Letters to the Editor
Whispers
Published Letters: 383 Editor's Choice: 11
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re: quickstrategy
[Read the article: Newest McCain official: President has "near dictatorial powers"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sorry, but I think anybody who says that booing W is equivalent to "booing the office" has gone mental. And I've heard the argument used before that a President should be respected solely because he's holds the office of President.
In my mind, that makes about as much sense as feeling obliged to sit quietly in one's seat on a bus while a drunken bus driver careens towards a cliff.
I only respect individuals based on how they are doing what they are supposed to be doing, not based on the implied status of the office itself. A priest who molests children does not get my respect. A judge who is on the take does not get my respect. A doctor who doesn't maintain sterile procedures in the operating theater does not get my respect.
And a President who pursues a strategy of deception to start a war which leads to the deaths of hundreds of thousands for no valid or reasonable purpose that I can discertain...well, he gets even less of my respect than the aforementioned doctor, priest, or judge. And I think anybody who thinks there is anything remotely questionable about booing him is mental.
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why is KateTex's nonsense starred?
[Read the article: Viva Hillary Clinton!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And why is it important that Clinton has fared well in states after a certain date? It really is too bad that 2/3 of the states had their contests decided before that date, and that Obama had such a huge delegate lead by March 1.
Perhaps Kate TeX thinks baseball games should be decided by who scores more runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings?
(Why would any editor consider such intellectual gibberish worth of note? Do weak arguments require equal representation??)
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obviously newsworthy!
[Read the article: Let Ozzie rant in bleeping peace]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ozzie Guillen is a manager and swore in an interview!
Now you might note that Jim Leyland did exactly the same thing last month, but, um, I'm sure there's a difference here.
It couldn't possibly be that the media are more deferential to Leyland because of his race.
Hey - Leyland won a World Series! Oh rats, so did Ozzie.
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kudos to Electro Robot
[Read the article: Let Ozzie rant in bleeping peace]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]for finding a completely novel way to be offensive!
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cart before horse
[Read the article: We are all appeasers now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm wondering how Kufir, McCain, Brooks, and all the people espousing the "don't negotiate until preconditions have been agreed to" argument think that the preconditions will be agreed to? How will the other party even know what they are?
See, as I see it, the act of communicating the pre-conditions for a face-to-face meeting is negotiating. Even if this is only done in the press, it is negotiation.
Negotiation is not a bad thing. Negotiating poorly is a bad thing, as is refusing to negotiate altogether. These days in the US, we are far more guilty of sins of hubris than of over-appeasement. The fact that anybody could accuse any other American of "appeasement" when the US government spends about $4 in military spending for each $1 spend by the rest of the world requires serious narcissism.
The entire discourse is idiotic. And the worse thing is that the People In Charge appear to believe in this juvenile nonsense.
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true believers
[Read the article: The real consequences when America is at war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is interesting that there are people who refuse to hear anything negative said about the war in Iraq. Blaming the Iraqis is much easier than accepting negative reporting.
There is a fundamental problem here that the basic reason for the invasion is never addressed by war supporters. None of the shifting justifications for the war - the WMDs, Saddam's evil, terrorist ties, or iran's influence, morally justifies the invasion, occupation, and attempt to install a US-friendly government.
The brutality of the occupation belies any inherent moral goodness that Americans can feel about ourselves. War supporters want to pretend it's not happening, or that it's all the fault of the locals.
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question:
[Read the article: Stone Age men fought over women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is there any body of thought out there that suggests that men did not fight over women?
I think anybody with a passing acquaintance of human psychology would concede this point.
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weird comparisons
[Read the article: NBA Finals prediction: Lakers in 5]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why compare Garnett to Gasol, Bryant to Allen, and Pierce to Odom?
Garnett is not likely to be matched against Gasol.
If you wanted to do best 3 vs. best 3, it would be
KG vs Kobe
Pierce vs Gasol
Allen vs Odom
Kobe is slightly better than KG, but not by as much as the media has been proclaiming recently.
Pierce is more accomplished than Gasol, but I would say that's a wash.
Both Allen and Odom are inconsistent.
Ultimately, basketball really is a team game, and this series may come down to things like - Kendrick Perkins vs. Gasol or Derek Fisher vs. Rajon Rondo.
Seeing as the Cs were 2-0 in the regular season vs. the Lakers, I'm a bit surprised to see you think that they'll only win one game in 5 in the Finals. Even the Utah Jazz did better than that. Don't fall into the trap of basing your judgment on what you've seen most recently.
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somebody wake me
[Read the article: The other 18 million]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]when Joan writes about something else...
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neat trick
[Read the article: Arraigning the 9/11 suspects, Guantánamo-style]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So...the government uses torture tactics, and then they decide that torture treatment is so uniquely powerful that they have to call it "classified", because if "the enemy" knew exactly how prisoners were being tortured, then that would somehow compromise the tactics being used.
Sounds like a cheap trick to keep illegal practices secret. The abuse of the power of classification continues unabated. And the great thing about it is that we, the public, are not allowed to know exactly what they are doing!
One downside of the secrecy is that there is no way to fairly judge the competence of the methods being used. And any system that no longer requires competence is going to be riddled with incompetence after a short period of time.