Letters to the Editor
nancyh
Published Letters: 155 Editor's Choice: 5
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Opening a kettle of fish
[Read the article: Bill Maher: "Don't show me your tits!" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all. I want to say that I am a proud feminist of the "I like men and generally think they are a decent sort variety" (sad that I need to make that distinction). Furthermore, I wholeheartedly support a woman's right to breastfeed anywhere she needs to-I breastfed my daughter and sometimes in public.
But, here is the thing. Breasts aren't just for breastfeeding. From an evolutionary perspective, breasts clearly have a dual purpose-lactating and attracting a mating partner. Humans are the only primates who have permanently enlarged breasts (meaning when we are not nursing). Other primate females' breasts are only enlarged when they are lactating. So, it is quite logical to assume that enlarged breasts served some other purpose (like attracting or retaining mates) and were therefore selected for in our species.
That, I think is the rub. Some people (both men and women), have trouble with the dual purpose nature of breasts.
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WTF
[Read the article: Sick children left behind]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We are the only first-world country that does not have universal health care AND we have among the highest infant moratlity rates in the western world. You'd think someone like Bush who gets all misty over a stem-cell might actully give a shit once the kid is breathing on his or her own-naaaahhhh.
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re taxing smokers and the cost of socialized medicine
[Read the article: Sick children left behind]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]RE: neilpaul
Here is the thing about taxing smokers. #1 they consume more health care services than non-smokers, and so I am not so sure I feel bad about having them fund health care. #2 Increasing the cost of cigarettes is actually a very effective way to reduce tobacco use-see the following figures depicting the relationship between cost and tobacco use.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/images/public/press06/pr046-06.gif
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20070306/Cigarette-tax-0306x.gif
In terms of the piecemeal approach, I could not agree more. Real socialized medicine is far CHEAPER than privatized medicine (the US spends a far greater % of our GDP on health care than any other industrialized country in the world and the health care we get is not as good as evidinced by our high infant mortality rate and our lowered life expectancy). The peicemeal approach may improve outcomes, but it will cost a BOATLOAD (universal coverage + profit=$$$$$$).
Real socialized medicine-sign me up.
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Leandra
[Read the article: Sick children left behind]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am with you 100% Leandra-although I have to say that I didn't learn the preamble to the constitution in grade school school social studies. Even while reading your post, I cannot help but hear it set to music-Thanks School House Rock!
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viva the midwest
[Read the article: We're sick of Southern California! Should we move to the Midwest? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Lived in San Diego, Pheonix, and Dallas. Now live smack-dab in the middle of the country (in fact near the flint hills of KS). I loved S.D. and thought that would be my permanent home, but I would never go back. We visit often, but now the traffic, smog, sense of anonymity are depressing.
At home, I walk to work (weather permitting), know the checkers at the local organic food coop, and see someone I know almost every time I leave my house.
This is a college town, so we have decent entertainment options and are also near a big city. Schools are uniformally good, but we chose our neighborhood so that our daughter will go to school with kids whose parents live in the university's married student housing (lots of students from around the world). Ethnic and cultural diversity AND high academic standards.
Life is sane. We are happy.
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in praise of college towns
[Read the article: We're sick of Southern California! Should we move to the Midwest? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Much of what has been written about the conservative/homogenous midwest is true. I grew up in Wichita and got the hell out of there before I was 20. It can be stifling, even if you look the part. I swore I would never go back to the Godforsaken hellhole of the midwest.
I now live in Lawrence, and LOVE it. The difference is that it is a college town-true ethnic and cultural diversity, and actually much, much more politically liberal than O.C.or S.D. (the one blue dot in the sea of red that was the last election), friendly neighbors, and very little of the conspicuous consumption that is such a big part of life in SoCal. In terms of costs-housing is more expensive here than in a "true" small town, it costs real money to heat/cool your house. Late summer and winter suck and you actually need a winter wardrobe (and a summer wardrobe, and a transitional wardrobe for when the calendar says it is fall/spring/summer/winter but the thermometer says something else entirely.
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Surprised?
[Read the article: Orr ... not]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Family planning brought to you by someone who does not belive in it. The healthy forest initiative brought to you by people who want to chop down trees. The clear skies initiative brought to you by the folks who wish to reduce limitations in reductions in polution. And the list goes on and on. Who know that Bush was campaigning to be the president of Bizarro World?
As a tangential asside, for those of you who remember the Superman comic books, what would Bizarro Bush be like- someone who is competent? Honest? Fluent in at least one language?