Letters to the Editor

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mizbinkley

Published Letters: 870     Editor's Choice: 116

  • re: ummmmm?

    [Read the article: Another reason it sucks to be unmarried and childless]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    I think the point is, who's benefiting from your unpaid overtime work? If your unpaid work is motherhood, you and your family are benefiting. If your unpaid work is for the office, you're benefiting the company's bottom line.

    These statistics create more questions than answers: Do these women work longer, unpaid hours because they really like their jobs and are dedicated to the company's mission? Are longer, unpaid hours a trade-off for flexible schedules and telecommuting? How many of these women work for small businesses that are short-staffed, causing them to do more unpaid work? How much of this "unpaid overtime" is the result of spending one's regular working hours on Salon.com?

  • Once again, study yields more questions than answers.

    [Read the article: Why girls cut themselves]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Not that there's anything wrong with that.

    37 girls is a pretty small sample pool from which to extrapolate data.

    Mothers are overwhelmingly the primary caregivers, so I'm not bothered by the study from that perspective. It makes since to see if there's a connection between being a cutter and the relationship with the primary caregiver. However, it'd be interesting to see a study where they look at it that way and then parse out differences if the primary caregiver is a mother, a father, or other.

  • It matters because...

    [Read the article: McCain loses his patience]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    it plays into the narrative of "John McCain, the Hothead."

    McCain's anger was disproportionate to what was, at worst, an annoying and out-dated question. An annoying question from the NYT's Elisabeth Bumiller--not exactly someone who ask Bushies tough and harsh questions--no less.

    All McCain had to say was, "It's an old story. Kerry asked, and, though I respect the man, my answer was an unequivocal no. I'm a proud Republican, committed to [insert conservative talking points here]."

    McCain's overblown reaction is the reason this is a story. Geez, he didn't get this upset by insuations that he was having an affair with a female lobbyist.

  • A cut is just a cut...

    [Read the article: Why girls cut themselves]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    ...but the reason for the self-mutilation is most important. Cutting is often linked to sexual, physical or emotional abuse. Also to self-loathing, depression, anxiety disorders and drug and alcohol abuse.

    Most cutters hide their injuries, which is why if you've actually seen someone's cutting, it's likely because they're just trying to show how "angsty and cool" they are.

    Oh, and cutting opens you up to infections which, since you're probably hiding them, will become really bad infections. And we're not talking paper cuts here. These can leave lasting scars.

  • "Bush twists the facts on Iraq"

    [Read the article: Bush twists the facts on Iraq]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Sadly, that could be the headline for virtually any article about Bush and Iraq.

    Also note that Bush, as usual, conflates Iraq with 9/11 because "it's all the same enemy."

    Meanwhile, the 'National Religious Broadcasters'??? Who are they? According to their website, "the preeminent association of Christian communicators working to keep the doors of electronic media open for the spread of the Gospel" that "exists to represent the Christian broadcasters’ right to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world."

    http://www.nrb.org/

    Oh, and, the rest of the speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080311-3.html

  • Inflated Figures

    [Read the article: STI 911]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    The HPV numbers (at 18%) are really inflating these figures.

    According to the CDC:

    • Most people with HPV do not develop symptoms or health problems.
    • In 90% of cases, the body’s immune system clears the HPV infection naturally within two years.
    • At least 50% of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives.
    • HPV can infect areas that are not covered by a condom—so condoms may not fully protect against HPV.

    Having HPV just means you've had sexual contact either with or without a condom.

    http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm

  • The Outsiders

    [Read the article: Why stand by? ]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Robert Franklin makes a good point.

    Uninvited outsiders critiquing someone else's marriage is pretty pointless. We don't know the couple, we don't know the dynamic, we don't know their rules. Extramarital affairs might be a-okay in the relationship so long as you're discreet about them.

    Unless there's physical abuse or a danger to the children, I say, "just shut the hell up."

  • Allegorical Who

    [Read the article: Antiabortion activists hijack "Horton"]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Really? I always saw "Horton" as an allegory for respecting "little people."

    Or it could be about respecting our fellow creatures on the planet. Or the U.S. relationship with Japan post World War II. Seeing as Horton Hears a Who was published in 1954, either of these is more likely.

  • Marital affairs by politicians shouldn't matter politically.

    [Read the article: Say it ain't so, David Paterson]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    barleymash is right with "I think Paterson made a brilliant move in defusing the story immediately."

    It's so sad that this is necessary. Marital affairs by politicians shouldn't matter politically.

    The McCain-lobbyist possible affair mattered because of McCain's alleged political interventions on the lobbyist's behalf. Spitzer's affairs mattered insofar as they were with a prostitute (and thus criminal) and investigators suspected there might have been improper use of state funds. Larry Craig's affairs mattered due to his blatant hypocrisy in legislating against homosexuals while he himself engaged in homosexual acts.

    Hopefully (naive hopes, likely) people will start shutting the hell up about politicians' infidelities. We really should not know about what consensual acts are going on in other people's bedrooms.

    Good presidents, good politicians and good people can still have affairs. With so few good people able to make it in politics, we needn't weed out any other potential candidates for reasons that are not dealbreakers, in my book.

  • @ wysiwyg

    [Read the article: On Wright, Bill Kristol's wrong again]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    A random computer generated pundit would be right more often

    I love it. But in my mind, the pundit comes out looking like Max Headroom. Who, by the way, looks a lot like Tony Snow.

  • I'm willing to give Clinton the benefit of the doubt on this one.

    [Read the article: Clinton "very glad" Obama gave speech]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    It's possible she hasn't had a chance to read or listen to the speech yet at all.

    But what's more likely is that she hasn't had a chance to examine it fully and make specific, informed comments about it. I'm glad she acknowledged the speech and is letting it stand on its own before making substantive comments about it.

    It also shows she's not some whiny teacher's pet itching to refute/parse Obama's words or steal his thunder.

  • "I don't think she'll be happy until we have a Rwanda-like genocide."

    [Read the article: Quote of the day]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    It's true. I know that genocide makes me positively giddy. Ugh.

    Meanwhile, www.cnsnews.com is a pretty trashy site. I feel dirty just having gone there.

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