Letters to the Editor
Ron Smith
Published Letters: 211 Editor's Choice: 11
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Thanks for the James Madison Plug
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This July 4th our group sold ball caps to raise money. On the back of the cap we had stitched the words of James Madison from Federalist Paper #51.
The purpose (end) of government is justice.
How appropriate that Tom should contrast James Madison with Dick Cheney.
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Let Us See Our President For the Criminal He Is.
[Read the article: Bush and Cheney walk, too]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you, Sidney.
It was James Madison who wrote in the Federalist Papers, #51, in 1787:
The purpose (end) of government is justice.
There are means to reach this end. One is the 'faithful execution of the laws'. We understand that the Executive Branch, headed by the President, has primary responsibility.
So what happens when the President, again and again, breaks the law?
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Thank you, Glenn and a few comments!
[Read the article: Our broken political discourse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The decline of our newspaper reporting is correlated with the decline of newspaper readership. Just visit your local Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstore. Check out what folks there are reading or buying.
My grandfather, born in 1874, saw the beginning of television. While a master carpenter and the father of four, he found time to read a good newspaper and several magazines. In our coal mining town of 5000 he had The Washington Post mailed to him. Our minister once told me that he was very well-read. Pop, as we called him, said that Americans in 1953 were now "satisfied with being entertained".
We know that Rupert Murdock, the man behind Fox News and other news operations, is trying to buy the Wall Street Journal. Today a man told me that Dick Cheney prefers Fox as his source for news. I remember speaking with an old Navy buddy in the fall of 2004. His TV news source was Fox News. And Dick Pees, my old buddy from Ohio, was one of the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
My point is that entertainment, shallow reporting, and propaganda go hand in hand. All three are fed to us by unscrupulous folks like Murdock for their financial gain and their grab for power.
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Bush Can Run, But He Can't Hide From the Truth
[Read the article: It's finally time for Bush to answer questions about Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you, Joe Conason. Everything you said is true. Bush does know that he did wrong in being an accomplice to the outing of Valerie Plame. He knows that Joe Wilson did the United States a positive service in discrediting the false story that uranium ore was moving from Niger to Iraq.
But Joe, don't you recall the "mushroom cloud" speeches of Cheney, Bush, Powell, and Rice in the fall of 2002? These were made in conjunction with the monthly Cheney interviews that stated that Saddam was seeking yellow cake uranium ore from Africa (Niger was the country we later found out). Yes, these were all lies. But none of the four has apologized. No, not the President, not the Vice, not the then Secretary of State, and not the then National Security Advisor has ever said, "I am sorry for those remarks."
These are proud people. And as we know, 'Pride goeth before a fall'.
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Forget the Gender BS, Find the Competent Person
[Read the article: Hillary is from Mars, Obama is from Venus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How many of us can see ourselves as editor of the Harvard Law Review? That position is available only to a select few. It is based on merit.
We need to find someone who can look down the road, see an opportunity for our nation and seize it. We need someone who can see the potholes and avoid them.
An intelligent person draws competent people to the nation's tasks. This person provides a vision worthy of our support.
In looking at these two candidates, you can appreciate that only Obama could be the editor. It is Obama who worked in a Chicago slum, whereas Hillary keeps the poor at arm's length. Hillary supported this Iraq debacle as a matter of expediency, I believe. She still sounds like an uninformed person on this subject. Obama was against the Iraq invasion from the beginning.
Think of the two heading to the airport. Which one has too much baggage? One could argue that we get a twofer since her husband is Bill. But who could rule out A Bill Clinton serving in some capacity in an Obama Administration?
Obama is an includer type who draws competent people to him.
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So Novak is Wealthy, Eh? ...the root of all evil.
[Read the article: Bob Novak is not one of the popular kids]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My older brother is well-versed on the Bible. He looks at Republicans and gives voice to those words: "For the love of money is the root of all evil". 1TIM ch6 v10
One imagines a reporter who "follows the money" and exposes the corrupt. So what happens when a reporter "takes" the money? I guess he rises "to the top of D.C.'s journalistic heap". Eh, Bob?
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Someone Has Posted 1830 Letters Since January 1, 2007
[Read the article: Bob Novak is not one of the popular kids]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, that is nearly 10 letters per day every day since Jan. 1. Hm... Someone gets a salary to do this from the American Enterprise Institute, I bet.
Check, That would be Realname.
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See Happyjack's letter at 9:55pm on July 17
[Read the article: David Brooks' field trip to the White House]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Happyjack looks at Bush holistically and sees a SOCIOPATH. Happyjack is on to something here. Others have said that in private Bush rails at those who disagree with him.
A sociopath can be rather charming at times. But you will try in vain to see a consistent pattern of "service to others" in his behavior. A look at the big red book of unhappiness, the DSM IV, is now in order.
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Dill is Right!
[Read the article: Congress puts off fixing touch-screen voting]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We need those verifiable voting machines now. The Diebold folks cannot be trusted. A complete paper trail is the way to go. Both the voter and the precinct get a written record of each vote. It is good government in action.
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Here is a List of Some Vietnam No-Shows
[Read the article: The Weekly Standard's "9/11 Generation"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, I served 3 years in the Navy during the late 1960's with one year, 1969, in South Vietnam.
So the guys listed here as No-Shows are from my generation.
Bush, Cheney, Rove, Feith, Delay, Hastert, Lott, Gingrich, Shelby, Kyl, Cornyn, Hutchison, Chambliss, Abrams, Wolfowitz, Perle, Guiliani, Kristol.
Greenwald is right. These are some of the boys who took us to war and keep our troops there. Their children will never serve, just like their old man.