Letters to the Editor
anonny
Published Letters: 124 Editor's Choice: 13
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I don't get it
[Read the article: "Sex and the City"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I admit I don't "get" TV shows. I think except for the first season of Monk I haven't watched any TV shows in decades. I've missed the whole reality show fad.
So, it's not surprising that I don't "get" SATC. But what I *really* don't "get" is SJP. I can see the attraction of the other three actresses -- although Kim Catrall was much more attractive in all her earlier work. But SJP -- I really don't understand why she has any standing at all. I don't see it -- charisma, character, looks -- anything.
It's almost like watching Tori Spelling, although at least with her I realize that her Daddy is the reason she keeps getting cast in various parts. Why does SJP keep getting parts?
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"Philosophically more moderate"????
[Read the article: Argus Leader endorses Clinton]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Measured against her opponent, Clinton is philosophically more moderate. That is likely a good thing for South Dakota
Ok, folks, this is a very important statement -- a very, very clear indicator of what is in store for Obama in the general election.
We all know that Obama's positions are as centrist as you get -- he is basically in the dead center of American's positions (according to the polls) on the key issues. Obama has received a lot of criticism from Democrats -- notably Paul Krugman -- for being less progressive on his positions than Clinton or Edwards.
And yet, the right wing smear machine has already adopted the meme that Obama is part of the "scary left". Nasty email chains (that originate from places like Heritage Foundation's TownHall.com) have painted him as a leftist extremist. It's being repeated today on hate radio and right wing web sites. Joe Lieberman has signed up to the deal -- he has commented on TV interviews that Obama's views might be considered Marxist (look it up).
Just like they painted Gore as a "serial liar" and Kerry as a "war coward", they will paint Obama as to the left of Karl Marx.
They are clever, these wingnuts. They know that Obama's main appeal is to independents and centrists -- and they are attacking him at his strong point. The Rev. Wright comments play right into that. They also know that the press continues to foster the illusion that McCain is centrist -- and thus is the logical person for independents to vote for if Obama is seen as being on the far left.
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Born Free
[Read the article: I'm on vacation. But you can help out!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We've done Pizza-Movie night on Fridays for several years now for our 4 kids (now aged 8 through 14). After a while you really have to search to find new things that they like.
Many good ones were mentioned previously, but the one not yet mentioned that really suprised me in terms of being a big hit for the kids was "Born Free". They all stuck with it from beginning to end.
I've noticed that today's kids tend to be bored by classics like Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins. In this post-MTV, CGI world movies are paced faster and old time special effects don't have much impact. That's why Born Free really suprised me. Old movies seem to do better if they have lots of animals.
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Bike friendly city: Sunriver, Oregon
[Read the article: Where have all the bicycles gone?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ok, it is possible to design a city to be very bike friendly in the U.S., even with hilly terrain, and the resort town of Sunriver, Oregon is a great example. This map shows bike trails everywhere:
http://www.sunriverlodging.com/srmap.htm
Having been there I can tell you that the trails are not just a couple feet of pavement on the side of the road that are generally ignored by drivers, but instead are separate paths. Where trails cross roads there are yield or stop signs or even stop lights. And the trails literally go everywhere.
Here's the funny thing: it's actually easier to create these kind of trails in the US because modern housing construction is predominately in single-builder developments, so the builder has control over street, land, and trail layouts.
With housing demand down and gas prices up I think it would behoove some enterprising developers to create a bike trail network like Sunriver's and use it as a selling point for their new houses.
Unfortunately, once the land is developed it is very hard to retrofit such a bike trail network. I'd like to set that up in our community but it's going to be virtually impossible due to the need to get agreement from 1000s of land owners.