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Candidates' Campaign Content
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2008 Comment (3)I'm a Colorado small-business owner (home builder), a 60-year-old male. From personal experience of working on a Bush campaign four years ago and now switching to Obama, there is no comparison ["Obama Supporters May Spew More Hate Than McCain Backers," usnews.com October 14]. Democrats tend to engage in dialogue and listen. Republicans, unfortunately, have too long relied on slogans and name-calling rather than exploring issues in depth. It is being played out fairly in the mainstream news, and it is clear Republicans try to shut out free speech much more. I will always remain independent and enjoy interacting with both parties, but this year I have a very clear choice in Obama/Biden.
Comment by Robin of CO
It's more than this campaign. For years there have been vile comparisons between Bush/Cheney and Hitler. They've been called terrorists. Senator Durbin said the U.S. soldiers were like stormtroopers. When did anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle say that over-the-top rhetoric should stop? Never! As far as I can see, Obama will be reaping what's been sowed for the last five years or so. Either the mainstream media will cover for him, like they are during the campaign, or he'll need to learn from Bush to have a thick skin.
Comment by Stevend of TX
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Intimate Details
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 CommentThe assertion of a correlation between one's sex life and health is no surprise ["Sex, Health, and Happiness," September 15-22]. The correlation should be stronger for those in a longtime, loving relationship. Furnishing Viagra is for pleasure and not health, despite what is said by those who profit from distributing the pill and those receiving the pleasure from it.
Andrew F. Bennett Jr. Cleveland , Tenn.
The sexual revolution came at a time when many did not want to be responsible for their actions. People have rebelled not only against the rules that protected adults but also those that protect children. Childhood sexual abuse affects the sexual health of the adult. We can say we accept new ideas and new lifestyles, but many times problems stem from fractured and unhealed psychological issues from childhood. I would like to see better sexual health, more examples of healthy relationships, and more work done on improving marriage and the protection of children.
Susan Drake La Jolla , Calif.
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Facing the Facts of Life
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment (1)It's sad that Bernadine Healy's caring and relevant column "Let's Teach Our Children Well," about sexually transmitted diseases in teens, received a mere two columns in the September 15-22 issue while the lament of declining sexual function in baby boomers got the fantastic cover treatment. Get over it. It is a normal physiological decline for all of us. Turn your attention to diabetes, degenerative joint disease, cancer, obesity, strokes, cardiac disease, macular degeneration, glaucoma...these are real disabling or life-threatening conditions for baby boomers. The explicit nature of the remaining articles does not even warrant a response.
Matthew Kan Minneapolis
The nationwide epidemic of teen sex, pregnancies, illegitimate babies, abortions, and sexually transmitted diseases is a consequence of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, which ushered into mainstream thinking and behavior the false and pernicious idea of free sex, defined as sex devoid of love, morality, fidelity, commitment, and responsibility. Sex should be and is the language of the body that conveys a communion of hearts, minds, and souls within the sacrament of marriage. But today's popular sexual attitudes and practices reduce sex to simply a tool of gratification. The results are broken hearts, lives, marriages, homes, and families.
Haven Bradford Gow Greenville , Miss.
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A Father’s Wedding Woes
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment"For Richer or Poorer?" [September 15-22] certainly resonates with this father of the bride-to-be! The ceremony and celebration of a wedding have been overshadowed by pageantry and spectacle. The event is so emotionally charged that resistance is futile (I know this firsthand, times two). So we'll (proudly) walk our daughters down the aisle, (grudgingly) write the check, and commiserate at our preferred watering hole. Amen.
Bob Murray Glen Burnie , Md.
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Profit and Loss
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment (3)Regarding "A New Direction on Wall Street" [September 29-October 6]: The most important and revealing words used are "a now collapsed foundation of greed and overly optimistic economic assumptions." The government has approved billions in loans for AIG and a "$200 billion commitment" to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And now $700 billion more to bail out the institutions and investors who greedily and overly optimistically gave funds that weren't even theirs for loans "they didn't have to hold...themselves." It was all high-risk and fraudulent speculation for profit, the negative results of which virtually none of them would suffer. So who suffers? The homeowners who counted on loans to buy homes from investor/builders who have no further stake in them, and those who now have to give their hard-earned money to bail out the same institutions and investors that caused the problems in the first place. When did the United States turn from rewarding the earning of money to rewarding the loss of the same by bailing out the irresponsible losers?
Jim Magwood Twin Oaks, Calif.
It seems the same Bush administration that, through panic, incompetence, or greed, squandered more than $450 billion we didn't have and thousands of lives that should not have been lost in a useless invasion of Iraq now is spending $700 billion more to bail out the panicky, greedy, and incompetent folks who voted him into office. Amazingly, there does not appear to be any penalty on either the executives or companies that profited from either debacle. Did I miss something?
