Letters to the Editor
Guitar girl
Published Letters: 8 Editor's Choice: 2
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Cool rockin daddy from the USA
[Read the article: The top 10 liberal anthems of all time!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How distressing that National Review's 50 top "conservative" rock songs failed to include that super-patriotic anthem "Born in the USA," with it's stirring red-white-and-blue opening verse--"Born down in a dead man's town/The first kick I took was when I hit the ground/End up like a dog that's been beat too much?Til you spend half your life just coverin up," and it's light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel middle verse, "Had a brother at Khe Sanh/Fightin the north and the Viet Cong/They're still there/He's all gone now." Yes sirree, just as George Will and the Great Communicator observed back in '84, Republican virtues and values are abundantly expressed in the all-American songs of that guy from New Jersey. For the good folks over at the National Review, I guess Bruce's lyrics are just too easy to read literally and be mistaken for a complaint about working class people being screwed by cynical, manipulative political elites.
I also notice that NR left out another obvious choice. It is gratifying that they did pick up on the heartwarmingly pro-big business patriotic lyrics of "Who'll Stop the Rain." But how could they have let slip by Creedence's other great conservative anthem, "Fortunate Son"?
I guess it's me who's too literal minded in parsing the lyrics of songs that, with a more sophisticated reading, voice a clear and consistent conservative message.
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Miranda and Gordon
[Read the article: Sympathy for the she-devil]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Funny--Rebecca Traister's analysis of Miranda Priestly reminded me of my own feelings about Gordon Gekko, the ruthless capitalist in "Wall Street." I remember thinking throughout the movie that Gordon Gekko knew exactly who he was and what he wanted. By contrast, the character played by Charlie Sheen demonstrated a whiney, sophomoric "who am I?" ambivalence, set in relief by the caricature of saintly proletarian paternal virtue played by Martin Sheen.
It all seemed wonderfully Nietzschean--despite the lesson the movie's moralizing end seemed to invite. Gekko's unsentimental pursuit of what he wanted exemplified a realist's clarity and a healthy consciousness of purpose, while the moralizing of Martin Sheen's character seemed exactly what Nietzsche had mind in denouncing the "slave" mentality that Christianity imposed on Western civilization. Perhaps despite itself, "Wall Street" depicted in Gordon Gekko a Homeric aristeia--a contest among the best--that ultimately made a meaningful life--constructed on its own terms--and, with that, real moral choice possible. Meanwhile, the characters played by the Sheens demonstrated a Happy Meal solidarity that won an empty triumph over Gekko's supposedly unprincipled pursuit of individual excellence and that made everyone feel virtuous together in collective weakness.
I haven't seen "Prada," but (perhaps I'm wrong) I hear in Ms. Traister's review some of the same themes. And I thoroughly agree with what I take to be her implication that the world needs more Miranda's.
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Bugliosi's last word ain't last
[Read the article: Bugliosi vs. "Brothers"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm convinced that we'll never get to the bottom of this until they open the X-Files. I voted for Bush three times in 2000 and twice in 04 on his promise that he would do exactly that, but did he do it? Noooooooooooooo. Clinton wouldn't do it either, obviously because it would have exposed CIA-alien connections to Oswald at the airstrip in Mena, Arkansas. Don't get me started on Reagan and his subterranean intrigues with the Medes on behalf of the Contras, as described in Ezekiel 38. I guess we'll have to wait until 2038, when the Red Heifer is ready to sacrifice in the restored Jerusalem temple and the Warren Commission files are opened.
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The Washington-based media get it consistently wrong all the time?
[Read the article: Chris Matthews gets it wrong -- again]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, gee, David, maybe it's just you. Me, I'm still waiting for the FBI to open the X-Files--then we'll know what's really going on.
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Newt just don't git the credit he deserves
[Read the article: Newt's novel ideas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't let his freshman earnestness and big "ideas" fool you, as Mr. Shapiro evidently was. Newt is a spectacularly gifted writer of comedy. (In all characteristic modesty, he would deny this, of course, and insist that he's a "historian.")
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Broder could just be senile, but...
[Read the article: The remaining GOP base -- the 30%'ers and the Broder/Ignatius pundit]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Broder showed the same deep insight during the Vietnam War period, toeing the LBJ line that "there's light at the end of the tunnel" and then the Nixon line of "peace with honor." How he can be considered the "dean" of the Washington press corps given the eternal vapidity of his columns and his supine critical stance is totally beyond me. But wait!--that's the point--he typifies the entire group, but just done it a lot longer.
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Nothing like firsthand experience
[Read the article: I can't believe it's not torture, continued]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If he's "not familiar" with waterboarding and so can't determine whether it's torture or not, perhaps he should volunteer to try it out on himself. Then perhaps he'd have enough evidence to make a judicious and objective determination.
PS: I do believe I spotted you, Ms. Walsh, at the Springsteen concert in Oakland last Friday--about four rows deep and slightly stage left. Like all Bruce fans, you seem to know all of the words. "Til these badlands start treating us good," as the song goes.
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Thank you, Rebecca Traister
[Read the article: The witch ain't dead, and Chris Matthews is a ding-dong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You write pieces for Salon that are consistently thoughtful and always worth reading. But I think this is your best. Thank you thank you.