Letters to the Editor
Reality-based Liberal
Published Letters: 774 Editor's Choice: 100
-
Poor FilthyHarry
[Read the article: It's the network]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think opting out of that program opts you out of having your data included in what is handed over to the Executive Branch in this "war on terror."
The great news is that our newly elected Congress -- those brave Democrats who were going to stand up for the peopole -- will retroactively make this illegal act legal. Not only does this let existing criminals off the hook, it validates such future crimes (yes, Congress can not make legal what the Constitution forbids, and this is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment -- it can just reduce the chances that anyone will do anything to enforce the 4th Amendment).
Let's watch how Hillary Clinton votes on amnesty for Verizon, and then adjust our votes accordingly.
-
Request for Hillary Clinton supporters:
[Read the article: How Hillary could tank]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please stop saying stuff like "we progressives have to stop eating our own," or "we have a good tough candidate, let's not tear her down."
Who is "we?" The reason I will not vote for Clinton is that she doesn't represent me. If she is "progressive" then that word has zero meaning for me. I am beginning to think that Clinton-boosters would defend George Bush as "a progressive with a shot" if he were leading in the Democratic primary.
As another poster asked, defend Clinton by explaining how her policies are progressive. Please don't just assert it. You look like ill-informed lemmings when you do that.
-
Yes Bush and GOP are evil, yes SCHIP should be funded, but it's about politics.
[Read the article: The healthcare war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What annoys me is that Democrats (mainstream, national-party Democrats) don't give a damn about children unless they need to pull the right emotion at a campaign event. Like actors, I can see them getting into a frame of mind where they are temporarily upset. But the real story is that they see the SCHIP veto as a political goldmine. In fact, I have heard the following uttered by Hill staff and I’m sure it’s not an anomaly: "this veto is fucking great; we can run on this!"
Meanwhile, the best thing for the nation’s health would clearly be a single payer system. The only reason there isn't the political will to do this is corruption. People would understand it and applaud it if single payer the Democrats explained and championed it: It costs less. It's makes it easier for the public to get care. It covers everyone. And it's better medicine. Anyone who gives a shit about children, the public in general, or America for that matter, should be pushing single payer again, and again, and again.
But instead we get proposals from our party's frontrunner that would do almost nothing for the health of Americans (provide them with the worst private insurance policies -- anyone watch "Sicko?") and have the taxpayer fund that private insurance. In other words, public money --> corporations in return for something worthless. It would cause the US to spend more on healthcare than before, with few added benefits, when single-payer costs about half as much as our current system and has many, many more benefits.
So yes, fuck Bush and the GOP. There should be a special place in hell for them. But fuck the Democrats who keep the GOP's behavior within the realm of what's acceptable by not having the courage or the integrity to actually serve the public themselves.
-
Hey fetboy
[Read the article: Giuliani's Christian-right foes to meet again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your post reminded me of an old Weyrich quote, so I tracked it down:
"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
— Radical Right strategist Paul Weyrich, at a 1980 training session for 15,000 conservative preachers in Dallas.
-
Nice article, but two points
[Read the article: Nuclear hypocrisy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Fact: Ahmadinejad is a figure head and does not run Iran.
Observation: this article assumes that our administration does not seek everlasting war as a goal. There is no evidence to support this assumption.
-
Democrats and Republicans? ...Punch and Judy.
[Read the article: A smooth road for Mukasey]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Our two party system is theater to keep us from taking to the streets -- it's the appearance of democracy.
Not only did Mukasey say that it would be wrong to pass judgment on waterboarding (despite applying for the job of fucking attorney general), but under additional questioning from Leahy he pretty much took the Nixon position that the President cannot break the law. Leahy asked if the President could authorize someone to break the law and Mukasey said something like: "you mean violate 'statute,' because if the President authorizes it as Commander in Chief then it wouldn't be breaking the law."
What the fuck? He's telling Congress that in his legal view, George Bush could disappear every last one of them (or us), and yet they will confirm him as our top law enforcement officer.
Whether they are unprincipled sellouts or true calculating partners with the wealthy owners of both parties, the current national Democrats are not an ally of freedom, democracy or justice. And given the current state of world affairs, that puts us all in grave jeopardy.
-
Scientific bone to pick
[Read the article: This Modern World ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The latest thinking is that Neanderthals were actually more peaceful than homo sapiens, and it was the violent species that was selected for survival on the real Earth.
-
Conservatism is just fine
[Read the article: How Bush wrecked conservatism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All viable presidential candidates and the leadership of both parties now embrace what only right-wing Republicans of yore once did: no major role for government in social programs; balanced budgets even when deficit spending on infrastructure and social programs are needed; preemptive war as an acceptable policy ("if done right!"); deregulation; corporate welfare; low taxes on the rich; etc.
Conservatism has won out. We are all conservatives now -- at least at the ballot box, where we have no other choice.