Letters to the Editor
masaccio
Published Letters: 237 Editor's Choice: 16
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Apartments
[Read the article: How I misspent my European vacation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For those who can stay longer, try house exchanges. My friends from Seattle traded their beautiful house for a home in Provence and a stay in Paris.
The best part of Rick Steves' books is the freedom they give you. The hotels and restaurants aren't that expensive, and he shows you that there are plenty of average places that you can enjoy without fear. My experience of eating at recommended restaurants is no better than my experience at eating in my neighborhood.
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No inconsistency
[Read the article: Can Obama do more than "nudge"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The idea of using government to nudge people in the right direction is not inconsistent with using the larger tools available to government at the macro level. The nudge hypothesis, best illustrated by the X in the bowl of the urinal, is a micro fix. We make participation in 401K plans the default position, requiring the worker to opt out. We make it harder to get at money put away for retirement. Over the long haul, this kind of change induces broader change.
But the nudge idea doesn't stop the necessary increases in taxation, changes in the structure of taxes, and heavy increases in regulation of corporate greed and manipulation and financial speculation that are necessary to introduce some modicum of redistribution of wealth and income and restore the possibility of a vibrant middle class.
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Try Firedoglake
[Read the article: Another pretty face of a generation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You want to see some real women writers, women who created their own space? Try Firedoglake.com, and enjoy.
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Read Emptywheel
[Read the article: Why not let Clinton keep the four Michigan delegates?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Emptywheel on Firedoglake is a Michigan blogger, who has been following the debacle in Michigan since last year. Her take is on the site. The comments include several activists from Michigan, and their views are informed and interesting.
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authoritative discussions
[Read the article: Iraq, as described by its women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For excellent discussions of conditions in Iraq, see
http://gorillasguides.com/
The following site is run by McClatchy employees in Iraq:
http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/
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Kohlman is the guy who fired Brownback
[Read the article: "It's an inquisition, not a trial"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From an story about this:
"The chief judge of the military commissions trying "war on terror" detainees denied Monday that he had replaced a military judge because of decisions he had made in the case of a Canadian detainee.
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He said he asked the army late last year to extend Brownback in active duty for another year, but in February the army decided against it, which meant that Brownback would return to retired status on June 29."
Brownback had volunteered to stay on to complete rulings on existing matters, or even longer as needed.
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Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori
[Read the article: The real consequences when America is at war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wilfred Owens' Poem from WWI:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
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Accountability?
[Read the article: Exposing Bush's historic abuse of power]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Silly citizen, accountability is for the little people, not for us serious Beltway types.
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Horse race, horse race
[Read the article: Rove map shows Obama beating McCain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]boring
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No claim of executive privilege
[Read the article: House panel votes to hold Rove in contempt]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rove has not claimed he is protected by executive, as Emptywheel has said and documented.
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Food?
[Read the article: The other marathon: Getting around Beijing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have to agree that the street food in China is usually just excellent. I got this little box of sausages and potato puffs in a hottish sause, and except for the problem with the box itself, it was fabulous.
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We are all amateurs at something
[Read the article: The beast]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have a profession that brings in enough money for me to carry on my amateur singing career. I won't ever be a soloist in an opera, but I have given thousands of hours to this, and spent tons of money learning to be a competent choral singer.
Opera doesn't happen if guys like me don't show up to sing and act in the chorus. Symphony orchestras can't perform the Messiah or Beethoven's Ninth if guys like me don't show up to sing.
I know the difference between me and the professionals. They have a brilliant natural gift, and they have put in countless hours burnishing that gift. I don't have the gift at that level, but I, too, have put in countless hours burnishing the gift I have. And many more encouraging kids in my church choir to work at it.
Jennifer, what have you given back to gymnastics?
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US olympians
[Read the article: Memo to NBC gymnastics commentators: Shut up!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Liukin, like so many of our USA team, isn't a native born citizen, but a naturalized citizen. The roster of our naturalized Olympians is long and deep. So, I guess it's our Russian against their underage kid.
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One of the officers on this case pled the equivalent of the Fifth
[Read the article: American credibility on trial]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]On my sig is a link to a post discussing the fact that "Lt. Colonel Diane M. Zierhoffer, a US Army psychologist who ordered the illegal torture of a juvenile, Mohammad Jawad, invoked her right not to incriminate herself and refused to testify in the case of Mohammad Jawad." In that link are links to others following this case, and comments digging into this refusal and its implications for the show trial.
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The speech is just canned republican dogfood, past its expiration
[Read the article: McCain's big running-mate rollout]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It was written even before they knew who the nominee would be. Link on my name.