Letters to the Editor
Baldie McEagle
Published Letters: 984 Editor's Choice: 3
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Sounds about right
[Read the article: Larry Di Rita's responses to questions about the "military analyst" program]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I certainly have reached the conclusion that the stress should be placed on the fact that the 'libertarians' are essentially right wingers, playing good cops to the neocon bad cops, hence my decision from now on to always label them with these quote marks, stressing their right wing nature while questioning the 'libertarian' aspect. This sort of labelling tactic works better, and is certainly easier to use, than endless disputations with them would be. It pre-empts discussion, by imposing an interpretation at the outset.
Many of them appear to be exactly that. Others are just reasonable people with a fixation. To me, the best thing libertarianism can be is a principled position one grows out of with experience, but with an intact sense of true individual responsibility and privacy. At their best, they stand up for all our rights; at their worst, they provide cover for the authoritarians and help convince more white people they got through life all by themselves with no help from being white (i.e., "American individualism").
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One good "heh"
[Read the article: Larry Di Rita's responses to questions about the "military analyst" program]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]deserves another!
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Corporations ...
[Read the article: Larry Di Rita's responses to questions about the "military analyst" program]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not opposed to corporations. I like the things they provide.
So do we all. It gnaws at me sometimes, how much I like those things.
But corporate personhood is hardly a libertarian concept---it's a corporatist myth. Still, you'll hear of people who talk like corporatists but style themselves as libertarians. And it's just not true.
Any time talking heads of any kind refer to the small businessman, the little guy, it's a lie. It's a favorite Big Tobacco propaganda technique. Republicans long ago proved they hate and fear both the little guy and the small businessman. Arguing that people ought to be allowed to do what they want does not in any way suggest that corporations are equally free. LESS free, if anything. But we'll learn that lesson all over again in the coming century, I'm sure.
Corporatism's other core myth---that corporations create wealth rather than just accumulate it or steal it outright---is also demonstrably false.
Rant over (for now).
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@Rowan
[Read the article: Larry Di Rita's responses to questions about the "military analyst" program]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What a bizarre and darkly cryptic comment from the Electric Troll. Guess we can surmise he has "ethnic terms" on his mind.
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scoot
[Read the article: Was Karl Rove involved in the military analyst program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whatever are you people going to do after January?
Hopefully, watch Bush and Rove get investigated by Congress. You'll still be here, of course, moaning about how unfair it is.
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Dorrance Smith did not follow Larry di Rita
[Read the article: Was Karl Rove involved in the military analyst program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Meet Dorrance Smith, Assistant Sec Def for Public Affairs:
http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000490
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dorrance_Smith
Di Rita was primarily the "DOD/Pentagon spokesperson."
— Larry Di Rita served in a variety of assignments at the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2006. In 2003, he was policy adviser to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs in Iraq.
He has a recent article in the National Review:
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=ZTNhY2NmN2ZjY2UwMzBmZTY2MjY0MzE0NmRiNDY1OWM=
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aka "Susan"
[Read the article: Was Karl Rove involved in the military analyst program?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]or, the creature formerly known as "Proximity Warning"
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Anti-Semitism!
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Smokestacks!
Camps!
Railroad cars!
Remember the Alamo!
Electro Robot
(You owe me one, Reilly)
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These 2 words made me chuckle
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"editorial staff"
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A sing-along
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In my country there is problem
And that problem is the troll
They take over the debate
And they never give it back
Throw the troll down the well (repeat line)
So my country can be free (repeat line)
You must grab him by his horns (repeat line)
Then we have a big party (repeat line)
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Luttwak is brilliant
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I've been a fan of his since Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook.
But I started looking askance at him when he started making claims that air power alone could win wars. It's an interesting notion, but every queen of the battlefield has always been replaced in turn by another one. He was out of place and out of line---and too much in step with the Pentagon.
And you have to wonder why a military historian doesn't bother asking the question why. Why would you want to win a war with air power alone? To save money on tanks? To carry out genocide with no casualties to your own side? It has no beneficial political purpose whatsoever.
You may as well claim the ability to build a better death camp.
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Dead on wrt Luttwak
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Kind of a cheap and superficial criticism, I know, but I think it's on target. You could say the same about a lot of so-called defense intellectuals and their output.
That's exactly why hearing him on the subject made me sad. He's just another neocon defense consultant now.
Although perhaps he always was that---perhaps his theories of "the levers of power" were just as cynical and wrong-headed as his theories of air power. I wonder if the CIA followed his advice when they hired Chalabi. But how quickly they gave up ...
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There are germs, and then there are germs
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Republican get away with the latter BECAUSE there is truth in the former. It is that germ of truth that allows them to smear Obama with notions of hidden motive.
Hundreds of words, and this claim is all your evidence. I've never heard anyone make the claims you cite about Israel at this blog. You'll find them in the Arab press and, I'm sure, plenty of other places. But not here. And I've never heard them from the "left," whatever that is, either.
You're making this up, WinSmith.
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Gay rights? Wha?
[Read the article: Finding Obama guilty of insufficient devotion to Israel]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The bot had better check his own couplings.
When "the gays" set up a foreign country and manage to gain disproportionate influence over American politics and foreign/military policy, then maybe you'll get a nibble, Electra.
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Beat me to it
[Read the article: Tom Friedman's latest declaration of war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Did he actually see Team America? If so, I'm guessing the satire went over his head.
He surely must have absolutely no sense of irony whatsoever, to speak the way he does. I can't believe he achieved such a state without medical intervention.
Did he have some lobe of his brain removed?