Letters to the Editor
masaccio
Published Letters: 237 Editor's Choice: 16
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Don't Disrespect Dean
[Read the article: Mission to be decided]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why does Joe Conason attack Howard Dean for his statement, which he paraphrases as "suggesting that the war "cannot be won" by our troops". The statement is quite clearly correct. The administration has no goal in Iraq, so we cannot "win" our way to that goal. The administration has never sent enough troops to "win", and now it is too late: the country would rebel if we sent the hundreds of thousands of troops it would take to subdue the insurgency.
This constant bashing of democrats who take leadership on the accepted goal of getting our people out of harm's way plays into the hands of the republicans, who not only play the verse: "Dean is a loon" on their mighty noise machine, but add a chorus: Even that liberal toad Conason agrees.
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Victory!
[Read the article: The year in politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It must be all this victory we have everywhere we look that makes me feel so confident about the future. When do we win the final victory so we know that the war(s) are over and we can go back to being just everyday Americans, with liberty and stuff?
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Torture
[Read the article: By the way, the president has some truth issues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When the President signed the bill containing the McCain Amendment on torture, he issued a signing statement, which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/7twvx
The key part is this:
"The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks."
So, who says we have laws about torture?
Here is a discussion of this atrocity on Balkinization:
http://tinyurl.com/akgba
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Why do we need lobbyists anyway?
[Read the article: The reform charade]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone with web access can learn about any issue. Check the comments section on many blogs, and you will see that people gather enough information to have a reasonable position on most anything. Yesterday, I was wondering about the rate of graduation from high school in Tennessee, and a couple of clicks later, I found a site with an answer and an explanation of how it was calculated.
I suggest that any meeting of any kind with a registered lobbyist be attended by a staffer whose job it is to take notes and post them to the web perhaps in a blog. If the purpose was to inform the congressperson of some fact, this will allow those who disagree with the factual statement to post different, perhaps better, information. If the purpose was to convey the position of an entity, other people can state their positions. If there was some other purpose, people can point that out, and take it into account when voting.
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The pleasure of spending
[Read the article: I spend too little and save too much]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My wife and I are savers, too. For years, our car was parked outdoors, so we had to deal with rain, sleet, icing, and all those problems. Over 15 years ago, we bought a house with a garage and and a garage door opener. Even now, after all those years, I take tremendous pleasure in that door opener: it means I can get out of the car and unload the groceries without getting drenched, that my walk with the groceries is shorter, and that my car is protected from icing and snow.
With clothes, I buy work stuff, and occasionally a really nice sweater. I have one that my wife gave me that I just love, that everytime I wear it, I notice that I look good and it makes me feel good. After 6 years, it is fraying, and I am looking for a replacement that will give me the same feelings.
The trick is to buy things that give you that kind of pleasure, and not waste money on things that don't.
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Handles
[Read the article: Letters to the Editor update]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read a number of blogs, and post to several of them. I always use my handle, masaccio (the 14th century Italian artist, regarded as one of the first of the renaissance painters and fresco artists). I do not necessarily want my actual name showing up in connection with that handle (though I do give my real e-mail address in connection with it where required).
There is a body of work on the web under my handle, and I will keep using it. I think I am not alone in this approach to the web. Perhaps you should re-consider the rule about handles.
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Ex Post Facto reasoning
[Read the article: Gonzales: I didn't mean what I said when I said what I said]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I could tell from the structure of the argument that the AUMF argument was a lawyer's argument, constructed after the fact to explain a client's conduct.
That is not the role of the Attorney General. His client is not the President. His client is the nation. He is every bit the disaster we all predicted.
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Father's duties as wedge issue
[Read the article: Roe for men?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The support obligations of fathers are actually an argument for abortion rights and sex education. Families with boys should realize that if they force girls to bear unwanted children through anti-abortion laws, they are condemning their boys to a lifetime of support obligations. They cannot have it both ways: if they really believe that the blastocyst is a child, then they have to be ready to force their boys to stand up to fatherhood, a lifetime of duties, probably without the pleasures of parenting.
On the other hand, with good sex education and freely available contraception, including Plan B, the problems will be fewer, and we can leave the punishment to the individual conscience.
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More on the possibility it was Armitage
[Read the article: Did Bradlee spill the beans on Plame source?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For those interested in this possibility, check this blog:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/03/my_new_and_impr.html#more
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Elect Nick Lampson
[Read the article: What happens next? A short FAQ about DeLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Progressives should support Lampson, who got in the race when it looked tough. ActBlue has a location, and several progressive bloggers have click-throughs for Lampson. Beats contributing to the DCCC.