Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 146 Editor's Choice: 12
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The "C" word
[Read the article: Poor, poor Gonzales]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It shouldn't be hard to figure out why Gonzales won't quit. To a man and/or woman, "liberal" or "progressive" writers and pundits will not refer to the Bush regime as a criminal gang, when that is exactly what it is. For Gonzales to resign would be to expose this criminal gang to further vulnerability, and likely impeachment and prosecution.
For similar reasons, Bush must invade Iran. If his war trajectory stops or reverses direction, the momentum he has built over the past 6 ½ years starts turning against him. The only direction to go is backwards, and that means investigations of the fraud, theft, murder, torture, lies, negligence and incompetence that are the essential nature of Bush's presidency.
People are doing all kinds of theorizing about Bush's "mindset," his "philosophy," his "principles," and his "legacy." Please. He is a sociopath. There is no mystery there, no depth, no "guiding principles" other than feeding off his fellow-man, of the caper, the swindle, the heist, the hit, the con and the hustle. If you understand him as a criminal, he becomes entirely predictable, and easy to overcome.
The only reason analysts and opinion-makers speak and write of Bush and his gang member as inadequate public servants and promoters of bad "policy" is because they are essentially bound to the conventional wisdom for professional reasons. To refer to Bush and his gang members as common criminals is, in the words of Noam Chomsky, beyond the bounds of thinkable thought.
Joe Conason is one of the great writers in "America" today. I find it disappointing that he self-censors about the Bush crime family. It could be brought to justice much sooner if people would call it what it is.
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Stupid center of the Universe
[Read the article: A beautiful mosaic of anti-blogger hatred]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was watching "Washington Week" a couple of weeks back, and David Broder was on the panel. The entire group was absorbed in the supposed weighty national concern above all national concerns: the "legacy" of one George W. Bush. It was unbelievable. Not only were these people doing serial handwringing about how "history" will remember Bush, but they were one-upping each other with fake concern. It was nauseating.
I recommend for anyone who wonders if Washington, D.C., stupid center of the universe, is a self-absorbed cesspool, er, steno pool, to watch this show. The "experts," who rotate every week, can't help themselves. These established "journalists" universally and unashamedly roll in the narcissism of the "inside the beltway" culture. Rareley does one see on this show any concern for the people of the "U.S.," for the rest of the world, or for the future of the planet. The legacy of one criminal sociopath is too important.
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A new type of crime
[Read the article: The secret Iraq documents my 8-year-old found]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is great writing, great insight. If there were a deeper level of deleted text, it would reveal that the invasion and occupation was doomed to failure the instant it was dreamed up.
When a course of action is conceived with criminal intent, it has no chance whatsoever of transforming into a noble endeavor. Illusion, delusion, deception, destruction, obfuscation, obliteration, corruption, futility and eventually eviction are all the nature and result of such an effort.
The only real question about "Iraq" is twofold, or, there are two questions: Will the country be completely destroyed, an effective genocide and Chernobylization? And will Bush and his cronies succeed in stealing the oil of "Iraq?" All else is chatter. There are no good intentions here. The only good result will be the incarceration for life of Bush and his co-conspirators in this heinous world crime (a new term I just invented).
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Antecedents always have consequences
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gary Kamiya often writes insightful and even inspiring essays in Salon. This is not one of them. When writing an opinion piece, the writer can fall into a trap of assuming a premise, and then creating an argument around it, texturing facts to fit the premise. The reasons for Bush remaining in office are much simpler and cruder than the public's complicity.
The "American" people are, by and large, living on a semi-barbaric level. Compliant, mentally lazy, submissive, easily conditioned to conform to conventional beliefs and attitudes, the people of this "country" are eager to be like their neighbors, and mostly relate to small community associations: family, school, town, peers, friends, coworkers, and interest groups that range from gun rights to quilting circles.
And, as Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen once observed, they are addicted to industrial luxuries. I don't leave myself out of this equation completely, having succombed to the pressures of "American" existence in a variety of ways over the span of a lifetime. It's easier to see it from within than from above.
What "Americans" "know" about George W. Bush is what they receive from the corporate news media, by and large. And what they receive from the corporate news media is manipulation, a texturing of information to enforce the same conformity to corporate goals as does their advertising. Fox is only the extreme. NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN are all playing the same game: make "America" safe for corporate profits.
Bush and his cronies are criminal sociopaths, only the most pure in form of a long line of criminals in high public office. Whether this gang remains in power or not, the consequences of their criminality are and will be felt for a long time to come.
So, whether the "American" people are complicit in Bush's crimes or not, it matters only so much. "The world's only superpower" is but one "country" on a fragile planet. Behave with great irresponsibility on a planetary scale and you can expect the rest of the planet to adjust, and respond in surprising ways.
We can have a criminal corporate and political class, a prostitute journalist class, and an oafish general public, but only for so long. Especially in the contect of dangerous climate change, fossil fuel dependency, resource depletion and exhaustion, and the unsustainability of an infinite growth economic system on a finite planet. We will soon find that the luxury of being low-lifes carries a great price. Antecedents always have consequences.