Letters to the Editor
Holly McLachlan
Published Letters: 559 Editor's Choice: 3
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Normalization and Governing by Poison Pills
[Read the article: Mukasey's radical worldview is now the norm]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...speaking of this last signing statement and expansion [of Presidential power], this president looks to be committing the nation to the creation and management of a near-permanent American imperium in Iraq. He seems to be trying, before he leaves office, to do an end-around with Congress on what should be a treaty. That may be an unprecedented gambit too. -- Dirigo
This is his most recent 'expansionary' gambit. And for what, except the pure exercise of power in order to expand that power? Can someone explain what strategic value America gets from establishing a string of insanely expensive Crusader fortresses through the length and breadth of Iraq? Are we going to gain enough from influencing the movement of oil that it will all pay for itself? Not.
We can (maybe) control the Shat-al-Arab with them -- but not the whole Persian Gulf. Rather, we'd need to maintain control of the Gulf in order to maintain these outposts in Iraq. It's unlikely that we will have the will and the money to keep up the neo-colonial schtick long enough to come out ahead on these things -- but the Republicans continue to be viewed as the hard-headed pragmatists by shooter242 etal.
They are precisely the opposite. The ultra-rightists who control the Republican party will bankrupt us with their hubris. We'll become a suzerainity of China's, pretending all the while that we run the world's show. Until, eventually, we can't even pretend anymore.
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Erm.... Pardon me? We're talking sausages here
[Read the article: The Senate's FISA agreement]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What precisely prevents [Bush] from pardoning the Telecoms against our will?
Daniel Schorr at NPR, interpreted the above statement to mean exactly that and said so yesterday.
Shouldn't our efforts be directed at exploring limiting his pardon power before he forgives the whole damn mess along with a raft of other ills? -- Jim Montague
IANAL, but I don't know that the President, or any executive, can 'pardon' a party out of civil penalties or actually facing a court. The money of it all is an issue to the telecoms.
The other issue is the politics of the matter. Forcing Bush to publicly pardon large, unresponsive, arrogant telecoms would be weakly positive for his opponents, and potentially damaging if the story didn't quietly die. That's why the administration and its allies are working so hard to befuddle the viewing public (and our representatives) with all these extensions, amendments, and procedural technicalities.
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An old song... in lieu of vile conspiracy theories
[Read the article: Is Michael Mukasey prioritizing the harassment and imprisonment of journalists?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So, just as daily evidence of the inevitable failure or the "Surge" starts rolling in, the cables get cut. Makes you want to believe in miracles. -- Cocktailhag
The proper, conventional newsmedia is reporting that the local authorities believe it's all due to ships dragging anchor. To which I can only reply with a variation of the old drinking song:
Do your anchors hang low?
Do they wobble to and 'fro?
Can you tie 'em in a knot?
Can you tie 'em in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier?
Do your anchors hang low?
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Argument by assertion: why does it so commonly hinge on a presumption about the "other guy's" stupidity?
[Read the article: Republicans have become the credibility-free party]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're Sort Of Right, DCLaw1
Americans are dumb and would like us to run out of Iraq immediately. They're just bright enough to know the Democrats are in power and that we're still in Iraq so they tell Gallup they disapprove of the Democrats' job. But Glenn's post was about capitulating to the Republicans and FISA and telcom immunity. Americans don't have a clue what any of that is. It's not a "capitulating to Republicans" issue, it's an unpopular war issue. -- Asher Steinberg
Ah, yes...those inimitably moronic Americans.
I suspect that many of the under-informed People you're referring to without recourse to data actually can distinguish shit from Shinola. They may not have the artful grasp of geopolitical details that you do Mr. Steinberg, but their general sense of being stepped on is probably quite good -- and good enough to make the Beltway elite uncomfortable.
The growth of the domestic police state is part of the war, goes hand-in-hand with being on a "war footing", is justified by our being on a "war footing", and is one of the more noticeable part of the war for most average people. Therefore, critiquing Glenn's post as somehow beside the point because the American people are "too stupid" to be aware of anything other than the war is........ stupid in itself. Encroachments on our privacy and dignity are part and parcel of this broadly loathed war. Every little nobody from fly-over country who has waited +2 hours in line to board a plane is quite personally aware of this. And they get little reminders of it every time their bag is search when entering the Magic Kingdom, or the HSBC office tower..... etc.
Like so many letter writers here... you just aren't that much smarter than the average Joe. Portfolio or pedigree notwithstanding, you really aren't. So sorry.
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No Exodus from real life
[Read the article: Fun and games with terrorist threats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I go the other way
I am praying for WMD on America. Literally praying for the mass death of whole cities. --Anonymous
kovie, you are becoming too sensitive in your old age. We should allow this archetypical ultra-rightist to display himself before the world. For all to see.
If people look close enough, they'll see the yellowish puddle at his feet. And his self-image as a the tough kibbutznik-who-married-the-American-nurse-from-Cook-County will be so terribly damaged. He'll be just another tattered copy of a Leon Uris novel at the Easter Seals thrift store -- going for $0.50 for 3 weeks -- before they send it to the dumpster.
And then, we can get back to working for the best interest of the next generation. The manure will find its way to the garden. This petulant creep who's been doggin' Glenn will have nowhere to go eventually. Don't think there is no one "else" out there who can't see the fundamental bases of his dishonor.