Letters to the Editor
casual_observer
Published Letters: 1253 Editor's Choice: 1
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frankly @ falsehoods
[Read the article: The remaining GOP base -- the 30%'ers and the Broder/Ignatius pundit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]frankly, I agree with much of what you say. But I did not say, mean, or imply that lies and truth were equally valid in the public forum, which seems to be what you want me to have said.
I may disagree with you if you are equating false statements with intentional lies. False statements can also be the result of faulty assessments, or wishful thinking, or other causes. Many statements in science have been false. But very very few of them were false because those making the statements were lying.
re: rate of political change, all I have said, today and previously, is that change is not by definition slow or fast--in politics or any other realm. I agree with you that political/governmental change should have occurred--for all the reasons you cite and more.
Bill Bradley, for example, said that government was "broken" when he left the senate some 12 years ago, and Al Gore said:
Those of us who have served in the Senate and watched it change over time, could volunteer an answer ...: the Senate was silent on the eve of war because Senators don't feel that what they say on the floor of the Senate really matters that much any more. And the chamber was empty because the Senators were somewhere else: they were in fundraisers collecting money from special interests in order to buy 30-second TV commercials for their next re-election campaign.
We're in a pickle, and not one of bebop's good ones, either.
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Frankly and Jim
[Read the article: The remaining GOP base -- the 30%'ers and the Broder/Ignatius pundit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Frankly, a comment or two ago you noted that the '06 election occurred against all statistical possibilities, and here you appear to be saying that constitutional govt. is necessarily poderous and slow. Not sure how you will string these two concepts together with any consistency.
fwiw, I am guessing that Boder's piece hangs on a seeming contradition. Broder is seeing this crappy environment for the GOP, and in the face of it, he notes Mr. Cole wearing a smiley-face. So Broder says, "Hullo--I think I have me a column here." It's the contradiction that makes the story. So he lays out Cole's view, notes the precedent of 1992 where the dems won the WH but lost seats and says--"well, it's somewhat weird but it's happened before."
In my view, this does not make Broder the antichrist, nor is your epithet that Cole ghost-wrote the piece fair.
Jim, fwiw, I agree with you. If a journalistic technique is weak, it is weak. As I understand it, journalists believe anonymous sourcing is undesirable in reportage--regardless of content.
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The ADL Mission
[Read the article: The ADL purports to respond again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The ADL charter states that the mission of the organization is
"to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people."
But this is only the proximate mission of the ADL. It is not its highest goal.
Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens."
These sound like noble goals to me. But only if their proximate goal remains consistent with their ultimate goal. As long as their first goal doesn't work against their ultimate goal.
I hope the ADL choses to follow its own goals as they were conceived and written back in 1913, rather than warping them into a mission which is not only not written in their charter--but is antithetical to it.
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Fair Assessment
[Read the article: What FISA capitulations are Democrats planning next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]in my opinion, and I'd add that along with the Act Blues and Blue Americas and MoveOn, I receved a call last night from ACLU on this very topic, asking for additional funds.
Someone had given them a shot at a large matching grant that would effectively double any gift, and I assume all this is related to the upcoming FISA "battle", if that term can even be considered accurate.
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Speaking of Telecoms
[Read the article: What FISA capitulations are Democrats planning next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think this company would likely fit in the telecom niche. A disturbing story re: the surveillance "industry":
Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets
Firm Says Administration's Handling of Video Ruined Its Spying Efforts
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 9, 2007; Page A01
A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.
Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.
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"Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," said Rita Katz, the firm's 44-year-old founder, who has garnered wide attention by publicizing statements and videos from extremist chat rooms and Web sites, while attracting controversy over the secrecy of SITE's methodology. Her firm provides intelligence about terrorist groups to a wide range of paying clients, including private firms and military and intelligence agencies from the United States and several other countries.
Full WaPo story linked to name below
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Another discussion
[Read the article: What FISA capitulations are Democrats planning next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anonymous Liberal has a useful discussion of the new bill.
http://www.anonymousliberal.com/