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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
FilthyHarry
Published Letters: 1179 Editor's Choice: 25
I agree with the commenter who noted that what is important is that it has now been shown that it can be done. Two or three administrations down the road, some Rove-wannabe will look back and determine that it could have worked if only they were MORE ruthless, demanded MORE loyalty, punished dissent MORE harshly, etc...
That is is why I feel impeachment is important. It is vital to the future of our country to show that their are consequences to this kind of behavior or next time it'll be a lot more than just alleged terrorists whisked off to be held in secret prisons and tortured. The crackdown by authority will be smothering.
I know you think it can't get that bad, surely the press wouldn't sit on it's hands, afraid to be called 'unpatriotic' and let an administration run amok without exposing... nevermind.
Oddly enough the items about cold weather Drudge posts about are usually about FREAKISHLY aberrant cold weather events. Which I would think go a long way to pointing out that something is wrong.
I also came across him as a teen (figuratively, not literally). Cat's Cradle it was. Couldn't ask for a better primer to irreverence and a healthy disrespect for received wisdom. Ended up reading all that he'd written at that time by the time I was 20. Just in constant AWE that someone could say those things. The man drew a picture of an asshole in "Breakfast of Champions" in case you didn't know what one looked like (Maybe that is what Gore Vidal was referring to?) Pretty much the linchpin of my sense of humor from there on out. Everything can make you laugh or cry and you've got to take see it skewed.
P.S. I also agree Cat's Cradle is the best starter book. 128 pages, 131 chapters (or somewhere there abouts.) ALTHOUGH the $!$%#$ book-publishers now will only sell the new ver. that is over 200 pages in trade paperback size for around 12$ Do yourself a favor, buy an older ver. used from Amazon or some such.
It truly is shocking how far from the truth conservatives are on this.
Imus was not fired due to a liberal plot. He was fired for making offensive statements at work? Who here would not be fired for loudly exclaiming in the office something about the 'nappy-headed hos' in Marketing?
Come on conservatives, it's your vaunted free market in action! It works! Granted liberals may have made the noise that made Imus' bosses take notice but as a public radio broadcaster, but those liberals as listeners are the market and the were behaving freely. I didn't hear any conservatives pledging to make up the losses advertisers may have lost from continuing to sponsor Imus.
As far as the Fairness Doctrine it can be defended the same way conservatives defend the decline of their civil liberties due to an increase in police powers: If you have to fear/hide, then you should have no complaint.
I.E. Only lying, truth manipulating, fear-mongers whose arguments will not stand up to any kind of scrutiny need fear the Fairness Doctrine.
You really have to be up to no good to oppose the Fairness Doctrine.
Reminder: They are PUBLIC airwaves. That does not mean Rush shouldn't have his say, but it does mean that the company that uses OUR airwaves to provide him a platform has a responsibility to provide other/opposing platforms as well.
The AG's performance has to be looked at as a success in the context that he offered no smoking gun for wrongdoing and he completely covered for the administration.
Yes he looks either incredibly guilty or incompetent (or some combination of the two), but considering what he and the administration are guilty of (wide spread attempt to subvert nearly every department in the federal government to help maintain republican dominance forever and ever), if the only result is he resigns while being thought of as an idiot, it is certainly a win scenario for 'loyal bushies' everywhere.
In fact I think I see an award ceremony in his future.
The first time i read an article pointing out wage gap (late 90's (first time I read an article, not the first time there was an article)) I was shocked. You know growing up in America our educational system always describes societal problems in the past tense. It's certainly a shock to find out racism persists even after 'the 60's' and that sexism continues despite the 19th amendment's passage in 1920 (h/t to Schoolhouse Rock "Sufferin' til Sufferage") Anyway I couldn't understand how problems like wage disparity could exist in our wonderful country. The only thing I ever heard that sounded like it could make sense is that men are greater risk takers, i.e. they ask for more. Women, seek security, i.e. they lowball their asking salary. This really sounds good and it mollified me for a time until I kept hearing the conservative drumbeat of 'free market' over and over and it occurred to me that if woman made less than men for ANY other reason besides sexism, wouldn't our free market favor women hiring? Wouldn't the majority of middle management and up be predominantly female?
Conclusion: Sexism is alive and well.
I believe if employers paid women less than men for any reason having to do with women, (I.E. tendency to accept less pay) rather than an inherent systematic discriminating climate, wouldn't that be reflected in the market place? Wouldn't the complaints be from men complaining they can't get hired because they're not women?
I'm not sure the Justice Department will have much of a leg to stand on in arguing that Monica Goodling shouldn't testify considering that the Attorney General already testified about the matter under oath, televised and with a transcript.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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