Letters to the Editor

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Mr Smith

Published Letters: 218     Editor's Choice: 8

  • Hopefully this will be a lesson

    [Read the article: Ask the pilot ]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    to all those idiot drivers who use cruise control in rainy or snowy weather.

    But probably not. Too abstract.

  • It's uncommon to see

    [Read the article: Dobson resigns as chairman of Focus on the Family]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    a conservative Christian leader quit for some other reason besides being gay.

  • They probably did not include

    [Read the article: Partying on fossil fuels like it's 1998]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    heating oil bought months ago. The amount of oil purchased during December might have been historically low, but many people were using lots of oil that they already purchased a long time ago.

  • No Joe the Plumber?

    [Read the article: New poll shows Republicans favor Palin in 2012]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Heck, if you're going to pick a know-nothing, go all the way.

  • “an indictment of congressional oversight responsibilities”

    [Read the article: Specter: Truth commission would just be "fishing expedition"]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Well, duh!

  • Natural selection at work

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

    First, the 2008 election eliminated all the Republican moderates, and now Rush is weeding out all the Republicans with backbones. David Frum may end up being the smartest and bravest conservative in the USA.

  • Bachmann should be head of the RNC!

    [Read the article: Bachmann: "This is really the final leap to socialism"]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    or they should just choose somebody at random. Whatever they do, it's funny.

  • Pig Shit is the worst smelling of all the shits.

    [Read the article: What's the big deal about pig odor?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    An unfortunate side effect of growing up an a farm is that I can tell which animal the feces belongs to by the smell. Gotta remember to put that on the ol' CV.

    Actually, duck shit is worse, but it doesn't pile up that quickly.

  • "Albuquerque's unsavory drug underworld"

    [Read the article: I Like to Watch]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    As a former resident of Albuquerque, I must say this is the most hilarious phrase I've read in a long, long time. I'm afraid Albuquerque just doesn't have the gravitas to pull it off. It's like saying "Disneyland's unsavory drug underworld".

  • I have a (perhaps unrealistic) dream...

    [Read the article: Dems still dogged by infighting]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Once the Republicans are successfully marginalized, the Democratic Party could split between conservative and liberal branches. Maybe we'll end up with the Green party taking up the slack on the liberal end.

    The GOP can still be the party of batshit-crazy conservatives.

  • Just wondering...

    [Read the article: Bank: No hijab, no problem]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    I remember back when my mom was going through chemo, and she had lost most of her hair (and what was left didn't look that good). She decided to forego the wig solution and she usually went out to do her errands in a scarf covering everything but her face. Would this bank have treated her the same way as the woman in the hijab?

    And if she did decide to wear a wig, isn't that purposefully trying to change your appearance? Under this bank's logic, she'd be a security risk, right?

  • This is completely Unprofessional.

    [Read the article: 2010 Census: Gays, what gays?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    The census is all about gathering information. Sure, the stated purpose is to provide information for congressional districts and consequently ferderal funding, but the data is used for so very much more. The Census is used by thousands of researchers not affiliated with the government. Anyone can download Census data. (However, the public isn't allowed to see any data that might compromise someone's privacy. All the data is aggregated to some extent.)

    Not including information about gays leaves a huge blindspot in our knowledge of the American public. If I were more conspiratorily-minded, I'd think that this is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise gays by ignoring them. However, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, and therefore I'm sure that the Census people are just covering their wimpy asses and they don't have the balls to stand up to the feds in charge and demand that this information is VITAL for research and public policy and must be collected.

  • I'm wondering...

    [Read the article: Porn champion joins Holder at Justice]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    what the Porn Champion trophy looks like.

  • Everybody has the wrong context.

    [Read the article: On Leno, Obama makes Special Olympics joke]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    The joke that Obama was trying to make was not that his poor bowling score is comparable to what Special Olympics participants would score. In fact, I'm sure that if bowling is a Special Olympics sport (and I'm not sure it is), they'd be kicking Obama's and most other people's asses.

    The correct context was that Leno was complimenting Obama on his bowling, Obama knew that his score was not worthy of praise, and Obama commented that Leno is complimenting him like people compliment people who participate in the Special Olympics, i.e. no matter what he does people say "Good Job!" and the like.

    I don't know if this is any less offensive -- I think it is -- but it's clear in this context that he wasn't directly insulting the Special Olympics.

  • What always strikes me about marginal statutory rape stories...

    [Read the article: It's only rape if the victim's a girl?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    is how often this situation must occur and how few times (relatively) it is reported.

    Anyone who was sexually active around the ages of 16 to 18 and had a partner a couple years younger or older might very well have participated in rape -- either as a perpetrator or a victim. I was in high school over twenty years ago, and you heard about this kind of stuff all the time, and nobody thought it was a big deal (unless you count disgruntled exes). Was it all true rape?

    When I hear about cases of statutory rape among teenagers, I automatically think that there must be some pissed off parents behind the charges, and the only mistake the couple made was they weren't hiding the sex as well as they should have been.

  • Not to insult Specter

    [Read the article: Did Specter's political problems doom card check?]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    but he really should think about retiring. This way he can keep his integrity intact and go out on a high note.

  • God's a good PR guy.

    [Read the article: Texas prepares for evolution vote with national implications]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    He put out the "seven days" story because He knew that discussing deoxyribonucleic acid wouldn't play with the shepherds. But we're more sophisticated now, and I'm sure He's gnashing His teeth over these creationists who just won't accept His invention of evolution, which I'm sure God is pretty proud of because it's pretty impressive.

  • On predicting the past.

    [Read the article: Texas prepares for evolution vote with national implications]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    It's called retrodiction, a word which nobody uses because everyone calls it predicting back in time. Predicting back in time is much much easier that predicting forward in time, for obvious reasons.

    I think the word for predicting something when we know what happened before and after the gap is called interdiction, but I'm not entirely sure.

  • Another Wrong Creationist Theory:

    [Read the article: Texas on evolution: Needs further study]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    The way to turn kids to intelligent design is to make it seem more complicated than evolution.

    These guys really know what kids want, don't they?

  • I know it's "Spitzer", not "Ness"

    [Read the article: Eliot Spitzer is tanned, rested and ready]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    but whenever I picture him going after the bad guys I hear the Untouchables theme in the back of my head.

  • Is this part of the secret Republican strategy...

    [Read the article: Specter gets a primary challenge]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    for a permanent Democratic majority? That'll show us Dems!!

  • Another Great Moment from the show

    [Read the article: Why the internet was invented]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    Not to be missed...

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K2EA8SWhh8

  • Perhaps predicting the Right's unfortunate ignorance of the sexual connotations of the term "teabag"...

    [Read the article: Minuteman founder to challenge McCain in primary]
    [Read more letters about this article: Here]

    there have been dozens or perhaps hundreds of men in Arizona proud to call themselves "minutemen".

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