Letters to the Editor
Aerial Roots
Published Letters: 18
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"Senator Ahab" reference
[Read the article: Neoconservatives hate liberty as much as they love war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Excellent column Glenn, and your blog looks just great over here on Salon (except that there seems to be no option to "text search" all the comments at once, or else view all comments at once on one lon-n-n-g-g page).
One minor correction to your post: it seems that the WSJ uses the pejorative moniker "Senator Ahab" to refer to Senator Carl Levin, not Senator Jay Rockefeller. From Gaffney's column:
"The most prominent of these are the newly installed chairmen of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, Carl Levin and Jay Rockefeller, respectively. The Wall Street Journal has dubbed the former "Senator Ahab" for his "obsessive" pursuit of this white whale of a story about "politicized" intelligence. I guess we should call the latter Ishmael. "
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Neoconservative Eliot Cohen
[Read the article: Neoconservative Eliot Cohen's new position at the State Department]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Great work Glenn- drawing our attention to the ideological zelaots in key positions of power who aren't going to go away until Januray 2009 (unless Congress awakens from its thumb-sucking slumber).
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Good journalism may require rudeness
[Read the article: The most revealing three-minute YouTube clip ever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Excellent work Glenn, and thanks for drawing our atention to this video clip.
The soft comfortable spot where national pundits/"journalist" stars like to situate themselves won't allow them to be rude, when necessary, to dig down to the truth. They won't be impolite to their fellow media darling peers, nor to those in power whom they are supposed to cover. Not even when the health of the American experiment in democracy is at risk.
In contrast, true journalists like Helen Thomas and Amy Goodman will sometimes seem rude in their persistence and in their refusal to follow social cues to back off. For example in 2004, on short notice, Amy Goodman interviewed Bill Clinton. Her goal was information, not going along to get along. Here is the transcript:
This approach is of course scoffed at by the pretenders on TV who pass as journalists.
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Ratcheting toward war with Iran
[Read the article: The risks of staying]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn for another great post.
The proponents of a Greater Middle Eastern War are skilled communicators who give articulate, vivid and full-throated arguments to highlight the risks of not attacking Iran. Though not warriors themselves, they invoke this imagery while stoking post-9/11 fears to rally public opinion. They fill the airwaves of Fox News.
What about the opposing views? On the public stage, where are the loud, articulate and persuasive voices supporting peace, tolerance and dialogue in the Middle East? Certainly not on center stage, and not in the leadership of the Democratic party. Those in the best position to promote these views might admit, sotto voce, that to do so could be interpreted in pro-Likud circles as threatening to Israel's security posture, so they prefer to remain silent.
So in the direction of a wider war, we hear loud, articulate public expression, and in the opposing direction we hear virtually nothing. Thus we are ratcheting towards war with Iran.
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Whistleblower might help?
[Read the article: Yesterday's ruling on NSA warrantless eavesdropping]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks very much Glenn for your thoughts this morning. This lay person does indeed feel very frustrated by the protection yesterday's ruling affords the out-of-control executive branch, and the Joseph Heller-esque and Kafka-esque situation we are left with. Besides Congress helping break this impasse, maybe an inside-the-government whistleblower could shine some light on specific parties injured and leak suitable documents to the public.
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Staggering
[Read the article: Sen. David Vitter, a leading Christian social conservative]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks very much Glenn. Not just the fact of, but the depth of, the hypocrisy of the Morally Upright Arbiters of Christian Values is staggering.
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Low self esteem?
[Read the article: Still more White House secrecy -- this time in the Tillman investigation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks very much Glenn for your post. Why the American public is not demanding impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney for their secrecy, illegal and anti-constitutional behavior is a mystery. Perhaps it reflects collective low self esteem, poor civic education, or apathy. But we DO deserve better, and the way to keep our democracy vibrant and healthy is for the people to assert thier power!
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"If you find that you will be here in Iraq..."
[Read the article: Further politicization of the U.S. military's public statements]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn. Loved General Boylan's oh-so-subtle challenge to you to come to Iraq to interview Gen. Petraeus, implying such an act might put you higher on the list. Seems like the bar is being set a little higher for you than for Hugh Hewitt, no?
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Gift from the Founding Fathers
[Read the article: What were the pre-2005 "other intelligence activities"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn for your post. We should cherish the Constitution and the framework of self-government that our Founding Fathers passed on to us. Why is the Congress so passive and the American people so seemingly apathetic about the monarchial and illegal behavior of our President? We must assert our power or We The People risk losing it.
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The Value of the Blogs
[Read the article: What Beltway media stars mean by "centrism" and "extremism"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn. Your point is accurate, and helps one understand the vital importance of the blogosphere. You and your fellow independent-thinking bloggers help keep the small flame alive, that was once the bright torch of "The Free Press" our Founding Fathers so cherished and passed down. Let the MSM cable news darlings get more party invitations sent out by "powerful" beltway personalities. You keep acting as a patriot would.
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Thank you Glenn
[Read the article: The truth behind the Pollack-O'Hanlon trip to Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn for your excellent research behind this "story". Funny a Constitutional lawyer should be teaching the MSM about what journalism is and what the instincts and perspective of journalists should properly be.
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Padilla Guilty Verdict
[Read the article: Posting news]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone feel safer after this verdict? Go watch Amy Goodman's Democracy Now interview today (8/16) with the forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Padilla post-torture and who documents that the US government completely destroyed Padilla's psyche and twisted him inside out.
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Sad inevitability of attack on Iran
[Read the article: Carl Levin reveals the Democrats' Iraq "strategy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn for again bringing this sad state of affairs to the front burner. You should correct typo from Iraq to Iran in opening sentence in 3rd from last paragraph. If the Democrats passively allow this attack on Iran to happen they deserve to "be wiped from the pages of history" and let a third progressive party with teeth take their place.
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Ledeen's Mettle
[Read the article: The art of neoconservative innuendo]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks Glenn for the post and the insight into Ledeen's character. Too bad this neoconservative warrior begins to wilt under the onslaught of your two politely worded e-mails.