Letters to the Editor
prunes
Published Letters: 784
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@jebldmm
[Read the article: Neocons' rejection of the rule of law extends to the personal level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Apparently, Bushco is supporting a law that would make it illegal for "suspected terrorists" to buy guns. Suddenly, right wingers are regaining their respect for constituttional protections.
Gah! All through the 90s, the NRA and other gun-rights groups used the specter of a 'national ID card' to push up recruitment and activism. The story was that as soon as a national ID card was instituted, it would be tied to gun ownership records, next step confiscation.
Not only did Republicans go crazy 5 years ago, they got amnesia about their entire political history up to that point.
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Re: RealName
[Read the article: Neocons' rejection of the rule of law extends to the personal level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How many people are fans of the great Hugo Chavez?
Nobody here is talking about Chavez. No one on this thread has expressed any interest in the topic (I searched.)
What possible motivation could RealName have for bringing up the practices of unrelated foreign leaders? He seems to presume that Salon readers have some predisposition in favor of Chavez' recent policies. It is hard for me to have an opinion, Venezuela is one of the S.American countries I haven't visited. In any case, Venezuela does not afaik have a system of guaranteed rights protected by a constitution, so any discussion of American laws will not apply quite so direactly there.
But since, the topic of foreign leaders has come up:
RealName, if you want to be ruled by a king instead of employing a citizen as president, maybe you could move to Thailand or some other haven of the kind of strong, effective, central leadership that can only stem from One Man.
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@jojo++
[Read the article: Neocons' rejection of the rule of law extends to the personal level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bolivarianismo is just Napoleonisme updated.
Oh, come on. sorry, this is OT, but I used to live in Bolivia, I can't just let this slide.
Bolivarianism has a HUGE populist dimension you can't ignore, not so much imperial, huh? The overtones of a united S.America come across as a move for independence from the Euro/US powers, not aiming for an undying empire or dominance over other continents.
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@RealName
[Read the article: Neocons' rejection of the rule of law extends to the personal level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]fine. But I think the key difference between the US and Venezuela is that in the US the problem is not Bush it's the people who voted for him. In Venezuela it's the head guy.
Says you. Since the Chavez topic is opened (by you) at this point, I might note that as controversial as Chavez is, he has far more support than the Republican leadership. And has for some time. And will continue to have for the forseeable future.
So where do you get the idea that it's more 'just one guy' in Venezuela than here?
I think that people who equate a one man rule authoriarian rule by decree for life 'president' with even the worst of all the democratically elected US presidents are possibly dreaming of an apocalypse they'd like to see happen.
That doesn't make a lick of sense. I think you are possibly dreaming of sounding halfway sane. Possibly.
Also, you are either lying about Chavez' authority or misunderstand it. FWIW.
Ever live in a country like that? They're not real fun.
Does your stomach churn like mine when you consider the fact that we are even seriously discussing this possibility for America?
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@RealName
[Read the article: Neocons' rejection of the rule of law extends to the personal level]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If you want to put on your $30 Che T-shirt and worship a one man caudillo for life fascist, that's fine.
Boy, you really have no clue who you're talking to. If not for the 'Che' thing, I'd think you were talking up your own geigh-for-Bushism.
I don't even take your namecalling personally.
It IS directed at you, y'know.
In either case, I entreat you to go live in a place ruled by a guy like that, literally.
And I told you to go to Thailand if you want a king. Leave my civilian-run country alone.
It's easy I suppose to say what a concentration camp the US is from the comfort of the US.
Nobody said that, stupid. (Please note, I am characterizing you personally as stupid. That's personal. Because your personal ideas are stupid and poorly conveyed.)
Imagine if you will what would happen if you decided what would happen to you if you lived in Caracas and started saying those things about Chavez?
I know exactly what would happen: absolutely nothing. I see PLENTY of criticism of Chavez coming from Venezuela. Nobody's getting locked up for it, far as I can tell.
But please remember YOU are the only one who brought Chavez into this. It didn't make any sense when you did so, and you're only further embarassing yourself by revealing how little you know about South America.
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@jake007
[Read the article: Answers for Joe Klein]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]it is usually considered bad netiquette to copy-n-paste large blocks of text into comments. A link or url is fine.