Letters to the Editor
AJCalhoun
Published Letters: 959 Editor's Choice: 127
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The End is Near, So Quit Sneering
[Read the article: Attacking Iran: Are they nuts?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]David, a few letters down below, has pointed out what few liberals are permitted to believe or even be conversant in, and many inner-circle right-wing echatological Christian politicians will only speak of in hushed tones among themselves: that David is correct - the Christian fundamentalist juggernaut heading toward Iran truly does believe the end is near, and they will do anything they can to bring about the Armageddon they so sincerely and insanely believe is something other than a time when, as Tom Leher put it, "We will all go together when we go." It may not be practical to bring about a literal end of the world anymore, but that's not going to stop Those People from trying, and the bigger the bang, the better they can see God in the mushroom cloud hanging over their next conquest. Screw that Twelfth Iman thing. Mahmood is a much more pragmatic guy, as are most Muslims, when the chips are down. We, on the other hand, have to deal with the real thing, sitting in the Oval Office.
I, too, grew up in what was at least partially a fundamentalist Christian family. While my father was a Christian Scientist he was also, in his younger days, an arch conservative, a bigot and a lot of other things. My mother was eminently sane, but my maternal grandmother, with whom we lived in a family collective because her name somehow wound up on the lease for the apartment, was a total, over the edge, Last Days Christian. She had a brother who was a Snake Handler. This is McCarthy era we're talking now. I have been sounding warnings about this since the late 1960's, but on the right (my fellow Republicans) there is either a condescending, smirking belief that I am overstating the case or, among those who know better, a group Hate Stare (much the same as the Southern Hate Stare perfected by Kluxers of days gone by). If you've never experienced that, just feel good about it, because if looks could main, one would leave in a basket. Not that those folks don't know how to speak hate. Freakin' Robertson unleashes some crazed pronouncement on a regular basis now, to muttered Amens, as Falwell nods and smiles, a far more savvy and dangerous man. But there are people far more dangerous deeper in the circle, pols who have annointed their point men in the war against Satan, and Satan, of course, is embodied in those infidels who embrace Islam - and, ultimately, any other belief system which does not involve confessing Jesus Christ as one's personal lord and savior, words which, for me, have become beyond meaningless - they have become onerous.
George W. Bush is, at this moment on the planet, Public Enemy No.1, and he is would lead the largest, wealthiest and best armed rogue nation on the face of the earth - right into the Valley of Death. While I do not imagine that an invasion of Iran would bring about the end of the world it would very likely break the back of the American war machine in much the same way Russia broke Hitler's army. That is not a useful outcome for our side. Any notion that our forces "cannot possibly be defeated" in the middle east are the product of deranged thinking.
But is that really what is important about a potential attack on Iran? Of course not. The most important issue is that to do so would not improve our security at home nor abroad, it would cost more precious lives, it would probably bankrupt us - in short it would serve no useful purpose and would cause untold loss and suffering - and, most significantly, it would be wrong. Do we need a better reason to restrain the messianic lunatic currently playing with the tiller of the world? I don't think so.
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Yes
[Read the article: Karen Finley smears Bush all over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Given limitations of existing language, "Sublime" is close enough.
I know George Bush is going to hell. Check with Oscar Wilde on that one.
God, this is a great country - still.
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This Woman "Concerns" You??
[Read the article: I found a woman in my husband's drawers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The husband in question maintains the relationship, he lies to his actual wife about the relationship, he lied to her about it prior to them having gotten married, he collects and leaves handy to discovery by his wife a collection of love letters and other memorabilia from the prior relationship - and "This woman troubles me"? The GUY is sabotaging the marriage, not the woman who continues to believe, not unreasonably, that she might still have a crack at this slimeball (for keeps or just for convenience - it doesn't really matter).
My second wife, who was a generally lovely person for most of the 23 years we were married, started to leave things lying around near the end. She twice left the most lurid of emails open on our shared computer screen, even though both our accounts were password-protected (one was from her to some other man, the other from the man, responding in painfully graphic detail how he would reciprocate her fantasies). She also left in some shared place on the C-drive a copy of a very hot boudouir photo of herself - one I had never seen nor ever was mentioned to me, and taken in a place I did not recognize. She left at least one explicit letter from a guy she ultimately dumped, lying in her nightstand drawer. Do you think she was tryin' to tell me something??
She left me, after more than 20 years, for a man younger than my son. The age difference was the only surprise in the end - but there was an end.
This poor woman whose husband is maintaining this hoochie mama on the side has only been married to Swineburn for what? A year? God help her! And with your sympathies so clearly lying with the befuddled, addled, or more likely evil husband brings not much help to the situation.
Then again, you're the expert.