Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 94 Editor's Choice: 19
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I remember thinking something similar...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...in the closing days of Steve Young's career, when he routinely needed massive doses of painkillers just so he could drag his creaking body back out onto the field, only in that case my questions had to do with his Mormon faith. Why was it that Young wasn't allowed to drink a cup of coffee to perk him up a bit before a game but it was totally acceptable for him to be so doped up that he couldn't feel a thing below his chin? The answer, a friend of mine with Mormon family members told me, was that the painkillers were "medicine", and thus OK. Which makes sense on the surface, until you consider that someone in his medical condition who wasn't a professional athlete would never be perscribed that particular treatment.
I sort of feel the same way on the LASIK surgery/steroids divide. Are you getting this treatment specifically because you're a professional athlete and it helps your performance? If so, how is it morally different from some other form of cheating?
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monogamy vs. polyamory
[Read the article: I'm afraid I'll be unfaithful to my husband]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've come up with a theory of monogamy over the years, based both on people who are actively and ideologically polyamorous and those who are ostensibly monogamous but end up cheating a lot. I really believe that when it comes to relationships there are two kinds of people. There are some for whom getting into a new relationship requires conscious work and effort on their part -- their default state is to be alone, or to be with the person they're with. Then there are those who have to actively work to not get into new relationships, even if they're already in one. You know the type -- people who, after a bad breakup, sort of declare that "that's it! I'm staying single for a while!" -- they have to declare it, or else it won't happen. Often they talk about "falling into" relationships. At first, I sort of thought of this as BS, since I'm definitely the first type of person, but I've had enough encounters with the second type (both as good friends and, occasionally, as romantic partners) to realize that it's not necessarily some conscious decision on their parts. Perhaps they've just internalized the opening stages of flirting and relationship formation into their everyday behavior and don't even realize they're doing it. At any rate, it's good to know which category you fall into. The letter-writer definitely seems to fall into the second.
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Air France-KLM
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Can anyone explain what, if any, advantages there were to the Air France-KLM merger, since the two airlines continue to operate as separate entities? Isn't the whole point of a merger that you're able to cut overlapping functionality and let go of redundant people to save money? How can this work if the Air France and KLM still operate separately?
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not pro-choice?
[Read the article: How to turn white evangelicals into Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, I don't like the [pro-choice] label. I guess the reason I wrote about abortion the way I did in the book is because I have serious moral concerns about abortion, but I don't believe that it should be illegal. And that puts me in the vast majority of Americans. But unfortunately, there's no label for us.
Um, if you think that people should be able to choose to have a legal abortion, then you're ... pro ... choice?
What is it about the label that makes you uncomfortable?
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HPV and cervical cancer AREN'T THE SAME THING
[Read the article: A vaccine for gentlemen]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It kind of bugs me that so much of the emphasis on the HPV vaccine is on cervical cancer. Sure, that's the worst outcome of getting the virus, but the vaccine blocks one specific virus that can cause cervical cancer, not the cancer itself. I think that a lot of it is just discomfort talking about sex.
To the anonymous who called us idiots and said "Only a fool would innoculate a child against a virus he won't even get..." Do you understand how viruses work at all? Of course a male can "get" the virus, if he has contact with someone else who's infected. It won't develop into cervical cancer (obviously, since he doesn't have a cervix) but it can develop into genital warts (nasty) and put a crimp in his future sex life, since he'll be in a position where he'll either after to tell future partners he's infected or potentially infect them without their knowing.
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not to get technical...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But UMBC is in the Baltimore suburbs, not Baltimore. (The "BC" stands for "Baltimore County", which is separate from Baltimore City.) Saying it's in Baltimore is like saying Saint Mary's College is in San Francisco.
Coppin State, on the other hand, is in Baltimore. Very, very much in Baltimore. Like, a part of Baltimore that could get airtime on the Wire. Hardcore!
jf (Baltimoron)
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Already been thought up
[Read the article: The sun blotted out from the sky]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Since the dawn of time man has yearned to destroy the sun. I will do the next best thing: blocking it out!" -- C. Montgomery Burns
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The British National Party...
[Read the article: Rape is like force-fed chocolate cake?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...are Britain's right-wing fringe quasi-neo-Nazis. Not that his statements aren't worth getting worked up about, but this isn't coming from someone who would be considered a mainstream political candidate. They routinely make jaw-droppingly awful statements about non-Whites as well -- in fact, they're mostly known for racism, so it's nice to see that they're broadening their horizons a bit by dabbling in sexism.
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not bill o'reilly...
[Read the article: Rape is like force-fed chocolate cake?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Treepie, the BNP are less like the right wing of the Republican party and more like the Klan. They don't have the mainstream respectibility that someone like O'Reilly does. Really, I know it's awful what this guy, but the fact that a BNP candidate said something awful really isn't news at all.
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technically...
[Read the article: The madwoman in the attic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...there's nothing inherently female about wedding announcements and reports about shopping for beachwear in the Hamptons. Men also get married, and very few go to the beach naked.
Yes, I know that "style" is newspaper publishing is code for "section for the ladies." Since that section has been given a veneer of universal interest, perhaps we should start thinking of it as such?