Letters to the Editor
futhark
Published Letters: 246 Editor's Choice: 22
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Endangered Species - Real Republicans
[Read the article: Dick Cheney was never a "grown-up"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]George W. Bush jettisoned the tenets of traditional Republicanism -- fiscal responsibility, limited government, separation of church and state, and realism in foreign policy.
Yes, folks, there used to be a Republican Party that sincerely advocated all of the foregoing. It's hard to put an exact date on the hijacking and corruption of a major political party, but I think it may have something to do with the people Ronald Reagan chose to be his associates, thereby becoming the first "puppet president". All the subsequent Republican presidential candidates have been modeled after Reagan: talk high-minded patriotism and fiscal responsibility on the one hand while pursuing an agenda that undermines the moral and financial foundations of the Republic.
I think it was pretty slick of the neocons to put this over on staunch Republicans, who have been gullible enough to see their party embrace an agenda that was diametrically opposed to their former positions. Cheney has been one of the most active agents in the corruption of the Republican Party. Well, they just keep buying the same old gilded excrement: how else do you explain their choice of a deeply incompetent and morally compromised person like McCain for their candidate?
By the way, no one whose idea of recreation is firing a shotgun at animals raised in cages when they are being released to freedom for the first time in their lives can be considered a grownup. On a moral scale this is at a level with the high school girls in my area who microwaved a hamster because they were bored.
Richard B. Cheney is a mentally ill man who needs professional help. The Republican Party is also suffering from a disease, the cancer of neoconism. I wish both rest and a speedy recovery, away from the halls of government.
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Post-Taxpaying Rant
[Read the article: What every freelancer should know]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The United States personal income tax is an ABOMINATION and the tax code has got to be the most complex entity in the universe, exceeding the complexity of the human brain by many orders of magnitude. I am a wage earner with a few modest investments of diverse kinds and I have been driven half insane the past three years trying to deal with this MONSTROSITY.
The income tax gives government information about our personal lives to which no government of a free people should be entitled.
The income tax gives government the resources to pursue egregious FOLLIES, like the current occupation of Iraq.
The income tax discourages many people from attempting to exercise their economic creativity by freelancing or becoming otherwise self-employed.
The income tax creates a burden of time (at least double the IRS' "time estimates" in my case), guilt, and clutter in our lives.
The income tax is a psychological tool of intimidation whereby the government places the citizens in a subservient role.
Notice that I haven't said anything about having to pay the money. I don't begrudge the government getting money from me, as long as the process is not psychologically traumatic or contrary to the rights of the people.
And, yes, I did vote for Ron Paul in the primaries. Thanks for reading.
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Olduvai Theory
[Read the article: McCain-onomics: Cheap gas in every tank]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We are witnessing the commencement of what Richard C. Duncan calls the "slide", the first segment of the time after reaching the peak of oil extraction as demand continues to climb. Available data seem to indicate that to be that the peak occurred in within the past four years. George W. Bush went begging to Saudi Arabia a few months ago for them to open up their magic oil spigots, but..guess what?...came home empty-handed because the spigots are already wide open!
The whole scenario of what will happen over the coming decades has been widely known in the petroleum industry since M. King Hubbert first announced in 1955 that oil resources were limited and extraction would peak around the millennium. My father, a man who made his career in the oil refining industry, discussed this around the family dinner table in the 1960's. Any politician who has not anticipated the problem of petroleum shortages has been living with blinders on or is being deeply dishonest with his constituents. In either case, we need to find leaders who have grasped the enormity of the problem and will take the necessary emergency action to produce a long term solution of sustainability.
The "slope" of oil production, with its unprecedented economic catastrophe and attendant social chaos is just a few years, not decades away.
Let's stop supporting band-aide solutions to what will amount to economic suicide by starvation. Stop voting for politicians who distract us from serious real problems with the phony "War on Terror".
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The Candidate I'll Be Voting For
[Read the article: Media hypocrites love personality politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is the candidate who tells the ABC "moderator", "You know, that is a bullshit question and the American people are tired of bullshit answers to bullshit questions. Everyone is sick of these so-called 'debates' in which the candidates are led around by the nose having to answer inane questions. Now let's talk about some of the real issues facing the American people." This candidate then produces a list of 10 or 12 issues that would make a REAL difference in the conduct and effectiveness of government and starts to speak to one of them.