Letters to the Editor
jebldmm
Published Letters: 933 Editor's Choice: 164
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Moore is vastly overrated
[Read the article: Toronto Film Festival]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]His movies are more political entertainment than documentaries. He distorts facts, leaves out evidence that contradicts his claims, and appeals to emotion more than reason. In my opinion, he's done some good work, but all in all he doesn't help the liberal cause as much as he helps his own career. There are so many holes and distortions in his movies that people who might be swayed by his evidence tend to instead be swayed against his cause when they find that they've been duped on numerout points. It's really a shame, since there are a number of liberal documentary film producers who do much better work, but they aren't as flashy or as popular. The truth is rarely as interesting as a good story.
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Cover your bases
[Read the article: I let my friends stay with me and now they're evicting me!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Leaving is probably a good idea, unless you prefer putting yourself through a miserable fight that will only leave you feeling dirty. Just make sure that your bases are covered. Is this a furnished apartment, or did you provide the furniture? If it's yours, then either move it to your new place or rent a storage unit and start moving things out asap. Doing it when they're not there would be ideal. There might be disputes over who owns what (especially if they can't afford new furniture). Make sure that *everything* that belongs to you is out well before your moving day. Don't trust these people to allow you back in to get anything you forget. They won't. Storage units are cheap, and if you get one you'll have much more flexibility in finding a new place to live. You could live out of a suitcase for a while. If you need to transfer a lease, then get legal assistance to make sure that they can't leave you in the lurch with the deposit or legal liabilities.
And remember - Karma Comes Back. The way they treat others will come back to haunt them. Life just works that way. The next time this guy needs anything, he's going to find that his friends don't trust him because of how he treated you. You taking the high road will get you a reputation as an honorable person who can be trusted. Good deeds sometimes do get punished, but more often than not they get rewarded in the long run.
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I remember when Bush was first elected
[Read the article: "Broken Government"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wasn't happy, but I thought "Well, how much damage can he do in 4 years?". I had no idea. Reagan was shallow, and somewhat corrupt, but not a criminal. Bush Sr. was much like Reagan, but smarter. Bush is something else entirely. To this day I don't know if he's a puppet whose strings are being pulled by neocons, or a brilliant authoritarian leader using a facade of ignorance to appeal to the masses. But I do know that the Republican Party has supported his domination of our nation, and has helped manipulate the American public into supporting policies that are not in our best interests. I've never been frightened for the future. Even during Reagan, I was able to recongize that many of our differences were political, and that he had the best interests of our nation in mind no matter how bad his policies seemed to be. I don't know what motivated these people. Greed? Power?
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I thought it was funny, at first
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a "big" person. Not as big as the woman in the cartoon, but who is? I've experienced the horror of squeezing my body into an airplane seat that barely fits my hips, then trying to fold my long legs into a position that allows me to place a small carry-on beneath the seat in front of me (because people too lazy to wait for their luggage used up all the overhead space). I thought it was funny. Then I read some of the mean-spirited comments about fat people and I realized that there is no room in this society for humor about obesity anymore. There are just too many people waiting to jump on the "attack fatty" bandwagon. You can't joke about something when people will take your joke and use it to hurt people. It's a bit sad, really. I've found that human beings who laugh a lot tend to be happier. Maybe the angry people who hate people whose bodies don't fit their image of perfection would do well to remember that they probably aren't perfect, either. In fact, I'll guarantee they aren't.
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Part of growing up...
[Read the article: I'm a sexually active woman, but my Christian parents treat me like a child]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is learning to be responsible for your own feelings, and letting other's be responsible for their own feelings. Your parents can't make you feel bad if you don't let them. They have a right to not approve of your sexuality. You don't have any power to change their behavior or feelings any more than they have power to change yours. You can ask them to change, but they probably won't. You can love them the way they are, or you can cut yourself off from them, but you can't change them. The good news is that they don't have any power to change you, either. You can be as sexual as you want to be. Sometimes people will judge you for things you do that they don't approve of. That's the price you pay for making your own decisions.