Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1253 Editor's Choice: 1
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Loathing of Sharia?
[Read the article: The Islamists are coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the Pajamas Media/right-wing-blogosphere/Fox News/Michelle Malkin/Rush-Limbaugh-listener strain -- actually believe that Islamists are going to take over the U.S. and impose sharia law on all of us. And then we will have to be Muslims and "our women" will be forced into burkas and there will be no more music or gay bars or churches or blogs.
Read the above. They may fear Sharia. But I believe they also secretly long for it.
OT--GG, I posted here not long ago about the manipulation of "Chatter". Quote below is from NYT, cited by Spencer Ackerman at TPM:
“There was an intentional manipulation of the facts to get this legislation through,” said Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, a Democrat on the Intelligence Committee who voted against the plan. ...
Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California, said the White House “very skillfully played the fear card.”
“With the chatter up in August,” Ms. Harman said, “the issue of FISA reform got traction. Then they ran out the clock.”
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Listen to the Roar
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Google Searches:
Search Terms............................ Hits
"Strong Military" Candidate.......135,000
"Strong Diplomacy" Candidate......1,250
"Strong State Department".............943
The insularity of Washington, pressures of careerism, fear of appearing soft and the absence of institutional alternatives all contribute to a limiting of the debate.
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Perhaps of interest
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A global map charting the self-identified importance of national defence. Interactive. I don't vouch for the data quality.
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/view/SGXXRFsOtha6jyFmNHyyF2-
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re: Update II
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Michael O'Hanlon was on a radio program this morning, along with Anthony Cordesman...
I regret I'm not going to be able to dig out this program and listen to it, but I'd be curious to know if, after being greeted by the radio host, Cordesman waited 15 [dead air space] seconds and then darkly intoned: "proceed".
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The Frist Connection
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1. The bullet-wound to Petraeus' chest was accidentally fired by an American soldiers who "tripped" with his rifle during a live-fire exercise.
This may have already been covered in comments, but I believe Bill Frist is the one who dug the slug out. Small world. I don't know if Frist did this while viewing a video of Petraeus' chest cavity, or if he did it using the old eyeball interface.
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@qua elvis
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The question isn't whether or not America should modify or mitigate it's foreign policy, it's whether or not America wants to be an Empire or a Republic.
I vote for neither. I'd prefer an America that's a darkly-lit bar near the river, with lots of mahogany, and comfortable leather.
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@WT
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]E Pluribus Tabernam, Unum
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or is that
[Read the article: Enforcing the community's foreign policy orthodoxy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]taburni
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The "Really, Really Big War on Illegals"...naw...
[Read the article: Various items]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This must be quite a War on Immigration we have on our hands, since -- according to Gingrich yesterday -- it is "as important as" and "even more deadly than" World War III.
This presents a troubling challenge. The War on Terror is World War III--OK, I understand that. But the problem is that you can't have TWO world wars at the same time. I mean, we only have one world.
So the war on brown people must be bigger than the World War, but at the same time we don't want "war-term inflation". Sooner or later we are going to need these larger terms for subsequent wars. We need to be prudent, and measured. By rights, the next step up should refer to the solar system, something like "The Solar System Purge of Latin Americans".
But that's just silly. Even with Rove gone, the Political wing of the WH will never let that get out. They do have standards.
Now, "Galactic" is a good word. Short, awesome, and vaguely sci-fi. So:
"The Galactic War on Wetbacks". Economy of space, makes a nice headline, suitable for bumper-stickers. Perfect for 30 second spots and foaming Republican presidential candidates.
But is it TOO big. That's my worry. All we have left after that is "Universal", and that--given our current state of technology, if nothing else,--is just too presumptuous.
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Clear trend
[Read the article: Why is the Democratic Congress so unpopular?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So obvious that anyone but a legislator can see it.
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Broken Bodies
[Read the article: Carl Levin reveals the Democrats' Iraq "strategy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Iraq is so disintegrated, so ethnically cleansed, so broken that, as Rosen points out, it does not really exist as an entity any longer...
In other words if Iraq was a person, Iraq would be Jose Padilla.
The netroots have seen some bright spots here and there in recent months, have felt a little actual influence sliding their way. A little hope. But this little ray of light and hope is counterbalanced by the entrenched power in both political parties and the media, and we are surely seeing the force of that power now with the "Progress in Iraq" narrative unfolding before our horror-stricken eyes.
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Other countries, other lives
[Read the article: Mike McConnell's clear explanation of FISA]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been thinking a bit about New Zealand lately. Unicameral legislature, small population. Very diverse terrain. It sounds like an interesting place.
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"All of this is patently slimy."
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is indeed. And depressing on another front as well, in that it serves as yet another example of outsourcing the kinds of things our government used to do.
Back in the old days, this would all be kept in-house. CIA would be told to develop a plan, and 2 months later Maliki would disappear, or be blown up in the emerald city, or his plane would go down in a firey ball of heavily-redacted death.
But no more. Now much of that is moved to the private sector, and believe me, somehow this is going to end up costing the american taxpayers plenty. This ain't gonna be just Alawi's money being spent to get rid of Maliki.
When the Congress reconvenes, we should insist that toppling soveriegn governments should remain a core government function, and not be outsourced to private concerns.
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Iraq is Tribal, too
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Jim Montague, your hilarious quote is even better when counterposed with this side-splitter:
"Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a — you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." —President Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004