Letters to the Editor
masaccio
Published Letters: 237 Editor's Choice: 16
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No anonymity
[Read the article: Who are you, Anonymous?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I always post under the name below, whether here, on my regular blog sites, on the WaPo site, or on the occasional right-wing blog that shows up on the Blog Report. There is a steady stream of comments, and I think it is a body of work that is coherent. People who recognize this name have a rough idea of my public persona that comes through despite the semi-anonymity of the screen name.
Anonymous posting is antithetical to coherence. These comments cannot be placed in context, and exist as distractions whether they are on point or not, because of that lack of context.
Ban them. Make people on this site identify themselves at least as much as I have.
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Brookings is just not working
[Read the article: The really smart, serious, credible Iraq experts O'Hanlon and Pollack]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I saw a Brookings Institute scholar at the Wake Up America tour that David Walker, Comptroller of the Currency, is running. Her presentation was brief, and focussed on health care, but she couldn't bring herself to discuss single payer as a solution, even though theoretically she represented the "left", as compared with the Heritage foundation.
They asked for comments on the show, so I pointed out that Brookings is centrist at best, and asked why they didn't ask someone from the Economic Policy Institute on to balance out just a bit.
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Pop Psych
[Read the article: War, chaos and Bush's faith]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I used to think it was an interesting parlor game, guessing why the president acts as he does. It's past that. His failures are so deep and broad that the why doesn't matter.
The only interesting questions are
a) what do we do now?
b) why are there so many people who think the results are just fine?
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Vampirolog
[Read the article: War, chaos and Bush's faith]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gee, if I had read what you wrote, I could have just written: What Vampirolog said.
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Here's a good question
[Read the article: Alberto Gonzales' second-biggest fan]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why is it that only the president's opinion matters? Don't the rest of us deserve an attorney general we can respect even if we disagree?
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Other Evidence
[Read the article: There was no "coverup"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The report in the paper said that there was no sign of enemy fire anywhere in the vicinity. What firefight?
This is clearly enough information to require a murder investigation. The examining physicians said so, but they were shut down by brass. Why?
All of this is in the AP report, which is linked in my signature.
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Lieberman lucks out
[Read the article: Joe Lieberman, from his indie perch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a typical DC interview, with open-ended questions that allow Lieberman to say whatever he wants to say, and then on to the next point.
Yesterday I heard BBC people interview several Bush generals, who spouted the administration line. Each was carefully asked detailed questions that either forced the general to explain an answer with facts, or challenged an unclear response with details the interviewer knew, forcing a more responsive answer. At the end, it was clear that these generals were rolled by the administration.
Then there was a similar interview with one of the dissident generals, by a different person who had heard the first interview. The dissident said that the first three were not candid. He was challenged, and forced to give more nuanced versions detailing what he saw or heard, and what he was told, and forcing him back from more extreme positions.
I do wish the British interviewers, one of whom had a beautiful accent (Irish? Scottish?), could be turned loose on Lieberman.
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Listen to Iraqis
[Read the article: Bush's non-exit exit strategy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please go look at some statements from Iraqis at the site on my signature. They are heart-rending. We did this. We are responsible.
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There is more consensus than Scherer realizes
[Read the article: Cheerful boos for Hillary]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Like many members of the netroots, I realize that I cannot make a difference at the presidential level. They raise millions from rich people and corporations. My thousands will not draw any recognition, and are wasted on them.
I can make a difference in congressional races. Vic Wulsin in OH-2 is a perfect example. I can give enough to make a small difference in her race against a noxious republican, Jean Schmidt.
We cannot elect a progressive president. The most we can hope for is one less radical than the incumbent, one that won't veto every progressive bill we can pass. But, if we keep pouring large amounts of effort into selected Congressional races, and some Senate races in smaller states, eventually we can turn things around.
This, I think, is the consensus on Firedoglake, and other sites as well. Check out a Blue America session on the site and see it in action.
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My broker
[Read the article: A random mob on Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Told me that the price drop in some pipe-line equities I own was caused by options transactions associated with hedge transactions in the industry. He says it is a technical thing that will blow over. I understood it when he told me, but I don't seem to be able to repeat it the next day.
My take-away was that the industry is healthy, but financial big-feet are stomping on me and my paltry holdings. So it goes.
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If we elect a democratic President
[Read the article: The brutal, uncivilized Libyans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Will s/he disclose the practices of the current administration? Somehow, I think not. What a bunch of cowards we are.
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Another Republican President?
[Read the article: If you think they hate us now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Paris is looking pretty good, and I have family in England....
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The NY Times has a better explanation
[Read the article: Postpone the rise of the machines]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are two articles in the New York Times business section yesterday which provide a much more likely analysis. One, by Floyd Norris and Eric Dash, suggests that when the subprime market imploded, lenders and investors demanded returns. Since the CDOs couldn't be sold, the funds sold buy-out securities, which tightened credit in that area. Gretchen Morgenson agreed in a separate article which appears to be behind the TimesSelect wall.
This is a double whammy. So, to meet obligations, the big boys just sold everything they could, which includes stocks, where profit-taking made sense.
The rest of us are trashed when the elephants stampede.
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Executive Privilege post Bush?
[Read the article: We'll go no more a-Rove-ing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Blumenthal says that Rove will be protected by a claim of executive privilege even after Bush leaves office. What is the basis for that statement? As far as I know, the executive privilege belongs to the office, not the person, so the next president can refuse to assert it, and Rove will be forced to answer questions.