Letters to the Editor
DonMidwest
Published Letters: 67
-
Banality of Evil
[Read the article: Bush's Card trick]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hoover was competent and compassionate.
As the author points out, Hoover's rigid ideology (framework of ideas) was inadequate to handle the systemic problems leading to the depression and their aftermath.
Bush lives in platitudes. I have been waiting for years for the Bush administration to collapse on what Hanah Arendt titled an article, "The Politics of Lying." One who lies must be much more consistent because at any time, the card castle of lies could come crashing down. This administration lies all the time, and then some. It is also impervious to reason as everything is part of a politics to win elections. They have successfully trashed the legitimacy of, to name a few, science, teachers, politicans, labor unions and the courts. Without legitimacy, wise authority breaks down and the very institutions needed to craft a creative solution have been removed from their rightful place.
But, even more than this, the administration has practiced evil. Torture. Holding people without trial. Trashing the constitution with explicit actions such as illegal wire taps.
"Eichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt, 1965 provides insight into this administration.
And as others have pointed out, Bush should be prosecuted for plagiarism of George Orwell's classic, "1984."
-
Disapointment in the NY Times
[Read the article: "All Governments Lie"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am not by nature a conspiracy buff.
Why the hatchet job on I.F. Stone in the NY Times book review of the new book on him? Are the conservatives, or neo-cons, or whatever they are, still trying to trash reputations? The NY Times continues to do good work, but the number of ideological supporters is staggering.
The last part of Ron Suskind's new book "The One Percent Doctrine" describes a visit to Daniel Berrigan with one shocking quotation from Berrigan. "I never thought that I would live to see the day that old fashioned journalism would be seen as an act of civil disobediance."
Wow!
The corporate take over of the media today brings us the firing of the Editor of the LA Times. Maybe Keith Olbermann , Air America Radio and the blogs will bring the nation back to its senses.
This means, back to a nation under law that speaks the truth.
-
Logic for Joe and Glenn Dialogue
[Read the article: Gen. Odom explains basic reality to Hugh Hewitt and the "Victory Caucus"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Joe wrote in the first page an email. Glenn responded to him also in the first page of comments. Glenn's response was one of logic, analysis, and sticking to the text.
Then Joe wrote back to Glenn's comments. I am going to comment on that exchange.
Glenn noted that Joe did X (in this case, using rhetorical cowardace)
Joe's response is that Glenn does X
Glenn says X (next sentence - Joe has a limited view because he doesn't deal with the politicans who sent military)
Joe's response is that Glenn does X (has a limited view)
Then Joe has a couple of nonsense paragraphs about whose general is on first or some such stuff. There is no substance or reason in his comment.
Here is the real question: was this a computer generated script? Are the trolls getting technology assist these days?
-
Importance of MSM
[Read the article: Unbearably, painfully, depressingly funny]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn,
Another aspect of this story is the importance of the Main Stream Media, and the press itself. It is important that newspapers survive at some level to support the young reporters throughout our country as well as covering the local issues. A free press is a significant part of our democracy.
This is an obvious comment, but I think that it needs to be stressed that the NY Times, WaPo, LA Times and other newspapers need support when they do things right.
One of the things done wrong is to impose a business model with goals like 20% profit and use that to fire reporters and turn newspapers into packages for advertisement. That happened in my home town, Long Beach CA where the Press Telelgram is owned by a conglomerate and is now worthless. I live in Columbus Ohio and the local paper here, the Dispatch, has gotten better over the years. It still tends to favor Republicans, but it is a much better paper than the Long Beach Paper.
This excellent piece is about a great reporter and how she has been attacked by the right wing. She depends on the WaPo for the platform for this work.
-
Mental Crack Up?
[Read the article: Cheney's contempt for American public opinion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush and Cheney seem even more crazy since the election.
Maybe the start of holding their feet to the fire since the election is driving them nuts.
Please continue to chronicle the last throws of going crazy.
-
Training vs. Education
[Read the article: The president receives "lessons" from his neoconservative tutors]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the excellent comments on the "lessons" for Bush from the necons.
I find the distinction between training and education useful. Training is imparted, usually at a corporate session, and what is learned decreases over time. Consider a graph which starts out at a high level and goes down over time.
In contrast, education provides concepts and skills to continue learning as you do the work. Consider a graph which starts out low but increases over time.
It sounds like Bush got another training session from his neocon luminaries. The problem is that the training does not work in the real world. So he needs refresher courses to keep him on track and to help him deny the external reality.
At least in the usual corporate training sessions, such as leadership training, they don't deny reality. They usually have platitudes to make it seem that people are dealing with real issues, but they don't explicitly deny reality. They may be misguided, and use their quarterly results and other numbers as a seeming reality, but in Bush's case he relies on a right wing media to provide propoganda to reinforce his agenda and assure him that part of the world is still on board.