Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 260 Editor's Choice: 42
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Ditto
[Read the article: A death blow for online radio?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I love internet radio - I listen to Radio Paradise all day. Commercial radio sucks, period. Like Sean, I now buy songs on iTunes and albums on Amazon after hearing them first online. I donate to the station as well, but I am clear that RP is doing it out of love for the music and they aren't making anything over their expenses. They will not survive this war that the labels are waging on digital music.
I will boycott all major labels that are members of RIAA if this travesty goes through. It was bad enough that these very rich, very old men are prosecuting college students for sharing music (can you say mix tapes?) but this is the last straw.
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A powerful decision for all of us
[Read the article: Edwards says he's staying in]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't we ALL have friends or relatives who have suffered, and maybe died, from breast cancer? As those of us who have been caregivers or patients know, when the treatment starts, it can be like checking out of life and into a protracted limbo state for both. This is an incredibly brave decision to reject that limbo state, and it WILL be a hard road for them. But what an important choice for all of us because, like Betty Ford and drug rehab, Elizabeth Edwards will be a high-profile patient and could direct more media attention to the fact that breast cancer, while more "treatable", is ocurring in increased numbers in women. It is irrelevant whether Edwards wins or loses the election.
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Sadder but wiser
[Read the article: MoveOn moves in with Pelosi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Any citizen who has tried to meet with their representatives in Congress knows that numbers matter. A group of 6 will get the lowest ranking aide in the office, and maybe 5 minutes to present topics in the copy room. A group of 10 or more might get an inner office and an aide with more seniority. Rarely does a group get to meet with the actual rep without a PR event attached, and of course, if a lobbyist contingent shows up, fuggedaboutit, the constituents are toast.
We only matter in large numbers, and Move-On has those numbers, as elusive as email polls are. Tactics and strategies are what works now. I'd like to think that standing on my street corner with peace signs and 20 other idealists will make a difference, but the peace movement has very little credibility anymore, and symbolic gestures have even less in the real world of politics. The Democrats are craven cowards most of the time, but the are the only players we have in the chess game that is being played out right now.
It sucks, but it's true.
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Thanks
[Read the article: Congressional oversight is a linchpin of how our democracy works]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I sent this entry, in its entirety, to both my Senators (Nelson - D, and Martinez - R) and my Representative, (Castor - D) with the Subject, "What I expect of you." I could not have expressed this so eloquently, with such solid research, on my own.
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Between the lines
[Read the article: My walls are covered with my mother's paintings]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While I appreciate all the advice given so far, all very logical and supportive, I hear the LW asking for permission to get rid of most if not all of the paintings.
You have my permission. She's gone. There's no one to judge you. The main point is that you are the one living your life now and you can choose what you want in it.
My mom died 7 years ago and left me as executor. (My dad died two months later.) She collected massive amounts of stuff, nice and crappy, a few expensive pieces and a lot of junk. I distributed stuff to my sisters and hung on to everything they didn't want for sentimental reasons. After a few years of storing and schlepping, I was ready to get rid of everything. It all went for pennies and nickels in a yard sale. I purposefully priced things very cheaply, because I knew someone would feel good about buying them and I didn't want to throw anything away.
Living life without your parents is sorrowful and exhilirating. It's like you're finally grown up. Congratulations on painting your world in your own colors.
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The critics of the critics
[Read the article: Class war and credit snobs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone defending the subprime lenders is trying to preserve the duck-in-a-barrel target market of lower-middle class folks who can be easily manipulated because they aren't so familiar with fine-print bait and switch tactics. This is the same technique that works with the barrage of credit card offers, which are gratefully taken by those who shouldn't get them and quickly maxed out when thin times inevitably come. Usurious interest keeps these exploited folks in poverty, and pushes them there if they weren't quite there yet otherwise. They are the first to be laid off and the first to need advocates in the system. Who will speak for them? When will the out-of-control corporations realize that you can only get so much blood from a stone? Probably not til the economy collapses under the weight of the greedy from the top, and the tapped-out at the middle and bottom. Or when the government takes it's necessary role as credit market regulator.
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welcome to my world
[Read the article: The end of the affair]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sci-fi/fantasy fans have always known this bittersweet feeling as a beloved series comes to an end, usually prematurely. Sci-fi, and most good comics, are predicated on the long view, the intricate development of an alternate world and the journey of the characters through that world. Movies aren't bad, but waiting years for the next installment is torture. The networks (Sci Fi Channel included!) usually don't know what to do with a good sci fi story, so they pull the plug somewhere along their short-attention span, while their dedicated viewers don't get the closure that Rebecca is talking about.
So we go back to our books, measured by the inch, not the page, and immerse ourselves and dread the day when that last page of the last book approaches. Harry Potter has been a wonderful addition to my library, and my response to the ending of the series is, to wait a reasonable amount of time (a month, or two) and then read it all again!