Your Grrrs....
Heather in Va.: To B. Boyd in Cyberspace, the self-proclaimed Wal-Martian who doesn't return carts: I sincerely hope you and I don't shop at the same Wal-Mart.
Derek in Cyberspace: OK so this is to S. Martini in Cyberspace. You are as much of an Obliviot as the smokers Steve was talking about. Why should Steve or I "get over it" as you say? If we choose not to smoke, why do we have to be the ones made to go out of our way to stay away from it? Last time I checked, you shouldn't be punished or inconvenienced for choosing a healthier lifestyle ... and to B. Boyd in Cyberspace, YOU LEAVE YOUR CART ON THE LINES!!! Thank you, my car has a ding in it because of your cart, you know, the one you so carefully placed on the lines? Well, it started to roll across the lot and ended up running right in to my car.
Les S. in Arnold, Md.: I had to reply to Bobby Lawn in the Aug 11 Your Grrrrs. By making the statement that Hummer owners have a right to own one is buying into the oblivion mind set. Oblivions are those who do things that affect everyone around them with no regard for the consequences. This is EXACTLY WHAT ANYONE WHO BUYS LOW MILEAGE VEHICLES IS DOING. One of the main causes of high gas prices is oblivions who drive cars that waste gas. This waste causes the demand for gasoline to spike. The U.S., being a capitalistic system, then feels the pinch of supply and demand. The more demand, the higher the price. So, it is people driving Hummers, Navigators, unneeded Full Size Pickup Trucks and any other gas-guzzling monster who are using more gas than they need who are the true Oblivions. They are standing in the way of those of us who have cut back but are being oblivion-nated by Oblivi-Hummers and their followers. Wake up and smell the gasoline … while there’s still some to smell!
Kim in Cyberspace: People! Everyone is in too much of a hurry. Relax and enjoy your life before it's over. Not to excuse ignorant behavior but count to 10 for heaven's sake.
Nanci S. in Cyberspace: My Grrr! is the increasingly common use of "pls" in business correspondence. I get e-mails and faxes that include an entire message spelled out in normal English, along with a request to "pls" do this or that. Now, if you have time to write out the message, you have time to write out "please" like it is just as important as the rest of the message. Otherwise, u cn shv ur msg.
Kristi in Bloomington, Ind.: I had to laugh at Cherie in Cincinnati's email regarding the nose-blowing at the office ... try sharing a cubicle with a man who a) sneezes without warning and so loudly that you can hear him at the other end of the building b) proceeds to blow his nose so hard it sounds like an elephant c) snorts and coughs without covering his mouth, all over his computer and keyboard (yuck) and lastly, farts CONSTANTLY! It used to be an all day, every day type of thing, until HR had to put the smackdown on him based on complaints from poor unsuspecting souls who would wander into his toxic cloud. Oh yeah, and he babbles and stutters incessantly while he's on the phone speaking at maximum volume. I'm so lucky!!
Phil G. on last column's cancer coverage Grrr!: AMEN! GIVE US A BREAK ... My wife fought breast cancer without the media's help.
Joe B. in Denver, Colo.: Mike, I believe it is always important to bring any cancer awareness to the forefront in the media. Unfortunately, with the average Obliviot these days, media coverage is needed to educate people. Without at least some coverage, good or bad, most people will not realize the tragedy this disease causes.
Molly in Boston: GRRR to Steven in Las Vegas. I am a smoker. Yes, I understand that some people are inconsiderate jerks when they smoke and throw it out the window going 90 on the highway and I hate that too, but not everyone is like that. I put my cigarette out in my ashtray in my car, and I don't smoke in doorways where people are trying to go into the building. But my problem is all the people who complain about us smokers. They should just get over it! People smoke! Just like people drink, but I guess people think that drinking is more acceptable than smoking, like the woman at the bar the other night who was standing outside in the smokers' area absolutely trashed, and then proceeded to cough and tell me I was going to give her cancer, to which I responded to her that I did not drink and she was more likely to kill me by getting into her car drunk and running me off the road. So to all you people who hate smokers, if someone is smoking and blowing it in your face, kindly say 'please put that out' or 'please don't blow smoke in my face.' Don't curse us to hell because I'm sure you're not as perfect as you think you are.
