Letters to the Editor

• @ Uncle Fester: MLK & LBJ Redux

  [Read the article: Obama's speech on race]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  BTW: Ted Kennedy signed on with Obama AFTER Clinton's MLK/LBJ remarks because he was pissed-off that his brother didn't receive any credit for civil rights, not because Obama was JFK- or MLK-reborn.

  Permalink Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:46 PM

• @ PoliticalRealist: Again With the Right-wing Spin

  [Read the article: Wait a minute: Iron whose shirt?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  How a woman calling themselves a "feminist" can support a woman who is where she is because of her husband is truly a stretch of logic. Shouldn't you be urging Nancy Pelosi to run since she IS where she is due to her ability?

  Why do Obama's followers insist on using the discredited bunk of right-wing Republicans in their ongoing smears of Hillary Clinton?

  Why do they not bother to get some facts to back up this smarmy tactic?

  Like this:

  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19398210&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=

  And this:

  http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/giving_hillary_credit_for_schip.html

  And this:

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-wilson/battletested_b_86355.html

  And this:

  http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/794128,CST-NWS-campweb14.article

  And this:

  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-senatedems26feb26,0,4046334.story?page=1

  And all of this:

  http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery

  -- a bill to provide government grants to people suffering health problems from 911;

  -- a bill to facilitate nationwide availability of 2-1-1 telephone service for information and referral on human services. volunteer services, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to prohibit financial holding companies and national banks from engaging, directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate management activities, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to establish limitations on the United States military presence in Iraq and on United States aid to Iraq for security and reconstruction, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to impose a temporary oil profit fee and to use the proceeds of the fee collected to provide a Strategic Energy Fund and expand certain energy tax incentives, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to create a national set of voluntary national expectations for mathematics and science education in kindergarten through grade 12, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend title XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States the option of coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid Program and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP);

  -- a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies of victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to ensure that every child in the United States has access to affordable, quality health insurance coverage, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for integration of mental health services and mental health treatment outreach teams, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to ensure the distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables to schools and service institutions in the United States, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to improve the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury in members and former members of the Armed Forces, to review and expand telehealth and telemental health programs of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to expand access to contraceptive services for women and men under the Medicaid program, help low income women and couples prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce abortion, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to provide for the provision by hospitals receiving Federal funds through the Medicare program or Medicaid program of emergency contraceptives to women who are survivors of sexual assault;

  -- a bill to establish the Federal Emergency Management Agency as an independent agency, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to require emergency contraception to be available at all military health care treatment facilities;

  -- a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish a commemorative trail in connection with the Women's Rights National Historical Park to link properties that are historically and thematically associated with the struggle for women's suffrage, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to expand family and medical leave for spouses, sons, daughters, and parents of servicemembers with combat-related injuries;

  -- a bill to require a report on contingency planning for the redeployment of United States forces from Iraq;

  -- a bill to amend the Truth in Lending Act, to provide for enhanced disclosures to consumers and enhanced regulation of mortgage brokers, and for other purposes;

  -- a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage and to ensure that increases in the Federal minimum wage keep pace with any pay adjustments for Members of Congress;

  But, she's gotten where she is and accomplished all of this on her "husband's coattails." Let us not bother with the facts, which are pesky, indeed even though they have a way of asserting themselves above and beyond the right-wing Republican spin/noise machine...

  Permalink Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:14 PM

• @ whitecat: Incredible Speeches

  [Read the article: Was Obama's speech enough?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I'm a Clinton supporter. I wasn't impressed. But then I wish Hillary's own incredible speech about an important issue, how to get out of Iraq - not a damage-control speech by a self-wounded, bleeding apologist for racism and his own poor judgment - could have been the topic.

  I don't have an 'incredible speech' about Iraq, but she did give an incredibly moving speech several years ago on lgbt tolerance, when she was personally torn about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (she doesn't support it) and about lgbt rights, generally.

  I have the written version of it somewhere on my computer. When I heard it I cried; even now -- years later -- I cry when I read it because it is so heartfelt and nakedly honest. I would compare that speech in its honesty and enlightenment to Obama's speech today.

  Permalink Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:27 PM