Letters to the Editor
farnsworth
Published Letters: 514 Editor's Choice: 21
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About Ralph Nader
[Read the article: Going down with the Titanic?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In 2000 Ralph Nader was the Green Party candidate for president. The Greens agreed to have Nader as their candidate because if Nader polled 5%, the Green Party would become an official national party, automatically on the ballot in all 50 states.
The Greens stipulated that Nader was to only campaign in solidly red or solidly blue states. That way people voting Green would not affect the election by taking votes away from Gore in any state that was in play.
I lived in Texas at that time, as sure Bush state. It also is a state with an official Green Party presence, and I was a registered Green. If Nader had campaigned in Texas and other Flyover states he easily could have gotten the 5% nationally and the Green Party would have been a for real third party in America, at least for a little while.
Nader's ego took over, and he only campaigned in states that were in play. That meant many people chose not to vote for him because they felt it would waste their vote. And Nader votes could have tipped Gore over the edge in Florida.
But it is not necessarily true that Nader "cost Gore the election." The disenfranchising of thousands of black voters, the hanging chads, and the confusing butterfly ballots all contributed. Had any one of those other problems not occurred, Gore would have been president, Nader or not.
I realize that many people supported Nader because they truly wanted him to be the president. They genuinely believed in him, and thought there was a chance to at least make a point by voting for him.
I supported him because he was my party's nominee and voting for him helped my party. His choice to renege on his agreement, and muddy the waters in battleground states would lower my opinion of him regardless. His betrayal of my party is inexcusable, and makes him despicable in my eyes. I would never vote for him again under any circumstances.
But I don't blame him for Bush. Too much other stuff was going on to put that one on him.
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Truer than he knows
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hunter went on to say if the Republican Party doesn't change its leadership it "will pollute the political environment to toxic levels and create an epidemic that could damage the country for generations to come."
Of course, this has been true for decades now.
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On voting for third party candidates
[Read the article: Going down with the Titanic?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It all comes down to: Which state do you live in?
John McCain could eat a freshly aborted fetus live on TV, followed by the anal rape of a four-year-old boy, and he would still get Oklahoma's seven electors. So I can vote for whomever I damn well please this fall, and it won't matter at all.
If I lived in Florida or Ohio or Michigan or some other state that was in play, I would vote for Obama, no matter what. He is not at all the candidate I prefer, unless you compare him to McCain.
I am idealistic, but I am not stupid.
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The meaning of "baby mama"
[Read the article: Oh no they didn't]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have taught at two different high schools with a large number of African American students, as well as lived in neighborhoods that were predominantly black. In those contexts I have often heard the term baby mama.
And it is always dismissive and disrespectful. Always.
The terms refers to an unwelcome association. An unavoidable burden. A person who doesn't really merit consideration.
At the at-risk high school where I taught, it was often a term of ridicule. In the December issue of the school paper, in the "What I want for Christmas" section, one student requested that his "baby mama quit trippin'."
The strangest part of this to me is the staggering inaptness of the term used in this context. It is almost as if some headline writer just tossed it in there because it has some vague racial overtones, without understanding exactly what they are. As if that was just some "Black" term that was commonly used for the mother of a man's children, regardless of the state of the relationship. It would be funny if it weren't so despicable.
This will probably be a net loss for Fox and McCain. Anyone who would be influenced away from Obama by the slur wasn't going to vote for him anyway. So any votes that will change because of this will almost certainly change to Obama.
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Mistaken assumption
[Read the article: Baby mama drama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The term was and is never used without derision; in fact, it's not a term anyone in that situation actually uses to refer to the parent of their out-of-wedlock child.
Actually, it is used regularly by black teenagers to refer to the mother of their out-of-wedlock children.
Spend a little time in a ghetto high school. In the December 2006 edition of the school paper at the school where I was teaching, a student wanted his "baby mama to quit trippin'" for Christmas.
In my experience it is almost exclusively used to refer to the mother of the speaker's out-of-wedlock child.
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Disgusting
[Read the article: Clark: "What does John McCain really believe?"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The John McCain for President Show!.
Unbelievable.
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"Towh Hall" What a bogus concept
[Read the article: Debating debates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe, if we pretend it has some relationship to the town hall meetings of hundreds of years ago when everyone in the town was present and participated, we can play like it is not just another piece of bullshit political theater.
Who decides who gets to attend? Who decides who gets to ask questions? How long will they last?
And really, does anyone expect real answers to the questions?
Let's stop with the pretense that there is any merit or usefulness to such pointless television events.
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Did I miss something?
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Did it say she was getting married at 18? Or are you just making stuff up in order to be hateful?