Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 238 Editor's Choice: 14
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what loss boils down to
[Read the article: What they went through]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you Garrison,
of course, that's a bit of an understatement. Emotions. That is how people are responding to this--the different/personal attitudes, the different opinions as to the implications--what to do now? All of this is good and as it should be. It is our nature to respond to loss/tragedy in different ways--the very definition of reaction.
I've lost both parents, so I have a bit of a track record here. I've learned that one cannot begin to effectively process loss without first facing the emotional reality of it. Nature requires this, for everyone to intimately know the details of what happened that day, to identify with someone and to then understand emotionally the significance of their untimely death. From that point there is better focus, at least--usually a lot more.
Certainly, the tapes could be de-personalized, so that names of family would be spared. Ask yourself if this had happened to you, wouldn't you want your voice to be heard? The act of calling 911 speaks to that, of a need to connect.
All the people the same? Of course not. But in there you can find yourself, and from that perspective, eventually, one may be able to navigate out of the pit of anger/revenge.
Watch the faces of the Mothers and wives as they listen...eyes tightly shut, tears streaming and complete 100% focus, driven by a deep hunger to connect to the last few seconds of their loved-one's life. To listen for them is an act of love. For us it should be the same, and both a privilege and duty.
Barnaby
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This happened to me, intervention of a different sort
[Read the article: How can I be a friend to a man in an abusive relationship?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Intervention can take many forms. I was in a disfunctional marriage, nothing dramatic, just dead. I was all "marriage takes work" and "sacrifice is noble," but when your supposed spouse persecutes your child & wages war on your family, there is a toll on one's soul.
Anyway, I had a tight-knit group of homies from the mid-west. Every year we made an annual pilgrimage to Moab to ride mountain bikes like Zidane, drink beer, get stinky/bloody and just, you know, get wild. They all had pimp rides, 4x4 all mountain rigs and stuff, while I was left to ride a beater hard-tail cause I knew the flak I would get if I spent even half of what they had on a bicycle...on a Bicycle! These trips were always like visits to heaven for me. One of my oldest friends was sort of the ring leader, and had met my "current occupant" several times. One night, around a desert camp-fire, after a cooked game hen and some nice Australian stout, he just mentioned that he didn't like her. The way he said this informed me he was disappointed, like I should do better.
After this trip, I got the catalog for the y2000 Canondales. I decided after about 2 minutes to get the Jekyl. Sweet, and only about 3 large. I informed current occupant, and she started in. After informing her of the $$ we had just spent on her sewing room (she had a surger that you could hook to the Internet), I told her she had two choices, to either pretend to be happy about my bike, or stfu. I ordered it a week later, but it wasn't delivered until February. About six weeks after that she filed. As far as I'm concerned, the bike was a significant upgrade. I rode that thing like a demon, it was therapy supreme. Got to where I could cover 40+ miles of the steep stuff up on the continental divide.
Fast forward, 2006. Happily married, and the bike, with a craked frame, just got warrantied for a new Rush, pimped out with XTR.
SlickRock!
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yet another "Bush lied" book
[Read the article: Why we are really in Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All due respect to the New Yorker. All due respect to Frank Rich, but so what? Bush lied.
The invasion made no sense from either a strategic perspective (whether it be WMD, terrorism, Israel, etc.), from once of economics (I defer to truthwithlogic on those details), nor even a geo-political/religious one--i.e. Saddam/Iraq was Sunni, Sunni's historically, being much better educated and western than the other choices (I don't want to get into the Saudi/Wahibbi thing right now). So knocking off Saddam and releasing Sunni/Shia civil war stabilize the region how?
So why did it happen? It was driven by greed--corporate interests, yes, but mainly personal interests. Dumbsfeld and our "VP4Terror" had basically, lived their whole lives for the moment when they could assert the concept of "unitary executive," and they needed a war to do that. Bush was complicit, at least, probably culpable. Cheney/Halliburton, Halliburton alone has over 11 BILLION in contracts with US Government. Cheney's net worth went from about 10 Million to well over 100 Million in the 3 year span he worked for Halliburton...now tell me where his loyalties lie.
In December of 2001, before Powell had even spoken to the UN, the head of FEMA resigned, to start a "consulting" LLC to grease contracts for "post-war Iraq." Bushes first national security meeting when he took office concerned taking out Saddam.
In light of the facts--the historical record--isn't a book about Bush's lies sort of like worrying about the fire-codes in Pompeii?
I would prefer to know how we can put this Genie back in the bottle and lock it away forever. When are we going to impeach the dolt? When will Cheney be tried?