Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 266 Editor's Choice: 45
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Another Example of the Administration's Blinders
[Read the article: Masters of Wolfowitz's universe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just read all 52 pages of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NEWS/Resources/secondreportoftheadhocgroup.pdf
Anyone who reads the report is left with the clear impression that Wolfowitz essentially had and has no clue what it means to run an international organization. He read a directive that told him that the Ethics Committee had no power to direct his underlings to negotiate a deal with his girlfriend into a directive that he was to run the negotiations personally. And then he ran roughshod over specific policies that limited her compensation and made her future promotions dependent on her performance. In other words, he turned the policy aimed at avoiding conflicts of interest on its head in order to advantage his girlfriend.
But George W. Bush is using up our country's diplomatic resources to keep this embarrassment in office. Probably on the advice of Alberto Gonzales.
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Well put
[Read the article: All hail the king]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've said it before and I will say it again. They believe laws are for bad guys.
Really well put.
And the MSM loyally misstates the facts about Wolfowitz on every opportunity. He was bound by very specific rules, and instead he offered to do less than what was required. Being told he had to follow the rules and his contract, instead he wilfully misinterprets half of what he's told (i.e., direct your VP of HR to negotiate) and then decides to ignore the other half (consult with the general counsel). But every story quotes administration people, all of whom are so qualified to judge this, as saying this wasn't a firing offense.
And then most of the MSM misses the Comey story entirely.
Has no one any shame?
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Ernie, the true baseball gentleman
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is probably no sound in the world that is more cheerful to me than the sound of Ernie Harwell doing play-by-play in a baseball game. I grew up with Ernie, doing Tigers games with George Kell before they separated out radio and TV, and listening to their two southern voices defined baseball to me.
My father had occasion to hire Ernie to do voiceover on a commercial once, and mentioned to him that a friend of my sister's, whom we will call "Jane Doe" for these purposes, had told him that she wanted to be Ernie Harwell when she grew up. Ernie insisted on making a little recording for dad to give to her. He was probably in his seventies, but this is what he recorded, "This is Ernie Harwell, and I want to be Jane Doe when I grow up."
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As John Kerry Said
[Read the article: Memorial Day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How do you decide who should be the last soldier to die for a mistake? This is neither a war that can be won nor a war where our withdrawal necessarily makes anyone less safe. Our very presence in Iraq emboldens our enemies and strengthens their ability to recruit people who want to hurt us. Ronald Reagan left Lebanon when he realized that simply leaving our troops there didn't protect either them or the surrounding populace. Clinton left Somalia when he realized we had no mission there we could perform.
Kamiya is wrong, however, when he says that we fought in Vietnam for people who believed in the domino theory. The release of LBJ's tapes shows that the real justification was far slimmer and more calculated and cynical. Johnson knew, and many war hawks like Richard Russell knew, that Vietnam was unwinnable. Johnson and Russell can be heard agreeing with that just days after JFK's assassination.
They sent half a million Americans into combat and allowed over 50,000 of them to die not to stop the spread of Communism, but so they couldn't be blamed for letting it spread and doing nothing about it.
It is in the nature of our social compact, so long as we have this government, that we ask young men to die essentially without question to follow the policies of democratically elected leaders, right or wrong. Thus, in a way, it is more important to honor the dead of Vietnam and Iraq than the dead of the Civil War or World War II. To paraphrase Lincoln, we must take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave their lives, that a government of the people, by the people and for the people shall replace the scumbag autocrats who rule us now.