Letters to the Editor
howardmk
Published Letters: 7
-
Idle chatter?
[Read the article: Bomb, bomb Iran?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those who say "liberals" are SOOO gauche for imagining there can ever be a war with Iran need to answer one simple question: why McCain's gaffes (or, as the case may be, non-gaffes)? What possible purpose could he or any other neo-con activist have for constantly stoking the war machine if not to use it? Maybe McCain thinks he's better poised to get elected if he implies going to war with Iran? Is that his strategy? And, if it is, he must assume the American people would stand behind him. And, if that's what he thinks; and if he's elected; why would it be unthinkable that he would go to war with Iran? Because of what the military cautions? Please, he'd be the commander guy. Why should he listen to the generals?
-
Stupid Patriotism?
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The only thing I would quibble about in this article is the statement that "stupid patriotism is the problem." Remove the extraneous word "stupid" and you're right on target. All patriotism is stupid and problematic, not just the obviously stupid variety. Along with religion, patriotism has caused more misery for humanity than everything else put together. Love of country is just another form of elevating things above people. If I say "gosh I love my new TV - I mean I really LOVE MY NEW TV!" - you'd rightly conclude there's something very wrong with my thinking. But if I say "gosh I love my country - I mean I really LOVE MY COUNTRY" - you'd conclude I'm simply a bit overzealous in expressing my patriotism. But it's every bit as shallow and selfish to really love my country as it is to really love my new TV. It's putting things above people. And it's always wrong, period.
-
Good Wars Die Young
[Read the article: What can and cannot be spoken on television]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You can never go wrong if you oppose all wars, all the time - even the "good" wars. It's an affront to decency and rationality to place the terms "good" and "war" in the same sentence - and actually mean it. The final tally of any war in history will always show far more on the debit than the credit side. War, as has been said repeatedly, is the ultimate confession of impotence to deal with the human condition - so what does that tell you about a man who years to be remembered as A War President? But, speaking of censorship, there is a way to bring the Iraq war to a close: by attacking the base on which it rests (you know, that moment that "changed everything"). But it can't be attacked because it's become a sacred icon; and anyone who dares attack it becomes a blasphemer. Frankly, I don't give a damn who or what was behind it. If enough people start entertaining doubts, the vast majority of Americans who claim to oppose the war...will actually mean what they say for once.
-
Thank You minnesing5 and abbybwood!
[Read the article: Peak oil? Consider it solved]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Couldn't agree more. Just because the earth doesn't conform to our high standards of "life" doesn't mean it isn't an organic being. It wasn't all that long ago that not all humans conformed to our high standards of "homo sapiens." The earth may very well "know" what its doing and have "reasons" for encouraging certain activities of certain "living" things while discouraging others. And I doubt that it even gives a damn if its the center of the universe or not! That sure would make it a hell of lot "smarter" than us. Anyway, there's no way out of the human dilemma. We've been moving toward this point for thousands of years; at any time along the way we could have stopped and asked ourselves "What the hell are we doing?" But we didn't. And anyone seriously believes we will now, this close to the end?
-
It Works Everytime
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As long as that big, burly, rough and tumble freakish caracature is what The People are looking for in a leader, those who market it best always win. I keep thinking: what if James Madison, five foot four inches tall and in many ways the real father of our country, were to run for president today? He'd be laughed and booed off the podium. Yet our forefathers - the ones who really did put their lives on the line for freedom - did not consider his persona as disqualifying him from leadership. And he was an intellectual to boot! As a people, we seem to have regressed to a point well before the American Revolution. I think it was called The Stone Age.
-
Maybe Charlie and George Are Reminding Us...
[Read the article: The harmony between the Right and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that our "leaders" are basically nothing but shills for the ruling class anyway - so who gives a damn about the issues? Certainly not those who call the shots: they get to pick and choose which issues will be attended to, which will go begging. Reminding us also that lapel pins and rules of etiquette are the extent of presidential prerogative in today's world. Which helps explain why the MSM by and large applauded the late evening divertissement. But the debate I want to see is the one where the moderators are lobbyists instead of newsmen. Cut out the middleman.
-
Nietzche Said:
[Read the article: Tom Friedman's latest declaration of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"They muddy their waters to make them look deep." So of course Mr. Friedman needed "three rivers of rage." One river of rage would have been so pedestrian (not to mention "unserious"). See, the three rivers eventually merge just as they flow into the Persian Gulf. All of which fades into a picture postcard of China's Three Gorges Dam - thus re-igniting the Cold War. Is this guy Friedman a genius or what!