Letters to the Editor
bignose
Published Letters: 379 Editor's Choice: 22
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Mandate seeks same
[Read the article: Forget the superdelegates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If the current trend continues, It's gonna be close. Even if one or the other "sweeps" the remaining contests, proportional distribution of the delegates will (Most likely) keep this race very, very tight.
That being the case, I don't think either candidate can claim any moral high ground or mandate from the voters as a basis for selecting who runs. And it is getting so muddled and rife with recriminations that an acrimonious end game is getting close to inevitable.
The left needs resolution before the convention. I hope Dean can work something out that leaves everyone just a little bit pissed off - That way, you will know it was the right decision, and clearly there is no decision that will please everyone.
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At least it was Matthews...
[Read the article: "Name some of Barack Obama's legislative accomplishments ... if you can" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and not O'Riley.
This time.
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Perception is nine tenths.
[Read the article: "Name some of Barack Obama's legislative accomplishments ... if you can" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]THe point is not whether Obama has accomplished things (Of course he has), or how his record compares to Clintons (Apples and oranges, in some respect).
The point is that this is, I think, the most vulnerable aspect of his campaign - The perception that he is inexperienced. And he needs to be able to refute it.
When you put him side by side with McCain, I think that McCain is going to look like a doddering old fool, and I'm sure that Obama will do his best to paint him as part of the past, as he did with Clinton.
But this sort of thing is a swiftboaters wet dream.
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Bipartisan? I hope not, Mr. Elephant.
[Read the article: A week of petty though typical attacks on Obama produced nothing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I hope that whoever the Left ends up with, they have an even greater advantage in both houses, and they take the fear-mongering, war-mongering, race-baiting, environment-destroying, class-warfaring, privacy-invading (Did I miss anything?) agenda of the right, shove it up their ass and send them packing.
You're on the wrong side of history. Elephants are doomed to become extinct.
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What goes around...
[Read the article: NYT breaks long-rumored story on possible relationship between McCain, lobbyist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Comes around.
Turns out everyone is doing it.
How do you like them apples?
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What justice sounds like
[Read the article: Newsday's cheap shot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I recently saw the movie "Gideons Trumpet', which tracks the court case that ensured that all defendants are provided with a lawyer. Fonda plays Gideon, who basically gets railroaded, and who clearly was not capable of defending himself - He is a little simple, maybe, but the way he plays the part makes me think the guy was a little autistic. He was clearly articulate enough to get the Supreme Courts attention, but not savvy enough to negotiate the complexities of our justice system.
Now, I don't know whether or not this guy could afford a lawyer, or if Clinton was assigned to him - Doesn't matter. I can't buy into the idea that under the principal of innocent until proven guilty, that someone can be defended "too well"
Even if the defendant is OJ - I would call that the exception that proves the rule, because it illustrates whay we cannot have a two-tiered justice system - Competant lawyers must be provided to defendants.
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Y'know what might help...
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A surge.
A Democratic surge.
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Mission Creep
[Read the article: Majority of Israelis want to negotiate with Hamas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The creation of Israel, coming as it did at the end of WWII and in response to the horrors of the Nazis, engendered a sort of sympathy support that no one dared speak against. How could anyone be against the jews?
But then Israel became a Symbol of Democracy in the mideast (More of a Theocracy run by a bunch of clerics, in my opinion), and so, became something more, something outside itself.
And now that self-centered support has morphed into a precipitious and untenable situation, and an extension of the divisions that exist right here at home.
Israel relishes its role as underdog, but as a nuclear power with the backing of the USA, and it can't have it both ways. If it wants to stay relevent, I think it needs to take on the mantle of a leader. And this means moving away from being a jewish state, and more toward being a state that confers the blessings of liberty on all people. And that means becoming more inclusive.
Sorry that this is a little rambling, but this is my point: Something fundemental needs to change, either the Israeli (government) attitude, or ours toward Israel.
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Sol I
[Read the article: Majority of Israelis want to negotiate with Hamas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Interesting point about the lamposts.
Unfortunately, since Israel has a habit of bombing the Paletinian power plants (Oops, sorry. I meant "alleged bomb making facilites"), and generally controls most imports (including fuel) into the region, electricity for those lights is not something that they can count on.
Continued Israeli agression? They can count on that.
And to the writer above who insists on terroist label: The difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is that the freedom fighter is on our payroll. Israel is on ours, and so we can only see the black and white of it.
TO move forward, we must lose these labels
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Yeah, Paul Dirks,
[Read the article: Majority of Israelis want to negotiate with Hamas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And your assertion that all people are basically the same? That's true. But some of us are the chosen people.
Back atcha
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Values shift
[Read the article: Some hateful, radical ministers -- white evangelicals -- are acceptable]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know if this is the study Jim WHite was referring to - In the NYT on Sunday there was a study published that showed people generally moving to non-denominational or unaffiliated, and that most of the major religions were losing people. I think that this is a trend that is reflected in many ways these days - larger support for the left, more tolerance etc.
The study did not differentiate between Non-religious and Non-denominational, but it does reflect a more uprooted, mobile young population.
You don't need a weatherman...
A sidenote regarding Farrakhan. I had never really heard him speak (except when some cherrypicked quote was being excoriated by someone) when about ten years ago, a friend and I watched a video that was taken of him speaking to a huge audience of young black men in Boston.
Like others, I find much of what he says abhorrent, but he sure is a great speaker, and he seems to fly a little under the radar, compared with some of his more flamboyant white counterparts.
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No no no John,
[Read the article: No, really, I'm a conservative]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That was last year
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Alex, the video box you have in the post is just a big black square
[Read the article: "We Are the Ones"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wait...I guess that means it IS an ad for Obama.