Letters to the Editor
swanee
Published Letters: 95 Editor's Choice: 20
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No Delicate Balancing Act
[Read the article: Dems gear up for oversight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There will be no delicate balancing act for the Democrats because Bush will make it very clear very quickly that he won't compromise on any legislation. As long as he's in office, any time spent crafting legislation will be wasted. So, the only way for the Dems to have an impact over the next two years will be to hold hearings on anything and everything the Bushies have done over the last six years. While investigations won't improve the nation's current situation, at least we will learn how bad things are. The the Dems can run on the uncovered scandals and planned reforms in two years.
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Orientalism and the Neocons
[Read the article: How Edward Said took intellectuals for a ride]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There may be a lot of support for Said's theory of orientalism, but I don't agree that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is an example of it. Bush and the neocons were not motivated by a belief that Iraqis were weak and inferior; instead, they were guilty of another type of ignorance, apparently believing that Iraqis were really just like Americans. As one pundit said early on in this disaster, Bush seems to believe that Iraq is just like Texas, but on the other side of the world. This Administration's ignorance of Middle Eastern history and culture is so complete that it seems impossible to accuse it of anti-Arab bias. In their world, cultural and religious differences between East and West are insignificant. To the neocons, we are all Americans at heart, it's just that some of us don't know it yet.
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Battling Paper
[Read the article: Is Cheney seeking some distance from Iraq?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dick Cheney, winner of five draft deferments and all-around master of bureacratic warfare, rides into battle against his own paper trail.
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Somalia
[Read the article: A convenient firefight]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Opening a third front in Somalia in the war against terror hardly seems like a well-timed move to get more support for the failed second front in Iraq, or the worsening initial front in Afghanistan. If anything, it makes the Administration appear to be more out of touch with reality than ever. We've got two foreign occupations going badly due to an overstretched military, and we're going into a third country?
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Enjoy It While It Lasts
[Read the article: The same old song and dance]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My preteens love HSM too, and they sang along with every number when we took them to see the live concert version. However, seated next to us was a group composed of three teens with two moms. The kids looked to be around 13 or 14, and they spent the entire concert silently glued to their seats, apparently horrified by the incredibly uncool spectacle of thousands of singing, screaming preteens. The moms gamely tried to generate some enthusiasm, but it was all for naught. They marched out of the arena pissed off, their moms shrugging in defeat. Childhood is very brief these days.
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Power
[Read the article: Scooter's tragic innocence]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nick Bromell asks how could this have happened to Scooter Libby, essentially answers his own question, but then can't admit the truth of his own answer. Libby coveted power, sold his soul to get it, and now he's on trial for acts he committed to protect that power. It's the oldest story in Washington, D.C. Yes, he could have become wealthy as a corporate lawyer, but not powerful. In the end, every lawyer answers to his clients. Power was the drug, and he got more than he bargained for. From all accounts, John Dean was a great guy too.
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Moderate Now
[Read the article: The readers strike back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Over the past few weeks, I have noticed a steady deterioration on the letters pages. I started reading them less often, and wondering when Salon would start moderating them. Far too many letters are simply ad hominem attacks on Salon writers or writers of other letters, and another large chunk represent debates on subjects that are at best tangentially related to the subject of the article in question. I know that this isn't a democracy, but I vote for moderation now.
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Housing Prices
[Read the article: A good reason for markets to be nervous]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm with the pessimists. The real estate frenzy of the last few years looked a lot like the dotcom stock frenzy of the late 1990's. The difference now is that the losses that investors took on stocks didn't really hurt them in the short term, because they were able to suck equity out of their homes to cover them. Now the cash cows (houses) are tapped out. When there are no buyers for your worthless shares of a dotcom, you just take the loss and move on. But what happens when there are no buyers for your overvalued, highly-leveraged house? You can't sell it, but you still have to make the payments, even though it probably isn't worth what you paid for it (or the amount of the mortgage). The shake out is going to get much worse before it gets better.
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Pushing the Line
[Read the article: Ann Coulter explains it all to you]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's incredible that Coulter has become the country's best-known conservative commentator when her entire reputation is based on being the pundit who will always go just a little bit farther rhetorically than the rest. American conservatives used to be defined by their reserve, their unwillingness to participate in arguments that were not well-turned or, God forbid, phrased in rude terms. They used to be the people who generally drew the line on what was acceptable in public discourse, while the left wing pushed it. Now the right wing is the side constantly pushing that line, with endless talk of blowjobs seasoned with nasty epithets. I can only imagine how Barry Goldwater would have reacted to the spectacle of a prominent conservative pundit publicly calling a widely-respected major party presidential candidate a "faggot" during a speech at an important conservative conference, but I believe that it wouldn't be pretty. They've come a long way, but I wouldn't call it progress.