloads of extra crap to complete.
So all I am saying is: parent-friendly policies should have checks and balances - because there ALWAYS is gonna be someone who abuses the system, to the detriment of their coworkers!
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Male abortion-related PTSD is silly, of course...BUT
[Read the article: Hey, wait -- that's my abortion!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There always remains one troubling issue with unplanned pregnancy to me:
It is solely the woman's choice whether or not to abort. Legally, the man has no say in the decision.
Fair enough, it seems - but IF the mother chooses to keep the baby, then the man is required to share the burden of expenses, etc. in raising the child - even though he had no say in the matter.
In other words: the would-be father has no legal right to be involved in whether or not the fetus should be aborted - but if the mother chooses to have the kid, he's on the bill for at least half of the expenses (if not more, given their respective financial situations)!
This strikes me as wrong - rights and responsibilities should be as close to balanced as possible. Of course, in reality there seems to be no way to do this...
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SOLUTIONS?
I do not believe giving the father equal choice as the mother in decisions concerning abortion will help. If anything, it will be seized upon by rabid pro-lifers - and/or lead to a whole lot of protracted court cases.
Maybe this alternative might work: If a woman plans to keep an unplanned baby, and the baby's father did not agree/would have chosen abortion instead, then legally he should not have any responsibility since he played NO role in the choice.
But again, this solution is problematic - there are so many deadbeat dads out there as it is, and believe they and their ilk would abuse the hell outta solution 2.
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So there may be no good solution to the dilemma facing men who are involved in an unplanned pregnancy. I suppose all we can do is wear condoms, use as much spermicide as possible, ask(or demand?) that our female partners use a contraceptive approach they are comfortable with - and hope for the best.
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@ Dana & Steph
[Read the article: Hey, wait -- that's my abortion!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What you said is certainly reasonable; it is the flip side of the argument that primarily concerns me.
That is, a woman (who btw, is under no legal obligation to even hear the opinions or position of the man - or, for that matter, even to inform him that she is pregnant) who is pregnant with an unplanned baby chooses to NOT have an abortion. The man with whom she conceived would want her to have an abortion - for any or all of the usual reasons: financial status, age (teenagers), and so on.
Because the choice to have or not have the baby is solely hers - and because he is legally obligated to provide child support - the reluctant father must find time and money to give to the mother and to the child that he did not wish to have.
As I said in my previous post, I do not know that there is an alternative that is fairer to the man in this situation (without compromising the woman's rights).
But that does not mean it is not a troublesome issue; it often makes me wary about (trusting in) contraceptive use by female partners, since a condom (even with spermicide) is not 100% guaranteed.
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You forgot to ask the most important question:
[Read the article: Virgin Galactic unveils SpaceShipTwo tourist spacecraft]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On a $200k flight, will a bag of peanuts be complimentary or extra charge??
{If it's anything like the current airline climate, I'm guessing it's going to be answer 2. =)
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By the way: PBS has been airing an excellent series on the history of commercial aviation called "Chasing the Sun":
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/
SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo may indeed become - like the Graf Zeppelin, DC-3, Comet, Pan Am Clipper flying boats, X-1 and the 747 before it - one of the legendary icons of the sky...
We've flown a long way, baby.
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Not to turn into a frothy fanboy or anything...=)
[Read the article: Blood on the streets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...but yes, Chuck P rocks my world too!
I haven't read "Choke" yet (but with the movie coming out, it's next on my list) - but "Invisible Monsters", "Haunted" and "Rant" were all bloody amazing - ingenious satirical dark comedy at its very best.
Palahniuk has a light touch with his revelations that Bret Easton Ellis, talented as he is, could never quite attain.
Cheers,
His name was Robert Paulson