Letters to the Editor
blunderdog
Published Letters: 509 Editor's Choice: 10
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@Slackie
[Read the article: Bush's non-exit exit strategy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"What will "The Homeland(tm)" look like then, with all of that money funneled over there into the great big Middle Eastern Money Pit?"
It's not just a pit, though, is it? It's an investment of America's public funds that's making a fortune for the oil guys, Halliburton, weapons manufacturers, etc.
We already know what "The Homeland" will look like. New Orleans is the prototype for future American cities.
We don't need hurricanes everywhere, just wait 'til everything collapses.
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So Funny I'm Crying...
[Read the article: My wife is terrible on the cellphone!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]<<...if you're in your forties, you're old enough to remember the kinds of super-clear phone calls you could make on phones so solidly built that criminals could use them to cold-cock Mannix (or vice versa). Those were the days.>>
No kidding. Truer words never spoken. If you ever need an example of how deregulation destroyed a near-perfect infrastructure, there's the perfect one.
More expensive, anti-competitive, and AWESOME.
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So Glad
[Read the article: John Edwards' "green-collar" America]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To see good stuff here about Edwards.
The guy really has stuff to say, and I think he's got the most potential at this point to achieve something as President. Edwards/Obama looks like a fine ticket. It's "left," but it's domestic.
Bio-fuels, corn ethanol plantations for Europe in Africa, 1 million green-collar jobs, hey, I'm like...so there. Let's auction off our lower-security prisoners as export labor to work on cellosic-ethanol bio-refineries so they can pay for their own rehabilitation and education. Let's build a small-scale agricultural industry back into society, distribute population a bit more sensibly, and stop focusing so much strain on such small parts of the world.
I'm game. He's optimistic, and he's making the right noises.
Can't let Hillary take the nomination. Rightly or wrongly, she's unelectable in the US. Personally, I don't much want to vote for a Walmart board-member. I'd only do it if compelled. Even Romney doesn't look that horrible next to Hil. Ugh.
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Great Candidates for Depositions
[Read the article: Colbert and Stewart are called to testify in the YouTube suit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm surprised there's the comment that these guys wouldn't have anything relevant to say.
It seems quite plausible that they themselves could have engaged in the sharing of Viacom's copyrighted material.
Personally, I can't see how anything that people are allowed to record for their own review can't be shared in small clips in order to promote discussion about the ideas raised. Viacom (and every other big IP holder) can't tolerate that conception of "fair use."
If that's the dominant human/social view, though, Viacom (and every other big IP holder) can't actually "win" anything. No matter what happens in court.
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Bravo!
[Read the article: There's a cougher in the office and it's driving me mad!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is the funniest Cary column I've read in quite awhile. Very nicely done. I'm not sure about the advice, but I can't imagine any better.
I am somewhat of an erratic office cougher, having bad days for no discernable reason in which I may cough 10 times in an hour. It's mortifying, but I can't help but love something about it, too. The experience of the body doing something spastic in an office environment where professional restraint is expected at all times seems subliminally subversive. (I generally embrace the body unreservedly, as I figure it's the only thing I'm sure to have for the rest of my life.)
Given the choice, of course, I'd stop coughing immediately. Fortunately, I've never experienced anything like the LW's problem. If earplugs or an iPod are an option, they might be worth considering.
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Who are you anonymous posters?
[Read the article: There's a cougher in the office and it's driving me mad!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On a message board like this, where you can sign any suitably vague name of your choosing, who in heaven's name feels the need to prevent a one-to-one conversation between other vague names by posting anonymously?
In response to the recent post: "Who are you people that go to HR?"
I've gone to HR about things about coworkers that I believed were detrimental to the COMPANY. Yes, that's what HR is for. If someone annoys you personally, you gotta suck it up and deal with it. If someone is actually harming the well-being of the [dun dun DUN] organization, there are very good reasons for making sure that HR (and thus, management) is aware of the situation.
The key to whether its the right thing to do or not has a lot to do with whether it's a _personal_ issue to you when you approach HR. If it is, they're going to see that and it may very well harm your career. But if you go to them professionally, discreetly, and honestly, it may turn out that there's something that can be done.
If a receptionist is showing off track-marks, that's something that most companies aren't going to benefit from. And ultimately, don't you want the company to benefit? Even if only so you can keep your job? If either of those answers is "no," obviously you need to quit immediately.
The LW shouldn't go to HR, precisely BECAUSE it's so personal. The LW just ain't being rational here. But that's what advice columns are for, much of the time.
As the final balloon to float on this specific issue, is there a possibility that the COUGHER could work from home?
I've never worked for a newspaper, but if reporters spend much of their time talking on the phone, typing at computers, and researching things (while coughing constantly), the office seems like a totally unnecessary environment these days. And I think lots of people would be game to try working from home if given the opportunity. Everyone I know who does it loves it.
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Rove's a Classic Archetype
[Read the article: "The complications of Iraq"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rove can be a "genius" and be "evil." It happens all the time. Geniuses are often nutbags, and nutbags can be evil as easily as they can be good.
Where's "the Darkness reaching out to the Darkness" when you need it for comment?
We might very well (er...will) end up in Iraq for a lot longer than 9 years. And to talk about the "cost" of $2 trillion is so negative and one-sided.
Someone is MAKING $2 trillion off this fucking horror-show.
That's the beauty of capitalism. The markets so neatly revoke ethics for solvency. You can't afford to bog down on moral dilemma when you've got a business to run.
It's all a terrible crime against the ideals of the USA, but hey, if the Founding Fathers had foreseen modern industrial capitalism coupled with universal suffrage, the Constitution would be a lot shorter.