Anthony Fedanzo Corte Madera, Calif.
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Focus on Financial Fallout
Tweet Share on Facebook October 16, 2008 Comment (1)I enjoyed Mortimer B. Zuckerman's "Wall Street's Day of Reckoning" [September 29-October 6]. Although I'm an accounting major with a B.A. degree, I could not fully grasp the enormity of the financial crisis. I think the CEOs should be held criminally liable for their mismanagement.
R. H. Perlman Age 91 Henderson , Nev.
I take exception to Zuckerman's concurrence with Woody Brock of Strategic Economic Decisions about greed being unchangeably rooted in human nature. Without a doubt, the Wall Street meltdown proves that a subclass of humans is immorally greedy, but also among us are the police, the firefighters, the schoolteachers, and, of course, the members of the armed forces, who choose careers not for dreams of obscene material wealth but for truly human motives. Is it also human nature that the supergreedy come to the rest of us to keep them in their McMansions?
James W. Sentman Lake Ronkonkoma , N.Y.
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Reader Reacts to Retirement Article
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (2)While I'm still young, I often think about where I'd retire—who doesn't? ["America's Healthiest Places to Retire," September 29-October 6]. You always hear about Florida, or some place on the beach. But I'm not a beach person, nor do I like Florida, so this article is a perfect answer to my questions. I love the idea of breaking it up into "personality types" or interests. A healthy lifestyle would make my retirement so much more fun.
Comment by Carol of NY
I live and work in Green Valley, Ariz., and think it's definitely one of the best places in the nation to reside in and retire to. Our year-round weather is fantastic, the area is beautiful, people are nice, and recreational and social opportunities abound. I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be!!
Comment by Julie McCoy of AZ
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Financial Crisis Management
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (13)You ask, "How can we cover this story to give you the facts you need?" My family is a very low income family. We rent our home, and our credit is so horrible we would never even think to try for a loan of any kind, for anything. We have no credit cards, no loans, no retirement plan, no savings, no investments. We live literally day to day with my husband's income and government assistance in the form of health insurance for our four children and food stamps. I know there must be millions of families in the country just like us. I want to know if, how, and when all this financial mess might affect us. Should I be worried about more than how much gas I can get this week or if we'll be able to get enough food this month?
D. Hardin of New Albany , Ind.
Frustration is hardly the word, so I'll cut to the chase. I'm angry that my hard-earned taxes are being abused by Congress! I know we had to rescue Wall Street, as disgusting as that is, but AIG? Why, because it was too big to fail? Little guys, no problem, but the big boys can plunder and gouge, then get in trouble, and we have to come to their rescue. Just after our $85 billion was deposited into AIG's bank account, its top executives went on vacation to a luxury California resort and spent close to $500,000, of which $23,000 was spent at the spa to relieve the tension from lobbying Congress! After the fact, a hearing was held by Congressman Henry Waxman's oversight committee questioning the expenditure, and the AIG spokesperson said it had been planned a year in advance as a "performance reward." Performance reward on the road to bankruptcy? How stupid are we to allow this utter disregard for the use of our money? It is disgusting, deplorable, and despicable, and the bailout should be rescinded!
Saul P. Heller of Salem , Mass.
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Who Caused the Collapse?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 8, 2008 Comment (3)I've been following the unfolding crisis in great detail utilizing all of the information available on the Internet and through the press and media regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the whole financial collapse and, unfortunately, can only surmise that "it's all about the money" in politicians', regulators', and Wall Street's pockets ["Democrats Were Wrong About Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," October 6, usnews.com]. Everyone was overcome by greed, and there was no concern for the average citizen, at least until it was way too late.... It will happen again and again because of basic human greed, unless maybe this time, the coming depression will cause all of those responsible to jump out the window and be replaced by human beings who both are intelligent and do care.
Comment by Fred Silva of MA
I fail to see how the Democrats are to blame when they controlled Congress for two out of the eight years referenced by the whitehouse.gov statement. Mathematically, this leaves them with 25 percent of the blame. Who can argue with math? Oh, yes, Republican mouthpieces like [Michael Barone].
Comment by Cobra McFarkul of TX
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How to Win an Election
Tweet Share on Facebook October 8, 2008 Comment (2)...and so rather than lose with dignity, the McCain campaign is resorting to the old Republican standard of fear, hatred, and bigotry to push its lies to make Obama look like the "boogeyman" while distracting voters from serious issues that are a direct result of incompetent Republican rule ["McCain Insiders Fretting That Polls' Downward Trends Tough to Reverse," October 7, usnews.com].
Comment by Jason of MD
Mr. McCain, do not give up. You have plenty of time to get back up in the polls. Pound away at Obama's ties to radical friends and (his) character. You have said the truth, and as for Obama, if the shoe fits, wear it.
Comment by Kathy Orlando of KS
