Letters to the Editor
david-smith
Published Letters: 88 Editor's Choice: 8
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Murdoch and Fox Are Immeasurably Worse than the WSJ
[Read the article: Will the Wall Street Journal become another Fox News?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The (correct) observation that the editorial page of the Journal is a model of delusional rightwing paranoia is frankly beside the point, or, more precisely, illustrative of another important point entirely. Specifically, the attribution of the term propaganda to Fox News (as well as such other of Murdoch's journalistic hemorrhoids as the New York Post) isn't merely a Republican-style synonym for "shit we don't like" (as are, when used by Republicans, such other totally-devoid-of-meaning epithets as "partisan," "bias," "politically correct," "judicial activism," and "multi-cultural"), but a term with a specific content. To wit: execrable as the Journal's editorial page is, the factual assertions in its news pages are invariably trustworthy and reliable, a reflection of the publishers' implicit belief in the existence of objective reality and respect for the prevailing standards of journalistic integrity. That is what distinguishes the paper’s news content from propaganda.
The same, of course, can hardly be said for Murdoch and Fox News. Quite simply, Fox pursues a more lofty mission than merely providing a objective recitation of the news, such as, for example, providing "balance" to the "liberal bias" of the "mainstream media." Thus, facts are entirely fungible, truth - like beauty - is in the eyes of the beholder, and speculation that Times and NBC News reporters predominently vote for Democratic candidates is equivalent to turning Fox News into a house organ for the Republican Party. This is what makes the shit produced by Murdoch's properties sheer propaganda, and what makes Murdoch himself so repellent and dangerous.
Murdoch is every bit the Australian Goebbels, and he needs to be stopped.
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What the Hell Were the Democrats Expecting?
[Read the article: Republicans play politics with war funding]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Look, I realize I’m hopelessly ignorant and naive, but I just don’t get what the hell is going on. The Democrats appear to be in some kind of disoriented state of shock, demoralized and utterly flummoxed about what happened to them and how to proceed from here. Jesus Christ, WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN? Were they under the impression that Bush was going to express some kind of heartfelt gratitude that they agreed to fund the war, and announce that, yes, indeedy, he’ll get right on some kind of enforcement mechanism to enforce the new timetables? Do they not realize that the petulant half-wit would happily machine gun every two-year-old child in Iraq in order to enforce his imperious commands exactly as issued?
Goddamn it, GROW SOME FUCKING BALLS, and tell the simpering imbecile to take his veto and shove it up his ass. Some 65% of the American public wants the troops out of Iraq, on precisely the terms the Democrats have proposed. Moreover, the Democrats have already compromised by producing a second bill, giving them additional political cover. Now is the time to tell the Imbecile-in-Chief – loudly and often – “You’ve got your funding bill; do whatever the fuck you want, but it’s the last one you’re getting. Feel free to veto it; if you do we’ll be delighted to cooperate in arranging an orderly transition for bringing the troops home from Iraq.
The result? Win/win situation for the Democrats. But, as I’ve said before, it does take the balls to take Bush by the back of the head and rub his snout in the pile of shit he deposited on the White House lawn. Stephen Colbert did it; let’s see if the Democrats can find the guts to do so too.
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Let's Not Be Naive
[Read the article: Poor, poor Gonzales]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]had_enough (pg. 3) has got it right (though lattitude's qualification is apt as well); Gonzales's performance isn't a question of stupidity or incompetence, but a deliberate and transparent strategy to neuter the Democratic Congress and deliver the message that the decisions of the Executive Branch are none of their fucking business.
This analysis strikes me as terribly naïve if it seriously proceeds along the assumption that the Republican Congress genuinely gives a shit about the integrity or political independence of the Justice Department, not to mention the administration of impartial justice itself. The Republican Party is a loathsome aggregation of corrupt, incompetent hacks who pollute the planet every time they steal a gulp of oxygen from deserving rats and feral pigs. They exist for several highly specific purposes: to keep “the blacks” from getting government money, to prevent women from controlling their sex lives, to establish evangelical Christianity as the official religion of the United States, and to turn the country into a authoritarian police state for the benefit of the banks and insurance companies. The Democratic Party should focus its efforts on achieving the most vitally important political ideal of the 21st Century, eliminating the rancid stink of Republicanism from every area of American life.
There’s at least one thing I’m absolutely sure of; if the Democrats allow Gonzales to spit in their faces with this “the-dog-ate-my-homework” bullshit and get away with it, I won’t have a goddamn thing to do with the next election if the Republicans put up Hitler as their nominee. GROW SOME FUCKING BALLS: Serve those subpoenas on Rove and Miers, adduce enough evidence to indict Gonzales (and – what’s more important – humiliate Bush), and take control of the federal government.