Letters to the Editor
DrTone
Published Letters: 15
-
Changing the Subject
[Read the article: Americans support NSA program? Not so fast]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One could tell from the Administration's denials and effort to change the subject to immigration that THEY knew, from their own polling, about Americans' inherent suspicion of government surveillance.
-
Co-opted Demonstrations
[Read the article: Where's the outrage?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There is a simple reason why I and many others who demonstrated against the war in Vietnam do not take to the streets over Iraq: Because of the ANSWER Coalition, if we go out to march against the war, we find ourselves marching in support of Abu Mumia Jamal, whoever he is. If ANSWER is not the result of a right-wing plot to suppress anti-war activity, it might as well be.
-
Coleman's "Courage"
[Read the article: The party line on Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's just possible that, instead of showing courage, Senators Collins and Coleman received permission to vote against the Republicans, because Leader McConnell already knew he had the votes to block debate. Both Collins and Coleman face tough re-election fights in states where the Iraq war is very unpopular. The Republican leadership knows that it will help them to look like they were bucking their party on Iraq. In the last Congress, the Republicans used this ploy many times.
-
More Disgusting Bush Comments
[Read the article: So who's playing politics with war funding?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the Republican talking points unveiled by Bush is that the Democrats' war funding bill will extend the tours of many military units and shorten their time home with their families. Under Bush's management of the war, both of these things are already happening. Typically, Bush is attempted to duck responsibility and blame his opponents for the mess he's created.
-
More Disgusting Bush Comments
[Read the article: So who's playing politics with war funding?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the Republican talking points unveiled by Bush is that the Democrats' war funding bill will extend the tours of many military units and shorten their time home with their families. Under Bush's management of the war, both of these things are already happening. Typically, Bush has attempted to duck responsibility and blame his opponents for the mess he's created.
-
Christopher & JT
[Read the article: "Sopranos" wrap-up: "Is this all there is?"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My wife and I think that JT's final utterance, "Christopher, you're in the Mafia," is the first time in the entire series that anyone has confronted one of the principals with the dreaded label. That might have had something to do with Christopher's killing of a "civilian," at least as much as JT's insufficiency as substitute AA sponsor. Any comments? Recollections?
-
Sheehan and Pelosi
[Read the article: Ready or not, here she comes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not quite sure what Cindy Sheehan means by "the politics of the unusual," but if it means circumventing the regular order in Congress, she has it all wrong. The Republicans have spent years, going back well before W's tenure, destroying the regular order with bogus resolutions, bogus votes, and a dictatorship of the lobbyists. It may be that impeachment is the only way to stop Bush and Cheney's war, but not if it means further distortion of the legislative process, this time by Democrats.
-
Hillary, Victim of Sexism
[Read the article: Thank you, Rush Limbaugh!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all, politics ain't beanbag, as Clinton advisor James Carville famously said. Candidates inevitably receive all manner of abuse. If some of her supporters don't know this, Hillary Clinton surely does. Of course she will draw catcalls and snide remarks; every candidate does. That she is a woman is sure to have an effect on the exact contact of such ugliness. I suggest you recognize the danger of the circular argument that relevant abuse hurled at Hillary is, ipso facto, sexist. It would be pretty weird if she received the exactly the same sort of attacks as her husband, for example, might receive.
To illustrate the unfairness that attaches to any candidate's personal characteristics, I refer you to the many jokes by Leno, Letterman, and others about McCain's age, which are far more unfair and pointed but, in the aggregate, possibly more damaging to his candidacy. By all accounts, McCain has more energy and resiliency than many people half his age (and of either sex). At any rate, these "agist" remarks are more common, visible, and constant than anything Hillary has had to face regarding her gender.
As to the "iron my shirt" comment or comments, which happened months ago. This so much reminds me of the continual Republican ragging of Kerry for his "I voted for it..." remark. Only worse. No one can control who says what at a political rally. Do you have any evidence of an anti-Hillary "iron my shirt" campaign?
As to Limbaugh's comment about a female President's aging, this is one time that Limbaugh said something halfway sensible. What he said is literally true. Given the huge toll that the Presidency takes on the incumbent, Hillary's physical condition and countenance are sure to change. Although Limbaugh undoubtedly meant his remark as reflecting a reason to dismiss Senator Clinton, it is literally and factually true: We don't know how Americans will react to the toll the Presidency takes on a woman. That is not against her candidacy or her chances, but is simply true, a rarity for Mr. Limbaugh's utterances.
If Randi Rhodes, a woman, called Clinton "a fucking whore," no one should be surprised. Randi Rhodes is an idiot who has a tiny audience. Just because Rhodes says something does not mean it is a prevailing opinion. Far from it.
All of this reminds me of when I was in college and women were insisting that the study of the past be called "hirstory."
-
Walsh Wins
[Read the article: My last word (for now) on sexism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]By acting like a girl. Boo-hoo.
-
A Precinct Heard From
[Read the article: My last word (for now) on sexism]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]OK. Joan Walsh doesn't feel she's up to a genuine debate. Maybe next time she'll stay out of the deep end. Meanwhile I've lost every bit of the respect for her that has accumulated over the years.
Here's something for Walsh to contemplate while she pouts: Why is it that virtually all the complaints about sexism aimed at Clinton come from upper-middle-class women of a certain age?
-
Hagee Not Just Anti-Catholic
[Read the article: McCain "glad" to have radical preacher's support]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Although his antediluvian anti-Catholicism is incendiary, it is by no means the John Hagee's most startling stand. For example, he traces the struggle in Palestine to its roots as a Biblical family argument between the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael, Abraham's other son. On the basis of this "logic," Hagee takes a major role in the support of Israel by American fundamentalists.