Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1253 Editor's Choice: 1
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@wt
[Read the article: The foreign policy community]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just to be clear, that is simply a c/p from the blog, not my text. But drational's thesis had absolutely not occurred to me, which is why I like the piece. Here's another snip from it:
Then last week, after months of slow and steady negotiation on FISA update, the Administration needed it passed immediately. Importantly the FISA update does not make purely domestic spying legal- the FISA update, along with the selectively declassified "TSP", involves warrantless wiretapping of US Citizens only when they are communicating with foreigners. Thus, the update almost certainly does not legalize the illegality Comey et al were prepared to resign over.
drational's interpretation is different from Glenn's, I believe. If I remember Glenn's segment on FSTV correctly, he is clearly convinced that the changes do make domestic spying tenable. It also seems that drational's interpretation differs from others besides Glenn.
Seeking clarity,
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@jebbie
[Read the article: The foreign policy community]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]yes, I was aware of that. anonymous liberal and balkin seem to hold the same view. I simply pointed to an apparent lack of agreement with drational.
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Americanistan
[Read the article: The brutal, uncivilized Libyans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not only will the administration not apologize or acknowlege their evil behavior, but __Arar remains on the infamous "NO FLY" list__. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I learned this--it may have been on the FRONTLINE piece regarding torture and the "dark side".
It also occurs that we might be able to save the taxpayers considerable expense by shutting down our black sites and moving the entire operation to Libya. You know, economy of scale, and all that.
Finally, the fact that the unspeakable and unamerican behaviors of this president have been restrained here at home due to what is left of our constitution should be of no comfort. This president views the entire planet as the battlefield. To him, I live in Texasistan. Mr. Arar lives in Canadistan. It cannot help but follow that, since the entire globe is the battlefield, these evils will be visited on us sooner or later. It is a matter of when, not if.
Unless the current course is changed dramatically.
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@Blue Meme
[Read the article: The brutal, uncivilized Libyans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have been pained by the same thoughts as you express, and offer some disjointed, poorly thought out straws, likely worthless.
First, while the left-o-sphere is growing rapidly, they are still reaching relatively small % of the american public. Therefore GG and other bloggers must continue to hammer out the message and sing out the warning. That alone is a job that many people must do, and do exclusively, even if it means they do not answer the questions they raise, or even neccessarily point the way.
Second, it seems to me that Annual Kos is a venue where the left-o-sphere might begin to distil pieces of Rx.
Or, it may be that new bloggers should evolve who specialize in the Rx. Recently, there was a conversation here about how important it would be to have cyber-thinktanks. I think we are already there. We ARE a thinktank, albeit undisciplined and unfocused.
fwiw
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@El Cid
[Read the article: The brutal, uncivilized Libyans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]if only the U.S. would invade and occupy...
Cid, invasion is the old term. Please refer to the phrasing in the Power Memo for the new term. We must keep up, lest we be accused of being unserious.
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@blue meme
[Read the article: The brutal, uncivilized Libyans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I agree that even the most influential bloggers among us (and surely that now means Glenn) reach only a small percentage of the population. You seem to see that as a cause for some optimism; I wish I could, but I can't."
I did not mean to imply optimism. I don't feel it.
"I guess the heart of my existential dread is that, even if the numbers are slowly increasing, the game will be over long before those numbers are big enough to truly matter (in the avert-disaster sense)".
I guess my earlier comment was saying that one must do what one can do, whether it will lead to success or not. That goes for every citizen who cares, regardless of how we go about living our lives. We must do what we can do.
"We are arguing about colors in an attempt to persuade the blind."
You likely know the alien and sedition act story better than I do. But I do take some comfort in that period in history. During the time that those acts were law, newspaper editors were thrown in jail. Including Ben Franklin's grandson. And those abuses ran through Adams' term. Jefferson (who was not innocent in this history) got those acts dealt with, he set things more or less straight, as one of his first acts.
Something of that nature could happen again, should the right man be elected president.
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Republican Numbers
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I note that in the Pew numbers, the GOP is not only in the cellar with the '07 numbers--they are in the cellar in each of the polls listed since 1992. I note that their peak number is 1995, which is the year following their "Contract with America", their attempt at ethics reform.
So one question is: are favorables neccessarily a very good indicator of which party will "have its way".