Letters to the Editor
Quiet Type
Published Letters: 656 Editor's Choice: 32
-
A couple of tips:
[Read the article: "Sicko"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm self-employed with major medical only, and I keep my blood pressure down by adjusting my expectations and view of my so-called health insurance: I have decided it's my "hedge fund" against catastrophic illness or injury, and thus I can more cheerfully see it as an investment.
I'm on my own otherwise. So I go to the doctor as little as possible (I don't shock people by telling them just how little that is), pay in full on that rare visit (because sometimes you can get a break when you pay them immediately, especially hospitals) and I stay as healthy as I possibly, possibly can.
And I hold my breath (easier for me than for smokers, anyway).
P.S. to readers: Seriously, try that pay-in-full thing. Billing departments of hospitals can be pretty accommodating. When I had tendinitis, the hospital offered to shave off about 25 percent of the charge if I'd put it on my credit card. If I were the more haggling type, I think I could have done even a bit better. (Ahem, pay that credit card off in full, too, or you won't have gained anything.)
-
Who did the "discussing"?
[Read the article: Should I invite my difficult friends to the in-laws' lake house?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The LW writes: "She has been pressing me to meet up at my in-laws' vacation home, something that had been discussed before her wedding."
Something that had been discussed? What's up with the passive tense? Did you invite her, or didn't you?
If you did, good luck rescinding the invitation. You're just going to have to keep putting her off til September. Or warn the in-laws that these two aren't a barrel of fun, and just take the visit for what it is. (It could be better than you think.)
If you didn't invite her, and the "had been discussed" was all on her part, you don't owe her anything. People who invite themselves to things deserve the subsequent silence.
(I know your trepidation is mostly due to the husband, but I'm curious how spending time with anybody you label as "pushy" would be something you'd want to do.)
-
Why we can't "just say no"
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We are most definitely a nation of co-dependents, pathetically addicted to the addict. But there's one more thing: Impeaching Bush means President Cheney -- not that we don't have that right now, but facing that particular truth is far too painful for any co-dependent-in-denial to handle.
So instead we all pretend that Bush World is about to end anyway, re-directing our focus to the candidates for the next election. Only problem is, an actual new presidency is almost two years away. God protect us all -- Iraqis, too, folks! --from what can happen in that time.
-
Sunny Satan
[Read the article: Tinky Winky says bye-bye to Jerry Falwell]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just want to know what that big scary Satan-in-the-Sun had to say, or did he just giggle a lot?
-
What a prize.
[Read the article: I feel terrible about leaving but I have to go]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It sounds like you never even particularly liked this guy, but for four years have been more than willing to gobble up the good things in life he was able to provide for you. Now you find yourself sometimes wishing something bad would happen to him, because he's too damn cheerful and just so spoiled. Ugh. Memo to Bill: Run.
-
Scare tactics
[Read the article: When Democrats collapse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Carter was always a spineless worm of the first order, but his reversal was so swift and so, I don't know, FEARFUL, that I have seriously considered that the man may have been threatened. I wish I were kidding.
-
Anonymous: Retraction was NOT in the back pages
[Read the article: When Democrats collapse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous, I wish I could agree with you -- but this is one retraction that got MUCH more coverage than the original statement. As usual, Bush comes out looking like the strong, "decisive" one, and Democrats look like self-doubting fools.
I'm a Democrat, but boy am I having trouble keeping the faith.
-
Just be kind.
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]LW, your daughter spent 4 years with a no-goodnik, so her dying step-dad probably has become plenty cynical about her taste in men. And he's a dying step-dad who needs to conserve his energy just for living, not for getting to know the new (likely temporary, in his eyes) boyfriend.
This is not about you at all. What it IS about is just being gracious to this man, because if you seriously think your girlfriend is the one for life, a lifetime of no regrets or recriminations concerning her family would be a very nice thing.
-
Oopsie
[Read the article: My girlfriend's stepfather is a real a-hole ... and a dying man]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oops - sorry, LW - of course I meant your girlfriend, not your daughter. (I guess I'm expecting to hear from her step-dad or something!)
-
Reality bites.
[Read the article: Stalking Dr. House]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am the anti-Googler. I wish to know absolutely nothing about Laurie the real person, but only to swim around in the strange purple intoxicating jello that is House's psyche.
-
Another Prozac Nation
[Read the article: After everything we did for them]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"About three-fourths of Iraqis report feelings of anger, depression and difficulty concentrating."
Seeing as they've addicted just about as many Americans as they're going to be able to, Big Pharma must be drooling. We may not be able to win their hearts, dammit, but their minds are ours!
-
Not sold.
[Read the article: "Knocked Up"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A friend asked me if I wanted to go see this movie. I passed. I've seen a few reviews of it now, and it appears to me to be as relentlessly formulaic in its alleged anti-formula as any other push-button American comedy. She's with "E"? They're doing a naked search website? Doc thinks her crotch looks like her sister's? Wow, groundbreaking stuff. (Plus, I can't stand Heigl's alleged acting in "Grey's Anatomy.") I'm with the folks who go to Turner Classic Movies when they want to see brainy relationship comedy -- which by the way rarely if ever "fetishized parenthood."
-
Thanks, Swamp Yankee:
[Read the article: "Knocked Up"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry you had to see this movie, but better you than me! You described exactly what I've been assuming after reading several puzzlingly positive reviews. The reviewers seem to have the pathetic gratitude of the starved, ecstatic over the tiniest crumb. How much dumber can movies get and still be hailed as "classic"? Apparently there is no limit.