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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
olevant
Published Letters: 31 Editor's Choice: 9
What does the author have in mind? Instruction by way of boxing match? Coeducation in elementary schools isn't a recent development. When I was a kid, boys could sit quietly, listen, and raise their hands as well as girls could. The difference was, if they didn't behave, the teacher could and often did beat the crap out of them. (Ah, Texas!) They hit girls, too. Our natural temperaments didn't count for squat. We paid attention.
So we've progressed beyond the barbaric old methods, but we apparently haven't yet discovered a new method of emphasizing to kids that learning is a serious business. I agree it's not fair to simply let a generation of boys fail; I also don't think you can teach a kid who doesn't want to sit still and pay attention.
To CFMerri: A treadmill is a dandy idea. I wouldn't give another dime to people who hang fetuses on Christmas trees.
People with animals tend to compare domestic animals to children because that is what they are: dependents that we have adopted to live in our homes. They demand care, give affection, and yes, cause tensions just as any family member would. But there's a difference; to many people, they are seen as throwaway product. Go to any animal shelter and you will find the results of unplanned pregnancies, cages full of inconvenient naughty teenagers, and old folks left behind on the side of the road. It's heartbreaking, and for this reason animal lovers can seem fierce.
But there's no denying old animals take time, patience, and an extraordinary amount of care. This letter writer did not know this; then again, she did not adopt the dog. He is her step-dog, which can be a tricky relationship. She doesn't love the dog like her husband does, but at least she's trying to cope. I suspect she wrote the letter in hopes that Cary would give her the go ahead to euthanize it, but happily, he gave her responsible advice. Vets can often treat incontinence, and give her more ideas on how to handle an aging pet. Having cared for many old, sick animals, I can vouch that it's difficult, and at times exasperating, disgusting, and inconvenient. All of those things the letter writer feels. She doesn't deserve to be pilloried. She needs constructive help from a vet and her husband.
I am sorry that the French film Look at Me is on so few lists. It's a terrific movie--funny, sad, and with several great performances.
When Al Franken asked Jimmy Carter to respond to something Rush Limbaugh had said about him, Carter swatted the question away by asking, "Who is Rush Limbaugh?" It was sweet.
The first best option for dealing with a ignorant blowhard is to ignore them.
We have learned that throughout the election of 2004 The New York Times (or at the very least, their reporter Judith Miller) remained mum concerning vital information in the Valerie Plame affair--sources that reveal that the leak had indeed come from the White House. Miller withheld this information from readers even as John Kerry was being smeared for being not as trustworthy as Bush. (So, apparently, did Matthew Cooper at Newsweek.)
Now it appears probable that the Times also sat on a story about unlawful wiretapping before the election. (If the story was gathered before the election, as Calame seems to suspect it was.) There are other possible explanations for why they withheld the story, yet I can't help suspecting that the rationale for their silence in these two cases mirrors their reason for refusing to publish a story on the president's back bulge during the first presidential debate: The paper did not want to appear to be doing anything that might influence the results of the election. (Somewhere along the way the Times' editors seem to have picked up the notion that, like the characters on Star Trek, they shouldn't let their actions influence human history.) So they just left their readership in ignorance.
At some point, ommitting information can become advocacy, too. In this respect, the Times has been as good a friend to the adminstration as Fox News.
Gramted. he's an idiot, but is Tierney really blaming feminism for the fact that there are fewer men graduating from college? Is this something that can be dumped on Betty Friedan's head? I didn't know college was a zero-sum game. And is he suggesting that woman should stop getting so darned much education so they'll have smart men to marry down the line?
That seems like a bit of a stretch. But if men really are having such a hard time competing with all these women, perhaps they really do need some sort of affirmative action. (And for the benefit of reactionary guys like Tierney, Limbaugh, Brooks, et al, let's make sure that's what it's called.)
Jeff Daniels in The Squid and the Whale.
'Cause we're the only ones here. I doubt DLC members of Congress are reading Salon. (Do any Congressmen read it?)
Though I couldn't agree more with Mr. Keillor's words, I'm beginning to get a sense of futility from calls for impeachment in the liberal press. It's our version of Bush calling for a mission to Mars. Who are we waiting for to lead the charge? Joe Biden? Hilary Clinton? Joe Lieberman? The Democrats in the Senate couldn't present a united front against Samuel Alito.
What Dems need to concentrate on is electing new leaders, preferably ones that have spunk and spine. Ones that actually aren't afraid to make a stink when things like Abu Graib come to light, instead of cowering in front of the microphones because they don't want to be seen as "not supporting the troops." Then maybe talk of impeachment would not seem like powerless people posturing before mirrors.
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"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
