Letters to the Editor
aveutter
Published Letters: 198 Editor's Choice: 32
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Bush might have been a decent President anyway
[Read the article: Worst. President. Ever.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's hard to imagine what sort of President Bush might have been without 9/11. Before than moment Bush was pushing globalism, WTO status for China. To properly assess the likely Bush agenda, one has to decide if the war in Iraq would have gone ahead, with or without that terrible event. Since Clinton provided continuity, after Gulf War I, and there were terrorist attacks outside of 9/11, you have to say, yes we probably would be in Iraq, even if 9/11 never happened.
Secondly Clinton's rather deft handling of the deficit allowed the American mindset to dismiss such things as cyclical matters, esoteric facts for eggheads to figure out, as long as Main Street was getting along.
The expansion of credit, first at the hands of the Federal Reserve, slid easily into the world of private finance, where it managed to escape the Federal Reserve Boards control. Leadership should have seen this coming, but they were free market advocates after all, and biased toward a policy which allowed the market to decide these things. Chide them for printing money, but the government only prints the money to accomodate the credit which is being monetized, and to do otherwise would be counter productive.
Meanwhile the Bush budgetary machine enjoyed the flow of cash, which allowed them to run a way too expensive war, off the books. Money was being passed around like candy, and lot of it ended up in Republican campaign coffers. Life was good. Lately, when the Senate committee asks Bernanke about the state of the economy, his reply should be, well let me call up the President and the Congress, and see how much they are going to spend this year, because over half of GDP is government spending, and that is a conservative estimate. The real issue when rating the Bush Presidency, is a matter of integrity, did he do the things he said he would, remain true to his core values, and his constituents? And if he did wander off the farm, did circumstances warrant it?
In that regard his Presidency reflects a not inconsequential betrayal of American values, and the trust of the American people. 9/11 counts for something, but Bush was already running counter to his stated political beliefs before that. The man is a loose cannon, and always was, and that brings a lot of questions to mind, about the political system in this country.
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Romney and the Lawrence Welk Show
[Read the article: Mitt Romney: Perfect tough guy for right-wing war cheerleaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This article unfairly characterizes the Mormon religion in general. A line exists, between the religious right, and the Mormons, on the issue of the war. The Mormons have always been an ethno-centrist culture. Read their history. Many young Mormons do missionary work, regardless of the personal sacrifice or the benefits.
Now that this close community has offered one of its own to the highest elected political office, there is bound to be a lot of scrutiny. There are things to question, about the way Mormon values actually undermine family values, how the idea of an elitist heaven, and gaudy, byzantine chapels speak more to Egypt than the Christian heaven. Someone suggested that real people should get to ask the questions at the debate. I agree completely.
Romney may be a chickenhawk, and his insulated childhood makes him a perfect match for his Republican predecessor, who used his wealth and connections to avoid service. Before you blame his religion, remember, Utah gave many of its sons in the war in Vietnam.
Perhaps that singing group was thinking of an audition for Lawrence Welk, the popular television entertainment program of the time, which was supported in syndication, after Welk's death, by the core of religious performers on the program, predominantly Mormon. The show still runs on PBS. There was never any mention of the war at any time on that show, which is guilt by omission, but a interesting symbol of the Mormon attitude toward the war, then, and now.
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Football goes soft
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]John Madden was speculating about the up and down career of Randy Moss, but he failed to notice the most obvious reason, the game has been sanitized. Forty year old quarterbacks can stand in the pocket all day, knowing that no one is going to put a 10,000 dollar hit on their aging frames.
Example A, a so called illegal hit in the Chargers game, when the Jags DB put a shoulder into the receiver at the moment he caught the ball. Legal hit, flagged for a penalty. The NFL made an ingame statement, that the rule allows for a discretionary call if the hit is felt to be excessive. Lucky the home team was in the lead at the time. No Randy Moss is back in the game because he can run into coverage without paying any of the consequences, at least not the kind of hits he would have gotten when he came into the game. Moss never liked running into coverage.
You have to be ready, because women will playing the game before long. Then probably old women, with bionic arms in wheel chairs. The games going soft, get used to it, with good players suiting up twenty times a year, how you can you help but get hurt. Baseball isn't much different, there is hardly a starting pitcher out there who can put an entire season together. Now we see Ricky Williams stepping in the secod half of the season. Fresh legs. That's the problem, not excessive violence, but long schedules.
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Already ancient when he was born
[Read the article: "I'm Not There"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dylan's estoric verse speaks to an earlier time. He was already ancient when he was born. The new art is out front, supraconscious, and topical without feeling ashamed. Some of the work he did in his middle years fits that standard a little better. His score on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was nice too. That sort of hookup makes sense for him. Probing backward into the idea of Dylan is a redundant concept.