Letters to the Editor
Paulus
Published Letters: 86 Editor's Choice: 9
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Stop blaming the media
[Read the article: Iraq: Why the media failed]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If we get the government we deserve then we also get the media we want.
The Bushies were able to peddle their half-truths and lies because the public was willing to believe them. Even at the time there was contraversy about the aluminum tubes reported in the press but most people swept it aside as bothersome details to a decision that seemed right.
The public and the media have not turned against the war because the case for WMDs has turned out to be false and the whole premise for invading Iraq was based on flawed premises. The war has become unpopular because the US is loosing the war. Had Bush been successful in setting up a pro-western democracy in Iraq no one would have cared about the lack of WMDs.
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Militia
[Read the article: Repeal the Second Amendment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ah, yes. We need those well armed militias to prevent an oppressive government. Can you imagine what Iraq would be like if all those armed militias weren't there to keep the government from oppressing the people.
Come to think of it why aren't the militias now storming the Capitol to prevent the removal of the right to an abortion or removal of the right against unreasonable searches under the Patriot Act.
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An illegal war
[Read the article: Northern exposure]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Anyone appying for refugee status in Canada in order to remain here has to go before a board to prove their claim. Claiming that you are tired of killing or seeing the killing in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to be a refugee. Claiming that you are being forced to fight in an unjust war might be true but for any governnment agency to accept that the Iraq war is unjust would open up a hornets nest.
Not that there aren't good arguments for such a claim under internaional law. The UN Charter is clear that no country can invade another unless there is an immediate threat. It is clear now that even the fragile evidence for the threat that Iraq posed was based on lies that were used to justify a preconsidered decision. Deposing a tyrant such as Hussein would be legal if carried out under the auspices of an UN resolution be no such resolution was ever passed. Koffi Annan has said that the iraq war was illegal.
The Refugee Board is well aware that to accept a claim for refugee status for deserters based on their claim that they can't fight in a illegal war would cause a huge problem for Canadian-American relations. How would the Canadian govenment respond to such a decision even if most Canadians (and the world) believe it is true.
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Differences
[Read the article: Bush's favorite historian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Horne does seem a little smug and too pleased with himself about his influence with world leaders. But even if one can argue with the conclusions he reaches in assessing the historical record you have to give him credit that he is knowledgable and has done the research. If he is to the left of Ghengis Khan and the right of Thatcher he could give you a detailed account of what those people believed in.
In constrast the incurious George Bush's knowledge of world affairs is so abysmal that he thought that the people living in Greece were called Grecians. Bush's understanding of history doesn't extend much beyond simple slogans. And a favorite historian is someone who you can cherry pick opinions from to support those slogans.
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DNA testing
[Read the article: My husband has Chinese ancestry but his son wants to keep it secret]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As others have pointed out the fact that there is Chinese ancestory in the husband hardly means that that there was a Chinese grandparent around, merely that it could have been 500 hundred years ago.
But this letter raises one of the unexpected side effects of DNA testing.
Much research is being done to determine genetic links of certain diseases by following the family history through DNA tests. Those tests also showed that as many as 10% of the participants were not related to their supposed biological fathers with many anxious mothers furtively contacting the researches to keep this information from being revealed.
Delores's parents look to be insistent that she not find out about her real paternal line, and it can be argued whether this is a good thing or not. Family history can be influencial in medical diagnosis. But the LW's concern looks to more about meddling that genuine concern.
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What do the people really care about?
[Read the article: Why Bush hasn't been impeached]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The invasion of Iraq was based on lies. Iraq posed no immediate threat so the war was contrary to international law and the UN Charter. But who would have cared about that if the end result had been successful. Americans are upset now about the Iraq war not because they were lied to by the President but because the war is being lost.
Gitmo, FISA, extraordinary renditions, torture, illegal wiretaps, signing statements: all flouting the rule of law either in fact or in spirit, and upsetting to those who hold to a higher standard. But to most Americans these things are akin to hearing about a child rapist being killed in prison; you can't condone murder but hardly feel sorry for the victim and sort of hope that the murderer won't be found. Similarly all this stuff that Bush is trying to get away with might not be right but who is going to worry too much about the legal and human rights of terrorists.
Why be concerned about impeachment whne there are more important things to consider such as if the voting on American Idol is legit or not and the fate of Paris Hilton.
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Information, knowledge and beliefs
[Read the article: Delight in disorder]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wonder if the people who ran the Library at Alexander wouldn't have thought that having all of the known knowledge in one place wasn't going to herald in an age where ignorance would be outcast. Didn't happen, of course.
Today we have more information available and more easily accessable than at any time in history. That still doesn't prevent half of Americans believing in creationism or more than half thinking that Saddam had something to do with 9/11.
You can sort information any way you like, and the truth may set you free, but that doesn't prevent many people believing what they want to believe.