Letters to the Editor
jebldmm
Published Letters: 933 Editor's Choice: 164
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Kind of amazing, isn't it ?
[Read the article: Kudos to Bill Donohue -- really!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that a particular sect of theistic believers, whose founder said that the second most important commandment after "Love thy God" was "Love thy Neighbor", should so arrogantly defy the commandment that defines the prime characteristic of that founder... and supposedly... of that faith? If those of us who believe in a God that is loving and forgiving, were to follow those two simple commandments, there would be no need for any others to obey.
Close your eyes and picture a world where there were no speed limits on the highways... No injunctions against littering or lying in court... No steel bars on storefronts or guns beneath the counters of bars... No judges or courts or police or jail cells or execution chambers or nationalism or jingoism or sweat factories or failing to turn off cell phones in theaters or jumping turnstiles in subways or paying an employee of a different gender or race less money because of their looks...
...and imagine none of those things happening because every single person in the world believed that loving their neighbor was the second most important thing they had to do that day, and that they were going to do everything in their power to accomplish that goal...
So how can we expect that to happen when the various sects of Christianity can't even perform the simplest two commandments that God gave to us? How can we expect to convince other faiths that we are sincere in our desire to foster love and understanding and kindness between our faiths, if we can't even get our own house in order? If Jesus were dead, He'd be spinning in His grave...
ejb
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Mullic@
[Read the article: Joe Lieberman, from his indie perch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"To sum it up, Lieberman is a quintessential example of Nader's contention that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats. "
There is no way that Lieberman's existence proves that there aren't differences between Republicans and Democrats. The fact that he was rejected by Democrats in the primary proves exactly the opposite. I wouldn't argue if you said that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between Lieberman and Republicans. The fact that he was a vice-presidential candidate proved only that the Democrats are willing to reach across the aisle and recognize opposing views. Until Cheney, vice-presidents didn't have much to do with running the country.
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Smart Move
[Read the article: Clinton makes peace with bloggers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The people at Daily Kos generally prefer other candidates for the primary, but if she becomes the Democratic candidate we will support her. It may not have been her fault that there was a misunderstanding, but she was smart to recognize that she could fix this easily with a few minutes of her time.
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A lot of it is working the ref
[Read the article: The MSM vs. the blogosphere]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For the past few decades, reporters have been pushed by the right to be "less liberal". Since reporters certainly don't want to be biased, and there weren't similar complaints from the left, they responded by becoming more sensitive to conservative causes. Anybody would. Now the left is pushing back, and it can't be easy to be in the middle.
The right wing is still pushing the "liberal media" meme, while the left wing is totally convinced that the "mainstream media" won't ever give them a fair shot. I suspect that the left has a better case, but I can't be a fair judge. I've seen the studies that show how many more conservative pundits appear on television than liberal pundits, and they seem unbiased. I've seen for myself how badly the media in general covered various stories... but I'm not an expert on the media, and I'm not unbiased myself.
If this is going to change, we need a firestorm of criticism from the left that matches the firstorm from the right. Unfortuneatly, it's hard to control firestorms. Good reporters are going to get singed. Hopefully they'll hand in there and find a comfortable spot in the middle while avoiding the "fact-based", context-free stories that are a safe haven but no service to the public. However painful it is, I'm absolutely sure that this battle has to be fought. The "liberal media" meme has to die. We can't have a media empire that overrepresents one segment of society because that segment consistanly claims that it is underrepresented. If the people aren't getting good information, we can't make good decisions.
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I knew this was going ot happen - but not from you
[Read the article: Democrats' responsibility for Bush radicalism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are a lot of complex reasons for the state of our nation. 30 years of right-wing subversion of our political system. A populace unwilling to analyze politicians statements logically. A media who are willing to present falsehoods rather than be criticized. Terrorists who intentionally instill fear, and people who are so attuned to security that they are willing to give up freedoms in a futile effort to achieve full security. But time and time again I hear "it's the Democrats fault". There is usually an amendment saying "not completely", but the burden of cleaning up the mess always falls on the Dems, regardless of whether they made the mess or whether they actually have the power to clean it up.
So, when the Democrats won a narrow victory for control of Congress, I knew that it would be a mixed blessing. They would be able to keep the right-wing from passing more horrible legislation, but would not be able to change much that had been done without either a stronger majority or the president's support. And their constituents would shortly start to blame them for not fixing everything overnight.
But I didn't expect it from you. You've always seemed more reasonable than the reactionaries who expect change now and damn the cost. You seemed to see the complexities of politics and don't let fear and bias tint your views. You seemed to understand that the expression "the wheels of justice move slowly" is not just a cliche, it's a truism. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to see you ignore everything that Democrats have done to expose Republican corruption and fall into the trap of blaming them for wrongs the didn't have the power to prevent, and don't have the power to change.