Letters to the Editor
rodian
Published Letters: 134 Editor's Choice: 9
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hypocrites
[Read the article: Do we need population control?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To all of the fat comfy hypocrites full of paeons about how overconsumption, not population, is the problem: get out of the country. Really. Live the life you dream about. There are all kinds of places you can move to where you can live on subsistence agriculture and sleep in a mud hut.
Yes, sure, we can pack ourselves in like sardines if we all decide to live in fifty square foot sleeping cubicles and live on beans and rice. Hurray! Bloody stupidest solution I ever heard of. Again, if you like this idea, go live the dream. Good riddance.
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speaking of unregulated
[Read the article: What to do about WaMu?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course any sane person realizes that when you let kids loose in the candy store, it's going to get messy. Supervision is in order. It's quite appropriate, then, to focus so much attention on the little boys in pinstripes and their enablers.
But what about the medical industry? They too have been running amok, with profit and nothing but profit as the ultimate arbiter of all that is good and true. HMO's raping millions. Doctors making millions. Shameful. And just as perilous as the financial industry, except that lives, not just homes, are at stake.
I know, nobody like to point fingers. But I do. I blame the boomers. The greatest generation begat the most irresponsible and self-centered consumption-driven generation in our nation's history. And now we are paying the price. Their social safety nets are going to fly apart next. And you know what? I feel the same way about that as I do about people living below sea-level in New Orleans. It's not my problem. Don't expect any sympathy from me for being stupid.
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what's the problem?
[Read the article: Palin's Yahoo e-mail account hacked]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," Rick Davis, McCain-Palin campaign manager said in a statement.
All you have to do is reverse the roles, and then it's called the Patriot Act. And while we're at it, let's grant the telecoms immunity for their warrantless eavesdropping.
And Sarah Palin can ignore subpoenas. She can evade her responsibility to make her official correspondence available to the public. And then her minions have the nerve to stand on principle and opine on the rule of law.
If this is what the rule of law has come to, pretty soon there will be no law at all.
The only decent thing that Sarah Palin can do at this juncture is redact her candidacy.
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it's democratic
[Read the article: Is 2008 a sui generis election?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote. Those rights are spelled out in the Bill of Rights and in our California Constitution. Voters and politicians alike would do well to take a look at the rights we each hold, which must never be chipped away by the whim of the majority."
The beginning of this quote if often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, which is incorrect. James Bovard said this in the Washington Times in 1992.
However, our founding fathers were well aware of the perils of direct democracy, and therefor established this country as a republic, not a direct democracy. James Madison, the acknowledged father of the constitution had this to say:
"... there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."
These people accurately recognized the perils of direct democracy, and therefore established constitutional and organizational limits to the power of government. Today, those limitations are being run over roughshod. The rule of law is applied capriciously, and the executive branch continues to consolidate power, hard working Americans are expected to bail out the rich and powerful. This is hailed as "democracy", but this kind of democracy is a sham, a cover up, an insolent assault on liberty and on the very foundation of our republic.
America needs a civics lesson. Americans need to learn about and understand the foundational principals which form the bedrock of our nation. If they do not, if the foundation continues to crumble, then the United States will ultimately face the consequences of attempting to establish a ruling elite with little or no concern for the lives of millions. It's happened before, and it would be the utmost arrogance to think it could never happen again.
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Where is Paulson's money?
[Read the article: The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd like to know how much money Paulson, Bernanke, Bush, Cheney, and every other stooge involved in drafting the solution to this problem have made or lost during this entire debacle. Where do these men keep their money safe? Have their assets been threatened? Are there any conflicts of interest here? What level of public disclosure is required of officials who are responsible for running the Fed and the Treasury? I would hope a great deal.