Letters to the Editor
tempus
Published Letters: 469 Editor's Choice: 8
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John who?
[Read the article: CNN's John King responds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]John King? Who's that? Don't recognize the name, don't recall ever seeing him in TV - but then I quit watching TV news a long time ago (except for weather). TV news is crap. All reporters are crap. What they say, do, "think", is crap. They are sock puppets that merely spout their personal opinions and fill their every fart with their own personal preferences. That, and they read whatever talking point is put before them. Why watch that nonsense?
Hell, I wouldn't know who this clown is if it weren't for Greenwald calling him to task. This King guy...he's no one and of no importance. He's a tool and nothing more.
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Why be a Democrat?
[Read the article: Betting little in Las Vegas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I'm a Democrat for ideological reasons"
Huh? Ideological reasons? WHAT ideology?! The Democrats, truly, where it counts, are simply not much different than the GOP. Seriously. The ONLY difference is in a few social positions, but these positions are actually VERY fungible and are easily tossed aside (by Democrats in Congress) for some bizarre personal political calculus (Dems vote for Alito and Roberts, and Thomas even though it is clear that these people ARE partisans and NOT suited to be judges). They vote FOR war, war, war. They vote to perpetuate war, war, war. They say the right things now and again but NEVER EVER act on those statements. They say they are for oversight, for checks and balances, but they adamantly refuse to ACT on those statements! Please, name ONE "investigation" by the "Democrats" in Congress that has actually gone anywhere? NAME ONE! You can't because they do not exist. They are all show no go. Investigations that would actually matter are simply not initiated (Sibel Edmonds) or allowed to languish indefinitely because the outcome would be "inconvenient" for the political "leadership" of the party (subpoenas are ignored, ignored, ignored and the Dems let it slide...only to FINALLY start to pretend to take action when it is clear that the clock will run out and nothing viable will come of any of it).
There is no reason to be a Democrat. They serve no one but themselves and corporations, same as the GOP. They do NOT want to change anything to any substantive degree because they LIKE the way things are because they benefit from the current disastrous arrangements. Hell, they don't care that Bush is trying to screw us all by trying to get a Status of Forces agreement with the Iraqi government that would require that our troops remain there indefinitely regardless of the People's desires! How do the Dems respond to this? Virtual silence! There are a couple bills that have been languishing in silence in the Congress that would require Bush to get Congressional approval before coming to any such agreement but the Dems can't be bothered to actually push them. WHERE ARE THE CO-SPONSORS!? Nowhere. Why? Because the Democrats want to stay in Iraq every bit as much as the GOP (and Bush/Cheney) wants to.
There is NOT substantive difference between the Dems and the GOP. That is objective fact. A few minor details around the edges don't matter because at the end of the day the corporations STILL control the entire system, STILL buy our government, STILL screw us all, and the "leadership" of the party STILL considers us mere "advocates" to be ignored because they are "leaders and legislators".
I was a Democrat until Alito. By then I came to the realization that the Democrats are the GOP and that they do NOT believe as human beings believe. I did what you should ALL do: become an Independent. There is no "ideology" behind the Democrats. Or, more accurately, it is the same "ideology" as the GOP's: power and money for power and money's sake.
Screw that and screw them.
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Time to bombard the Senate
[Read the article: Lawbreaking telecoms still conniving to obtain immunity from Congress]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We need to call our senators and demand that they support the Rule of Law and the Constitution by standing with Dodd against immunity. We also need to contact our Reps in the House, including Speaker Pelosi, and help prop up their spines so that they will stand resolute and firm in conference, should Dodd fail, and NOT give in on telecom immunity in a conference bill.
Reid MUST go. One way or another he must be unseated as Majority "Leader" and unseated from the Senate entirely. He is unfit to shit in an American toilet, let alone poison the already broken and corrupt US government.
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Fight this HARD but also take steps
[Read the article: Lawbreaking telecoms still conniving to obtain immunity from Congress]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Support Dodd, Boxer, Feingold, etc, in their senatorial efforts to defeat this atrocity. Push your House Rep to refuse to accept a conference bill containing retro immunity. Do those things but also take steps to render yourself safe(r) from this unconstitutional spying. Install and use Tor on your computer. Install and use PGP or GnuPG for emailing. With a strong encryption key, it would take weeks (even months) for the NSA or other agency to crack your encryption. But THINK people. It isn't just you. If a large number of people start using encrypted email just as a matter of course (and especially if you use it with anonymous email accounts accessed via Tor) then the problem for the NSA becomes astronomically difficult. Thousands and thousands of emails, each encrypted (and anonymized for IP and name) would render the effort to simply dig into your business very costly and difficult. They would have to pick and choose targets for special focus, losing the "benefit" they seek to gain by simply being able to read all your shit plain as day.
Make it HARD as a matter of course. Look up Tor, look at and install PGP or GnuPG. Acquire anonymous email accounts that do not get your real information (name, age, location, etc). If done via Tor, the email provider cannot identify what IP address, or what country, you are from when you sign up for and use the email. It would change every time you used it.