Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 137 Editor's Choice: 37
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The truly infuriating thing is...
[Read the article: One nation under law -- not Bush]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... that following the Geneva Conventions isn't really "bending to world opinion". If you read the Conventions, you will come away astounded how much they embody American principles of justice, fair play, and rule of law ... or at least, what used to be our principles. After WWII, especially, the United States had the moral stature to convince the world to write rules of international law that, by and large, conform to American ideals. The Geneva Conventions are American -- America at its best. It is in our interest to get everyone to follow those rules, because we wrote them.
It's not exactly surprising that a "unitary executive" run amok is trashing the Conventions, since this Administration is intent on destroying the rule of law domestically as well. But it is sad and more, it is stupid.
Thank God for the Supreme Court, the only branch of government doing its job right now. And God help us when the next justice dies or retires.
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Salon is usually more thorough
[Read the article: The elephant in the room]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I mean, how can I evaluate these people fairly when I have no idea what Vilsack, Bayh and Richardson were wearing? It must be important, since the author felt it necessary to tell us that "Though she [Clinton] looked tired, she was chic in slimming black with a choker around her neck, and her bright white smile lopped two decades off her 58 years." How unlike Salon to avoid giving all the facts...
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Could we PLEASE...
[Read the article: Coulter: Bill Clinton is a "latent" homosexual]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... stop talking about Anne Coulter? War Room's obsession with every antic of this bat-crazy wingnut is starting to become unhealthy.
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As a lifelong Democrat and party faithful....
[Read the article: Democrats: Hope for the House, and good news on the Senate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... I have absolutely no doubt that the Democrats will find a way to screw this up and snatch defeat -- nay, disaster -- from the jaws of victory.
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Evolution is harsh
[Read the article: The paleoeconomic case for free trade]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rob Seaman comments:
Success at overpopulating the planet is a strange use of the word "success".
From an evolutionary standpoint (spread of genes), it's the only use of it.
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Underhanded, but not theft
[Read the article: The Pennsylvania Green Party/GOP nexus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is unseemly politics but not illegal and not exactly fraudulent. I mean, it took all of thirty seconds to unravel this "plot" and now, the stench from it is likely to harm the Republicans more than help.
With all the bona fide ways in which elections have recently been mucked with, manhandled, and manipulated, could we please stop diluting the efficacy of words like "stolen" by bandying them about regular ugly politics?
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Cutting off one's nose...
[Read the article: Will Bush and Gonzales get away with it?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... to spite one's face: I can't believe the number of responses that say, "Well, I don't like that he has a personal stake in this..." or "Well, Cronin was in Swift Boat Vets..." or "Well, he supported the other guy..." and therefore he should be shunned and expelled from polite society.
Is he right on this issue? Are his arguments strong on this issue? Then on this issue, welcome him as an ally. Increasing the breadth of opposition to the Bush adminisration can't help but be a winnning strategy. It's just silly to shout down someone who's saying important things just because he voted for the "wrong" guy in 04. A late-inning conversion can be a powerful part of the narrative.
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Not surprising at all ... or unprecedented
[Read the article: Neoconservatives can't dig their way out of this hole]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]War Room write,
Amazingly, the neoconservatives’ response to the patent failure of their warmongering approach is to urge more of the same, just with more intensity and with less restraint.
But it's not amazing and it's not surprising. To do anything else would be to admit that they were wrong. To make such an admission would be to confess to the over-ideological, under-pragmatic, arrogant idiocy that they routinely accuse the "McNamara liberals" of falling into in the 1960s. It would also be an admission that, perhaps, someone else would do as good a job running our foreign policy.
Nor is their attitude without precedent. It's exactly the same mindset that caused the escalation and horrors of the First World War: "Sure, we've lost 20,000 soldiers in a day and gained six inches of territory. But if only we had thrown an additional 1000 men into the fire, we would have broken through and ended the war. What we need is more men...."
That insanity ended only when the armies were exhausted and enough of the idiot generals had died or been sacked. Eventually people came up through the ranks with their eyes forced open by the war, and the tactics changed. 1918 was an entirely different war than 1914-1917.
In this larger conflict, the victor will be the side who first recognizes that new tactics are needed and then adapts to the new situation. Sadly, right now, the West seems stuck in the mindset of the past while its foes -- who are the enemy of global civilization -- seem nimble and adaptible.
It's going to be an interesting century...
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Why are we focusing on the religion?
[Read the article: Did Lieberman violate Jewish law?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When did it suddenly become acceptable, even de rigeur, to attempt to evaluate at a distance (but in a public forum) someone's religious worthiness? Isn't this one of the things the Wacko Right does that drives reasonable Americans crazy? Would Salon run an article "Is Ned Lamont a good [whatever he is]?"
OK, so Leiberman set up the spike by wearing his faith on his sleeve and attempting to curry points with his ostentatious faith-fulness. Shouldn't Salon have better sense (and taste) than to hit that spike?
My God, this country is sunk if we can't raise the level of discourse in its politics. I'm as mad as anyone but it isn't time to become the enemy. It's time to become better than him.
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Has she been branded yet....
[Read the article: Judge orders halt to warrantless spying program]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... as an America-hating activist judge?