Letters to the Editor
MereMortal
Published Letters: 151 Editor's Choice: 19
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more like FALSE-flag waiving
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I really like Gary Kamiya, no I really do, but this is the 2nd week running where he has either bought hook line and sinker the 'Official' narrative of how 9/11 was carried out [and by who]
There is overwhelming evidence of at the very least Bush administration complicity with allowing 9/11 to happen and then covering that up, or at worst having his true but hidden backers actually instigate it. It's no use starting some stupid flame war about this, one of the true patriots who seriously doubts the official story and has signed up to 911patriots.com is the highly distinguished winner of the National Medal of Science Lynn Margulis.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/university_massachusetts_prof_calls_for_new_911_investigation.htm
Salon could do worse than for example conducting an interview with her, but just like kamiya says that questioning 9/11 (from the point of view of 'chicken home to roost' is nuclear for the Democrats) so it appears that it's also nuclear for Salon, who like to portray themselves as fearless in their quest for the truth. Really, you won't look good when the real history is written, if want to be among the counted, you have to stand up when it counts.
Having said that, I always find Kamiya highly engaging and he's of course right that real patriotism and stupid knee-jerk patriotism are not the same thing at all and that you have too much of the latter and are not allowed to voice enough of the former.
In my view the whole point of 9/11 was to allow the US to play victim and so was enabled to suddenly 'legitimately' go on a war rampage using plans for Afghansitan (at first and then Iraq) that were begun before 9/11, so it's no surprise therefore that treating 9/11 as a sacred myth is mana from heaven for the republicans, they'd be crazy not to use this incendiary (but equally wrong) footage of Wright.
What's beyond belief to me is that he is being pilloried for saying something, which in my view is wrong, by another set of people who are intentionally covering up the truth.
US politics is an absurd hall of mirrors where you can be denounced for indulging in a mistaken (but plausible) theory about a major atrocity by people who are peddling a catastrphically brazen falsehood themselves, and that this must not be pointed out.
You deserve McCain, you really do. until you wake the F*** up.
Even Orwell would balk at the duplcity at the heart of US public and political life.
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the horror, the horror
[Read the article: The Iran boogeyman is back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When I look at the sorry cast of the entire 2nd Bush 43 admministration and how they are trying to escape a single shred of responsibility for the world they have created, is it remotely surprising that they use the handsome and heroic 'Petraeus' to give them an 'Iran' fig leaf as an explanation for their troubles?
It's surely beyond obvious that these people had a plan, a nefarious one, it blew up in their and our faces and now they are saying "Iran is to blame". Of course GK is right to say that this is nonsense, but the absence of an intelligently mediated debate in your official media (which is where people get their knowledge) and the plethora of right-wing aggressive propaganda that the average US citizen is subjected means that these disasters are self-perpetuating.
Treat the people like ignorant dirt, demonise the arabs and the people will back any anti-arab adventure, and with it will go down the republic.
We live in a world where as far back as the 1700s Newton intuited gravity, at other times Bach, Mozart and Beethoven revolutionised Western music, Einstein posited a theory of special relativity and Crick and watson discovered the structure of DNA, so we have a base of comparison about what the best and smartest of human endeavours look like, Bush and co have shown us the very worst example of naked dishonesty, deceit, lying and how by and large society can collude with it, it's a very sorry spectacle, notice how Obama speaks in vague riddles so that the republican noise machine can't takes his words and use them to destroy him. How McCain running on the same disgusting party ticket as Bush isn't even laughed out of town is beyond mysterious.
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speaking for myself
[Read the article: Writing is in my blood, but how do I know if I'm any good?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]whether Cary exactly answered the question (i.e he didn't go into how to get feedback from objective peers, but rather emphasized the real importance of self-expression), I found his answer, encouraging, beautiful and true.
I shall be printing it and keeping it for when I feel discouraged.
2 thing I would say about doing anything where you have to be the motivated self-starter (wether you are a writer, painter, musician or building a boat) is
a) always commit to taking action in the real world, rather than getting into obsessive thoughts, i.e commit to paper rather than thinking about comitting to paper. You need feedback from your action to learn, and not feedback from your thoughts, which are largely illusory (delusional even). Make sure you have growing and visible evidence of your continuing efforts
b) be zen about what you do, detached and clear honesty rather than the lure of easy self-deceit will ensure that when you practice you're reinforcing something that is worth having - since practice does not make perfect but rather permanent.