Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 288 Editor's Choice: 20
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Impeachment.
[Read the article: What Bush is hiding]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Constitution says: "The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
Key here, at least by my reading, is that no public official has to technically be convicted of breaking a law to be removed from office. "Misdemeanors" can mean anything, including a sustained lack of respect for Congressional oversight.
The President's resistance to Congressional inquiry is confounding. He fired 8 U.S. Attorneys and can give no clear reason for doing so, and then thinks it is outrageous that Congress would be interested in getting to the bottom of it. The President has made it clear in his statements that he does not plan on supporting the investigation, even though the law gives Congress every right to inquire.
So what to you do? Make it clear that you are serious. Impeach Gonzales first, then Rove, and keep going until the White House changes its tune. If it never does, we'll just have a new President next spring, that's all.
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About the Air Guitar
[Read the article: Beyond the Multiplex]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am just venting here. As a longtime, though not exceptionally accomplished, guitarist, I look on the popularity of air guitar with some consternation. No one plays musical instruments any more. When I was a kid, I remember there being a music shop in almost every neighborhood. There were four within five miles of my house. There was a music shop (I'm talking instruments, not CDs or records) in most malls, even.
Nowdays, finding sheet music is quite difficult. A quality music store is a rarity, far rarer than independent book stores. Kids play air guitar instead of the real instrument, and I find that sad. Wouldn't you find air cycling or virtual traveling a sad reflection of the real thing?
I blame technology, with its easy access to music, for the change. Why take the pains to learn an instrument when an iPod offers unlimited access to music? So people pretend instead.
As I said, just venting.
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Yet Another Outrage
[Read the article: Army deployed seriously injured troops]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I lost my house to Hurricane Katrina and blame Bush for what happened in New Orleans, but given all I have been through, no article about excesses of the Bush administration has outraged me as much as this one.
I guess we should not be surprised that an administration used to crossing lines of decency and ethics would cross another one, but I am a praciticing physician and take particular offense at the idea that medical records would ever be tampered with for political gain.
Downgrading a medical report can have serious repercussions for a soldier. Years down the road, when the soldier is out of service, he may have difficulty getting access to health care or getting disability because his war injuries are not properly documented. Remember, we live in an age when the term "pre-existing condition" has huge financial implications. What is a soldier to do if, ten years from now, he is suffering from complications of his service-related injury and he cannot work? If the injuries are not properly documented, how will he prove his case?
Medical records are sacred and their accuracy is critical to their usefulness. I would be infuriated if anyone ever instructed me to alter my medical findings for any reason. This abuse is far more serious and a much greater threat to proper medical care for the troops than the Walter Reed flap ever could be.
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Political Parties Aren't Supposed to Be Eternal
[Read the article: How Bush helped the GOP commit suicide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I bothers me a little that the GOP and the Democratic party are so institutionalized that they appear to be as permanent as the government itself. Political parties should die out periodically, with new, healthier ones with fresh visions taking their place.
I don't think the GOP will die, but it will be wounded for awhile. I wish one of the major parties would be replaced with something new. We could use that kind of upheaval in the U.S. -- a reminder that politics is about change, not about permanent consolidation of power.
Rove's, and the GOP's great mistake was that they were audacious enough to think power can be consolidated permanently.
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"The left has not yet produced a comparable army of sirens. "
[Read the article: Fox's Ann Coulter 2.0]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course not. Feminism is one of the pillars of the left. The left would blow apart if it made it its business to objectify women. The right, on the other hand, is prepared to oppress women, and objectifying them is perfectly all right by their ethos.
All of these sirens are all about sex, all the time. When Marsden puts down foreigners, for example, she is taking on the role of trophy wife. A trophy wife is a way for an insecure man to gain status. Husbands love it when their trophy wives treat others with scorn; it is a way for them to bask in vicarious beauty. The husband watches his woman treat someone like dirt, and then takes her home and screws her. He dominates her by objectifying her; she dominates everyone else.
Marsden, and Coulter, et. al., are high school mean girls grown up into trophy wives. The GOP will always marry such women because it enjoys watching them down people it would never have the gall to insult itself.
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What Kind of a World Do We Live In?
[Read the article: Amnesty International for choice?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]AI's goals, up to now, have been lauditory, I have supported them. So why would it embark on such a controversial move. All this will do is envoke the ire of those of us who are liberal enough to want to protect the rights of oppressed people abroad, but to conservative to sign off on plans to liberalize abortion.
When you conflate issues like this, you also consolidate your detractors. I don't understand why people can't be more ecumenical. Just leave the issue alone. There are plenty of other injustices in the world to be concerned about.