Letters to the Editor
pancho
Published Letters: 152 Editor's Choice: 8
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Predictable
[Read the article: The real lessons of 9/11]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](~~~~)wrote "Gary you should have waited two more days
What's the point in blaming the Jews if you don't wait for Rosh Hashana? Did you forget your calendar again?"
So predictable. Gary wrote that any criticism of Israel no matter how mild is slapped down by charges of anti-semitism. Sure enough (nnnn) in the very first letter complies.
It reminds me of the recent report on how conservatives are hard wired to be hard headed. Sure enough the conservative response for to denounce the research as biased without any evidence of such. Gold help us!
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Yeah right
[Read the article: Reid to Bush on Olson: Don't even try]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My Prediction
Bush nominates Olsen. Reid hums and hahs. Olsen is confirmed. Reid says there was nothing he could do because he didn't have 60 votes in the Senate or a spine and anyway its not nice to block the Presidents wishes.
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Single Payer Blues
[Read the article: Hillary Clinton's healthcare 2.0]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary got clobered by the Sickness Industry and she learned her lesson. The lesson she learned was to craft a healthcare package that would put more money in the pocket of the Sickness Industry and thus immunize her from their attacks. Unfortunately we all suffer. The only logical healthcare plan is a single payer plan. By the way I admire Kucinich for his plan. However, I think Edwards also has a good plan because his would also get us to single payer in a stealthy way. I think his actually has the best chance of succeeding.
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False Assumptions
[Read the article: Why Bush won't attack Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are some false assumptions that should be laid to rest.
1) Iran wants the bomb
There is no evidence that Iran is anywhere near having a bomb or even wants a bomb
2) Iran is a threat
Iran has never attacked a neighbor in modern times (unlike say nuclear Israel - Mr. Sugarman) and so represents little threat
3) Iran can easily be defeated
Iran has three times the population of Iraq, mountainous terrain and is more homogenous and better armed than prewar Iraq.
I think there is a strong probability that Bush will attack Iran. Once that happens all hell will be unleashed. Iran will block the gulf and oil will go to $200 a barrel. US troops in Iraq will be sitting ducks as the Shia (including the police and army we have been training for 4 years turn their guns on us). The Sunni (93% of whom want to kill Americans already) will see their opportunity and join in. The end result will make Vietnam look like a pleasant stroll in the park. Three years from now I can hear Condi saying from her cell "Well nobody could have predicted....."
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familiar
[Read the article: The war president "at peace" with himself]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I worked in the corporate world for years and I met many a person like Bush. Stupid, vain, ignorant, incompetent but connected and of course always a white Anglo male. They get promoted and always fuck up, blame it on competent underlings and got promoted again. This is why the US economy is a shell. We are all fucked.
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Another dark truth
[Read the article: The dark truth about Blackwater]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Possibly the most damaging outcome of the recent incident with Blackwater was the fact that it exposed the Iraqi Government as a meek puppet of the US. Iraq orders Blackwater out of Iran and 5 days later they are back at work. Make no mistake this fact has not been lost on the average Iraqi citizen. The credibility of the Iraqi Government has been shot to hell.
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And if pigs could fly
[Read the article: Is a new conservatism possible?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, if pigs had wings their balls would not drag along the ground. However, pigs are more likely to evolve wings than Conservatives are likely to morph into people holding moderate, respectable views. At the heart of American Conservatism is an Authoritarian mindset. In short it is a mental illness. Gary, unless you can get all these 25 percenters into therapy, they are not going to change. What we need to do is remove them from power and ensure that they never get their grubby little hands on it again.
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Not left or right
[Read the article: Is a new conservatism possible?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The essential thing to understand about the "Conservatives" in the US is that the true believers are suffering from an "Authoritarian mindset" disorder. John Dean has written an incredible book about this and I recommend it to all. An Authoritarian in the US is a "Conservative" or a Republican. However, during the days of the Soviet Union, Authoritarians would have been members of the Communist Party. It isn't really left or right (in a political sense) but rather an unhealthy need to control their surroundings that is at the heart of this disorder. People who have a more healthy mental state demonstrated by an open mind tend to be "Liberals" in the US. In the old USSR however people with this mindset would have been opponents of the Communist regime. It was no accident that during the last days of the Soviet Union, die hard Communists were routinely referred to as "Conservatives".
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To bad he's not ... huh???
[Read the article: Bush and Musharraf's grand illusion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nulla, what have you been smoking and can I have some? On second thoughts, better not. Chavez is a democratically elected leader. In fact he has more legitimacy than the election stealing, Diebold tweaking, ballot stuffing crooks in the Whitehouse.
Also as Cole points out most Pakistanis are moderate and would vote secular if given the choice. Of course years of brutality and dictatorship will devastate the secularists and radicalize the populous at which point the NeoCons will say "we told you so, those people just can't be trusted"
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No Class
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Running up the score against an opponent the way the Pats did last night does not reflect well on their character. When you are up by 42-10 why the need to humilate the other side? I don't care how well they play the game - they have no class. Karma anyone?????