Letters to the Editor
714Day
Published Letters: 50 Editor's Choice: 5
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A New Man
[Read the article: John Edwards live]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I saw Edwards speak in December and I'd have to agree entirely with this article.
He will win or lose based on his firm conviction that the country is in a state of emergency. He doesn't waste anybody's time with the Pollyanna hooey we hear from every other candidate except the unviable Kucinich (good fellow without a snowball's chance in hell). People don't want to hear that we have to start to contend with incommodius change of some sort to curtail the abject disasters that loom ahead if not grappled with asap; the war in Iraq, the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor, no national healthcare, global warming, the energy crisis... This is an "ask what you can do for your country" kind of man now. It's so refreshing to hear him speak the obvious truth after so many years of the "go shopping" perspective.
Maybe it's because he's had even more experience with the precious nature of life itself because of contending with Elizabeth's illness. He knows that not even one moment can be wasted when something requires urgent attention.
He's not going to fob off a bill of goods to gain a warm and fuzzy fan club, that's for sure.
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Timing
[Read the article: Report: Gonzales aide resigns]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe it's just a coincidence but I got my "breaking news" alert about Goodlings resignation shortly after noticing Josh Marshall's damning post on TPM.
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Threats
[Read the article: Will global warming threaten national security?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course global warming threatens our national security. It is only one of the catastrophic events that we have failed to contain when there was a chance it may have been manageable. Now the best we can hope for is skilled triage.
I'm glad that Hagel is singlehandedly trying to save the Republican party by sliding into 21st century perception but, considering his refusal to accept mandates on greenhouse emissions and his pathetic opposition to the Kyoto protocols, I'm not too hopeful. There is much in his view that smacks of the mental midgetry displayed by the vegetation posting letters to Salon telling us we that are all chicken littles.
It seems to me that most of our "leaders" aren't doing any more than killing time with hot air. In the end that's likely a death knell for all of us.
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Brilliant analysis
[Read the article: Iraq: Why the media failed]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kamiya has captured in this brief essay many of the tentacles on the octopus.
I would suggest it would be impossible to wrest every angle in anything less than an epic study, but this expose illucidates the complex nature of the MSM beast very nicely. It is something I will use to marshal my arguments with the folks who insist on the "right wing conspiracy" angle. Self-deluded, cowardly, poodles would better describe the issue. Clearly, Kamiya says this better than I do.
I agree that time will tell how the fourth estate will adjust; or even if there is any more reworking on the horizon. Possibly it will be subsumed by the blogosphere which is still little tapped in middle America. I'm not suggesting that all blogs are above and beyond (though there are clearly outstanding examples of integrity and good muckraking), but rather that convention doesn't broker the parameters of delivery and that a thinking person can ascertain truth if the straight poop is put on the table. We can't count on the Matt Lauers or the Judith Millers to even smell what that is.
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No Barney Fife
[Read the article: Upending the Mayberry Machiavellis]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If only the Mayberry characterization were correct.
Karl has been in the big city for a long time. He started in D.C. with the re-elect Nixon campaign under the tutelage of Jeb (1st to plead guilty in the Watergate affair) Magruder.
He does not question that his Republican Party ideology is the one true God. There is no morality code imposed by said deity in the pursuit of the one and only objective; to come out on top. I avoid the use of "win" which implies a fair contest. Fair isn't required by the no-holds-barred engine that runs this machine, cheating is completely acceptable. Of course cheats never win, they just cheat to hold sway.
Karl does have parameters by which to weigh all actions, though.
Is he likely to get caught, or is he likely to get away with it? He's been working on that "get away with it" stuff for over 30 years and he's very, very good at his game.
In the end, of course, the dirty tricks crap really pisses people off and puts the wind of righteous indignation into many a tattered sail. The when, not if, clock is ticking, but Karl will wreak havoc as it winds down. He hasn't finished tampering with justice just yet.
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Deletion
[Read the article: Justice to White House: Let's "muddy the coverage" on firings]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This e-mail (which Karl and Company neglected to delete) is yet another example of the inability to "contain" all of the damning evidence that remains to be found. The unprecedented level of corruption is so monolithic it cannot fail to leave a Thomas Bros. guide of actionable material. It is indeed frustrating that it is a challenge to dig up all that remains, not only because of the efforts to destroy or withhold it, but because of the sheer volume. On top of that, the Dems are going to follow that pesky rule of law thing.
Meanwhile, the bloodletting goes on; there's the true heartbreaker.
The rewards of the journey on the long and winding road will be extraordinary, though. We'll get the country back and the Republican Party as we know it will be deleted.