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Published Letters: 1513
Editor's Choice: 88

Sunday, December 4, 2005 06:59 PM

The Carpet Guy

If he had refunded someone else, he would have had a reciept with a name or signature on it, not a ledger. She should have taken him to small claims court.

She apologized to people who ran the passive aggressive "crazy folk" game on her. That's not grace. That's stupid. He has insufficient funds because he's a bad businessman and an evil mind gamer to boot. No one recommends him for repeat business, I'll bet. Given that he sold a stained carpet to a nursery school and tried to cheat the school, I'm having a hard time seeing him as a victim.

We are supposed to protect the poor and needy, too. How can Christians do that and forgive as well. There are ways, but you won't learn them from this article.

Thursday, December 15, 2005 03:29 PM

Terrell Owens vs McNabb

Paglia is not known for her knowledge of football, and this article shows it. I'm sorry, most of the Philadelphia black community is NOT backing TO or slamming McNabb. As my husband put it, "So TO's family is calling in on sports radio shows?" Most people of all races were not sympathetic to TO's behavior.

A few attention hounds do not get to define blackness, or tell me who is black. I am black, and I really don't like the blackness police, or their white psuedo-intellectual mouthpieces very much. Her characterization of Philly fans really was very strange. TO didn't poison race relations in Philly. That's giving this far more power than it really had. Camille Paglia is projecting her own pet ideas into something she really does not know about. Then again, given her other work, there's probably not much she really DOES know about. I'm not a fan of her work at all.

I think the tone of the recent letters says it all. Wide reciever versus quarterback, what kind of quarterback, scrambling or pocket passer- those things have nothing to do with race. The argument really has nothing to do with race. Can a prima donna be controlled? Again, a raceless question. Can you keep someone who hurts the morale of your team, just because of their talent?

There was a great raceless analysis of this from the view of the new book "The Seven Dysfunctions" in USA Today last week. Regardless of talent, if you badmouth, back stab, play head games, and otherwise won't work as a team player, you need to go. Some fool team will pick TO up again. My question is, has he learned to shut up and play yet?

Thursday, December 15, 2005 03:51 PM

Child abuse

Brain scans show 14-17 year old brains to be still forming, be underdeveloped in the areas needed to make judgements and control impulses, and to be the equivalent of "mentally ill". Why are we talking about lowering the age of consent again?

The real problem is that we as a society sexualize young children, use underage models in oversexed ads to draw customers, encourage the prurient gaze at 12-15 year old boys and girls by adults (remember the catalogs from Ambercrombie and Fitch- that wasn't kids picking them up), and then contradict ourselves with these laws. To be honest, we need to stop oversexualizing and sorshipping underage children in print ads and video. We need to avoid businesses that push inappropriate, oversexed dress for teens. We need to create clear lines between teenhood and adulthood again.

Sunday, December 18, 2005 05:12 PM

Kaufman, get off vacation!

While these letters have sparked serious discussion in my house (the historical comparisons of quarterback versus wide receiver are great), I think people should know the NAACP headquarters pointed out yesterday that the Philly head was not writing in his representative capacity. He was just being a fan. The national office reprimanded him for the comment, and pointed out that the comment was stupid, anyway.

Monday, December 19, 2005 02:49 PM

I breastfed and caught hell from the mommy police too.

I breastfed. Because it is not the norm in the black community, I was not supported. I've breastfed in dirty airport bathrooms, the rest rooms in Mall of AMerica, etc because it is NOT acceptable to breastfeed in public, no matter what anyone says. Even though it's legal, security guards and other people will harrass you. I've seen it.

I was told I was stupid, and it's something only Third WOrld people do. That's just from the family.

I will say this. The breastfeeding polic have nothing on the mommy works police. You see, I worked (my husband was laid off). Complete strangers had the nerve to tell me I was harming my baby. At least I understand the squeamishness around breastfeeding- this country has oversexualized breasts, so we are nervous at watching babies do what men think of as a sexual act. But how the hell is it anyone's business but my own if I work? WIll these people pay my bills?

The real problem is that people will not mind their own business. There are too many Type A moms out there trying to guilt people. They are trying to make up for their own insecurities. If we remember this, we can ignore them.

By the way, I did not breastfeed to lose weight. It doesn't work. I breastfed because of a history of heart disease and asthma in the family. My son does not have asthma, despite his father's entire side having it, inclding other gradchildren. That made it worth it for me. One of my friends could not breastfeed. That's OK to.

But you see, I have a life. I don't need to guilt people. Some of the competitive mothers (who in my world all seem to be stay at home)need to find a hobby, so they can mind their own business.

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