Ed in Yorktown, Pa.: My Grrr is about all these "experts" telling us we shouldn't feel bad about the price of oil and gasoline since, "when adjusted for inflation," we're not paying as much as we did in 1970. Well, unless someone is going to adjust my paycheck for inflation, this sentiment does me no good. I don't care what oil cost in 1970 ... I care about what it costs TODAY!!! I drive a hybrid and I consistently get over 50MPG, but I still "cry" when I fill up. And why does our ability to refine oil cause the price of oil to go up ... if we can't refine it fast enough because of a lack of refining capacity, then the oil supply should be building up waiting for "its turn" at the refinery. I can understand the price of gas going up because demand outstrips supply, but if there's more oil than we can refine, doesn't that mean there's more supply than demand??
Gary B., Fort Smith, Ark.: Mike, if you chose to live a good part of your life in the public eye then you have made the choice to have your death become a very public thing and your serious illness an attention grabber. Dana Reeve sought the limelight for her husband’s plight along with him … why does she think she should be allowed to go into hiding now? Jennings was an anchor on a major network for much of my life … you expect silence. I usually agree with you, but you are wrong this time. If you don’t want to be a public figure then stay out of the limelight.
Justin M. in Cyberspace: Grrr to those who still write checks! Double Grrr to those who have the store clerk print the check for them!! Seriously … checks went out when the clock rolled to 2000.
Walt M. in Cyberspace: Thank you for your extraordinary comments on the media. The “feeding frenzy” that goes on with news such as Mr. Jennings and Mrs. Reeve is disgusting.
Andy W. in Cyberspace: Mike, I would bet every functioning organ in my body that if these two lung cancer victims were known conservatives you would not be complaining.
Will H. in Pa.: My mother-in-law and father-in-law both died of lung cancer. So have many other non-celebrities. If fact, my father-in-law's lung cancer traveled to his bones, legs, shoulder, hip, spine, it ate away his thigh bones. When he died, both legs were broken. It's a good thing he died when he did. Signed, just one of many, Pennsylvania.
Aric in W.V.: GRRR!!! to B. Boyd in Cyberspace for thinking that it's OK for you to leave your shopping cart in the parking lot just because Wal-Mart pays people to collect them. You said that when customers return their carts to the cart corral, Wal-Mart saves "money and time" and that "you lose." Please tell me, what exactly are you losing? Weight? Your self-respect? (too late for that one). I can't believe you are so arrogant as to glorify your thoughtlessness by saying that you're giving someone else a job. The unemployment rate won't be affected one bit by you simply returning your cart to the cart rack. Here's hoping your vehicle falls victim to a "runaway" cart in the near future. You may think you're only part Wal-Martian, but you're definitely full-blooded Idiot.
Gail in Cyberspace: Many thanks for the always-excellent Grrr column! My GRRR goes out to all of your readers who try to create their own new GRRR word. Please -- use one of the many in the Grrr Lexicon and leave any new creations to Mike the Master Grrr!
Karen in Cyberspace, who lost her husband Richard to Lung Cancer (Richard is pictured above): Your Grrr today really struck a chord with me. I lost my beloved husband 14 years ago when he lost his valiant struggle with lung cancer. Shortly after he passed away, Michael Landon died from the same dreadful disease. Lo and behold, for months afterward, his image was plastered on every magazine cover, and articles about his struggle were printed everywhere. Now as much as I sympathized with his family's loss, you would have thought he was the only person ever to die from cancer! Needless to say, all the media coverage of his passing was very upsetting to me and my family and friends. Just because someone has achieved celebrity does not mean that their deaths are any more earth-shattering than that of Joe Average. I really wish the media would lay down on their incessant coverage of these people when they are subjected to the same tragedies all of us suffer. I get so very tired of reading about it, and hearing about it on the news or on talk shows, etc. I'm sure I am not the only one who feels this way.
Mike Straka is the director of operations and special projects for FOXNews.com, and covers entertainment and features on the Sunday program "FOX Magazine." He also writes the weekly Grrr! Column and hosts "The Real Deal" video segments on FOXNews.com.
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