Letters to the Editor
3reddogs
Published Letters: 186 Editor's Choice: 43
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So Many Questions - So Few Answers
[Read the article: Spying, CNN and the Kerry campaign: Is there a there there?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How many times have we heard George Bush proclaim that anyone who opposes him or his policies is "helping the enemy"? Following this brand of logic, how much of a stretch would it be for him to justify eavesdropping on his political opponents? They are, after all, aiding and abetting the enemy. The logical conclusion to this scenario might very well be an ever-widening net of wiretaps and surveillance, all in the name of "national security". John Kerry to Jamie Rubin to Christine Amanpour? Perfectly logical, but small wonder that warrants became an obstacle to George Bush's pursuit of our enemies.. Not even a packed court would accept this kind of paranoid outlook on our war on terror. Or, who knows, perhaps Bush's justification for eavesdropping on journalists like Christine Amanpour would be so that he could find out who's leaking all of the details about all of his administration's secret activities. He's made it abundantly clear that all of these leaks are ALSO aiding and abetting the enemy. Leaning on a podium, in folksy homespun fashion: "If I don't spy on journalists, how am I ever going to find out who's leaking my secrets to 'em?"
Here's hoping Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC do the kind of investigative reporting that's required here. 50% of the American people apparently have no problem with George Bush's warrantless spying ... maybe they'll change their mind if it turns out that King George, in the glorious tradition of Richard Nixon, decided that spying on journalists, activists and political opponents was just as necessary and justified as spying on Al-Qaeda memebers.
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Excessive and Incomplete
[Read the article: West Virginia and that other place where Americans have died]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The excessive coverage of this story wouldn't be so bad if just once these network clowns wouldn't just mention all of the violations this mine has racked up but would also go on to point out how completely toothless the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has become under the George Bush administration. He's not only reduced it's staff by 170 positions but he's also cut funding and replaced career managers with cronies just as he's done to so many other regulatory agencies that might annoy his big business base and corporate contributors. Anyone remember the 13 workers who died in an Alabama coal mine explosion triggered by a roof collapse in September 2001? The fine ultimately assessed by the MSHA was a measly $3,000 . Some might call a $3,000 fine a slap on the wrist - I'd call it a slap in the face delivered to every miner in America.
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What Made Alito A Conservative?
[Read the article: Alito hearing: Day One is over, and not a minute too soon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was struck by the sound byte NBC news chose last night, wherein Alito "took a swipe at the 60's" when he talked about all the protests going on at Princeton when he was there.
"I saw some very smart people and very privileged people behaving irresponsibly, and I couldn't help making a contrast between some of the worst of what I saw on the campus and the good sense and the decency of the people back in my own community."
Most say this was Alito's way of explaining his conservative views. Peace activists protesting the war in Viet Nam are what made Samuel Alito a conservative?? If this man is confirmed I shudder to think about how much power George Bush will grab and be allowed to keep and how few civil liberties will be left for the rest of us.
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Giving New Meaning to the Word "Compassionate"
[Read the article: The IRS strikes at transparency -- and at the poor]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yet another shining example of this administration's "compassionate conservatism". One gets the distinct impression that George Bush's attitude towards poor people is that if he ignores them or if he can make their life just a little more miserable then maybe they'll just go away. He was certainly in no rush to save them when they were sitting in the Super Dome or on a roof top, he's all for cutting back on their food stamps and Medicare and Medicaid benefits, the $5.15 Federal mimimum wage hasn't been raised since 1997, the number of people at or below the poverty level has increased by millions in the last 5 years, and now we find out that the IRS is withholding their refunds rather than targetting corporations and wealthy Americans. Next thing on the Bush/GOP agenda will probably be a push for National ID cards so fewer of them can vote!
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Which Is It?
[Read the article: "Dead ends or innocent Americans"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm always a bit bemused whenever I hear Bush defending his warrantless wiretaps by declaring that "if somebody is talking to al Qaida, we want to know why." Either he's saying that the NSA already knows exactly who is and isn't a member of AQ and those phone calls are the only ones being monitored or he's implying that virtually any phone call could be a target for a wiretap because they DON'T know who is or isn't a member of AQ. Either way, isn't it time someone demanded that George Bush elaborate on this ridiculous explanation for spying on Americans?
(And small wonder the FBI was a bit miffed about having to follow up on all the terrorist "leads" that these wiretaps were coming up with ... they were already much too busy hunting down "domestic terrorists" by spying on countless U.S. advocacy groups engaged in antiwar, environmental, civil rights and other causes, such as the Catholic Relief Workers, Greenpeace, the ACLU and PETA!)