Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 146 Editor's Choice: 12
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God of vengeance, save us!!!
[Read the article: What backroom conniving are Steny Hoyer and the Chris Carney Blue Dogs up to on FISA?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It may be a mistake to think that politicians act on the basis of beliefs and principles. It seems a more appropriate way of looking at them would be as afflicted with a form of psychosis. Once a persona (a typo, maybe a Freudian slip) says "Vote for me!" a transformation takes place. The persona of savior, knight on a white horse, man (or woman) among men is born, never to slow down until physical death, or election defeat, a form of death.
Working in concert with the persona of the politician is what I call the J. Edgar Hoover effect. Hoover had files on everyone in Washington, and beyond. He used his files to blackmail, especially Congresspersons, but also private citizens like Martin Luther King. Once this practice started it is extremely unlikely that it stopped with the death of Hoover. If anything, it has become more sophisticated and widespread.
We live in unenlightened times. Witness the smearing of Barack Obama. What is his crime? He wants to establish a higher level of human interaction, domestically and internationally. The audacity!!! The nerve!!! We can't have this!!! We need to keep acting like animals, at each others' throats, shouting, snarling, grunting, shooting, and stabbing!!! We must have a slob for president!!! God of vengeance, save us from this peacemaker!!!
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They have a saying in Tennessee, or at least in Texas
[Read the article: The media, the right and 1988: Endless deja vu]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn Greenwald does such excellent work in exposing the corruption of our news media, among other things, that you would think it would result in some change. Unfortunately, the corrupt live by different standards. All that matters to them is the paycheck, the byline, the peer status, the celebrity, and the privilege.
An even greater question that lurks under the surface is what about the "American" people? Are they (we) such louts that they (we) are fair game for any manipulation under the sun?
The sad answer is yes. Example: I get my health care at the VA. A couple of weeks ago, while waiting for my appointmet, a guy was talking a bit loudly to his wife about Barack Obama. He was ridiculing him for not wearing a lapel pin, and for having a pastor who hates "America." He went on and on, over and over, saying "And he expects to be president of the United States, and he can't even show his patriotism?" It would not be wise to argue or challenge loudmouths at the VA. A situation like this would quickly escalate, and could result in losing one's health care benefits. Proving an idiot wrong is a futile proposition.
I should add that most vets never served in combat, or even left the "U.S." The loudest voices, VFW and "American" Legion types, tend to be blowhards who barely know how to read.
Without revealing how I know it, I can say with confidence that the level of rank stupidity among the "American" people is epidemic - widespread and growing. If challenged by complexity greater than simple addition (very simple addition), about 30% of the population tunes out. It could be more. On a steeply rising scale, increments of complexity befuddle greater percentiles of people.
In such a context, the prospects for "democracy" look pretty bleak. If people are so easy to fool that a lapel pin carries greater weight than their own well-being, then as a society we are self-defeated. As we should have learned over the past seven and a half years, if you choose stupidly, you get stupid results.
Again in such a context, bottom-feeding "journalists" are secure in their jobs, knowing their corporate masters are well-pleased, and the masses are well-propagandized. Only a major, major event, far greater than "911," will change this dynamic. Like, say the melting of both poles of the planet. Of course, by then it will be too late.
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Calling things what they are
[Read the article: Karl Rove's sly deal with Fox]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Barack Obama had the right approach to Fox. They spread the false rumor that he attended a "Madrassa," so he refused Fox any access, and would not appear on any Fox program. For some reason he backed off on this stance, and now appears on Fox Sunday, or whatever they call their Sunday morning show.
As far as Rove is concerned, his "genius" aura is entirely a myth. His talent is for criminality: voter disenfranchisement, campaign trickery, vote theft, fake campaigning, and staged accusations of opponents. This is not genius. It is sociopathy.
As evidenced by Obama's easy handling of McCain today, we will have a historic first as president. As we progress towards the election, McCain's post-traumatic stress from his prisoner of war and Forrestal days will become apparent. He has referred to Vietnamese as "gooks," and has joked about bombing "Iran." He's an intellectual lightweight, and Obama will eviscerate him in debates.
Only a desperate act by the "Republicans" will stop Obama, and I'm sure the thought has crossed their minds. What people using the Web have to start doing is referring to the "Republicans" for what they are: criminals. Raw, psychopathic, completely unscrupulous gangsters, intoxicated on doing the forbidden, the antisocial. This is no exaggeration, not a rhetorical flourish. These are bad people. As long as "liberals" insist on arguments on principle, the fakery and malice of the "Republicans" will have the advantage. Call them what they are and you begin the long path of taking away their power.