Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 216 Editor's Choice: 20
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You don't know.
[Read the article: I think my boss has been cheating on his taxes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How do you know that the boss didn't ask the LW to prepare his personal taxes for him? That sort of thing certainly happens sometimes. But, to make the point again, we don't know. We don't know if the tax information was obtained ethically, or not (and unless you're a lawyer, you probably don't know whether or not it even matters how the information was discovered - I certainly don't). Maybe that information was included in the original letter, and is part of the text that Cary cut.
WE JUST DON'T KNOW!
So speculating and then offering advice - strongly worded advice in many cases, with dire predictions of legal penalties - on the basis of those speculations is both pointless and stupid. Cary got it right, and it's ironic that so many people are apparently disagreeing with him. This is a question of legality and professional ethics, and only a fool would give advice on either point without ALL of the information.
Not to belabor the point - oh, what the hell. Why should I be any different from anyone else here? I WILL belabor it. LW, if you broke into your boss's house and took his tax records at gunpoint, shot his dog and raped his wife into the bargain, then you could go to jail. JAIL!!! So you should destroy all those records immediately, take out your life savings, and head for the hills to lead the life of a fugitive. If you don't, you could spend the rest of your life in prison!
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Sad, but not surprising
[Read the article: Jersey hustler]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a native and resident of a neighboring state back when Keane was Governor of New Jersey, I have to say that none of this is really news. Keane was the Mitt Romney of his day; a handsome face, but when it came to integrity...to quote Jon Stewart, "eh, not so much".
He was a sleazeball Republican operator of the pseudo-moderate type. A servant of Big Business, first and last.
I'd hoped that age and impending death had inspired him to change his ways, but this whole "Path to 9/11" thing just proves the old adage: once a sleaze, always a sleaze.
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Point of information, please
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]David P. Graf, could you tell us if you've seen the movie? Obviously that would lend weight to your opinion here.
I haven't seen the movie, nor am I likely to; I imagine it would be interesting, but I don't expect that I'll be able to see ANY movies for the next few years. My little boy can't stand the blastingly loud sound levels that movie theaters insist on using these days. Not that "Jesus Camp" sounds like something I'd want to take him to, anyway...
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Secret...Agent Man!
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Patrick McGoohan would be spinning in his grave, if he weren't alive. :D
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Despair & Hope
[Read the article: Is the homeland where America's heart is?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, that was hideously depressing. Shall I read that book now, or just blow my brains out?
Actually, I find some hope in one thing which was mentioned in the article: that for the right wing movement, particularly the religious faction, the job is "half finished". All the shit that this country has gone through apparently hasn't woken up Sleeping America, but I guarantee you this: once the right-wingers start taking away condoms and birth control pills, there's going to be a rude awakening.
Real success, for the right wing, can only lead to disaster. And the only way for the players behind the scenes to avoid that disaster is to spin the issue out as long as possible, as they've done with abortion.
People like George Bush and Dick Cheney - well, Cheney, anyway - know that a flat-out ban on contraception would get a lot of formerly apathetic people to start voting. So they'll "try hard", issue a lot of bills, and keep losing. That way they can keep the issue as a means to galvanize the slack-jawed yokels who support them, and who apparently will never realize that they're being utterly manipulated.
But I don't think that the Christian Right will accept that status quo forever. Witness their recent pushes on abortion. These people want red meat, though, and one way or another they're going to get it.
We can only hope that the body politic gets its head out of its ass before environmental collapse renders the whole issue moot.
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What now?
[Read the article: So much for the Great Writ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's really nothing I can say that doesn't sound ridiculous. This is just so hard to believe...Congress has given Bush the LEGAL power to imprison for life and torture to death anyone he wants, including any American citizen. It's surreal.
And my party stood by. They cast their little "Nay" votes, knowing damned well that the bill would pass and that a man who has shown that he absolutely cannot be trusted with ANY power - a man who is already responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including well over 3,000 US citizens - they have given him a power that most KINGS didn't have for the past 700 years.
And my own party - my own party stood by in complicity. Any ONE of them could have filibustered. They didn't. And why? Because the Republicans would attack them.
AS IF THEY WOULDN'T ATTACK THEM ANYWAY!!! And of course they already are. As anyone who isn't totally brain-dead would have anticipated.
I don't see how I can continue as a Democrat any more. I really don't.
This is nothing, a pathetic, meaningless pittance, but I'm going to change my registration from Democrat to independent. The Democrats are dead, and I'm not interested in climbing into the grave with them.
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Hey!
[Read the article: Rakoff on "Daily"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"This video is no longer available" - looks like someone called the copyright police.
Too bad, because I saw the original broadcast, and it was funny as hell.