Letters to the Editor
anibundel
Published Letters: 27 Editor's Choice: 2
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Or...
[Read the article: How scalpers hoard "Hannah Montana" tickets]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Instead of making it so only the very rich can go to shows, or the obsessive nerds who are trained to remember every detail about their current obsession, how about something utterly radical?
Consign the internet to hell. Do not sell tickets online for at least the first 48 hours after they go on sale--maybe make longer waiting periods for bigger shows--but no longer than a week. Make it so the only option IS waiting in line if you want the tickets. That way the diehard fans (or in the case of Hannah Montana, their willing parents) have a fair way to get the tickets, like they used to. They also get the added benefit of the "waiting in line with other diehards experience" that seems to be so popular. And after the allotted time is over, those tickets that did not sell can be put up on the internet.
I know, ignoring the power of the internet--radical, right?
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A Minor Point
[Read the article: Huckabee digs a little deeper]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not to quibble, but the beginning of the end came for Rick Santorum after his last name was given the definition of "the froth of fecal matter and ejaculate" by Dan Savage. Yes, that was a result of his comments on homosexuality, but it was not the comments themselves that offended his electorate. It was that he had become a national punchline. He pretended to ignore it, hoping it would just go away, but it never did.
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Reading this article was like looking into a mirror
[Read the article: My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One year ago this month, I did what Sarah did. I added up all my debt and realised I was $10,400 in the hole.
How did I get there? Listening to the wrong person.
My parents tried to warn me, but they're not pushy, and they didn't teach me about money (it was my father's pride to know that his two daughter lived like ladies and never had to worry their heads about needing anything.) They were doing it right, paying the cards off , getting a house at a low rate and keeping on top of it, buying cars within their means, but the example wasn't out there and obvious, and I missed it.
The man I met and married was a fool. He told me never to pay the whole maount off on my card, even if I could. The card company wouldn't like it, for one, and if I did, I would never build credit. We ate out all the time. We lived in apartmetns we couldn't afford and leased cars--never looking at the big number, just the monthly fee. Just like the loan officer told us too. When we gave back the car we had to give them $4,000 in cash to take it back.
We married for the wedding--he wanted it--and "paid" for it ourselves with loans. We moved to NYC on a whim.
When I left him, I paid for everything on the credit card. The move, the lawyer, everything.
Really, the fact that my debt was only ten grand is a miracle.
But it was easy to fix, because 10 grand is NOTHING in this loan addled modern world. I took out one loan for 11 grand and paid off the credit cards all at once, and then closed them all. The loan was a one-year 0% interest--then it would jump to like 20-odd%. So whatever I did, I could NOT pay the minimums. Paying the minimums was the trap. I sent every cent I could for a year--my minimum was that it had to match my rent payment. if I could pay $750 in rent every month, then I had to be able to also send at least $750 to the loan. That was one year ago.
This December I sent off the last payment. I'm not totally debt free--I have one new credit card with a 10% apr, and my car needed $2000 worth of work done right before Christmas. But $3000 is a mountain I can conquer, the same way I conquered the $10grand. Never pay the minimums. Never send it late. Never send too much so you have to put your groceries on the card. Budget your Starbucks intake. (I put $100 on a gift card once every six weeks. If that doesn't cover it, then, I shouldn't be drinking it.) Responsibility isn't hard. It takes just an ounce of thought.
And pray you never get sick or injured in this country.
-Laura
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Thank you
[Read the article: Undecided '08: Should I vote for Clinton or Obama?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You have summed up my feelings more eloquently than I ever could.
I also find myself conflicted because a vote for Clinton is not just a vote for Clinton. If I were just voting for her alone, I would feel okay with it, because I do believe she's the best candidate. There's a great deal to be said for a woman who has craftily found a way to smash her way through the glass ceiling. Feminists of all stripes bemoan her hawkishness and say she's sold out. But I do believe that if I asked her, she would say the ends justify the means, she did what she had to do to get here, and for all the complaining, we are missing the point: She Is Here. But in selling out, she has made it so a vote for her is not just a vote for her. It is a vote for the Clinton machine, a continuation of 20 years that has been Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush. That was brought home to me during the South Carolina primary, when Bill Clinton was suddenly getting more press than anyone else, just for campaigning for his wife.
Obama-mania sounds so enticing. Like the 90s catchphrase from the X-files "I want to believe." But I don't. There is no change in this town. It's just pretty words spoken very well. The political system has over a century of entrenchment. You can't tell me he's really going to get here and change anything. It's patent nonsense.
But every time I've seen him speak he has been so compelling....
My father sent me this link in response. I pass it on now to you:
(http://edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/for-you/)