Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 138 Editor's Choice: 12
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What about the boys?
[Read the article: Purity balls keep dads faithful?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I guess the fathers that only have sons don't need to be reminded to save themselves for their wives only? I assume that applies to the MOTHERs with only sons, as well.
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@chiefpayne
[Read the article: Be gay, be anything -- just not single! ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just because someone is Catholic doesn't mean they automatically believe or agree with everything the Pope says (as much as the Pope might wish they did). Plenty of Catholics use birth control, for example, and many gay Catholics are not abstinent. Why would this be any different?
The Field Poll has been conducting this research since about 1971, If I Remember Correctly, and the number in agreement with gay marriage has risen steadily over that time. So has the number of Catholic immigrants. Just do the math.
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I'm surprised no one brought this up yet...
[Read the article: Ask Pablo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Pricing your car trip as simply the cost of gasoline is just plain wrong. There are other costs associated with maintaining a car, such as oil changes, tune-ups, brakes, etc. that also have to be factored in. The federal mileage rate reimbursement is currently 50.5 cents per mile. That makes that 6,000 mile round trip cost over $3,000! Even if you maybe figure that highway miles are different than local miles and decide to cut the estimate in half, you're still pretty high up there - about equivalent to the cost for a family of three to fly.
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Self-fulfilling prophecy
[Read the article: "I now pronounce you wife and wife" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As announced in the SF Chronicle today, two county clerks in California have decided that they will not perform marriage ceremonies for ANY couple, gay or straight, after this ruling. They say they don't have enough resources to perform that many ceremonies. A third clerk had made that same decision, but reversed it.
See, gay marriage IS ruining straight marriage!
Note that these clerks will have to issue licenses. They're just saying they won't perform the actual ceremonies.
Here's the link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/06/11/MN2V1172KL.DTL
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@chiefpayne
[Read the article: "I now pronounce you wife and wife" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You said
Last I heard, there is sufficient voters to make an amendment to the State Constitution to void this.
I'm sure what you probably heard is that there were sufficient voters to PROPOSE an amendment to the state constitution. Which does not mean there are enough to PASS such an amendment. A recent Field Poll shows that more that 50% of Californians agree with allowing gays to marry.
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@kliztexas
[Read the article: My failed lesbian romance]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]kliztexas, you said that this article will set back gay/lesbian issues a decade. On the contrary, I think it can only help. Here is a woman that wants to be in love with another woman, but can't, why? Because she's not a lesbian! What better proof of how a person cannot be "seduced into the homosexual lifestyle" could there be? Maybe if more of these kinds of stories came out, the radical right-wingers would realize no one's going to seduce their kids and "turn" them gay. Then maybe gays and lesbians won't be so frightening to them.
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Joan Roughgarden
[Read the article: The sex lives of animals]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]FYI, did you know that Joan Roughgarden was born Jonathan Roughgarden? She came out as a transgender woman at age 53. And according to Wikipedia, "Roughgarden is also a Christian who has written on the relationship between Christianity and science".
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@boaster
[Read the article: Want the pill? It'll cost ya.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Regarding it being tacked onto this Iraq war spending bill - I was wondering the same thing.
I'm completely all for subsidizing birth control for anyone who wants it. I just don't see the sense in getting all worked up about taking it OUT of a bill when it doesn't belong there in the first place. I know, the reason is, it won't get passed on its own with the current administration. But that's still no way to run a country. Representatives should find a way to make it about the war - reproductive health care for our veterans, maybe? Or put it into a more appropriate bill.
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Missing the point
[Read the article: Is local food really miles better?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm pretty sure this whole article is missing the point of "food miles". My understanding is that it is NOT just about buying from farmer's market. It's about eating stuff that is ACTUALLY GROWN LOCALLY, in your local climate zone with your local soil quality, etc. Meaning it must be in season. It doesn't mean buying Washington state apples from your local farmer's market in Texas! The author glosses over the point this way:
... if you want the same products year-round.
The way I understand it, that is a big part of what "food miles" are supposed to teach you. We've gotten incredibly spoiled, being able to have any kind of food, from any country, in any season we want, whether it's "in season" or not. Want a fresh tomato in the middle of winter? Here, have one from Mexico. But the locavore movement answers instead: "Get over it!" Wait till spring when you can buy locally grown, and in the winter, dream of fresh tomatoes while eating the canned locally grown stuff that you put away last fall. In the meantime, have some carrots and beets instead. If you start eating THAT way, instead of comparing apples to apples whether they are in season or not, you will find your footprint going way down.
As for the New Zealand sheep story, well, New Zealand was only originally populated in the 1300's. They haven't had time to overgraze the land the way England has. That's why they have no need of the fertilizer - yet. Give them a couple centuries of providing lamb to other countries, out of season, and see if the food miles don't rack up.
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Either or?
[Read the article: PSAs in your panties?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What do Broadsheeters think: Is this ad campaign an effective way to raise awareness about a horrific practice or is it, as Copyranter suggested, a form of "mental mutilation"?
Can't it be both?
In any case, I also want to know what PSAs are being delivered to MEN on this topic. Given the cultures where female genital mutilation usually takes place, emphasizing to young men the better sex life they're likely to have if their wife is not mutilated, and how they can speak up to stop the practice, would be an equally - if not more - effective approach.