Letters to the Editor
James V
Published Letters: 35 Editor's Choice: 2
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This is taxing
[Read the article: "Sicko"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I really find it morbidly ironic that whenever any conversation about improving the quality of life for people in this country occurs that people come out of the woodwork screaming about tax increases and socialist boogiemen. It's truly sad.
We all know we pay taxes. Most of us feel we pay too much. I think the average tax paid by the "not rich" is between 33-35%...somewhere in that range. But I have a question for all the taxophobes: where is all THAT money going? Tracking that down would of course be like trying to catch fog with a butterfly net. But there are some examples of enormous waste and the biggest and most recent is the Iraq War. There's an amount approaching a trillion dollars. Then there's the ubiquitous pork spending that both parties shamelessly practice every year, god knows how much THAT adds up to. Then there's the enormous waste that occurs within our military. *GASP* How dare anyone besmirch the military!? But yes, there's enormous waste occurring there. Billions spent annually on Cold War era systems. Billions upon billions spent on flawed weapons systems development (just look up the expenditure on that damned V-22 Osprey). Now imagine what just those few things (dollar wise) could have done for our country including an improved health care system.
There is so much money floating around Washington with no one paying attention to where it's going and who's spending it. It's all just a race to see who can get their hands into the cookie jar first and farthest. If we would clean up that mess I think we'd find that we, as a country, could afford to do a hell of a lot.
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Additional diagnosis?
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Brilliant Gary, thank you.
I have an additional aspect to add to the bad marriage scenario: Battered Person Syndrome. Not only did this President/administration do all of the things you described but there was also the physical and mental abuse which has created an inability for we the collective "spouse" to extract ourselves from this horrific contract.
I think we need an intervention.
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Historic hatred
[Read the article: Is Rush Limbaugh right?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just watch a history of drugs program on the History Channel again last night and I heard something on it that got me thinking: that minorities and immigrants were used as targets to demonize drugs and help in enacting laws banning them. After that I remembered the problems immigrants like the Irish had when they began coming to this country in large numbers, not only from other ethnicities but also from other Irish who had the good fortune of being in this country already. I started to think that there's been a long standing pattern of hatred...perhaps a link.
That's when something started to click for me (not that it's a new concept by any means) but isn't this whole hysteria about immigration (and the false premise that it's related to "national security") simply another example of our nations innate bigotry and hatred? And to go one further, isn't the famous "bring us your huddled masses..." line really just another example of our nation's romanticized origin much like the fanciful stories of Christopher Columbus and the "wild west"? There is some truth in there but it's mostly "fuzzy warm-feeling" hype?
I know this issue reaches deeply into many areas of life in our country and it's history. But the vehement position most people take whenever you say immigration and that in our day the face of that word tends to be Mexican tells me that this may be more ignorance based than reality. It certainly says to me that we need to stop and think before we start throwing racist and inhumane ideas around. Remember that in the south, in order to not only demonize drugs but also African Americans, they used to commonly refer to mobs of "drug-crazed negros" terrorizing the countryside and raping anything that moved. Very enlightening rhetoric huh? It was also not true. Will we look back in 100 years and feel the same way about what we are saying now? I guess what I'm saying is let's have rational debate and not allow bigots and hysteria choose our nation's direction.
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Shocked
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was livid last night after the game ended. To be honest I'm not really even interested in the finals this year: the west is uninspiring to say the least and the east is a snore. But of the teams in it, I admit I was rooting for Cleveland even though they stand very little to no chance.
You can argue all you like about how if Lebron had played a better game or gone to the rim right off instead of waiting or anything you like. But come on, that last foul (and yes, it was unquestionably a foul) was terrible but what about the whole series of very questionable non-calls I saw throughout the 4th quarter? Outrageous officiating decided that game, there's no other way I can explain what I saw (and the officials apparently did not). I saw several deliberate hacks and flagrant pushes that happened DIRECTLY in front of officials and there were no whistles. I was in shock. So where the people watching around me. We just looked at each other speechless... Now to be honest I personally hate the ticky-tack fouls that get called as well as the "dive into the defense while throwing your arms (and the ball) into the air" fouls. But that is what the NBA is. That's how they call their games. So how do you not call them here? How do you let bone-headed home town calls like that stand? How can the league not come down on these clowns posing as officials? It's on film for crying out loud. Those officials should all -- every single one working that game -- be unceremoniously sacked.
That will be the last NBA I watch until some time next season.
/end rant
**starts trying to get into baseball while avoiding anything related to Bonds, cell phone death threats or stories about drug use**