Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 146 Editor's Choice: 12
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Has anyone thought to say thanks?
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I haven't looked at the letters anyone else wrote, so I don't know what other people are saying. I actually enjoy the Barry Bonds hysteria. I pay attention to big-time sports with only passer-by attention.
It's not a big deal. It's bread and circus. It's entertainment. The Earth does not change how it rotes on its axis based on the waxings and wanings of team standings, records, or what players do to enhance their performance.
I like Barry Bonds. He has a great smile, and he has a great swing. I don't know anything about his personal life, his relationships with his teammates, his relationships with sportswriters, or whether he took steroids or not. I care a little about the steroids, and less about the other things.
Here are some things I know about Barry Bonds: He didn't desert the military, he didn't engage in insider trading, he didn't order the executions of 152 people, he didn't steal any elections, he didn't look the other way when the country was being attacked, he didn't lie the country into war, he didn't look the other way while one of the world's great cities was destroyed, he hasn't kidnapped anyone, he hasn't tortured anyone, he hasn't tapped anyone's phone, he hasn't monitored anyone's reading, movie rental, or Internet viewing habits, he hasn't revealed the identity of any intelligence officers, and he hasn't corrupted the nation's justice system.
What he has done is hit a ball with a stick, repeatedly, providing thrills for the thrill-needy of San Francisco and other places. A man could do a lot worse. If he risked his health to provide these thrills, then he is a hero of sorts, sacrificing himself so that others may be thrilled. If we, as a nation, didn't have our priorities so inside-out, we might thank him for his contribution to our enjoyment of life.
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Surreality
[Read the article: ABC News: Zelikow didn't disclose lobbying role]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's no easy task, doing the responsible reporting that is done at Salon. Of one thing you can be sure. Every little bit of truth sets an example, and keeps alive a little flame that can spread into something much greater.
For anyone who has watched "Washington Week" over the last several years, the appearances by Martha Raddatz are the most surreal. Always posturing as a know-it-all "insider," she ponderously and solemnly spews forth banalities and conventional wisdom. She is not likely to be swayed by ethical considerations.
One of the benefits of Salon's work is that the chit-chat, the camaraderie, the peer group dynamics among the corporate media minions becomes stressed, and faux journalists like Martha Raddatz become uneasy, maybe even paranoid. They may become a little more truthful, or they may decide to take that teaching offer after all. Good riddance.
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Benefits, dangers of good writing
[Read the article: More on Zelikow, the BGR firm and Allawi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a great example for everyone who writes, especially about the antics of our ruling elite in regard to "Iraq." Write at the highest level, tell the deepest truth possible, do your homework, and cover as many bases you can.
There are two benefits to such writing. One is that readers become better informed, and are inspired to raise their own levels of involvement and scrutiny. Other writers are inspired to write at a higher level.
The other main benefit is that the plotters, schemers, conspirators, and media hangers-on become busied with scrambling to cover themselves, create plausible deniability, find distractions, and change the plan. The plan may even fail.
If you look at the entire foreign "policy" infrastructure as a criminal operation, then it is easy to see how they do their "business." They depend on public perception for their ability to foist their schemes on the planet. Introduce some truth and their schemes are threatened.
It is worth mentioning that it might seem dangerous to tell the truth in today's "homeland security" environment, really an environment of ruling class criminality. The thought of eliminating Glenn Greenwald has no doubt occurred to those in high places. For now, though, I think he is relatively safe.
What the Bush criminal organization, and its co-parasites, fear most is detection. It may be easy to kill Al-Jazeera reporters in "Iraq," or kidnap them to Guantanamo, but domestically it still takes a high level of planning, secrecy and skill to get away with doing "black-ops" on journalists. For now, we can look forward to the writing of Glenn Greenwald with a degree of confidence.
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Poetry in motion
[Read the article: The 18 best Jewish ballplayers of all time]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some of these choices are pathetic stretches, but Sandy Koufax makes up for all of them. I always felt a little special about being left-handed, and pitchers like Warren Spahn and Sandy Koufax proved it for me.
Through happenstance I got to see Koufax pitch in the World Series in 1965. He lost the game, to my great pain, but came back to win the series. He was the most perfect athlete I ever saw. His delivery on the mound was something to behold. I don't even watch baseball anymore, except on rare occasions, like when the White Sox won the World Series in 2005. Sandy Koufax provided enough memories for a lifetime.
One thing I should mention about the World Series game is that rain was expected, so a lot of people didn't show up. The schoolmate who sold me my ticket and I sneaked up to the box seats behind the Dodger dugout, where Koufax was warming up. It was better than the game. He had this serene smile on his face the whole time he was warming up, relaxed as could be, as if there was nothing better in life than doing what he was doing. Plus, I got to see that great motion up close.