Letters to the Editor
Gwool
Published Letters: 347 Editor's Choice: 40
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Nice Hyperbole
[Read the article: The emperor's new veto]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It seems to be some rule of physics that political discussions will have some nutjob invoke a hyperbolic link to some vulgar past extremism. Here we have Bgrasso going back to Germany in 1944 and drawing parallels between Bush and Hitler.
Lovely.
You could just as easily draw parallels to FDR, but those are not as colorful and do not jibe with the rabid partisanship that has to view Bush as evil at all costs.
You see, FDR was looking to push through quite a few social programs and the like that the Supreme Court was striking down as unconstitutional. He then went forward with a plan to expand the supreme court so he could "pack it" with people who would support his policies. It was a desperate time calling for new measures was the way in which FDR saw it.
Well, guess what? Bush is using the same rationale for his imperial presidency. Terrorism calls for desperate measures.
Let's also look at the notion that Bush not using a veto was a bad thing, that he was bullying his approach through congress and therefore didn't have to use it. Could it not also come from an ability to work WITH congress that prompted the lack of the use of the veto before now?
In actuality, I think the veto fits more with what another poster mentioned. Moderates are being freed from the reservation on this one. Bush gets to pander to the religious extremists, and moderates get to keep their distance.
I do look forward to reading Dean's book. Goldwater conservatism is not at all what we are seeing today. It is a frightening proposition for those of us who do associate with those basic concepts.
Goldwater, in the simplest of terms, held dear to the notion of state's rights. It made him a hero of the conservative movement when it meant he was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, in hindsight, is a tough position to have taken in hindsight.
Later in life, it was that same adherance to states rights that had him against federalizing abortion law and gay rights. In each instance he maintained the belief states should make that call. Given the conservatives were looking for federal bans of both, they derided the elder statesman as senile and a "sell out."
He hadn't sold out. He held his constitutional principles ahead of a desired outcome. Zealots do not do that as evidenced by how each side has seemingly switched sides on the federal/states right issue when it comes to gay marriage. All it comes down to is raw power. If democrats hold the levers, they look for federal solutions to shove down the states' throats. If republicans hold the levers, they look to do the same thing.
Neither situation, however, merits sophomoric insinuations of being on a par with Nazi Germany. It is disgusting and generally suggests a woefully limited understanding of history.
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Scanners, the Hybrid Approach
[Read the article: Taking the paper trail to Washington]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am curious as to what people deem to be the drawbacks to scanned voting machines. In this situation, with which I have firsthand experience in a community of about 12,000, you get handed a ballot with little circles to fill in akin to an SAT test. After filling in the circles, you hand in the paper ballot whereupon it gets scanned into the machine.
Ballots without write-in candidates fall into one bin. Ballots that will need to be hand counted because of the write-in or other screw up such as filling in two blanks for one office get sorted into another bin for the hand count process.
Once the polls close, the raw data gets tabulated immediately, followed by the hand counting of the write-ins and the like.
This would seem to me to be the best of both worlds. Quick and dirty tabulation of the no-brainer ballots and the ability to accommodate write-ins and check suspect ballots from the get go while providing the desired "paper trail."
Even if a ballot machine failed, these ballots can be hand tallied after the fact, for example.
The machines 9 years ago cost about $3K a pop. There is also a programming fee for each ballot format utilized thereafter. I would imagine the technology costs have come down considerably since then.
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Yikes
[Read the article: I know in my heart I'm going to leave my husband ... but when and how?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That broad is nuts, there are no two ways about it. If she does decide to leave the guy, I have to believe even the matriarchy that is divorce court will hand the child to the father.
If she does get the child, the poor thing will be primed to write a sequel to "Running With Scissors."
That was painful to read.
Do you just pick the real loony tunes to try to make the rest of us feel self assured that we have our shit together, Cary, or don't normal people have issues?