Letters to the Editor
PJBabiba
Published Letters: 29 Editor's Choice: 4
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Rationality does not exist in SC politics
[Read the article: Down and dirty with the GOP down South]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's all about grand-standing, culture wars, and heck, sheer entertainment.
I've covered South Carolina politics, and it's berserko even on the local level. I don't know if it's something in the water, a talent for crazy time passed down through the generations or if churches there radiate something that blasts your brain cells. People there don't use rationality to vote. They vote for Billy Bob because he's "a character," not because the guy might actually have ideas about public policy.
I'm from North Carolina, and the cultural chasm between the two Carolinas could not be greater. North Carolina was the last to secede during the Civil War and wound up losing the most people in battle. Yet somehow we moved on and became a state with booming industries and cultural diversity (in some pockets: The Triangle, Asheville). South Carolina was the first to secede and did not lose nearly as many people as NC did. Yet somehow they still hang a Confederate flag on their capitol building, have a gigantic chip on their shoulder about the war and became the home of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker.
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Geez, get your own life!
[Read the article: Do I have to be a mommy to "opt out"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My family has had our share of interlopers that have created a lot of tension and frustration simply because they have decided to make my family their "cause."
Well you know what? No one should have the burden of satisfying anyone else's life meaning. If before your nieces were born, you wanted to go to a mountain to write a book, you should probably still do so.
It's admirable that all of a sudden, you want to be close to your family. But I find it troubling that in your letter, you omitted the opinions of your sisters and their husbands on what you'd like to do. I also find it troubling that you have hit a mid-30s funk, gotten divorced, grown disillusioned from your career and now all of a sudden want to devote your life to your nieces.
I think it's very transparent that you're trying to fill a void in your own life right now. Why didn't your marriage work out? Do you secretly want to have your own children? What will you do when the kids are grown? Can you try your hand at another career instead of throwing in the towel and resigning yourself to decades of dreary 9-to-5?
Try out the auntie role for six months. Your sisters will appreciate the diaper-changing, the cooking and the babysitting. But don't be surprised if after a while, you start feeling like a servant and you realize that you're embarking on the lifestyle of the perpetual third-wheel. And don't be surprised if your sisters and their husbands (most likely their husbands) start asking why you're around all the time and why you can't get a full-time job.
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Fascinating article
[Read the article: Why I won't stay silent anymore]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been following all the media coverage of the Supreme Court ruling and never was it in my mind to take the religious beliefs of the justices into account. All five are Catholic? Did I read that right?
Thank you for a great article that exposed the school of thought that led these five justices to trample on women's reproductive rights.
Can we just rule out Giuliani as a presidential candidate now? He may be the only Republican candidate who's pro-choice, but I doubt he'd rush to defend women's rights if they were seriously at risk.
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Greed, ignorance, fear
[Read the article: "Sicko"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In my first dentist appointment away from home in New York, the dentist put a camera in my mouth, pointed to a screen and told me that I had five cavities. I balked. Prior to that appointment, I had only had one cavity my entire life. I walked out of that dentist's office and never came back.
Later on, I went to another dentist. He told me my teeth were just fine. And he was right.
That was my first experience with the lack of integrity of some medical professionals and the extent to which they would go to make a buck. This guy outright lied and made up a problem with me that didn't even exist!
My beef with the healthcare system in this country is that there is not more transparency. I don't know how much of that is the direct result of the litigious culture in the U.S. I don't know how we can fix this if we switch to universal healthcare. But I do remember being baffled when I enrolled in an insurance plan at my first job when I realized there is a Zagat guide for the freakin' restaurants in New York, but there is no widely published guide to the doctors and dentists in the city.
Why is that? And why are these medical professionals who are recommending invasive, expensive and unnecessary treatments to their patients still practicing?
We have a big fear of big government spending in this country, but I pray that if we ever switch to universal healthcare that we'd cut the crap, weed out the bad doctors and keep the good.