Letters to the Editor
MacK..
Published Letters: 477 Editor's Choice: 49
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Oh please, will the GOP adopt this nationally
[Read the article: The GOP's loyalty oath]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is absolutely, suicidally, barking mad.
What it does is guarantee that the only voters in the primary are those so "dyed in the wool" hardline Republican base "wingnuts" that they will inevitably nominate an unelectable right-wing whack-job -- and then lose the general election.
This is really a great idea, don't criticize it, spread a rumour that the Dems thinks it is such a good idea they may adopt it too -- anything to get the Republicans to bring it in nationwide. Spread rumours that dems are voting in Republican primaries to try to shift the party left.
Oh please, please, please, Republicans in other states copy this one, please, please, please. It's a great idea, fabulous, proper, decent, must have.
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Religion as a proxy for ethnicity & can one be a good
[Read the article: Are you there, God? It's me, Rudy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The article misses a few issues. White Roman Catholics in the United States are heavily of Italian and Irish descent, and in the north-East more Italians than Irish Catholics seem to have made the jump to the Republican party. Poling "catholic" support amongst Republicans for Giuliani is inherently complicated by the fact that Giuliani is of Italian extraction, indeed he is potentially the first Italian-American to run for the White House. So to what extent is this Catholic Republican support being based on the wrong hyphen? Is it Italo-American Republicans?
It is not so long ago that "White Ethnics," i.e., Irish, Greek and Italian Americans (and Jews) were discriminated against in the US -- in New York for example there were law-firms that would not hire them, banks and employers too, CoOp boards that consistently rejected them etc. As a result, in the NorthEast, ethnics tended to stick together -- and they alligned as Democrats against the WASPy Republicans.
Many US Catholics are metropolitan, based in the big cities of the North East. Irish and Italians in particular are heavily based around Boston, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, etc. As a result they tend to have more liberal and cosmopolitan views than most mainstream Bible-belt protestants. That said, they also tend to be better educated than the norm. It is though fair to say that Catholic Republicans seem to be more religious than the mainstream of Irish and Italian Catholics, and more doctrinally orthodox on issues like abortion. The trouble is, if one leaves abortion out of the equation, the Catholic Church, especially the Hierarchy is probably more closely aligned with the views of the Democratic party, especially on issues such as social justice, immigration, welfare and labor rights.
What does all this mean -- well first, don't assume that Giuliani's messy personal life, or his complicated views on abortion are anything other than normal for US Catholics, especially Italian and Irish. However, one should wonder whether his views on Iraq are more problematic, or his being a Republican...Abortion may hurt him, but so will the rest of the positions he takes to secure the Republican nomination; indeed from the perspective of a "catholic" voter, he fails all the tests, abortion on his personal position, and the rest because he is a Republican.
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Kick the puppy
[Read the article: "Oh, Dana"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]They seem to have chosen her to be a cute labrador puppy -- wags its tail, looks nice, is soooooo cute and soooooooo dumb. The thing is, everyone loves puppies, and no-one would kick the cutsy little blond labrador, even if it shat on the rug, humped the cat cross-eyed, and ate their shoes.
So she gets away with the things the previous Press Secretaries could no longer foist on a credulous White House press-corps since none of them want to be publicly cruel to the puppy -- they just wake up in the morning a feel like a ravished Siamese, but without the pedigree, with smelly chewed shoes.
All together -- ahhhhhh!
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An awkward situation
[Read the article: My ex-con neighbor owes me money]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can only make a couple of points.
1. Courts exist for exactly this situation - to avoid confrontation in person. Presumably you have records of buying the car parts -- the court will accept that they did not miraculously install themselves and there are guides for garages saying how much labor is involved in making various repairs. How did the car get to your garage -- there was a tow-truck no? That should be solid enough evidence for you to attach to a claim made in small claims court. It is not a he said/she said situation. If no price was agreed you can make a claim in what is called quantum meruit for the value of the services provided, which by the way would be what he would have had to pay a garage.
2. I also assume you can prove that his son did the damage at issue.
3. There is no point in going to him directly about this, he has demonstrated that. You need to decide whether to file a claim.
4. You mention that he is an "ex-con." The chances are he is out on parole -- if he had a sentence of more than 2-5 years that is very likely. Making threats of physical violence to a neighbor violates that parole. Will he go straight back to jail, probably not. But he will get a warning from his parole officer, and if the behavior is ongoing, and enough people complain, well back to jail he will likely go.
I would be very clear with him -- you will call the cops if there are any threats; if he is on parole call the parole board and ask for the appropriate parole officer.