Letters to the Editor
SueNJ97
Published Letters: 175 Editor's Choice: 4
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@Apegirl and Amtrack
[Read the article: So long, Canada]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know about Amtrack buses, I've never run across them in this part of the country, but it's interesting that the border officials believe you have to be desperate and poor to take the train. I've always preferred it going from NY to DC no matter what my financial status, but now it's becoming the choice of many business people who used to fly between DC and NY and NY and Boston because it generally gets there on time (not a big feature of the airlines these days), doesn't require that you get there hours early to get through security and although it's still more expensive than it should be for the Metroliner or the Acela higher fuel costs have made it worthwhile when you take everything into account compared to the airlines.
Except for the quiet car (which I prefer, for this reason), Amtrack will let them chat on their cell phones during the entire trip. The airlines won't. They can have their laptop open the entire trip, not just when the airline tells then they can. Overall, it makes more sense for them. I'd love to see some security official try and treat these folks like second class citizens. However, you don't cross anything but state borders on these trips and the security check boarding the train is a very quick one.
Unfortunately, although the increased ridership is keeping the NE corridor profitable, it's not enough to make Amtrack, overall, a profitable enterprise.
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@anonyme and Maine as a Province of Canada
[Read the article: So long, Canada]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not a bad idea. My parents go to Ogunquit every year, they have moved it to September as the crowds tend to be smaller and, especially, since Dubya has been in the White House, you never know when he will show up in the summer and drag some foreign guest to WP and then everything in that part of the state comes to a complete standstill, but he doesn't go that late in the year. Question - would Canada be evicting the Bush family from WP and turning it into one of those Canadian Heritage resorts???
I might actually move to Maine....
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National polls now probably don't mean anything
[Read the article: Tight race in Guam caucuses]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We really don't know what will happen in November, with either match-up, unless someone has time-travelled to November, returned, and can tell us all the news. Please remember that Kerry was up about 11 pts over Shrub in July 2004, and lost in November.
As an example of how things can change, I turn your attention to what just happened in Britain. Several months ago, Gordon Brown was thinking of calling national elections, he felt he was in a strong enough position to do so. He then decided not to do so. Friday, England and Wales went to the polls in their local elections, for council seats and also the London Mayoral elctions were held.
If you look at things on a 'national' basis, the Tories got 44% of the vote, the Liberal Dems got 25% of the vote and Labour came in third with 24% of the vote and lost over 300 council seats. They also lost the race for Mayor of London, where Boris Johnson, considered a desperation candidate around the holidays when Cameron approached him, and tied with Livingston in the polls about a month ago, beat Ken Livingston in the highest turnout yet in a mayoral election since the post was re-created in 2000. Johnson was considered a joke when he first announced. He won.
You just don't know what will happen. I suggest that, really, unless someone has time-travelled, everyone stop with the predictions, on both sides.
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The same campaign can make the same mistake - several times
[Read the article: New concerns about Women's Voices. Women Vote]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been contacted by the Obama campaign for campaign contributions 6 times since November. The last time was a few days ago. I asked them not to call me again each and every time. They say they won't and then they call again. I realize that they are a not-for-profit so the do not call list doesn't work but once they have called and you have told them not to call they are supposed to stop calling you. I don't know what the issue is, but it is either a mistake or they have decided to ignore my requests.
I haven't contacted the Direct Marketing Association because I really, really don't want to do so but I don't understand why they cannot honor a simple request not to call anymore. I'm not contributing, to anyone.
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I'm for this one
[Read the article: Bob Barr to run for president]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I won't vote for him.
But, I'm for it for three reasons.
First, it has real, true, entertainment value potential, including the possible ones cited above.
Second, although I really wish Barr had believed enough in privacy to stay out of other people's sex lives, it does remind people that the privacy rights some of us still value weren't a fable - Barr, to some extent, comes off as more rational than Paul because, rather than becoming a Republican after years of being a Libertarian (and being associated with publishing some of their crazier stuff), he has actually quit the Republican Party in disgust to become a Libertarian.
Also, it may draw some of the old-style Republicans who just aren't going to vote Democratic, no matter what (the people who actually believe it's more likely that the gov't is going to deny you a life-saving operation because you are "too old" as Barr says on his site, than the for-profit insurance companies are just going to to keep denying everyone as much care as possible, or just coverage, because they have stockholders and Wall Street to answer to) away from McCain. Can't really hurt.
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Well, there are people who need the jobs building the fence...
[Read the article: How to stop illegal Canadian immigration]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But, really, this is just ridiculous. Who is going to shop in our northern malls now if we make it even more difficult for Canadians to cross the border after demanding that they all get passports?