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srutherford

Published Letters: 44
Editor's Choice: 4

Monday, November 23, 2009 06:22 AM
Original article: Everybody hates mommy

The way you drive.

It's because of the way you mummies drive your strollers or prams, depending upon your continent.

You push them around like they are Hummers. And some of them are nearly as large, especially when you take over a café or Starbucks with these monsters... Strollers and kids.

Saturday, August 1, 2009 10:07 PM

sad copycat

So, after all the fame and fortune Mark Burnett has acquired through other reality shows, the best that he can come up with is a direct copycat production of a concept that has been on television for years in Japan and the UK? Pathetic.

Imagine if he were to walk into Dragons' Den as a participant seeking money and suggest that he wants to produce a show that is a direct rip-off of one in a different country. He'd be shamed into a retreat with his idea because of its lack of entrepreneurial brilliance and hard work.

I find it sad that this is the best that he can do.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 04:07 AM

Frustrated...

...with American television's inability to format substantive debates. The so-called "Great Debate" is clearly inadequate for debating any great issue, especially as it becomes yet another soapbox to spew inaccurate "facts", which Liz Cheney did, without an analysis of said "facts". Indeed, for the most part the American TV media continues to be compliant and pusillanimous, and there are few interviewers or presenters who have a clue as to what constitutes a "great debate". Ever-smiling Campbell Brown certainly doesn't.

Monday, June 8, 2009 07:45 AM
Original article: Obama's really unpopular!

I don't get it.

"Rasmussen says it believes its index "is a better measure of public perceptions than the overall approval ratings." There's no reason to doubt the company about that -- it's a good pollster, whose work is generally respected."

I don't get this. If I poll 100 people and the results are this:

Strongly approve: 1

Approve: 90

Disapprove: 8

Strongly disapprove: 1

...the index is zero. Am I dense? This is a valid indicator of presidential approval?

Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:47 PM

@ Stetsonthehat re "elderly"

Sorry, but you're wrong regarding demographic age segmentation. Age segmentation for TV is typically: 18 to 35; 35 to 49; 50 to 64; and 65-plus.

Thursday, May 28, 2009 12:03 PM

Elderly?

"His viewers skew elderly -- 59 percent are over 50..."

Are you joking? Fifty-plus is ELDERLY? What are you, 15?

Friday, September 19, 2008 10:37 AM
Original article: "WTF" of the day

No big deal

These kinds of ads are not uncommon in Europe, and it doesn't really seem so WTF after living in Europe for a number of years. It does fit northern European humour, and it being in English makes sense for the reasons already offered, and also because the EU headquarters is in Brussels and there are lots of expats there.

Monday, May 5, 2008 12:04 PM

I'm backwards.

As I get older, I want more sex. I want more intimacy. I want more snuggles.

Life's short. Women are wonderful. Duh, it's a no-brainer.

Friday, May 2, 2008 11:28 PM

What to write.

My first newspaper job was a short stint at the Livingston Enterprise in the late 1970s. I had a chance to buy some land in Paradise Valley, but didn't. Clearly I was stupid not to do so.

Paradise Valley is one of those special places, like Hanalei in Hawaii or Santa Fe. The excessively rich and bored always seem to take them over. That which was the reason in the first place to find them appealing evaporates.

If I'd bought that Paradise Valley land, I could be excessively rich and bored. Shit.

Thursday, April 17, 2008 02:40 AM
Original article: Beyond Vagina-dome

Scary.

I don't know... A first serious encounter with a vagina can be scary. So complicated and all. Now it's even more complicated with all this marketing and strategic celebratory stuff. Still scary.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 11:15 AM

No.

If she goes full-on negative, the Democrats will once again fuck up and lose. Full stop. Period.

Friday, April 11, 2008 03:10 AM
Original article: Ask the pilot

Nice perspective with numbers...

"The last large-scale accident involving a major U.S. carrier was that of an American Airlines A300 in November 2001. That was approximately 43 million flights ago."

Why is that never mentioned in the mainstream press? It's an amazing statistic.

Friday, March 14, 2008 12:36 AM

Shameful...

...that America has chosen to redefine the meanings and expectations of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. Really shameful.

Even more shameful is the complacency of American media, legislators, and citizens.

Thursday, February 21, 2008 07:00 AM

turnaround

At first this American in Paris dismissed Barack Obama. Increasingly, however, I feel that he is in fact the only candidate who can restore not only global respect, but an enthusiasm, for the US. One reason I dismissed him was a lack of international experience, but then so too did Bill Clinton, who was highly respected around the world and who had brought internationalism, and intelligent thinking, back within the beltway.

I could care less about Obama's middle name or that he is black. Still, these will both be important cues for the rest of the world, and positive ones. What I do care is that it is high time intelligent, tolerant, and respectful leadership return to the US. Obama offers this, along with little wavering in position depending upon the winds.

I long supported Hillary Clinton, both for her experience and her intelligence, but her equivocation on a number of issues, and hesitation to take solid stands, has greatly lessened my support for her.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 03:14 PM

Exhausted

The White House has drained, demeaned, and diminished the precepts of integrity and accountability in American government. Now such complacency and the lowest common denominator are becoming acceptable in the American military, at the highest levels.

Disgusted, I am, and embarrassed for my country. I suppose this means I am unpatriotic in the eyes of Boylan and his commander-in-chief.

Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:56 AM

It's also disappointing...

...to read the first dozen comments regarding this article. Instead of thoughtful discourse, some contributors here have taken the low road, jumped up on to their high soapboxes, and spouted virtriol that is irrelevant and selfish.

Seriously, the quality of discussion and debate about issues in America increasingly seems to take the tone of the TV punters on Fox, CNN and elsewhere... Shouting instead of tolerance, personal attacks instead of respect.

No wonder the current White House administration, one of divisive policy-making, gets away with what it does. Hopefully I'm wrong, but too many Americans expect and understand this shallow and disrespectful approach to discussions, rather than something a bit more thoughtful and respectful, with constructive outcomes.

Give me French politics anytime. It's embarrassing explaining to Europeans how debate and decisions happen in the US.

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