Letters to the Editor
Reality-based Liberal
Published Letters: 774 Editor's Choice: 100
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Why focus on anecdotes?
[Read the article: The nag, the witch and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So Joan doesn't like name calling and felt like Clinton's tactics in voting for calling a foreign government's military terrorists. But this is not analysis, it is more akin to the review of a home sports team in the home papar:
Attacks on our quarterback were beyond the pale. Sure, he shouldn't have tried to run the ball on 3rd down, but...
Can we stop this kind of reporting at least until the parties pick their candidates? I'd prefer we just kept talking issues up until Nov. 08, but I realize I live in the real world.
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I think he lied in the interview
[Read the article: Clarence Thomas casts himself in "Native Son"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thomas claimed that he left the seminary because of King's death:
Thomas says he was going to be a priest. "I went into the seminary when I was 16," he recalls.
His grandfather's reaction?
"He made it very clear this was gonna be a huge financial burden but they would find a way as he said. His only requirement was that I not, he said, 'You can't quit.' And then he looked at me in the face, 'Boy, don't you shame me and don't you shame your race.'" ... But by 1968 Thomas had doubts about the priesthood. He had read the books of James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright and began to question the church's commitment to civil rights...
"The nail in the coffin of my vocation was in the spring of 1968 when Dr. King was assassinated. I was going back into the dorm, to my dormitory and someone said in front of me when we heard that Dr. King had been assassinated. He said, 'Well, that's good. That's, I hope the SOB dies.' And that was it. That was the end of seminary. That was the end of the vocation. That was the end of for all practical purposes my Catholic faith," Thomas remembers.
Thomas remembers breaking the news to his grandfather. "I had to go back home. That's the hard part. And tell him. You know, I had made my promise I wouldn't quit. So, I told him. And he immediately kicked me out of the house." ... He said to me, 'You let me down and, you know, you're on your own,'" Thomas remembers.
I do not believe that this statement on King would have affected this man the way he claims. Who would believe the comment of one unidentified person (a comment that was likely uttered a lot around that time) was enough to drive a man away from his ambition? Makes you wonder if there wasn't something else at play (sex?). Too bad his grandfather isn't around to confirm.
Also have to add that the 60 Minutes piece was so kind that it was a betrayal of journalism. It presented Thomas' confirmation process as though it was a high-tech lynching and that history is decided on this matter.
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"Don't throw me in the briar patch!"
[Read the article: The nag, the witch and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Praise for Clinton from Gingrich et al should make people worry on two levels:
1) Most obvious, she is the easiest to beat (look at polling on potential matchups that put Edwards in the best position).
2) Clinton is the candidate most likely to continue the agenda of real power if she wins (using the military and violence to promote US economic interests and letting the private sector "solve" all of our problems).
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coloneblog and Grubert
[Read the article: The nag, the witch and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Promising to vote for Democrats no matter what ensures the best way to limit special interests? Perhaps you don't read or pay attention, but Democrats get more money from corporations and the rich than they do from regular folks -- and regular folk money doesn't come with the same monolithic demands (e.g. include the private sector in all of your "solutions").
As for any liberal candidate not being electable, that flies in the face of polling that shows the public willing to spend more in taxes for better schools, wanting out of Iraq and a less militaristic foreign policy, wanting single payer healthcare and strong regulation of business. We can't elect a more liberal candidate because the media and both parties tell us we don't want it, and we believe them more than ourselves.
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Nick44 is right
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And I so wish that the millions of Jewish Americans who think the Israeli government is a tragedy could find a way to take on ADL and their ilk. It borders on anti-Semitism for these right-wing, pro-Israeli groups to blur the difference between supporting a violent state like Israel and being a Jew.
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Satire is dead
[Read the article: Good work if you can get it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This would have been over the top for The Simpsons in 2000, now it's minor news.
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Great Point by Had_Enough
[Read the article: "Nazis" and "Hitler" -- the Right's casual, trivializing political insults]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would like to echo Had_Enough's comments about how the oligarchy applies fascist synonyms to others in order to detach the words from meaning and render them useless.
Certainly Nazi history holds lessons for us today, but it’s hard to share those lessons if all the words that describe and invoke it are reduced to meaningless political volleys, launched without regard to applicability.
His excellent post is here:
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/01/nazi_insult/permalink/595739d25375cdcdeb42d8dd9e97d8cc.html
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Hate to be a cynic
[Read the article: The dark truth about Blackwater]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Singer proclaims:
Outsourcing the war to private military contractors such as Blackwater has shattered the United States' moral authority and its ability to win the nation's wars -- including Iraq.
Wasn't that supposed to be the case with Abu Graib, Gitmo, Falujah, and the rape and torching of a young Iraqi girl by US soldiers?
I am beginning to think that nothing short of our setting up Zyclon B showers will galvanize our nation to move to a more just course.