Letters to the Editor
PreviouslyCRL
Published Letters: 217 Editor's Choice: 34
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This is clearly a highly significant constitutional issue
[Read the article: Torture ban? What torture ban?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush's response to this law raises the same constitutional questions as his authorizing wiretaps without warrants. The balance of powers between our three branches of government are at stake as well as at least two amendments in the Bill of Rights. I hope that we, as citizens, and the Congress, as our representatives, vigorously pursue both the wiretap and the torture issues, otherwise we are under a form of dictatorship.
In fact, as far as I'm concerned, at this point, consideration of articles of impeachment is entirely in order. Bush is attempting to create an imperial presidency, which must be stopped.
I know, I know, under this Republican-controlled Congress we're not likely to see any real accountability. But the 2006 elections are an opportunity to fix this problem, if only we can get a large enough proportion of the electorate engaged enough to vote out enough Republican representatives. Perhaps the Abramhoff scandal will help fuel that effort.
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Bush's credibility is shot
[Read the article: This just in: Bush listens]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can't believe that this stunt being staged by the Bush administration will really convince anyone that he has suddenly had a change of heart and is going to seriously listen to and consider the perspectives of his critics. He's made such a point of insisting that he gets the best possible advice from his advisors and of being infallibly certain about his actions in Iraq and the so-called war on terror that it seems inconceivable that even the most gullible Americans will buy this ploy.
I put this bit of window dressing in the same category as Bush calling his pro-pollution legislation the "Clear Skies Initiative." A nice name for a policy that is dead opposite of what it appears to say it is. Watch for the administration to use this PR and photo op to claim that it has turned over a new leaf and to use it as cover for continuing to do whatever the hell they please.
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They have more important things to report
[Read the article: We don't report so you won't decide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is, after all, the critical and essential war on Christmas that is a top priority for reporting. And surely there's something about Clinton or Cindy Sheehan or George Soros that must be more important than a mere bribery scandal that shows how our representative government is being subverted and dismantled. You can't really expect them to devote their precious time to something so trivial, now can you?
/snark
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Nice work Senator
[Read the article: Alito falters on CAP, and Specter and Kennedy explode]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was wondering whether any of the Democrats would finally nail Alito on his CAP membership. His story about not really being a participant in the group begs the question as to why he would have listed it on his job application.
If he really wasn't knowledgeable about the group nor an active member, was he just trying to impress the Reagan administration? If so, his listing the membership was a deceptive means to establish his conservative bonafides with the Reagan admin. If someone did this on a job application for a position at the University where I work, it would work strongly against them if it was discovered.
Alternatively, if he really was a member of the group and was proudly highlighting it on his application, then he surely knew what they were about.
Either way, it does not reflect well upon his character. He either actively supported a racist, sexist and homophobic group, or he joined the group just to make himself more attactive to a potential employer.
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Hmmm.....
[Read the article: Harry the hypocrite -- or not]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Now why would the Washington Times run a story that is so easily verified as bogus? I can't figure out the motivation in this instance. Sure the WT is not exactly at the peak of journalistic excellence and honesty, but are they really this sloppy? Or could they just be trying to get a meme started about Reid's culpability, even if it is ultimately false.
The WT never had much credibility in my book, and I would expect that only the most rabid of those on the Right would either cling to belief in the Wa Times false story or consider the WT more trustworthy for having rushed it to publication.
Surely most conservatives aren't that brain-dead.
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GOP SOP
[Read the article: Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and the GOP blow-back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No surprises here. Of course the GOP will claim that Clinton did it too (without the necessary context for the average listener to realize that when Clinton did it, it wasn't illegal). These guys are professional obfuscators. What's most frustrating about their bogus claims and analogies is that the media doesn't call them out on it. The Bush administration lies, in part, because the media lets them. If the media did its homework and regularly called them on their BS, I'll bet they would do it less (or be even more underhanded in their semantic gymnastics).
Blogs and web media like Salon are making it harder for the administration to distort reality, but unfortunately, a significant proportion of Americans still get their news via TV and cable. Until our toothless fourth estate is reformed or everyone has universal access to the web (and takes the time to look for the information), we'll continue to get this sort of garbage from the administration.
How far we've fallen as a nation when we live in times where fascist and Stalinist techniques for misleading the public are so commonplace.
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What a charade
[Read the article: He forgot to mention Syria]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]McClellan isn't even trying to put up a plausible front for the administration anymore. He and the administration have reached a point of such hubris that either they don't think the media will ever hold them to account, or, worse, even if it is evident they are hiding something that not enough people care for it to have any real consequences for them.
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Is this some sort of sitcom?
[Read the article: What the Bush administration wants]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Bush administration's escalating rhetoric on the powers of the imperial presidency has become so ridiculous that I can't believe anyone takes them seriously, including themselves. We need Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame to return from the grave dressed as a British army officer and to step into the frame of one of these news conferences and say, "This is sketch has gotten entirely too silly, now get on with it."