Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3298 Editor's Choice: 7
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Disgraceful beyond words
[Read the article: Congressional oversight is a linchpin of how our democracy works]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The unspeakable mess that this administration and the Republican Party have made of our country took years to come to its vile conclusion, and it will take years to undo. If I were concerned only with how this affects me personally, I might be content with voting them out of office in two years, rather than pressing for the impeachment which they so richly deserve.
When I read articles like the one today in Salon, however, about the callous and wretched treatment of our disabled soldiers, men and women who were willing to risk their lives for all of us, I'm reminded of nothing so much as the old Soviet Union. There is no way that the American people and their representatives in Congress, if they any honor left at all, can let this pass by without doing something to put an end to it, and to the careers of those who are responsible for it.
Just to be clear, I do not mean some anonymous major general in charge of readiness. The President and his entire administration must go, and the sooner the better. Impeachment, in my opinion, is far better than they deserve.
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The principal advantage
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that we have over the Romans is technological. GWB doesn't have to fiddle while Washington burns; Rupert Murdoch can call up an entire orchestra of fiddlers to do it for him. Nevertheless, the fact that Washington is burning is apparent to anyone with a nose....
I suppose that one might consider attitudinizing an art form; if so, it's a vulgar and debased one, and one that doesn't apparently require much in the way of talent. The one thing that amazes me is that dumb as shooter is, he's at least as smart as any of the folks who sit on couches in TV studios and sneer at a world on the cusp of engulfing them.
Laugh while you can, monkey-boy. Never mind that a divided people won't remain divided forever, or stop to consider that a house of cards isn't the fortress you think it is. By-and-bye the knock on the door will come, and the lights in the studio will go out. When that happens, consider your own part in bringing it to pass. Don't stop to do any considering now, though -- perish the thought. We wouldn't want you to become alarmed before your comeuppance is fully prepared.
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@ no name given
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Smart guy. Knows it all, and knowing it all, doesn't need to lift a finger. Thinks anyone who does is dumb.
You're right on time, no name. Here, have a seat, we've been expecting you. We're so thrilled you could find time in your busy schedule for us....
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No name's tallest finger
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is the tallest anything he's got. Not so, no?
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It's not about abstract digits
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Fingers as signifiers. Well, yes, they can signify, but they're also the principle organ of action in the world -- apart from one other, which needn't concern us here except in the abstract.
The idea that knowing something gives you power over it is, in our present situation, about as much consolation as onanism is to the socially disfunctional. Both practices are the poor cousins of the real thing, and have come to be acceptable as a substitute for it only because of despair.
Why is despair so prevalent? In my opinion, the only plausible reason is that action in the world is rarely ego-gratifying in the short term. A suitor's advances may be rejected; someone like Glenn, who decides to oppose the conventional wisdom of our impotence, runs the risk of seeming ridiculous, not to mention being forbidden the fruits of his labors in his own lifetime.
I say have courage; much of what is memorable about individual contributions to our collective welfare has only been recognized after the deaths of its authors. Ars longa, vita brevis. Everyone knows this, but it doesn't absolve us of our responsibility to one another, nor was it meant to.
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Unisex on the right
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Debra, what's with the teenage boy routine? Is socialization on the right as rigorous as all that? I mean, how many Ann Coulters does this long-suffering world need, anyway?
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Algernon believes
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that testicles are organs of thought, and that work is ennobling, as long as someone else is doing it. Algernon is a Republican.
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QED
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I take it back, Algernon. You're not a Republican, you're a parody. Organs of action indeed. I take it you type with them?
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Thanks, Algernon
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I haven't had such a good laugh in a while. Here's a flower for you.
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Mea culpa,
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do love those days when the right-wing turnip truck rolls through.
After an afternnon spent registering voters, I return to find them still at it. Each one that falls -- or is pushed -- off the truck is so predictably uniform.
Gender doesn't matter -- Debra's pair is at least as inflated as Algernon's -- age doesn't matter, experience doesn't matter, even logic doesn't matter.
Remarkable....