Letters to the Editor
blunderdog
Published Letters: 772 Editor's Choice: 12
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Twiddles is a Sophomore
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Someday, after everyone's forgotten about this thread, his wife will have been an oil-rig foreman. Or maybe an MP in Iraq, nuclear power-plant safety director, etc.
It's always obvious who's actually had some experiences and who hasn't when you read posts on real issues. When dueling with an "opponent" who has never had any experience with anything, just think back to what YOU used to be like when you were 19.
It'll save ya the carpal tunnel.
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No, Silly
[Read the article: The D.C. establishment versus American public opinion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Whether the people believe that Petreaus will give or has given an accurate depiction of the events in Iraq is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether Petreaus will give or has given an accurate depiction of the events in Iraq." Stlucid
There is no "question" of whether Petreaus will give or has given an accurate depiction of the events in Iraq. That's not a question. The question, well worth exploring, is whether the American public will buy any more of the misinformation they've been fed for years.
Hence the relevance of the poll results.
Hopefully there'll come a time when the people will be annoyed enough to do something. Doesn't look like anyone's ready yet. Just keep on moaning, posting, and voting.
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"Getting Out"
[Read the article: A one-day guide to war supporters and their enablers]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the administration's decision to get out of Iraq will occur just as soon as they ratify a plan for profit-sharing of oil revenue.
But as a citizenry, we shouldn't tolerate that long a wait. Given that there's no effective government of Iraq at the moment, it doesn't much help us if we manage to beat them into "ratifying" anything.
So the "get out" strategy as it stands should involve two steps. A dramatic reduction in number of US troops in Iraq, and the request of peace-keeping/security forces from other countries to move in and prevent a full-scale sectarian war.
With the reduction in combat troop levels, we fall back to our newly-built military bases and maintain a "permanent" presence.
It's certainly not what anyone really wants, but it's what's going to end up happening--it's just a question of whether it starts in 2008 or 2012. Keeping a sizable force on the ground in Iraq is just providing pissed-off Iraqis with a LOT of targets they really hate.
As is evident by now, NO ONE has a clue what's going to happen if we stay in Iraq. No one has a clue what's going to happen if we BAIL, either. Personally, my bet is that the predictions of the war-supporters will turn out to be more wrong than the predictions by anyone else, simply because that's the track-record they've earned over the past 5 years.
I suspect that replacing US troops with international forces to provide local security will dramatically reduce the amount of "insurgent" activity, primarily because it won't have been international security forces who killed everyone's loved ones. It should become obvious within a few months whether there's hope for successful cooperation between the Shia and Sunni Iraqis. (I don't think anyone worries about problems from the Kurds, primarily because they're virtually autonomous already.)
So there's a plan, Ondelette. What do you think? It reduces troop levels, provides Iraqi security for awhile so they can try to build a government, and it leaves our important investments well-fortified.
Would the fence-sitters who fear a civil war in Iraq be convinced by such a tactic?
You know there's no convincing the war-profiteers, so they're right off the list of people to worry about. Same with the administration.
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Speaking of Technology...
[Read the article: Are clean shirts and energy efficiency only for the rich?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Isn't the real issue here just that people have no way of evaluating the "washing quality" of the unit? They have numbers for the efficiency (thanks to gummit), but no big "WashStar Rated:" sticker on the side.
OK, ok, a bit of a joke there. I don't want the government involved in regulating wash-power.
But hey, the innertoobz is here! And WiFiFoFum!
We have pretty cheap communications and data aggregation technology. Someone might even be able to find a way to make a buck collating all the information from washer-owners into a massive online searchable database which crunches information and generates a WashStar Rating for every washer that's sold more than 10,000 units.
Or something like that.
You'd think guys as smart as Tierney and Tabarrok would already have realized that the brilliance of Free Markets will save us. They're crying crocodile tears over the poor getting ripped off, when they don't see the MARKET OPPORTUNITY to steal...er...earn that extra $400 the rich are paying.
It's not really funny they don't believe their own hype, I guess.
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Debts
[Read the article: Feingold: On 9/11, ask the right questions]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]So, what do we owe the Iraqi people and who will pay the cost?
We owe them a speedy departure and as much material and diplomatic assistance as we are able to provide. It's their country, they don't want us there, and we owe 'em for what we broke and can compensate for.
Since you ask.
We and our future generations will pay the cost.
I believe that what's described above is the MINIMUM cost. We'll pay a lot more in lives, integrity, and reputation after we fail miserably to pay on any of the above debts.
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No Kiddin?
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Right-wing and as far as I know, possibly libertarian, think tanks pay people to post their views on discussion boards and their posting style is often like Tilde's."
How do I get one of those gigs? Do they pay by the post, or the number of responses it gets? I could do a lot better than twiddles and just set up a bot to do some sporadic drivel-posting while I'm actually working.
I checked Craigslist already...
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@ Retired Military Patriot
[Read the article: One-sided rules of political debate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"They have no business leading men and women into maiming and death if they make this choice."
It seems to me the problem that we have businessmen sending to men and women into maiming and death. Not so much leading.
Great post.