Letters to the Editor
Retired Military Patriot
Published Letters: 2704 Editor's Choice: 11
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A party without true vision
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine has a review of a new book by Matt Bai in the NYT Sunday Book Review that challenges Dems. Here are a few excerpts:
With the possible exception of the Republicans, is there a major political party more stupefyingly brain-dead than the Democrats? That’s the ultimate takeaway from “The Argument,” Matt Bai’s sharply written, exhaustively reported and thoroughly depressing account of “billionaires, bloggers, and the battle to remake Democratic politics” along unabashedly “progressive” (read: New Deal and Great Society) lines. Well-financed and influential groups ranging from the Democracy Alliance to the New Democrat Network to MoveOn.org may be taking over the Democratic Party, he says, but they are not doing the heavy thinking that will fundamentally transform politics — unlike the free-market, small-government groups formed in the wake of Barry Goldwater’s historic loss in the 1964 presidential race.
Bai reluctantly and repeatedly owns up to a hard truth: “There’s not much reason to think that the Democratic Party has suddenly overcome its confusion about the passing of the industrial economy and the cold war, events that left the party, over the last few decades, groping for some new philosophical framework.”
But as John Kerry might tell you, never write off the Democrats’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The recent farm bill passed by the House — and pushed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi — maintains subsidies to already prospering farmers, angering not just conservative budget cutters but liberal environmentalists. House and Senate Democrats allowed a revision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that broadens the scope of warrantless wiretaps just after holding hearings denouncing the man who would issue them, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, for routinely abusing his power. Although the misconceived and misprosecuted war in Iraq was the issue most responsible for their return to power, Congressional Democrats have yet to put forth a coherent or convincing program to end American military involvement there.
Recalling a meeting of leading progressives — including Armstrong, Representative Adam Smith of Washington and Simon Rosenberg of the New Democrat Network — just after the 2006 midterm elections, Bai writes: “Seventy years ago ... visionary Democrats had distinguished their party with the force of their intellect. Now the inheritors of that party stood on the threshold of a new economic moment, when the nation seemed likely to rise or fall on the strength of its intellectual capital, and the only thing that seemed to interest them was the machinery of politics.” The argument at the heart of “The Argument” is less about vision and more about strategy.
That’s bad news, even or especially for those of us who don’t see large differences between Republicans and Democrats. Our political system works best — or is at least more interesting — when big ideas are being bandied about, both within parties and between them. The lack of depth among the Democrats may not hurt them in the 2008 elections — the Republicans, whose would-be presidential candidates have mostly publicly rejected evolution, are not exactly bursting with new ideas either. But it remains profoundly disappointing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/books/review/Gillespie-t.html?oref=login
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ondelette, not very comforting
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]“You get around the massiveness of the data (curse of dimensionality) arguments during the full scale by getting a snapshot of lots of lines substituting for longtime looks at a few lines and waving hands and whispering ergodic theorem over a bubbling pot with eye of newt and toe of frog in it.”
Regarding one of the questions that I raised at 10:56, “Is some judge going to be able to sift through that volume in any meaningful and timely way to provide the protection we need?” your statement does not give me much comfort.
My fear is even if we were to get legislation on FISA warrants that would even please Glenn, we still won’t be able to prevent misuse by Repug constitution thugs. From the responses so far it seems that my fears are warranted.
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Karen M, the human cost to our military of capitulation
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The PBS NewsHour had a disturbing and very real piece on “Soldiers from Iraq, Afghanistan Cope with Combat Stress.” It shows the realities of war in Iraq communities surge style and the terrible stress that our soldiers are under for 15 months. Here is the transcript and video download.
NewsHour intro: Soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan often face daily attacks and are under constant alert. Two counselors who work with traumatized soldiers talk about their coping mechanisms.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec07/stress_08-31.html
Warning Bebop-o, even the transcript may be too disturbing for your Vietnam memories; definitely don’t watch the video even while eating blueberries.
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ondelette, nicely said about the “Great” Ronny
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I’ve tried to express my disgust for Ronny to my friends and now you have given me the ultimate statement I can use about the man the Repugs honor as the symbol for their late 20th century triumphs.
Isn’t it fitting that as we have entered into one of our nation’s darkest hours, that so many ignorant and mean Americans think he was one of our greatest presidents. It seems if you are a good actor and present yourself as a fatherly figure (or a good ole bubya), you go down as an endearing, cherished president even though you have terrorized so many innocent people.
Since this thread is dying, although it may revive itself because Joan Walsh is having the site down for improvements leaving the old threads still working, I hope you can post this again when it will get more readership. I know other posters have done a good job of detailing our imperialistic foreign policy under the Repugs, but your emotions and humanity helped you put together some excellent words.