Letters to the Editor
Dave from the Lake Effect Zone
Published Letters: 7
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Only Nixon could go to China.
[Read the article: What was Charlie Crist thinking?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My theory on this is, it is an inevitability that there will be some provision enacted, probably by Democrats, that will guarantee voting rights to those who are free and clear of the criminal justice system. For the Republican governor of Florida to preemptively remove this unfairness has a great potential value to the Republican Party, particularly if a relatively new face were to do the work. Jeb Bush couldn't pull this off, since he strenuously defended the ban until his last day of office.
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Standards must be maintained.
[Read the article: Bloggers, Don Imus and free speech]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This includes standards of decency. Apparently, what Imus said was worth only a slap on the wrist as far as MSNBC is concerned. I guess the ability to capture eyeballs trumps the tendency to say some truly awful, stupid, not to mention racist things. I also shudder to think who might replace Imus if he were fired outright. CNN, for example, has pretty much shitcanned the basic concept of Headline News by tag-teaming Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck. I'm not sure who is watching that sort of tripe, but it isn't anyone in my household. But I digress.
As for bloggers, I have often found that standards, where they exist at all, are too often applied unevenly. For example, while "George W. Bush is a [expletive that will get me banned]." will result in swift action from the moderators of most right-wing blogs, "Hillary Clinton is a [same expletive that ought to get me banned, but probably won't]" is either ignored, or replied to innumerable times with "yeah, you got that right. Huh huh huh," or words to that effect. The reverse is usually true for left-wing blogs.
Nevertheless, claims by bloggers that they are not journalists aside, if there are no standards of decency, or no consequences when they are breached, we have what we have here with Mr. Imus, Mr. Beck, and Mr. Limbaugh and Howard Stern, who started all of this.
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The marketplace is irrelevant when it comes to talk radio.
[Read the article: Is Rush Limbaugh next?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just for grins, turn on Rush for an hour, and catalog his sponsors. You may find that the people who advertise on the Rush Limbaugh Show aren't exactly the big corporate giants (like Proctor and Gamble, for example) you usually want to court. They probably have more in common with the snake-oil salesmen who buy their spots on late-night cable TV. No way can these ads even cover Rush's gigantic salary. So what gives?
For all the talk about the marketplace running things better than anything else, conservatives conveniently forget that giant corporations like ClearChannel own nearly the entire radio industry. Do you think anyone in the ClearChannel universe would offer Sam Seder (for example) a job now that his weekday show has been cancelled? Not on your life. The people who pay the bills, and who knows who they really are, wouldn't stand for it. Why, if radio stations had to alternate conservative hate with even a middle-of-the-road show - the kind you might find on NPR - people might one day discover just how full of it Rush and Hannity, and O'Reilly really are.
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Why Democrats dumped gun control? That's easy.
[Read the article: Why Democrats dumped gun control]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Because they got creamed with it, not once, but several times. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that "hey, people really don't like it when we talk about gun control, so let's talk about something else, mkay?" You can be for gun control all you want, but until you get elected, you won't be able to implement squat. It really is just that simple.
Of course it's all about winning elections. It's about convincing enough people, many of whom are dumb as a box of rocks (and have guns), that you'd do a better job than the other guy. If only Adlai Stevenson realized that fact in time, he might have beaten Eisenhower. You can't say anything people don't want to hear, no matter how good your position is, or how beneficial to society implementing it would be. Point out that Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Pancho Villa have all been dead for over a century, and you're insulting them, only they need Republicans to point that out because they're not bright enough to figure that out on their own.
Politics makes mealy-mouthed weasels out of the best of either side of the aisle. That's just how it is.
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Kill Roe v. Wade already.
[Read the article: Abortion and the court, or the silver lining that isn't]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just do it. Bring it on, and all that. You know what will happen after that? The Republican Party will implode because they have nothing else of substance to say that will rally the holy-rollers.
Roe v. Wade is over-rated, anyway. Lots of developed nations proscribe abortion on demand, and they get along just fine. As long as comprehensive sex education and unlimited availability of contaceptives is part of the package, so will we.
In addition to all that, there is always the word, "no." Let the angry white males hear that magic word enough times, and they'll not have to wonder what they did to force women to say it. So enough already. Shitcan Roe v. Wade. Having all those right-wing nutjobs in charge of our nation's courts where they can affect every other aspect of life just isn't worth it.
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I could have told you it was a waste of time.
[Read the article: The way forward?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Talking to George W. Bush about something he doesn't want is like holding a summit meeting between two cats who hate each other. A complete waste of time and effort. Pelosi and Reid should have stayed on Capitol Hill, making deliberate efforts toward reconciling the war spending bill so that it reaches the President's desk literally at the eleventh hour. The Republicans would be expected to do the same if the roles were reversed.
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He had outlived his usefulness.
[Read the article: Sanjaya sent packing!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It was time to pull the plug. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear one day of vote rigging on the part of the producers to get rid of Sanjaya. I would be even less suprised if Rupert himself gave the order.
Still, Fox reality shows are on my permanently given up for Lent list.