Letters to the Editor
WeatherwaxRules
Published Letters: 7
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Oh Please !
[Read the article: Lee Bollinger's big moment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Give me a break. Most of what Bollinger said was straight out of Ahmadinejad's own speeches (and before you bring out the tired 'it was all mis-translated' line, let me save you some time; I speak Farsi). Ahmadinejad had the largest forum he has ever had in his career to defend himself and he failed miserably. He has been reduced to a laughing stock which is what a man of limited power and even more limited intelligence deserves. I'm still chuckling over the 'no homosexuals in Iran' line. Bollinger deserves a great deal of credit for saying what no one else in the world has dared say to Ahmadinejad's face. Now if only some equally brave man would do the same to the other coward with limited intelligence , but unfortunately way too much power in this country; I would die happy.
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Ambushing one tyrant does not mean you support the other
[Read the article: Lee Bollinger's big moment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, Ahmadinejad was ambushed but he had an opportunity to defend himself and for all those remarking on how he was brave for facing up to accusations , you're making a very big assumption there; namely that he would have accepted the invitation had he known what was in store for him. I would love to see the same happen to Bush but I doubt I will.What I find deplorable about most of the comments on this forum is that they follow the refrain of "He's no worse than Bush so it's unfair he should be treated that way ". Hospitality be damned, if you are going to spend most of your term in office calling for mass annihilation of millions of people, encouraging acts of murder, (ask if you want the rest of his rants, I'll provide them with citations and references tomorrow) you should be ready to stand for what you believe in. This is all in (what had until now thought of as neocon talk)the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend" vein. Are you people so distracted by your (perfectly justified, I might add) hatred of Bush that would you sink to the Republicans level. Since before he came to power , I have despised Bush (it started with watching him take apart Texas). My revulsion for him has only grown since. But I have never had any particular sympathy for Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden or the Shah or other tyrants that the USA built up in the past only to tear down when convenient. They are all cut from the same cloth as Bush and Ahmadinejad and they deserve all the calumny that is heaped on them. Please excuse the run-on sentences, but I am rather worked up right now.
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@christian - Millions of people
[Read the article: Lee Bollinger's big moment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Population of Israel as of April 2007- 7.15 million (5.45 Jews, 1.425 million Arabs)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html#_ftnref1
There are links to the hard data at the bottom of the page.
I eagerly await your sophistry on how 'wiping a nation of 7.15 million off the map ' involves relocating them to a nicer piece of land with an ocean view , without harming a hair on anyone's head.
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@translation
[Read the article: Lee Bollinger's big moment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Who are these know academics you speak of?
I'm taking off now, been at work far too late; but rest assured I shall definitely read through their opinions when you post them.
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medical problems
[Read the article: My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Until my second year of grad school I had exactly $0 in credit card debt. Then I needed emergency dental surgery which I was told would cost approx $4500 (it wound up being about $4000 because the dental surgeon waived some of the fees). With no dental insurance and a monthly paycheck of $1050 out of which I had to pay shared rent, school fees and crappy basic medical insurance premiums, I did not have much choice but to put it on my card at 23% interest(thank God my tuition was waived). One fact though that I think was left unsaid in this article was that once in debt it's saps your will power a great deal. When I would think about the debt I already had , it was easy to say I have $4000 , what's another $25 for those CDs I want. And it adds up. When I graduated four years later, I had approx $15,000 in debt. About $10,000 of that was because of the original debt but the rest was all me. I've now got this down to under $2000 after serious scrimping for 3 years. I'm not sure what the point of all this is, maybe it's just that sometimes crap happens and it snowballs. It doesn't mean that someone is spoiled or a princess(or in my case a prince)it just means that someone made some bad judgement calls or got screwed. I wound up paying $10,000 for essential surgery that a wealthier person would have paid $4000 for. I took responsibility for my mistakes and I think that the fact that the writer has as well is commendable. If she was fortunate enough to have wealthy parents to help her than thats fine. If my parents could have afforded it , I would have borrowed the money from them without a moments hesitation. Better to pay them back than pay 25 cents on the dollar to some random company.
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re: anonymous
[Read the article: My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous, I'm not sure you know how to calculate interest. My total debt was approx 15,000, of which I would say $5000 was reckless spending. Calculate 23.99% interest on $4000 over a period of almost 5 years and see how much you get. I never actually missed a minimum payment. I just couldn't afford to pay much more than the minimum payment while I was in school.
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RE: anonymous
[Read the article: My big, fat, unpaid credit card bill]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree, which is why I said I take some responsibility. My point though was had I never added anything to my card post surgery, I would still be about 9500 in debt when I graduated. The fact that I was stupid and added to that number does not take that away. I'm not denying reckless spending and I'm glad I got a job where I could pay off my debt fairly rapidly without starving myself, I'm just saying not all debt is because of irresponsible behaviour.