Letters to the Editor
calgodot
Published Letters: 257 Editor's Choice: 6
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Koppelman is ridiculous
[Read the article: Examining the reaction to Clinton's hospital story]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Before he just seemed like a biased hack. Now Koppelman reminds me of a press secretary.
This post attempts to deconstruct another famous Hillary Clinton "lie." In his rush to defend Clinton, Koppelman reveals that in this one instance, Clinton did not actually "lie" - as in consciously tell an known untruth - but she was instead "mistaken," she "misspoke," or she was poorly informed. At worst, she was careless about and unconcerned with the facts. Someone else, not Hillary, is to blame for this "mistake."
Koppelman deserves the Tony Snow Award for Spin on this piece. It reminds me of the various Bush press secretaries, how they spin a lie into a half-truth, then into misspeaking, and finally into being misinformed. Maybe that's where Koppelman belongs, shilling for some liar in a suit, rather than posing as a journalist.
Hillary Clinton is little more than George W. Bush in a pantsuit.
And Alex Koppelman is Tony Snow without the paycheck.
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Elephantman is funny
[Read the article: The problem with comparing Obama to Tiger Woods]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He's upset that a staged political event was, well, stage-managed. And wonders why no one else is as upset about some poor college kid having to move over a few seats.
E-man: this is what happens when you let your ideological commitment to a particular party become your primary focus, rather than using your reason like you'd use a good knife: carefully, to cut, no matter what it is cutting. You appear to be addled a bit these days, missing the forest because you're focused on a tree. (And sometimes, it seems, a tree that isn't even there!) You seem intent on maintaining a contradictory and countervailing systems of standards, rationalizing the irrational in your preferred candidate, which requires you to lower your bar every time your candidate makes a mistake.
You know as well as the rest of us the comment wasn't intended to "insult" Obama as much as remind those of racist bent that McCain is their man in November. Just as the Clinton's comments in South Carolina weren't meant to insult Jesse Jackson as much as signal to Southern Democrats that Hillary Clinton is 'white like them.' Yet you would pretend otherwise, and express faux bewilderment that anyone would be insulted by having Obama compared to Tiger Woods.
Just as the Democrats have been blind-sided by the subtle racism of their own party, McCain (if he cares) should be cautious about associating with the similar racism in the Republican party. If you want McCain to win in November, then perhaps you'd do better to demand more from him rather than insist that everyone lower their approval bar to your level.
(BTW: This message should be seen as a bipartisan one, with advice that would serve well all three campaigns, as well as those would see their favored candidate win. Obama needs to distance himself from nuts like Wright, just as Hillary needs to distance herself from nuts like Ferraro, just as McCain needs to distance himself from racist loonies inthe GOP.)
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The South Shall Rise Again
[Read the article: The United States is not occupying Alabama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'd bet the number is much lower throughout the Southeastern United States. Call it a hunch.
Don't bet on it.
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I Blame Rock Music
[Read the article: Don't blame YouTube, MySpace for teen beating video]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I blame rock music. And television. And violent movies. And South Park. (Oh, and those other cartoon kids. Beavis, Butthead, and Bart.) Let's also not forget rap videos and rap music, without which there would be no violence or misogyny.
Additionally, these kids are no doubt hepped up on drugs of some kind. Marijuana causes violence, you know, and is the saem thing as given an AK-47 to Osama. I blame drugs for all this, too. If they'd just had a few beers none of this would have happened. Nobody gets violent on beer.
Hippies are to blame. I just read that the Sixties were a load of crap. Hippies created this culture of permissiveness. These kids' parents were probably hippies in the Sixties. Even if they weren't, they probably wanted to be.
I also blame the schools and their zero-tolerance of bullies. School is where the beating should have occurred. Damn those libs in the school system. If we could just paddle kids like this at school (like they did in My Day!), then they wouldn't get violent with each other.
And abortion. Don't forget about abortion. If abortion was outlawed, then kids would have more respect for life.
And then there's the parents. Where were they anyway? Probably off working two jobs in order to struggle through life with the bare amenities. Vicious bastards.
The internet is of course also to blame. The internet is the root of all evil.
Kids didn't beat the hell out of each other before there was television, the internet, rock music, sick cartoons...
Etc.
(Oh, and Elvis. I blame Elvis. Damn his swiveling hips!)
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Tancredo's A Fool
[Read the article: Tancredo's one-track mind]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But even a fool can be right sometimes.
There is a growing and serious problem with former and active gang members, primarily in the US Army. As "kickstarts" notes, there are gang tags all over Baghdad. Military personnel photographing themselves flashing gang signs. The Pentagon is taking it very seriously, apparently.
It's not Petraeus' area (although some urban police forces are studying his insurgency tactics), so I wouldn't be surprised if he knows nothing about it.
As far as what they do when they get home: it's speculation at this point. But it's not hard to imagine that, after serving 18 months in Baghdad, some gangbanger isn't going to be less inclined to violence, nor less skilled. And the very last thing we want to do is train MS-13 street warriors to be more efficient killers.
Tancredo may be a jingoistic racist meathead, but he's not far off the mark on this one.