Mr. Colombani has the right to his asinine opinion about Mr. Bush's handling of the Iraqi war. Conveniently he forgets or chooses to ignore that his own country, France, was a willing partner of Saddam Hussein. Therefore the need for them to delay and place roadblocks on any attempt that spearheaded by the United States may uncover the extent to which the French had been in Saddam's bed. Oscar H. Atehortua Sr. - Brooklyn, N.Y.
With regard to "containment" vs. "pre-emption," since when did the French contain anything? If they had not been cowering in Paris they could have pre-emptively acted when Hitler defied treaties ending World War I, and we would not still be mourning the 50 million who died as a result of the European community's fetish for negotiation and conciliation. By the way, Hitler violated his treaties fewer times than Saddam did. Michael Becker - Phoenix
“I try to follow the rule that the easier something is to read, the harder it was to write, and the harder it is to read the easier it probably was to write.”
. . . “On our family vacations to California when we were kids, I always went to the library, and checked out books on all the places we were going in San Francisco. … My wife [basketball star Rebecca Lobo] and I live in a small townhouse. If we ever get a house, I don't care what it has except a library. I'd like to just sit in a big chair with a goldfish-bowl-sized brandy sifter, and a globe, surrounded by books. We have boxes of books on bookshelves, boxes in our garage. … I was in a used bookstore and picked up a 1200-page biography of Charles Dickens. I will probably finish it in the time it took Dickens to live his actual life, but I will finish it.”
I have also come to another realization. I can not stand the sound of children whining or crying. Yesterday, Mother of the Year was in the library with all 5 of her kids. 3 of them were crying, and one was emitting this low, skin crawling whine that would not stop. I wanted to give the kids stickers to make them stop, but realized they were crying because their Mother was forcing them to play computer games that they didn't want to play.
She was making a 3 year old play a game with French and Spanish words. The kid couldn't even read, let alone two foreign tongues. I don't think from what I gathered that she could either. Finally, our very own Kentucky librarian came to the rescue. She explained to the MOTY that the games were too hard, and got them to play something else.
End of crying & whining. For 6 minutes.
Then the MOTY decided it was time to go, only the kids wanted to play more games. So she screamed at them. Then she couldn't find one of her kids. So, she decided to call for her, like she was in a State Park. Multiple times.
Finally they left, and I had one of the worst headaches I can remember. And I have a good memory.
A reader responds: I have always been an "LL". . . .a Librarian Lover. To me, a Librarian was always a very special person. one who could move silently and swiftly through the stacks to find a particular book. From Aristophenes to Zane Gray, from C S Lewis to Ernest Thompson Seton, my Librarian could find any book I wanted. And even though she would never allow me into the library with my roller skates on, I loved her just the same.
Jack seems to be addressing some of these issues along with Shush, Tomeboy, and The In Season Christian Librarian.
I'm no economist, but I think we need to blame the people who have influenced every cultural, social, economic and educational trend in this country since the end of WWII--The Boomers. You reach a stage in life when you don't need "things" any more, when you aren't buying the latest entertainment gizmo whether it is a something to listen to or to watch or to play with, when you can't bear the thought of one more silly fashion gaffe hanging in your closet, and your 3 year old car looks just like the one on the show room floor. The Baby Boomers are now at that age, and they aren't buying as much as they used to.
The tax refund encouraged a lift in the spending, but a lot of us had what we needed materially, so instead we want to be making a difference in life, and that doesn't mean fingering the merchandise in the mall or kicking the tires at the auto show. Also, the Boomers had smaller families and probably have fewer grandchildren, or had them later, so they aren't even buying in that niche.
I don't want to give up my $5.00 shoes made in China that I bought 3 years ago and still look good as new. If I had had to buy them Made in the USA by a union plant, I wouldn't be able to afford many other things. The global economy helps the third world in ways government foreign aid never could. A low wage here that is scorned is a magnificient sum in some countries and the product comes back here to be distributed, sold and enjoyed by Americans at lower prices. Then we can put that savings into buying a piece of a business through stock.
Some people, like TV evangelists Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer, want mansions and $100,000 cars and flashy rings, but most of us by 55 have learned money might buy comfort and fame, but it doesn't buy a good marriage, a loving friendship or a sense of purpose.
Free Uncle Remus!
"The closest thing that I know of in terms of censorship is Walt Disney's refusal to re-release one of their greatest movies, Song of the South. A friend of mine owns a blackmarket copy of this film that they loaned me to watch. Its a terrific story about childhood friends (white boy, black boy, and white girl, how pc can you get?) and their relationship with an old black man, Uncle Remus, who works for the white boy's grandmother. The movie is based on The Tales of Uncle Remus and is set shortly after the Civil War. Uncle Remus is a wise man and meant to be admired and respected in this movie. Walt Disney's decision not make it available for fear of offending the black population is completely inverted because it robs that same people of a strong role model. . . [remarks about American Library Association]
"Free Uncle Remus!"
We took our children to see the re-release of Song of the South back in the late 70s or 80s. I had seen it as a child at a friend's birthday party, and thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult. And I was a liberal back then, very sensitive to PC-isms long before we named it. I found nothing offensive in it. Beautiful color, strong characters, and wonderful songs. For soap opera fans, Ruth Warrick, "Phoebe Tyler" of All my Children has a starring role in this movie. She still sings and has an album. She also dated Liza Minnelli's husband David Gest for some years, although 35 years his senior.
Bangalore, he writes, has a lot of engineering schools, but the local government is corrupt, half the city has no sidewalks, there are constant black-outs, the rivers are choked with pollution, the public schools are dysfunctional, the street beggars constantly cause a traffic grid-lock, and the infrastructure is falling apart.
Mindless protectionism will end all that, he says. Yet, everytime I hear the media tell one more whiney story about jobs being exported, that seems to be what they are promoting--let's build a big fence around our borders and protect our unions and our manufacturing and computer jobs.
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