Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 2149 Editor's Choice: 7
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@Trunk-guy
[Read the article: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your arguments would make a lot more sense if they actually like uh made sense.
Now, with the media pandering the newest Jessica Lynch story with an anti-military slant, they are once again the gold standard of what is right and proper.
Glenn is pretty consistent on his judgement of the media. You on the other hand can't seem to keep your story straight for two hours at a time.
Oh well....
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Checklist
[Read the article: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]so much that she burned the flag
aka engaged in protected political speech as enshrined in the Constitution written by patriots who had just engaged in armed rebellion against their government....check
equated her native country with the Third Reich
lets see, Invaded a country based on a manufactured pretext....check
Spirits their alleged enemies away and subjects them to cruel experimantation....check...
demonizes whole popualtions based on nothing more than their religious beleif.....check
That's coming from someone who not only loves America but as LWM and Paul R. would testify actually comes in here and argues Conservative viewpoints.
The current Republican party has lost all pretense to patriotism. They've been trying to trash our founding documents for years and they're finally being called on it.
Don't pretend that you can tell me who hates America Mr. Pachydermatitis...
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Not a single one of whom were in Iraq.....
[Read the article: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Hamas", "Islamic Jihad", "The Muslim Brotherhood", "Al Qaeda", the "Taliban"
We gave up the fight against those folks in 2003. Where were you?
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@Paul R
[Read the article: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't forget:
Ignorance is Strength
War is Peace and my newly coined favorite:
Stupidity is Virtue
(or was that "contageous?)
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Rather than "whoring"
[Read the article: The Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch frauds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]shall we speak of selling one's soul
I personally managed to never have to pee in a cup. On the other hand I was once called upon to participate in the firing of someone who did and failed.
We'll leave it to the audience to decide who is more guilty of throwing their values aside for a dollar.
(hint....it's me.)
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Cause for optimism
[Read the article: Interview with Charlie Savage]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for providing this. It is always good to be reminded that there are people out there doing the important work that needs to be done, and that while cynicism is usually justified, despair is not.
Of course , the fact that the best reporting we are exposed to comes via a number of radio shows, MSNBC, numerous bloggers and online columnists -- and Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." should give us pause.
I also liked the use of the phrase:
a healthy degree of skepticism to official pageantry, be they press releases or elaborate bill signing ceremonies or anything else that is deliberately crafted for public consumption.
This is especially appropriate coming at the heels of the The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where all the poisonous effects of "Official Pageantry" come out in full force.
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OT...But pertinent.
[Read the article: Interview with Charlie Savage]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think this is a good topic for a future post. It speaks directly to the issue of executive overreach.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2518728220070426
Condoleezza Rice:
But there is a constitutional principle. This all took place in my role as national security adviser and there is a separation of powers and advisers to the president are -- under that constitutional principle -- not generally required to go and testify in Congress," she added. "So I think we have to observe and uphold constitutional principle.
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Conservative counterweight
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When discussing facts, counterweight is unnecessary. Everything we "knew" about Iraq in 2003 has been shown to be factually false. That the press, with the notable exception of Knight-Ritter was complicit in disseminating false information is now undeniable. The political beliefs of anyone detailing this is quite irrelevant. Anyone who feels the need to keep harping on it, is unfortunately grasping at straws and fighting against reality.
Oh well.....
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Weapons of mass distraction
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's always instructive to watch R-Wingers in action. And thanks to the trolls, we can do so without leaving the comfort of our current discussion thread. The current troll is trying hard to sucker people into debating whether PBS and NPR are liberal or not. This is of course a completely irrelevant distraction from the question at hand. The only question that needs asking is "was the report accurate?"
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One last time....
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The facts are not ideologically balanced
To insist on balance is to promote lies.
But you all knew that.....
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Never underestimate the power of denial....
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even murderers on death row have stories they've told themselves to justify whatever it is that they've done. Genuine remorse is usually accompanied by a discontinuation of the behavior in question. Whatever else we can gather from empirical evidence, I can guarantee that the bafflement these folks are expressing over their shoddy coverage, is heartfelt and genuine.
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The meta-story...
[Read the article: The Bill Moyers documentary on our failed and barren press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This talk about blaming the opposition party for failing to provide the impetus to seek the truth reminds me of some of the other source-points of failure. TV news thrives on and requires conflict in order to generate interest. At a time when the Democrats generally thought it was important to show national unity (there are after all - actual enemies to deal with), the only good source for said conflict was coming from the entertainment sector. The skewering of Natalie Maines is of course the best know example. Once her statment made it out there, all of the sudden the dominant story was the backlash and the CD burning parties and the angry Country fans.
That story sold well, and it had the extra advantage of allowing the TV viewing audience to feel a part of it. The fact that she was absolutely correct got completely lost in the shuffle. It was a story about the story and as such, was self sustaining.
Of course, the same thinking still permeates our discourse. All i have to say is "John Edwards Hair" and you'll all know what I'm talking about...