In "Dane Cook Is Funny," the author says that to say “ 'Dane Cook is not funny' is an extreme oversimplification.” Not really.
For Cook to be funny, he would need to make people laugh. That is something he fails to do — at least for me. He kind of just runs around and screams and makes weird faces and bitches about stuff. Crazy people on the street do the same thing, and sometimes even pretend to be hip, but then I only laugh because they make me uncomfortable. Comedy is an art. It is an insight into the world and humanity through different eyes that people can relate to, which makes them laugh. Therefore, I am being direct and to the point when I say Dane Cook sucks at what he does.
Jennifer Asetta
Arlington
Digging a deeper hole
Regarding your editorial, “Menino’s Promise,” Mayor Tom Menino could not be more involved in development. He and his Redevelopment staff micromanage everything, down to the last detail, for each project — with total disregard for the rule of law. Filene’s is only one of the results; the other is the empty chain-link-wrapped block in the sadly misnamed Midtown Cultural District, where the historic, zoning-protected Gaiety Theatre once stood. Menino let his developer friend tear it down, ignoring evidence that the developer was not qualified to build, and ignoring a proposal by the local CDC to rehab the theater and build housing over it. He’s let that lie fallow, a disgraceful testament to regulatory corruption and disregard for both the arts and the community, since 2004, well before the downturn hit.
I’m puzzled at the media’s celebration of Menino’s talk of change, fresh ideas, and open participation. Please do a review of his past 16 years of speeches and see if any of them do not feature these promises. Let us know.
Shirley Kressel
Boston
Xenuphobia
Nancy Many's book, My Billion Year Contract: Memoir of a Former Scientologist is about systematic abuses being inflicted on church staff and parishioners. A smaller percentage of Catholics (considering there are less than 100,000 Scientologists worldwide at last count) complained about sexual abuse, and nobody told them to shut up because “there will always be complaints about religion and negativity sells.”
This warrants investigation, not the church’s repeated claim that anybody and everybody who disagrees with them is a bigot. If the Pope called people who complained about sexual abuse “anti-Catholic,” there would be rioting in the streets. Why is Scientology allowed to do that to its followers?
Michael Gorf
Atlanta, Georgia
