Letters to the Editor
debpet
Published Letters: 204 Editor's Choice: 14
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Another option
[Read the article: TV Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The PBS station in my area (eastern Iowa)is going to have classical music programming on New Year's Eve, including a concert with violinist Joshua Bell and a program of highlights from the broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera over the last 30 years. I think I'll curl up with a bowl of popcorn to enjoy those, only turning the channel for a few minutes when the ball is actually about to drop.
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Bush's unconcern
[Read the article: Quote of the Day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]An earlier poster, eesmier, speculated that Bush has no reason to be cncerned about what happens in Iowa because he has no plans to leave office. I wish I didn't have the nagging, prickling suspicion that there might be something to that. It is a little hard to just blithely assume that after Bush, Cheney and their cohorts have made such strenuous efforts to accumulate power in the executive, bypassing constitutional checks and effective oversight, they would simply and routinely hand that power over to someone else. Especially since there is a very real chance that the person could be someone whose political orientation is just the opposite of theirs. Can we really put it past Bush, Cheney and company to pull some kind of fast one? Their conduct in office hasn't exactly shown a high regard for the Constitution or the rule of law. I think we had better be very alert to any indication of something funny going on.
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Misspelling
[Read the article: Quote of the Day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That was essmeier whose speculation I was responding to.
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How would Edwards do it?
[Read the article: The politics of not nice]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]OK, so Edwards keeps saying you can't make nice and negotiate with the corporate interests. So exactly how does he expect to wrest power away from them? Frankly, I don't see that he's in any better position to do that than Obama is. And the truth is that the ability of any Democratic president to force real change is going to depend on having enough support in Congress to overcome the obstructionism of the opposition. Electing any of the Democrats won't be enough unless we are also able to solidify the Democrats' hold on both the House and Senate.
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Whose plight?
[Read the article: Clinton gets emotional]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary Clinton is not my first choice for the Democratic nomnation, still, I do not like to see her unfairly savaged. It seems to me that her words were at least as much, maybe more, about the plight of the country than about her own political plight.
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Understated support for Hillary
[Read the article: Does race explain the polling disconnect?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The idea that the polls before the election did not overstate the support for Obama or Edwards but significantly understated the support for Clinton is interesting and plausible, but it raises the question of how that happened. Where did Hillary's extra support come from? I'm guessing that perhaps a sympathetic backlash against the appallingly unfair media coverage she had received over the last few days caused significant numbers of undecideds and independents, especially women, to turn to her at the last moment.
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Ironic
[Read the article: The Kucinich court decision and "judicial activism"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's rather ironic how much the right wingers complain about "judicial activism" when what they really want is judges who will be activist in support of THEIR positions.
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Inadequate
[Read the article: Chris Matthews' mea culpa]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I did not actually see Mr. Matthews make his statement, so my inpression is totally based on the account of it in this article. And on that basis I have to say that I found it totally inadequate. He seems to focus way too much on the particular comment regarding Bill having "messed around" and the effect of that on Hillary's career, which was an important, but far from the only, example of his problem with regard to women. There is a whole list of his remarks that show a long standing pattern of disrespect or outright animosity toward women, and to Hillary Clinton in particular. He seems to be trying to pass it all off as slips brought on by the pressues faced by pundits in the current charged political atmosphere, while insisting that his intentions are pure. And I saw nothing in his statement that acknowledges that his own attitude may in fact be a problem.
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Christian does not equal Republican
[Read the article: Barack Obama: "Committed Christian -- Called to Bring Change"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe it isn't a bad thing for people to be reminded that being a person of faith, specifically a Christian, doesn't mean being a conservative Republican. Despite the lack of attention they receive compared to the "evangelicals" there are many people out there whose understanding of Jesus' teachings about regarding each other as brothers and sisters and helping those in need leads them more toward liberalism and the Democratic Party. And if Obama can help make that clear it will be a positive thing.
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People who talk...
[Read the article: McCain: Clinton would "surrender" in Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The people who talk about Iraq in the terms McCain is using are simply forgetting, or rather not admitting, that this is a fight we should never have gotten into in the first place. Given that fact, disengaging ourselves in such a way as to cause the least additional damage possible is not surrendering. Rather, it is the most responsible course open to us.
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Rights and Responsibilities
[Read the article: John Gibson wants rappers arrested for their lyrics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The First Amendment does indeed protect the right of artists to create their work as they choose. But that doesn't automatically make their choices good ones. They bear responsibility for the choices they make and their consequences. The constant stream of hypersexuality, misogyny, racism and profanity heard in some of the most popular forms of contemporary music does have a degrading effect on our culture. Face up to it - a culture in which language such as "m___f___ker" is common usage is coarser and less humane for that. While I would not advocate legal action to stymie any form of artistic expression I do believe that that the artists need to think more seriously about the impact their choices have. And consumers of music have a responsibility to be more careful about the kind of product they support with their dollars as well.