Letters to the Editor
pacificwhim
Published Letters: 201 Editor's Choice: 37
-
Karl, Meet Osama
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Complete and utter bullshit. The reason bin Laden is still at large is because the GOP power structure WANTS him at large. That's why the effort to find him has been so halfhearted and half-assed: because he serves a much greater purpose for Bush as a convenient bogeyman who can jump up and go "booga booga!" whenever anyone questions the necessity of the endless, worthless war on terror.
Bin Laden and al Qaeda still operate because our government finds them useful. That's the only reason, to scare us into submission.
Why haven't we impeached and imprisoned this piece of shit?
-
And...?
[Read the article: OK, but there was no litmus test for janitors, right?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Then can we move on to investigate the scandalous end-around Gonzales and Andy Card tried to pull in trying to get a bedridding John Ashcroft to sign off on the illegal wiretapping scheme in 2004?
Then can we FINALLY move on to impeachment?????
-
Unfairness?
[Read the article: Don't let it get you down]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The only unfairness here is that it's Libby, not Darth Cheney, who's doing time in prison.
The GOP is completely out of touch with any sense of reality. They have zero chance in 2008 and will lose even more of Congress. Get used to being a minority party for another 50 years, bitches.
-
The real reason
[Read the article: The Libby lobby's pardon campaign]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There's a very simple psycho/sociological reason this is all going on, aside from the political motive. Under Bush, the core of the GOP machine has development a powerful sense of entitlement as to not experiencing consequences of their actions. Vis a vis, there are none; the message is, do what you like, you won't be held accountable.
Now, with a Democratic Congress and an enraged public, there are consequences and that fact is something that just doesn't compute with most of the Neocon flacks out there.
If only the Dems had the sack to impeach the Resident when he pardons Scooter, he might think twice. But he knows they don't.
Either way, the Bush Reality Distortion Field is history. Maybe this psychopathic monster we have occupying the Oval Office will be next.
-
Leava Las Vegas
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would like to nominate Terminal 2 at McCarran in Las Vegas. You go to Terminal One and it's all glitz and clittering slots, sullen casino losers (which is most of us) and excited bachelorette party groups. Then roll into Terminal 2 and it's like the third world. Nobody speaks English. The place echoes in its emptiness. It's filthy. Add a few chickens and some salsa music on an ancient boom box and it would be a bus in Honduras.
-
Blah, blah, blah, blah
[Read the article: The president vs. the law]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sen. Byrd, it's wonderful that you're so up in arms. But as other LWs have implied, so effing what? Unless Congress grows the wrinklies to finally impeach the worst president in the history of this nation (as well as Darth Cheney), it means nothing. Zero. If we don't hold our leaders accountable for their crimes, we've had it.
-
Rebates for actually taking care of yourself
[Read the article: "Sicko"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the biggest (pun intended) problems with Americans and many in the West is that many of our diseases stem from a profoundly unhealthy lifestyle. We eat crap, we're obese, we stress ourselves out beyond sanity, we don't exercise, and then we take powerful drugs to counter the inevitable problems caused by these lifestyle choices: heart disease, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, et. al.
One solution I think makes a great deal of sense is to establish a government healthcare system that yes, uses increased tax dollars to pay for some basic level of care for all citizens and legal residents. But also, the same system should establish benchmarks for self-care that would be validated by primary care physicians in annual physical exams, which too many people don't get anyway. It would work something like this:
a. You'd visit your personal MD after the plan went into effect and get a baseline picture of your health.
b. If you have health problems like overweight, high cholesterol, etc. that can be attributed to lifestyle, you're given goals to meet to reach benchmarks that would be determined by, let's say, the CDC, healthcare professionals, and the Dept of HHS. If you're in good health, you're expected to maintain that same level of health.
c. You go back a year later for your next physical. If you've met some or all of your health goals, your doctor registers you to receive a tax rebate based on the goals you have met and their fiscal value. The more ground you've gained (losing 50 pounds and lowering your cholesterol and BP into normal ranges without drugs, let's say), the bigger tax credit or refund you get.
d. If you maintain crappy health or like being sickly fatass, then you keep shoveling money into the system.
I'm not saying this would be simple to set up or administer. And of course, we'd continue to see disease born of genetics or bad luck along with injuries from accidents and crime. But this would provide a financial incentive for Americans to get health and stay healthy. Since some studies have shown that 60% or more of premature deaths from heart attack and cancer could be prevented with radical lifestyle changes, this might be worth trying. Just as in companies that have instituted incentive systems, those who don't give a shit about their health would subsidize the system for those of us who do. And if 50 million adults got healthier, their lower healthcare costs would balance out the lost revenues from tax rebates.
And please don't start with the "glandular problem" excuse for obesity. That's largely a convenient excuse for too many nights on the couch watching "American Idol" and eating Domino's. I told myself that until I found out a year ago that I had very high blood pressure. Since then I've lost 55 pounds and am off any medication. Incentive works; self-deception does not. We as a country should stop deceiving ourselves.
-
Wrong word
[Read the article: The scary Cheney news keeps coming]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And here we thought all this time that Cheney was a psychopath.
He's actually a monster.