Letters to the Editor
Ray Walker
Published Letters: 52 Editor's Choice: 2
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Clinton's deceny & Character
[Read the article: Was Hillary channeling George Wallace?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Suggesting an affirmative view of the Clinton's decency and character is amusing. Great politicians, both, and Bill Clinton was a fairly good president re policy matters; but character? Give me a break. Convicted of perjury and disbarred is hardly a medal for honesty. And Hillary's childish fantasies about running from snipers, and other such gaffes, hardly recommends her for character. Tough? yes; honorable? No
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Blacklisted by the Bush government.
[Read the article: Blacklisted by the Bush government]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The following quote from this article left me speechless. For a while.
"At times crude and undemocratic -- counterattack against an elusive enemy."
Just how do you fight a war by democratic principles? The writer either misspoke or is naive.
As to Oregon and the charity. I would not expect an enemy agent in deep cover to present himself in any other way than the accused. That does not convict him, but if there is other evidence, his pleasing demeanor is not a defense.
The Saudi government is run by Wahabbi fundamentalists. That view of the Koran is radical and pro jihad. The Saudi charities fund Wahabbi Madras all over the world. They have been funding terrorists in the hopes of keeping them from trying to dislodge the Saudi dictatorship.
The Bush people may be crude and at times annoying, but if we must fail in anything, I'd rather it be something we can argue about than be blind to a terrorist organization that will act against us,
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Obama/Kennedy comparisons
[Read the article: Obama/Kennedy vs. McCain/Goldwater]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Both Kennedy and Obama were/are gifted speakers and charismatic personalities. End of similarity. Kennedy's tax and economic programs were quite sane. He said lower taxes and increase revenues. Which works fairly well. Obama's tax and economic program is a disaster in the making.
Along with most, I cried at the assassination. But I recall Kennedy putting us in Vietnam. I was told if I voted for Goldwater we would have a big war, which I didn't believe. And they were right. I voted Republican and LBJ gave us a disaster, both economically and militarily.
I think whoever is president will get us out of Iraq within a year. But the difference in economic policies should be the main interest.Voters need to look at the published facts on the policies. You may be shocked.
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Memorial Day
[Read the article: Mutterings over the graves of soldiers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Keillor does a beautiful job of exposing a sensitivity to the horror of a war and does it sanely, and calmly. That penetrates so much better than most of the anti-war radical statements. Bush is not alone in culpability. Throw in Congress, all of them, or maybe throw them out is a better idea. It is their war, too. They voted for it, and voted the money to run it. All of them. I would never have given anyone with Bush's belief system such authority.
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Right-wing Left-wing cesspools
[Read the article: The right-wing Politico cesspool]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After reading a number of these letters, mostly from supporters of Greenwald's article, it occurs to me that each side of this argument uses the same sort of weird rationalizations for their conclusions. Politico is pro Republican, Salon is pro Democrat. I feel like I'm in a sports contest, listening to the cheerleaders.
Frankly, I have over time found bits of wisdom and sober analysis on both sides, left and right, and it is encouraging. But I am neither left nor right. I agree with the more lucid criticisms of Bush and his administration, and I voted for him twice. I don't know that I was wrong, since I didn't think much of either of his opponents either. I went for the lesser of "evils" and we still got it wrong.
At this moment I do not know for whom I will vote in November. "None of the above" would suit me. I may vote Libertarian in protest. I think this is the poorest selection we've had in my lifetime. My first vote was in 1952.
The media and the electorate were cheerleaders for Bush going to Iraq, and ALL the liberals in Congress voted for the war, except Obama. So this is America's war. Once it became obvious we screwed up everyone wants to blame everyone else. What a bunch of gutless wonders we all are. "Pogo, we've found the enemy; it's us."