Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3298 Editor's Choice: 7
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The culture which produced Dick Cheney
[Read the article: The president's oh-so-noble reliance on "executive privilege"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]also produced us. That is no more an accident than is the present mesmerization of our body politic. I can see what you see; we both have eyes after all. The definitions, however, are always in flux. That they seem to oscillate between historically identifiable poles may or may not be an illusion, but that there is a dialectic, and that living people are what drives it is, I think, undeniable.
The only real question is where you stand. To think that you've got it all figured out, and that it can only end one way, is to delude yourself that you're a somehow disembodied intelligence, and have somehow escaped the political dialectic, at least in your thinking. In my opinion, this is definitely an illusion, useful in an analytic sense, but one which can also lead to a paralysis which is less reflective of reality than it is an exhaustion of the will.
Cynicism is no more reflective of competence, in other words, than the solipsistic delusions of the criminal. To put it less philosophically, don't mourn, organize.
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Letting them off the hook?
[Read the article: The president's oh-so-noble reliance on "executive privilege"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hardly. Thought and action aren't incompatible, and opposing the Dick Cheneys of the world doesn't depend on labeling them one way or the other. We oppose them because their behavior is a danger to others, including us.
It doesn't help to ascribe to them powers which they clearly don't possess. A better understanding of the world, coupled with a persistence in making it known, and a metaphorical, or actual crowbar where necessary, is all we really need to reveal them for what they are, and to break the spell.
It's a process, and like all human processes, it doesn't really have a beginning or an end. Ironically, the Muslims call this process jihad. It's not the jihad you can bomb -- although you can certainly bomb some of its practitioners -- but it's the only one which ultimately has any power to shape our human future, if indeed we still have one.
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Maybe one last shot at this
[Read the article: The president's oh-so-noble reliance on "executive privilege"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, farmer, I was stretching the definition of incompetence beyond what the dictionary permits, but the reason was not to excuse anyone from the consequences of their crimes. It was done deliberately, to try to illuminate a characteristic of authoritarian personalitites which gives those of us who oppose them a strategic advantage, one which might help us overcome our awe of the damage they're willing to inflict on us.
Perhaps a parable will help. In one of Michael Mann's earlier films, Manhunter, which was the first film, I think, based on the Hannibal Lecter books, the FBI agent who captured Lecter is reluctantly dragged into the investigation of another serial killer's crime. He's a profiler, whose nasty experience with Lecter has deadened his instincts. He decides to visit Lecter in prison, to see if he can recover his old talent.
When he arrives, Lecter taunts him as a hayseed -- cheap cologne, bad haircut, etc. -- basically implies that he's a hack who caught the great Lecter only by sheer luck. To paraphrase the dialogue as I remember it, Lecter near the end of their fencing match says something like this:
You think you're smarter than me; that's it, isn't it? You think that because you caught me, you're smarter than me.
The agent replies:
No, I know that I'm not smarter than you, but you have certain disadvantages....
Lecter, sneering:
Which are?
Agent:
You're insane.
That's pretty much the whole of my point. These guys are in the business of intimidation, but they also have glaring weaknesses. These can be exploited.
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Figuratively speaking (A humble request)
[Read the article: Congressional Republicans suddenly discover the need for oversight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This morning finds me in the shade of an old oak, leaning on my musket while awaiting further news from Glenn about the movements of the remaining Hessians in the area.
From Viet Nam and Watergate to Iraq and signing statements, from the Saturday night massacre to the massacre of U.S. attorneys. What a long war this is turning out to be. Who was it, Sidney Blumenthal, or Paul Rosenberg, maybe, who called our present tormentors Nixon's golem just the other day?
I don't remember, but it's a perfect description, particularly when you realize that the core of this golem consists of barely ambulatory refuse left over from the Nixon administration itself.
Frankly, I'm tired of arguing, tired of being shot at by guys with snazzy accoutrements and a license from the Lord of Abominations to teach me the ism of the moment -- Americanism, Christianism, Leninism with a puffy face and connections at Halliburton.
If we succeed in getting them all down and hog-tied again, please, this time let's put a stake through their black hearts before we bury them. I won't live long enough to go through this a third time, but I'd very much like to spare my children and grandchildren another round of it, at least from these same guys, and whatever apprentices of theirs are waiting in the wings.
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Credit where credit is due
[Read the article: Congressional Republicans suddenly discover the need for oversight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I checked back, and it was Paul Rosenberg, and a beautiful piece of writing it was, too:
It's the Golem of Richard Nixon we face today. Without it, Bush would be Baseball Commissioner at best--though, more probalbly, a faceless failed oilman--and Cheney would be selling used cars in Cheyenne... if anyone would be fool enough to buy from him. Maybe he'd just go hunting all day, living off his wife's soft-core porn.
Amazing how these guys got as far as they did, with this kind of insight stalking them. Once again, a tip of the hat to someone who, like Glenn, seems to work at this level day after day after day.... Amazing, innit?