Letters to the Editor
lexsali
Published Letters: 71 Editor's Choice: 9
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"Wishy-washy"?
[Read the article: What Hillary won't say about torture]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary's inability to just answer a question honestly stems from her having to consider unlimited factors: the political implications, the future consequences, the potential spin Republicans could give her answer, her past statements, her husband's past actions, and any number of other limiters whizzing through her mind when she needs to answer a question. With all of these considerations, is it any wonder that she can't be pinned down?
What I don't think she's foreseeing, is the potential backlash against this habit of hers. Presidential candidates have long been criticized for being 'wishy-washy' and 'flip-floppy'. But Hillary's squirminess is possibly the worst case yet, with her voting for the war yet being against it, being against torture yet not against the specific types of torture, being in favor of driver's licenses for illegals, yet she won't back Spitzer's plan.
I thought her advisors would be smart enough to help her avoid this kind of controversy, the kind that seems to be heading for the same blown-up status as SwiftBoatVeteransForTruth and Howard Dean's screech.
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@ Give it a rest
[Read the article: What Hillary won't say about torture]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Besides, Muslims are some of the last people to be crying about violent treatment of prisoners since they claim that god says it is ok (really the Qur'an demands corporeal punishment including amputation and crucifiction for numerous offenses)."
Ummm, it's not Muslims crying out about violent treatment of prisoners, it's ALL types of AMERICANS who are upset, Americans who are opposed to violent treatment of prisoners by fellow Americans who are supposed to be following Geneva conventions and supposedly have the higher moral ground and supposedly are not to sink to the levels of the terrorists.
I mean, that's exactly the argument here, that we must not do what the enemy does, because then, there is no difference between us and them.
And by the way, just to set some things straight in your crooked mind, our enemies are NOT the Muslims, but the TERRORISTS. There is a VERY large distinction there.
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Ellison's Islam
[Read the article: Only America-hating traitors believe in due process for journalists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Keith Ellison's Islam is the Islam of Louis Farrakhan, of the Nation of Islam. If any one of the ignorants had any clue what they were talking about, they would have known that Nation of Islam is an AMERICAN Islam, as American as apple pie, and has little to no connections to the Islam of the Middle East and Asia. Nation of Islam adheres to a political Islam, because that is the kind of Islam its followers needed in the middle of the civil rights movement in this country.
I wouldn't be surprised if these new accusations are motivated by not just Ellison's religion, but also his race. Nation of Islam followers are mostly African American.
Simply, ignorance breeds hate.
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One more point
[Read the article: Only America-hating traitors believe in due process for journalists]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I truly believe these so-called "patriotic" journalists and talk show hosts are cowards at heart. In Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, the Inquisition in Spain, McCarthy's "Communist" raids, and the witch hunts of early America, one strain was common: most of the accusers were fingering their neighbors for the crime of the moment out of pure fear for their own skins. And they all discovered the same thing: the more they pointed fingers, the less they themselves were scrutinized. The more names they mentioned, regardless of the truth, the less chance there was of their own names making the lists.
True Right-wingers today believe in this strategy. They believe the more fellow Americans they offer up to Bush and his machine, the more chance of them escaping with their own skins intact. And as an added bonus, there's also some profit involved! Can you think of a better deal?
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Pure bribery
[Read the article: Bush and Musharraf's grand illusion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]America has given Pakistan $11 billion since 2001. $11 billion. Where did it all go? Into the pockets of Musharraf and his military cronies. Less than 10% of that money has been spent on economic projects in the country. Bush and his administration surely must have known this. They wouldn't give away $11 billion and not keep track of how Musharraf was spending it.
What was this except blatant bribing on the part of the Bush administration to keep Musharraf as an 'ally' while completely ignoring the fact that he was a ruthless dictator? How does it make sense to claim to be 'spreading democracy' while bribing a dictator? Speaking from Islamabad yesterday on NPR, Fasi Zaka put it well: Pakistanis have had to pay dearly with their own democracy to ensure the continuation of American democracy.
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Are the people here deaf?
[Read the article: Bush and Musharraf's grand illusion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Or do you just not know how to read?
Given the chance to free and fair elections, Pakistanis have ALWAYS elected moderate, centrist leaders, NOT Islamist parties. Voter turnout in Pakistan is extremely low, due to the illiteracy rate, and most voters are from the cities, where the vast majority of people are NORMAL.
It's THIS kind of ignorance on the part of Americans that leads to botched-up foreign policies in Asia and the Middle East. The United States is not concerned with the state of democracy, or the economy, or the people of Pakistan, only with its own INTERESTS in the country. Do you think Pakistanis don't know this?
Musharraf has been kept in power by BUSH, even though he enjoys zero approval ratings. WHO do you think Pakistanis will blame for the current emergency crisis, the violation of basic human rights, the retraction of press freedoms, the injustices, occuring in Pakistan right now?
Hmmmm...let's see...how about blaming BUSH? How about blaming AMERICA? How do you expect them to blame anyone else? Bush kept this dictator in power, thinking ONLY about AMERICAN interests, and now PAKISTANIS have to suffer for AMERICAN interests at the hands of this dictator gone mad.
Let's see if you get it by now: WHY do people hate America? And by extension, Americans? Is it because everyone is jealous of us? NO! It's because we've long trampled on other nations' rights to maintain our rights and way of life.
This is history repeating itself.