Letters to the Editor
justin case
Published Letters: 42 Editor's Choice: 7
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maybe I'm missing something
[Read the article: Birth certificates for stillbirth?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But IIRC, don't birth certificates state on them "certificate of live birth" or something to that effect. Maybe (probably!) I'm insensitive, but isn't this exactly what is not the case of a stillborn child?
What an awful thing for a family to go through, though. I can understand the desire to seek something, anything to help following the loss of a desired child.
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This cat is out of the bag.
[Read the article: Gun control or "hopes and prayers"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perhaps I'm simply cynical, or a pessimist, or a realist, or whatever, but our society simply can't ban guns at this point. It's a pointless debate. There's no way the necessary constitutional amendment would ever pass. There are millions of guns out there, most of which are owned by responsible people. Some gun owners are, of course, nuts, and these people may end up killing a bunch of people like we saw yesterday. This is certainly awful, but it's something that will happen from time to time, given that the right to own guns was considered fundamental enough to write into the constitution (at the time, this was an important small-r republican principle, since the right to bear arms was often restricted to the upper classes in Europe). This is the bargain our society has made, and it will take a huge swing of opinion on a hotly contested issue (not likely) not change it; repealing the Second Amendment would be as difficult as passing a pro-choice or pro-life Amendment. Efforts should be made to screen gun purchasers for mental illness and criminal backgrounds, and I think those who purchase guns must able to demonstrate they know how to handle them safely, but without deep changes in how our society agrees it should be run, that's about it. This is another of those debates that just will tinker with the margins of the issue.
One other thing: Have any of the people who write "the only purpose of a gun is to kill" ever had the opportunity to shoot a gun and to learn how to handle one safely?
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RE: -- OtherLisa
[Read the article: Gun control or "hopes and prayers"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You make good points. For what it's worth, I do think it's quite silly that guns are less difficult to obtain than a driver's license. There's a huge and real public safety issue there - both guns and cars can kill quite easily, but we only require that people have a basic level of competence with one of them being legally able to use it. This makes no sense to me.
I still think that "the only purpose of a gun is to kill" sounds silly and simplistic. The purpose of a gun is to launch a projectile over some distance at a very rapid rate of speed. As far as what happens to that projectile, that has much more to do with the purpose of the person holding the gun.
What's weird in this debate is that everybody has a valid point. The anti-gun people are correct: If nobody had guns, there probably wouldn't have been a VT massacre yesterday. The pro-gun people are correct, too: if people were freer to carry guns, there probably wouldn't have been a VT massacre, either. Just a dead gunman.
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Warriors have a shot...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it's a long shot, but I think the Warriors have a better chance against Dallas than King is giving them. They've been playing out of their minds since the big win against the Mavs in March (going 13-4), and have beaten a bunch of the best teams in the league since March (in addition to Dallas: Phoenix, Utah, Houston, Detroit, Denver). After making the playoffs, anything they do there is gravy, but they've certainly picked the right time to get healthy and gel with their Nellieball lineup. I'm not saying they'll win, but I think they'll give Dallas a real series.
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The Brad
[Read the article: Three questions for Ronin Ro]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is right on. Perhaps the book is better, but in this interview, Ro gives no sense that he has had any deeper insights into Dre's career than a casual hip-hop fan. The Brad's questions are some of the right ones when addressing Dre's career. The "he had a tough time" and "made it by being his own man" stuff is spectacularly trite, if such a thing is possible.
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Warriors - A great story
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A recent transplant to the Bay area, I've become a Warriors fan during the course of the season. It's been tremendous fun to watch this team get their act together following the mid-season trade that brought Harrington and Jackson to the lineup. They've been playing great ball since getting their core starters healthy - tons of hustle, good ball movement, better (though not great) defense, and real contributions from all their starters and Barnes, Biedrins, and Pietrus of the bench. The Mavs should still win this series, by shooting like they normally do and beating the Warriors on the glass.
But the Warriors are a great sports story: a bunch of ragtag habitual also-rans making an impressive run to the playoffs (when everyone counted them out) by beating a bunch of ostensibly better teams, a questionable character player (Jackson) playing great ball and becoming a leader on the court, the on-court general (Baron) recovering from injury and playing like an all-star, a grizzled old coach - the last one to head this team in the post-season - leading his new charges against his former team, and now getting a convincing first game win against the best team in the game. Can they get past the first round? Nobody knows, but this is outstanding sports drama, the sort of thing fans of the game should get excited about.
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RE:totalfaker
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'll take the Oakland curse under advisement. Which is too bad, because I've already chosen the A's to be my local baseball team (two reasons: Barry Bonds, and Moneyball).
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thanks totalfaker
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do what I can. Picking the A's, basically I chose the team that most exemplifies the things I like about baseball and sports. I look forward to the season.
And tonight, go Warriors!