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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Not ready?

Re 'Not Ready' Rebuttal A Win For Trudeau (Aug. 18): Clever, indeed. And at some strategic point in the campaign, "Just in time" is inevitable.

Sheryl Ackerman, Edmonton

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The ad did catch my attention. I like the idea of the Liberal Leader speaking directly to me – that is, until I hear what he has to say.

The line that gets my attention is that he'll tax the rich to give the middle class a break. I hear this as: If you're middle class and you aspire to something better, don't bother. I will tax you back to the middle class. His policy should be titled, "Death to ambition."

Marc Lafleur, Caledon, Ont.

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"Not ready" or "good to go." I know my choice.

Isaac Engel, Toronto

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"Not ready?" This election campaign is so unnaturally long that by the time it ends, he will be.

Elliot Kravitz, Montreal

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I can hardly believe the letter writer who criticized Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau for their "hot air attacks" on Stephen Harper (Hands Up. Fed Up – Aug. 18). Conservative attack ads ridiculed Jean Chrétien for a facial impairment, called Stéphane Dion weak and questioned Michael Ignatieff's patriotism because he lived in the United States, where he worked. Mr. Harper should look in the mirror.

Nice hair though!

Graham Clark, Mount Hope, Ont.

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Inside the PMO

Russell Smith provides a unique and useful lens through which to understand the Mike Duffy trial (A Case Of Schrodinger's Nostalgia – Life & Arts, Aug. 17). The PMO's small group did indeed have their own parallel time stream, in which our system of government could be made whole with a bank draft.

Indeed, reality must have diverged for a PM as alive to his "base" as Stephen Harper to have hired a chief of staff who couldn't discern that the provenance of Mike Duffy's payment, whether from the Conservative Party or his own deep pockets, would matter greatly to both the Conservative base and taxpayers at large.

Krista Abramovic, Toronto

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An idea to warm to

David Underwood, president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, says: "We must provide occupants with more localized and personal control of their own environments" (Freezing. In August – letters, Aug. 18).

I'm sure that would provide a lot of lucrative work for his members. Luckily, there's a cheap solution that has been effective for hundreds of years – the sweater.

Alan Salvin, Ottawa

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Mideast terror

Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been elected as political parties in Palestine and Lebanon, respectively (Hamas, Hezbollah – letters, Aug. 18). And while yes, both are anti-Zionist, they also appeal to their bases for many other reasons – including the welfare and social services they provide to the populations they represent.

To group the plethora of terrorist organizations in the region under one umbrella reveals a complete disregard for the diversity of the region's people and interests. Even al-Qaeda, the organization in which Islamic State has its roots, has sought to separate itself from this group for ideological reasons. Talk about nuance.

I am not arguing for Hamas and Hezbollah to be removed from Canada's list of terrorist organizations. What I am asking is for some sophistication in how we talk about these political groups.

Asking why these organizations appeal so deeply to so many people is the first step in understanding how to undermine them.

Greta Hoaken, Toronto

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Rare for a mayor

Re Get Your Mailbox Off My Lawn (editorial, Aug. 18): It is indeed rare for Canadian mayors to destroy concrete slabs or other platforms.

They normally employ such slabs, pedestals and platforms for rhetorical grandstanding.

Canada Post has always obstructed sidewalks and marred vistas with liberal sprinklings of mailboxes – in both the red-and-white and grey varieties. Yet, what mayor has expressed concern that a municipality cannot regulate or derive fees from these existing installations?

Thus, we must regard this recent destructive prank by Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre as no more than false indignation – grandstanding in the finest sense.

Joshua Albert, Toronto

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I am outraged at the entitlement of citizens who stamp their little feet and hold their breath at such a ridiculous issue as community mailboxes. Much of Canada gets its mail this way. Many rural areas have had group boxes for decades, as have many newer suburbs in cities. It works.

Canada Post can figure out the best place to put the new boxes and get on with it. The whining NIMBYs will never be satisfied, so I have no interest in hearing from them. Denis Coderre is the worst kind of politician and should be charged in relation to this incident.

Douglas Taylor, Edmonton

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If Denis Coderre is ever charged because of his principled stand, let me be the first to contribute to his defence fund.

Jean Pelletier, Montreal

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Sorry to say

Re Japan, Asia Must Move On (Aug. 18): If we contrast Europe and Asia since the end of the Second World War, there is a broadly shared consensus that the route of apology, reparation and reconciliation has worked far better in Europe than Asia. Why?

First, Europe has become a neighbourhood of democracies, while Asia continues to deal with authoritarian regimes and incomplete democratization. Second, there are powerful cultural differences around the expectations of what an apology is and how it can function. In the Western cultural context, an apology, if sincerely given and seen as sincere by the receiver, has the chance to make a promise for a better future.

In the Western context, there is a sense that someone can be responsible and held accountable. In the Eastern context, an apology often fails to work this sort of cultural magic because of a far stronger fatalistic view of human affairs. The sense of individual agency and individual responsibility doesn't exist in the same way. The best that can be hoped for in the Asian context is to re-establish a sense of mutual respect and harmonious relations.

But without further democratization, this too will probably fail.

Mark A. Wolfgram, political science, Carleton University

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Hmm …

Re H Is For HBO: TV Network Will Broadcast 'Sesame Street' (Aug. 13): So Sesame Street is moving to HBO. Does that mean that the Cookie Monster is going to be saying, "Me want f---ing cookie"?

Alan Lawrence, London, Ont.

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