Letters to the Editor
sysprog
Published Letters: 1591 Editor's Choice: 2
-
Kaus loved Edsall 5 years ago (and still does)
[Read the article: A beautiful mosaic of anti-blogger hatred]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and not because of Edsall's deadpan sense of humor
slate.com/id/2066517
By Mickey KausUpdated Monday, June 10, 2002, at 5:52 AM ET
It's odd to see the estimable Thomas B. Edsall of WaPo -- a fellow Dem who likes to bash Dems . . .
http://slate.com/id/2165363
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Thomas Edsall, one of the subtlest and best-informed political reporters around -- and a Democrat allergic to bogus Dem optimism -- has signed on to run HuffPo's political coverage. This should be interesting. My guess is that Edsall's politics are one or two giant steps to the right of the politics of HuffPo's readers -- who are not allergic to bogus Dem optimism.
- - Mickey KausMatthew Yglesias on Kaus&Co.: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/05/the_problematics_of_punditry.php
"Dems who bash Dems" like to think of a bias in that direction as an act of bold truth telling, the fact is that the balance of power is on the other side; praising the courage of someone with the guts to knock Harry Reid in these circumstances is like hailing someone who fires on unarmed demonstrators for speaking truth to power.
- - Matthew YglesiasThe fact that Kaus and Edsall like to bash Dems is not, of course, a factor in whether or not they're bad journalists. (And Edsall has proven himself a much better journalist than Kaus.) I just question their honesty in calling themselves "Dems". They're old-fashioned country club Republicans.
-
ABC TV covered some of these issues in January 2005
[Read the article: PBS's "Frontline: Spying on the Home Front"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=429308
What was especially notable in the ABC News story was the privatization of surveillance. Private agencies originally collected and sold information to other private companies, for marketing and for credit-checking. Then the data collection companies found new customers, at government agencies.
The surveillance-industrial complex, like the military-industrial complex, employs sophisticated sales and marketing techniques. The military-industrial complex convinces Congress(es) and Administration(s) to fund expensive weapons systems of questionable utility. The surveillance-industrial complex has the same kind of sales and marketing, to hype data collection and data analysis products and programs of questionable utility. (We're breaking eggs -- losing our civil liberties -- without gaining omelettes.)
The private contractors are able to collect information in ways that government agencies couldn't do themselves -- not legally, anyway.
The full extent of the privatization of surveillance is unknown, but it's surely far greater than what was mentioned in the ABC TV story.
-
Fred Thompson on "FOX News Sunday" two months ago
[Read the article: What Fred Thompson means by the "rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258222,00.html
FOX
We Report.
You Decide.
Sunday, March 11, 2007The following is a partial transcript of the March 11, 2007, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace":
WALLACE: You are on the steering committee of the Scooter Libby Defense Fund.
THOMPSON: That's right.
WALLACE: And you helped raise millions of dollars for his extraordinary legal expenses. Would President Thompson — you like the sound of that probably. Would President Thompson pardon Libby now or would you wait until all of his legal appeals are exhausted?
THOMPSON: I'd do it now.
WALLACE: Because?
THOMPSON: I'd do it now. This is a trial that never would have been brought in any other part of the world. This is a miscarriage of justice. One man and his wife and 14-year-old and 10-year-old children are bearing the brunt . . .
- - "FOX News Sunday"
To support Scooter Libby, go to
http://scooterlibby.com/committee/?id=13
and click on "Donate". -
Endgame? Perfect Storm? Rightists and Leftists say yes.
[Read the article: What Fred Thompson means by the "rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Allahpundit at Malkin's blog agrees with Wheatcroft at the Guardian.
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/05/10/majority-of-iraqi-mps-endorse-bill-demanding-timetable-for-us-withdrawalMajority of Iraqi MPs endorse bill demanding timetable for U.S. withdrawal
posted at 10:57 am on May 10, 2007 by Allahpundit
Blair’s gone, centrist Republicans are in revolt, the Iraqi parliament’s planning to take a little summer vay-cay while U.S. troops are busy dodging IEDs, and now this. It’s a perfect storm. I think it’s safe to say we’re at endgame.http://guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2077320,00.html
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Friday May 11, 2007The Guardian
. . . to visit the US at present, as I have done, is to experience an overwhelming sensation of drastic impending change . . .
. . . All the readings on the barometer and the wind gauge say the same thing. The perfect storm is gathering.Geoffrey Wheatcroft is the author of "Yo, Blair!"
http://amazon.co.uk/Yo-Blair-Blairs-Disastrous-Premiership/dp/product-description/1842752065And here's another Bush follower.
http://captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/009931.phpThe lack of energy from the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has added what might be a final straw to Republican discontent about the progress of the war.
And here's another "Leftist".
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/wolcott/2007/05/tom_watson_and_.html. . . the flags are beginning to snap on the flagpoles, and karma is about to pay a nasty housecall . . . "[N]eocons are dangling all around us," Wheatcroft writes. Dangling and squirming.
-
We'll never again see great leadership like that of Bob Dole!
[Read the article: PBS's "Frontline: Spying on the Home Front"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No, of course I don't believe that absurd headline, above.
Doesn't anybody remember April, 1995? Let me refresh your memories. Religious fanatics bombed a federal office building in Oklahoma City. People in America were shocked and saddened and angered. President Clinton proposed legislation (not secret illegal rule changes) to make it easier for the federal government to conduct domestic surveillance. Polls showed that the proposals had popular support. Nevertheless, Bob Dole said whoa, slow down, lets see whether increasing the federal government's police powers is both useful and necessary.
Those who are saying that it's no use, give up, politicians are skunks, the republic is sunk -- are saying that it's utterly romantic and foolish to even hope for a few Senators and U.S. Reps to start saying the kinds of things that Bob Dole said.
That kind of defeatism and despair is unwarranted.
As a matter of fact, in my crazy romantic foolish moments, I even dare to dream that this country may, some day, have leadership better than that of Bob Dole.
C'mon, that's not SO crazy.