Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 43 Editor's Choice: 1
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I Think He Meant....
[Read the article: Did Bush lie about Rove -- or did Rove lie to him?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think what Tim meant to say was (corrections in bold): "Over at AMERICAblog, John Aravosis has sleuthed out two good reasons: If the report is true, Bush may have lied. And if the report is not true, Rove may have lied.
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Paglia on Maddona
[Read the article: Dancing as fast as she can]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't known which is sadder: Paglia comparing Madonna to Diana Rigg (a true artist) or Paglia relying on a CNN Internet to bolster her argument. Yes, Madonna albums are always accompanied by a barrage of hype; but that's because Madonna is more commodity than artist.
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A Sad Ending to a Once-Great Show
[Read the article: Series wrap-up: "The West Wing"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find the letters posted here about the episode more interesting than the episode itself, which had to be one of the most boring hours of TV ever broadcast on a major network. I watched the first season after Sorkin left, and it was clear the show was jumping the shark. The first seasons were brilliant, but the sad fact is that this show has not been very good in a very long time.
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On Altman
[Read the article: Goodbye, Mr. Altman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The discussion here of the relative merits of Altman's work is interest, but I'd like to pose a question to those who don't think much of his work. Even if you view particular works as failed or offensive, isn't Mr. Altman a great example of that nearly extinct species... an artist whose medium is film?
What working director in the Hollywood today approaches film primarily as art? For all of the thosands of credits clsaiming "a film by..." how many are actually the work of a diorector with individuality, art, and vision?
Soderberg maybe, in the films without "Ocean" in the title. After that, pickings are slim.
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Primarily as Art
[Read the article: Goodbye, Mr. Altman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As I said, after Altman and Soderberg, pickin's are slim.
"Primarily as art" - I would agree with P.T. Anderson, and would add Scorses... but with little few else on your list.
I'm sorry, to me Altam was a giant from a golden age of directors in the 1970s. The indies and foreigners you list just don't have the clout. Guest? Approaches films as an art? He's very funny, but Art?
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Kalfus - "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country"
[Read the article: Salon Book Awards]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been telling all my friends to read this fine book. In most best of lists this year, it was overlooked... undeservedly. I was glad to see in (and Kalfus hiself) on Salon's list.
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Thank You!
[Read the article: Best nonfiction of 2006]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks so much for printing these end-of-year best-of lists for non-fiction, fiction, debuts. I look forward to dipping into all of these at my library and reading several of them.
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I agree with Cindy
[Read the article: She's in]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've voted Dem in every Presidential election since I could vote. But if Hillary is the nominee I'll be looking to thrid parties. I can't vote for someone who will divide the country. We need to be unified.
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Deeply Unfunny Headline
[Read the article: Well, at least he didn't shoot him]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Given the breaking news from Virginia Tech (21 dead), this headline is deeply offensive and should be altered.
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Imus Isn't Gone; He's Moving to XM-Sirius
[Read the article: Is Rush Limbaugh next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find it deplorable that Sirius was quick to pick up Imus. However much I enjoy the opera and jazz programming on my satellite radio, I know that more of my monthly fees will be going to support Imus (and Stern and Don and Mike and Glenn Beck and Michael Savage) than will be going to support the programming I enjoy.
I call on all XM & Sirius employees and subscribers to complain to the management. We should not allow satellite radio to become a haven for racism and hate speech.
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What Jumps Out at Me...
[Read the article: Brand Petraeus, by the numbers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What if we pulled out of Iraq, and - as a good will gesture - used some of the $3 billion we're spending per week to pay for all of the electricity in the country? Free power for everyone, saving each family $171 per month.
Heck, I'd rather we foot this bill for 5 years rather than lose another American life over their civil war.
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TIM... Your link to THOMAS doesn't work
[Read the article: Rush Limbaugh and the "phony soldiers"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You may delete this message once you've fixed the link
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The Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
[Read the article: Salon Book Awards 2007]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross. A sweeping, engrossing history of 20th century classical music, which encapsulates the history of the century itself. How could you have overlooked this?
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Hmm... Funny thing...
[Read the article: FCC votes to allow further media consolidation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I looked at the front page of the Washington Post this morning... and there was nothing on this. You'd think this was an important story.. I wonder why it wasn't... oh... never mind.
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Oh great... another huge unfunded mandate
[Read the article: Mike Huckabee wants to abolish the IRS]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To all those who thing this would abolish the IRS and be rid of a huge bureaucracy, think again.
Huckabee's plan calls for "prebates" which are monthly government checks sent to every household in the United States (the purpose here is to offset the inherent regressiveness of a consumption tax). Look for millions to go to contractors to program and implement a computer system to do this, as well as a healthy bureaucracy to manage monthly checks.
And what - pray tell - would happen to our consumer-spending driven economy when Joe SixPack figures out that the way to avoid taxes is to stop spending?
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Too Quick to Write Off Candidates
[Read the article: For Clinton, some pre-postmortems]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Excuse me, but weren't the pundits all writing off John McCain from last July through last week?
Let's take a deep breath here. Ms. Clinton has lost one (count 'em, one) caucus. Even if she loses NH, isn't it way to early to write her (and Edwards and Richardson) off?
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Where to Start?
[Read the article: "We're all fascists now"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Goldberg espouses so much onsense it's difficult to know where to start.
Let's look at one example of his flawed reasoning. "What is fascist is the notion that in an organic national community, the individual has no right not to be healthy." Well, OK, I suppose that MIGHT be fascistic, but I don't know of *anyone* *anywhere* who has ever claimed that individuals have no right not to be healthy.
First, a lot of us support (enthusuastically) universal health care; it does not follow that a single-payer health plan providing benefits to everyone somehow magically removes "a right to be unhealthy."
Second, isn't it the right wing that argues for "original intent" and against extrapolated rights not explicitly specified in the Constitution? If Goldberg can construe a right to be unhealthy, why can't liberals construe a right for a woman to decide whether or not to have an abortion?