Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 2149 Editor's Choice: 7
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There comes a point
[Read the article: The NYT on the administration's "debate" over whether to attack Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]during the course of debate and discussion where one has gained enough experience with the others involved in the discussion that one need no longer read every word that's put forth in said discussion if one considers the source.
We've all been exposed to Mr 242 enough to know that, even when he happens to by random chance say something reasonable, any response that actually adresses the facts of his argument will be ignored and any response that allows him to spout sweeping generalizations about the people here without any consideration of our actual identities will be seized upon to say something rude.
Fortunately there are many people who can be disagreed with yet engaged in reasonable debate.
Mr. 242 is not among them.
PS: His original post presupposes that there is a military option AVAILABLE that is able to deal with the Iran situation. Therefore any discussion about the details of our intelligence capability that his post might inspire will already be based on a false premise.
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@LWM
[Read the article: The NYT on the administration's "debate" over whether to attack Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for the research.
I will officially abandon any concern I might have been feeling.
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Humans limitations
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was thinking about the last thread while driving to work and the subject of your current post seems to support this thought.
We humans are complex beings but I'm convinced that our rationality is pretty much an afterthought, evolutionarily speaking. What I see, time and again, is that people arrive at their conclusions and/or course of actions first by unconscious processes and only then do they concoct the rational explanation that they can then use when the need to justify their actions or answer any questions that arise.
I'm sure notions of "pure" good and evil are common to all of us and affect our thinking but some of us have better powers of self-reflection which allow us to view ourselves as if seen from outside. After 9-11 however the vast oversimplification of "pure" good or evil that your book documents provided both comfort and cover for morally dubious actions.
By now the comfort has worn off, but the cover provided for our criminals-in-chief lives on.
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Transubstatiation
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even if we do the same thing that they do, i.e., Wrong and Bad things, our actions are transubstantiated into Right and Good because we are Right and Good.
This is, of course, the same mechanism which magically transforms people into terrorists the instant we target the house they occupy or take them into custody.
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Too bad this even needs to be explained.
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]because he knows that a lot of us want to know. We've been waiting for this book. Many have asked about pre-ordering and he asked that we wait for this announcement for reasons explained.
It reminds me of someone showing up at a Dead show in 1987 and wondering why they don't get to hear "In the Dark" in its entirety.
I'll also mention that shooter has once again managed to illustrate the point of the post, insofar as he's utterly incapable of differentiating between Iraqis and terrorists.
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Quite the piece of work.
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I disagreed with the War in Iraq from the beginning, and I deeply regret the horrible conflicts between Iraqis that were unleashed. However, I'm beginning to think that, regardless of American intervention or nonintervention, Iraqis are incapable of ever settling their differences, much less peaceably, so long as they cling to primitive tribal and sectarian models and refuse to join the civilized world.
Damn, the flamers are pouring extra gasoline into the fuel tanks of their flame throwers today!
To those who responded negatively to my earlier post let me just say that I resent being called a racist. It's not racist to recognize thuggery, brutality and murderousness in other humans of whatever culture, my own included. I'm appalled by the scale and intensity of the violence occurring in Iraq, whether committed by Sunni, Shiite, Al Qaeda or the U.S. military.
Mr. Brown is apparently THE self-appointed arbiter of civilized behavior. He also apperently has a long-running beef with people who actually engage in self-promotion.
Oh well....
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A universal struggle between good and evil.
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Even if the principle actors don't view the world in precisely that manner, you must admit that it makes good copy. Since making good copy is precisely what it takes to sell reading and viewing material, there is a confluence of influences which act together to bring about the effect Glenn observes. A gullible public hungry for simplistic story lines, an amoral press more than willing to provide them for profit, and self-serving politicians more than willing to stoke the fires in the service of their own lobbyist-friendly agenda and all the sudden - Armageddon!
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Fun with Google....
[Read the article: Preordering week for "A Tragic Legacy"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://hnn.us/articles/7202.html
Calling Bush's Views Manichean Is an Insult to the Manicheans
By Dan Skinner
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What galls me more than anything
[Read the article: Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is how the people of whom Cohen is an example but of course it includes David Broder and Joe Klein and countless others I choose to ignore, are identified as liberal. They are not liberal but by being labeled as such they not only skew the way news coverage is depicted but they also reinforce the worst stereotypes of East Coast elitists.
Versailles indeed.....
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The Darkness brings up an interesting point
[Read the article: Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Greenwald and his colleagues haven't exactly burned up the available supply of pixels in demanding prison terms for the leaks of classified materials that have been irritating to the Bush administration.
Fitz himself was aware of this aspect of the case which is why he made it a point NOT to invoke the espionage act. He was aware that when members of the government are themselves are guilty of criminal conduct, there is nothing quite so useful as the ability to classify the evidence. It's also worth noting that at no time, were journalist at risk for prosection for revealing classified information.
Of course the fact that they were at risk of jail time for sheilding their sources helps explain why they're all gathering in that tight circle to defend Libby.
Leave it to a Chicagoan to refuse to play by DC rules.
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E & P has a nice mention of this post.....
[Read the article: Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003600521