Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 2149 Editor's Choice: 7
-
@Jim
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]cannot believe the American people will let it happen, or that the American military establishment will send its worn-out troops and materiel to invade yet another country. Such a degree of silence and complaisance on the part of the American people just doesn't seem possible.
Of course your right. People who forget just how crazy things were in 2003 don't realize that in spite of all the inevitable comparisons, we really are less inclined to just go marching off without question. That's the good news. The bad news is that as long as GW is CIC and beleives that the current AUMF applies (given that he's trying to assert that Iran is actually a participant in the Iraq war), then I have no reason to doubt that he could order a massive airstrike after which the actual debate would be moot.
-
It is possible.....
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]that much of what is going on is bluster and is intended for its diplomatic and political effect rather than signalling an actual imminent attack. But its worth pointing out at this time that our Constitution was specifically written to make this kind of posturing and threatening impossible. Not only was the power to make war specifically entrusted to the lower house so that such decisions would be made by those closest to the people but military appropriations were specifically limited to two years so that the executive could not feel that he had an army at his disposal to do with as he saw fit.
The founders understood human nature and were afraid of what would happen if these guidelines were not adhered to. It appears they were dead-on.
-
@xititjur99
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As i said in the last thread....
Never underestimate the power of delusion.
An attack on Iran probably would push W's numbers up briefly until cold dark reality set back in. We are after all merely talkative apes. Don't expect anything resembling logic except in cold hindsight.
-
Has anyone yet gathered any polling numbers
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]on how an Iran attack will play in Peoria?
While we're sitting here speculating on whether an Iran attack would spike W's numbers or not, certainly the people responsible for such decisions have already done the necessary research. Has anyone else?
-
Since when do countries "think"?
[Read the article: The president's escalating war rhetoric on Iran]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the most poisonous delusions that infect human thought is the tendency to anthropomorphize. Our troll provided a nice example but the disease is quite widespread and responsible for much of human misery. Iran is a large collection of individuals, each of whom is capable of entertaining many independent thoughts and many of whom are able to act in concert to modify the behavior of the country as a whole.
In this context a phrase such as "a country that sees it as its holy duty" is utterly incoherent but that doesn't stop people from thinking like that all the time. One might as well refer to a "country that's feeling a little under the weather due to something it ate".
-
The eeewww factor.
[Read the article: Forcing Larry Craig's resignation while embracing David Vitter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is a post that is of course seriously overdue. Clearly the whole "family values" issue is a sham. There are no principles involved. But the issue does have power. The reason it has power is sadly there are certain things that make many people uncomfortable to contemplate. For many people, sex between two men is high on that list. (I'm assuming that for many straight men the contemplation of sex between two women doesn't elicit the same reaction.)
So what we have is an entire edifice of outrage and moral indignation built up over what at its core is just personal discomfort. The reason Rush traipsing off to the DR for a little chemically enhanced recreation doesn't elicit the same reaction is because it simply doesn't cause the same discomfort.
-
Not to jump in but....
[Read the article: Forcing Larry Craig's resignation while embracing David Vitter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Certainly the capitalization of "Our Children" accompanied by the assumption that Glenn doesn't have children makes it clear that he's parodying a point of view as opposed to defending it.
-
I noticed that too...
[Read the article: Forcing Larry Craig's resignation while embracing David Vitter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Shooter is making even less sense than usual
Maybe instead of "heh" he meant "huh?"
-
plea-change coverage....
[Read the article: Forcing Larry Craig's resignation while embracing David Vitter]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-plea30aug30,1,6880447.story?track=rss&ctrack=4&cset=true
-
The fear of not doing enough.....
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]never underestimate the power of transparent manipulation
I find it helpful to think of the perspective of individual field agents. In many ways, they're in the same conundrum as our Congresscritters. If anything were to happen on their watch, the flak they would catch would be for being insufficiently intrusive. Can anyone imagine a scenario wherin an FBI agent gets in trouble for too aggressive spying? Not in this day and age. So the situation is guaranteed to get worse. Without any kind of check, the only way the system can evolve is toward more spying and less freedom.
The bottom of this particular slippery slope is of course the realization of Orwell's worst nightmares.
-
So is there any doubt....
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Of course it's too early to tell whether this is simple criminal activity, a probe of capability by actual terrorists or something contrived to illustrate the value of this glorious system.
that getting a warrant for any pertinent surveillance would be a no-brainer.
None of this is about whether or not to engage in surveillance. It's simply about requiring a second opinion that the surveillance is appropriate. That and trusting the likes of Alberto Gonzales to do the right thing in all cases!
-
I've always thought it an amusing but paranoid speculation.....
[Read the article: Warrantless surveillance and the new Coretta Scott King disclosures]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congressional Democrats actually seem to become weaker and more accommmodating with every day that passes. Even when you think that they cannot get any weaker or more accommodating, they always manage to prove you wrong.
that among the data collected by the NSA was what we might politely refer to as actionable intelligence against Congress members. As time passes however, this idea seems less and less fantastic.