Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 137 Editor's Choice: 37
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Actually, the point is...
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... racial profiling is racist and discriminatory. Yes, it's important to understand that it also doesn't work: In a world of 6 billion people, it isn't too hard to find someone who believes in your cause but doesn't fit the profile. It diverts attention and focuses ire; it leads to a false sense of security; and it encourages otherwise vigilant people to relax. It doesn't work.
But we should never lose sight of the fact that it is also wrong. It is an affront to the human dignity which we allegedly hold dear; it is a slap in the face of the American populace; it encourages division, disunion, and discord.
If we're going to "win" this "global war on terror", we'd better wake up to the truth: Respecting the rights and dignity of everyone is not about them; it's about us and what kind of civilization we hope to be. We are stronger than this. We are smarter than this. We are better than this. Until we remember that and come to our senses, there's no hope of "victory".
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Stop covering her!
[Read the article: Coulter: My enemies are "like my pets"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Look, this was news when she first said all these goofy and offensive things. Now it's redundant. You're just feeding her massive ego and helping fan the outrage that, in fact, does move her books to #1.
It's like the run-amok come-to-life advertising from the Treehouse of Terror: Just don't look! Just don't look! (Well, it'll sound better coming out of Paul Anka...)
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Not too much of a change
[Read the article: "Everybody likes beaver"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Free Proton asked:
>> DeLay acting as a celebrity auctioneer. Is it just me, or is that a bit of a downgrade from the House Majority Leader?
Not at all. As House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay got quite good at auctioning off legislation to the highest bidder. He's already sold off our national forests, our national good name, our political process... What's one beaver after all of that?
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What we need to understand
[Read the article: A chicken hawk takes on a "hydra-headed enemy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... is that the threat is, in part, due to things that are our fault. This is not America-bashing; this is looking at the world through the cold, hard eyes of reality -- as was originally promised by an administration that allegedly disdained pie-in-the-sky theories.
Do we "cause" terrorists? No. But though the seed is there and is probably implicit in humanity, we provide the fertilizer that allows it to grow from a localized disturbance to a global operation. We prop up the despots, we overturn the governments, we spend the outrageous amount of money on oil that lines the pockets of autocrats -- not to mention arbitrary detention, rendition, and torture. We create sympathy for the terrorists in the lands where they hide and make it that much more difficult to root them out. Do you think bin Laden could have evaded capture for five years if there weren't a huge bloc of people who shelter him because they hate what they think America is?
The answer isn't surrender, but it also isn't a ham-handed, ideology-blinded ruthlessness. The claims and plans of the jihadist are not rational and we can't conform to them. But the hopes and goals of some of those who support them -- perhaps even most -- are rational. They want what most people want: safety, prosperity, freedom from interference.
It's just a dumb policy to ignore that and so play into the hands of the terrorists.
Oh, and as the level-headed majority of justices pointed out, it's also illegal.
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Why aren't the right-wing attack dogs...
[Read the article: And a happy Fourth of July to you, too]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... demanding that the actual leakers be tried for treason, put to the death, or locked in a steel cage with the families of slain soldiers?
Oh, wait. Because it might turn out that some of the dearly-loved on the right are guilty of leaking. (Karl Rove, anyone?) So rather than go after those who willfully violate their sworn oaths, we'll go after the editors who dare to make public what was said. And of course we'll go after that bastion of the left, the New York Times, but cleverly downplay any mention of the Wall Street Journal (darling of the right), which ran the same stories.
Forgive me. I had forgotten for a moment that smearing and hypocrisy are the order of the day from our dear rulers, er, leaders.
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Waving the ragged shirt of 1968 again
[Read the article: Say it ain't so, Joe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow, it didn't take long for that overplayed metaphor to come out, did it?
Why does the media view active dissent and debate -- you know, democracy in action -- as a sign of disaster and defeat? The purpose of a primary, we're told, is to let the party pick the candidate who best speaks for it. If the Democrat voters of CT choose other than Lieberman, isn't that the way things are supposed to work?
The only one doing real damage here is Lieberman. Once the will of the people is expressed as to who represents them, you're supposed to nod gracefully and accept it. His sour grapes "I'll run as an independent" tantrum is unbecoming a United States Senator.
Really, I see no downside for the Dems. If Lieberman wins the primary, he's still in office. If he loses, runs independent, and wins, he's still in office -- and a DINO is better than a Republican, if only infinitesimally. (HINT: Still counts for who's the "majority party".) If he loses, runs independent, and loses ... well, then, we are at long last rid of the guy.
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Pursuing the leakers
[Read the article: Ken Mehlman, meet Jack Abramoff]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, lately we've been instructed on how very angry leaking makes this White House. I'm sure we'll see the announcement of a high-level probe into this shocking failure of the classification system. I mean, it would be hypocritical to assault the NY Times for publishing leaks but not pursue someone who leaked for personal gain...
Maybe I shouldn't hold my breath.