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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
newyorker
Published Letters: 45 Editor's Choice: 4
Dear Letter writer,
I wish you well in this very difficult time. I can totally understand what you're going through. Eight years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Besides having to deal with the shock and the treatment, I found it could be difficult to deal with certain friends and family members. What I found I wanted most from people was that they listen, but not many people were willing or able to do that without offering their at times unwanted advice or opinions. Don't worry about your in-laws and their reactions. You absolutely must put your own needs first right now. Having cancer was not something I would have chosen. But I did learn a little about what is important to me and how to react to others who are ill. For that I am grateful.
Both Syoung and Amerigo could be the same person. Each deals in absolutes. Amerigo thinks anyone who had an abortion will someday regret it, while Syoung believes that any woman that regrets an abortion is an idiot. I regret an abortion I had many years ago, but I remain firmly pro-choice. I realize that my experience was my own, as every woman's choice about terminating a pregnancy should be own her. The only idiots here are the people like Syoung and Amerigo who make assumptions about people and circumstances they know absolutely nothing about.
As a New Yorker, I'm not surprised that Giuliani supports the war in Iraq. A compassionate person would see how the war is not only destroying the life of our own troops but the citizens of an entire country. As mayor of NYC he was a bully, who displayed a remarkable lack of either compassion or remorse. For instance, when the African immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot--47 times--all because the police thought he was reaching for a gun, Giuliani didn't even express condolences to the man's family. Giuliani also showed no remorse for another man, also shot erronously by overzealous policemen. Giuliani claimed the man was "no choirboy" although the victim had done nothing except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ironically he had been a choirboy in his youth. And Giuliani has yet to publically express remorse that many of the firemen who died on 9/11 would not have been in the Tower when it collapsed if the radio communication had been better and central command hadn't been set up at the World Trade center to begin with. What can you really expect from a man who lets his wife know that he's divorcing her at the same time that he tells the press.
It amazes me and many New Yorkers that Giuliani is so popular elsewhere. I guess 9/11 still resonates strongly, and he plays this so called strength of his for all it's worth. Too bad more isn't being said about what Giuliani was like before this day and what he was really doing that day.
Dear LW,
Since you're weren't trying to evict your "friends", but the other way around, I don't see how you could be charged with discrimination. If your name is still on the lease I also don't see how they can force you to move. The question is, how much do you want to stay there?
I can't imagine that living with two hostile roommates and a newborn infant would be fun, but if you consider this place your home, you shouldn't be in any rush to move out. Perhaps you can tell the couple that you're sorry that it will be difficult for them to find a new place. Since they can't imagine having you as part of their new family, however, and it is your home, then they'll have to move. Give them a couple of months. If they refuse to do so, you could consider listening to loud heavy metal music at all hours or have lots of long dinner parties. You sound like you're too nice to take such tactics, but if the only other option is to move out of a place that you really love, then you have no choice. It won't be pleasant or easy, but neither is moving.
If you don't really care that much about the place or think you can find a new place easily, then move. But make sure to take everything last thing that belongs to you. You have already given the couple enough.
Yes, the Republican party really does love and respect our troops. That's why just this week they voted against insuring these troops adequate rest before re-deployment to Iraq. When they die over there, Bush makes sure that there flag-covered coffins come back to the States in the dead of night, out of site of photographers. That's really showing respect for our troops.
It's Ok for Republicans to call ex-senator, Max Cleland, a traitor or coward for early on questioning the war, nevermind that he lost three limbs actually fighting over there while Cheney said "he had better things to do." It's also Ok for Repulicans to continue to advocate tax cuts during war time, even if that means our troops may lack protective body armor as a result.
Republicans are the ones that show the greatest lack of respect for our troops. The Democrats, by their refusal to speak up, are a close second. The troops deserve our respect. The members of Congress of both parties who do nothing to stop the war which is killing so many of these men and women, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, deserve nothing but contempt.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
