Letters to the Editor
susan sunflower
Published Letters: 1376 Editor's Choice: 29
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I'm sure all you in-the-know savvy Broadsheet babes understand that the reason Shaha Riza had to go is because she and Paul aren't MARRIED ....
[Read the article: Stone Age women "created a future"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The wife of the last World Bank President worked at the bank during his tenure ... but, ya see, they were married and that's makes it okay ... fraternization between unmarried employees is specifically forbidden ... at least according to yesterday's report in the NYT ...
That she was a 7-year employee, as far as I know, in good standing (if not universally adored) apparently is worth nothing ...
I don't think the question is why Riza was being paid SO MUCH but rather WHY IS CONDI PAID SO LITTLE (and are there perks and ammenities besides salary, like wardrobe, residence, travel and so forth). I seem to recall Linda Tripp was being paid something near or over $100,000 which surprised me since about then, 10 years ago, the regular vice-presidents (all female) where I worked made over $100,000 while the "senior" VPs (all male) made much more. My suspicion is that Riza was underpaid at the WB ... but whatever.
Trust Salon's editor and Broadsheet to delve no further than "conventional wisdom" ... thank ladies.
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If we had actually learned the lessons of Vietnam we would not have gone into Iraq ...
[Read the article: Stone Age women "created a future"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find the casual, dismissive demonization of the PNAC and the neocons a bit alarming because it ignores how "seductive" and America-first and flag-waving their position actually is.
At its inception the attack on Iraq was generally "popular" ... afterall Gulf War I was largely considered a "just war" and a rousing success (ignoring the faked Patriot missles and the civilian casualties and the Highway of Death and the questions surrounding Saddam's "invasion" of Kuwait and the long-held border dispurte ... etc.) ... a lot of people bought into the "finishing unfinished business" argument and as far as I can tell -- from talking to people -- a lot of Americans have no qualms whatsoever about invading a hostile country to implement "regieme change" and, control their natural resources .... the crusade of bringing "our" ways to the heathen, backward, non-democratic, etc. is remarkably prevalent. [and as far as I can tell, many of these same people believe that the "world order" depends on the United States as does the world economy ... and that Europe in particular "owes us" big-time, Asia, not so much.]
Anyhow, the World Bank had many reasons for wanting to be rid of Paul Wolfowitz -- hell, they didn't want him appointed in the first place and from what I gather his management "skills" are nonexistant and the relationship soured VERY VERY quickly into arrogant disregard of World Bank policies with a healthy dose of bad-mouthing and frank intimidation/threats ...
Shaha was "collateral damage" in the pile on ... I'd give her points for staying out of the fray but I fear she is likely to file a Linda-Tripp style invasion of privacy lawsuit ... Tripp got over $500,000 ...
Attacking "innocent bystanders" is simply too stupid for words and expensive. Crying "Nepotism" when Riza's lateral reassignment was to working in Cheney's daughter's office is also laughable ... see also the crack team of neophytes that as put in charge of rebuilding Iraq ...
IMHO, it's too important to dismiss as if it were skeevy like another Paris Hilton crotch-shot .... or a repellent image of Wolfowitz somehow "getting some"
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the cognitive dissonance is too great and there is no "consensus" ...
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]few of our politicians are willing to stick their necks out and voluntarily be declared instantly and irrevocably politically irrelevant by the media ...
A quick reviewing the video of Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent I think might clarify our so-called "national paralysis"
The obvious lies are everywhere, the half-truths, lies by ommission, memory lapses ... it's very tiring dealing with all those strawmen. Most people and most politicians would much rather "wait it out" than have their utter ignorance and lack of solutions exposed ... too bad about the continuing mounting death and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan ...
Bush's poll numbers were very low pre-09/11, worst intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor ... yet ... despite a seriously mismanaged false start, within a week Bush was a hero for urging us to get on with our lives, go shopping, take that vacation because the "new sherrif" with shiny tin star was watching our backs. Hurricaine Katrina should have broken that illusion, simply as a matter of self-preservation, no?
Like the battered wife, most of America is ashamed and feeling guilty and would rather not talk about it. We're gonna hafta gotta sober up and face the music sometime.
Never forget that the national media exists to support, at minimum, a conservative status quo ... that they are increasing speaking out against Bush does not change that ... the status quo has simply shifted ... with and like public opinion.
If the "war in Iraq" (which was in fact an "invasion" of a virtually defenseless country and is now a poorly run, bordering on anarchic "occupation") could be deemed "successful" much of the opposition would simply evaporate -- most Americans simply would not care (much as they ignored conflicts in Korea or VietNam for years and years). If the oil were flowing and gas was below $2 a gallon, they'd consider it more God Bless America "doing well by doing good" doncha know.
I'm not sure what they are teaching our children by way of history (not a NCLB skill), but it appears to me that "American Exceptionalism" and the righteousness of the "American Way" appears to figure prominently, echoing the early years of post-WWI humiliated German National Socialist Aryan "pride" movement. Fasten those seatbelts.
Gore's new book (prominently and favorably reviewed in the NYT) may help in forming a concensus of where we go from here.
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Team Bush/Cheney can wait for international war crimes trials ... or at least until Gonzo/Fredo is gone gone gone ...
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Personally, I "don't want to know" how this supreme court would come down even in **just** dealing with Fredo ... and I fear creating a lot of case law/precedents to be regretted at leisure...
"Locking the barn door after the horse in gone," comes to mind.
whodathunkit?