Letters to the Editor
-
a foggy morning.
I love the Various items to muse over and read. No comments from me.
-
A Related Various Item
Since this is Various Items day, Tim Rutten has a column in today's LA Times about the Fairness Doctrine and how he feels that's really what's behind the Rush Limbaugh outrage in Congress. They certainly can't be surprised he said something outrageously stupid:
Speaking up for freedom of speech
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-rutten6oct06,0,1622621.story?coll=la-home-center
I thought this part was interesting:
As a consequence, nine out of every 10 minutes of radio talk broadcast in America on any given day now takes a conservative view. That's true whatever the proclivities of the local market. San Francisco, for example, is probably the most liberal city in America, the only place in the country where Fidel Castro could drop into any corner bar and be assured of finding at least one person who'd buy him a drink. Yet 90 percent of all the talk radio broadcast in the Bay Area has conservative politics.
I don't listen to talk radio. This might be why!
-
regarding Frum, from TAPPED
From TAPPED:
THE NEOCON MERGE TEMPLATE REVEALED.
Read the following and see if you can guess whether David Frum is writing about Iraq back in 2003, or about Iran today:
"You want realism? It's this: The emerging US-____ confrontation is a confrontation of ___'s choice and ____'s making. It is ____ that has determined to seek nuclear weapons, ____ that has declared it will use those weapons aggressively against its neighbors, and ____ that has made a nonsense of the long negotiations with the UK, France, and Germany. We are rapidly reaching the point - maybe we have reached it already - where ____ has succeeded in reducing our choices to two: acquiesce in a nuclear bomb or stop it by force. As for the idea that the present ____ regime can be a negotiating partner - a constructive force in the region - or anything other than a menace to its neighbors or its own people, well we need another term for that. How about "fantasy"?"
Answer: Why should anybody give a ____ what David Frum writes at this point?
--Matthew Duss
at http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=10&year=2007&base_name=the_neocon_merge_template_reve
-
Iran
This short video offers a glimpse into the beautiful city of Tehran. It is an obscenity to call for war against this country.
www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html
-
Ordinary everyday Iranians
Thank you for sharing the link to Nezua's photos of Iran. We are force-fed the administration's de-humanizing propaganda on a daily, sometimes even hourly, basis. The fact that this is a civilization that goes back millenia is completely obscured. This sort of photo essay is exactly what we need to put perspective into the process. I plan on sharing it with everyone I know. Images really do speak louder than words.
-
Iran is good we are evil
why bother writing long blogs on this glenn? You're continual drum beat amounts to nothing more than iran is good we are evil.
You will say anything to advance your ideology. You have no credibility outside of the salon left wing fringe.
-
Obama's "good week" earned him a new label: "domestic insurgent"
Whatever it was, I think Barack Obama is having a really good week.
You know Obama had a good week because Mark Williams (on Fox News Newsroom) called him a “domestic insurgent.”
What do we do with ‘insurgents’? We kill them, of course.
When Fox News breaks out the eliminationist rhetoric, you know Obama must be saying something right.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200710050005?f=h_latest
-
tiberius
Iran is good we are evil
why bother writing long blogs on this glenn? You're continual drum beat amounts to nothing more than iran is good we are evil.
During the "debate" over whether to invade Iraq, the dominant argument was: Either (a) you want to go to war against Iraq or (b) you are pro-Saddam and in favor of rape rooms and the genocide of Kurds.
Now, the argument from the same crowd is: Either (a) you support a war against Iran or (b) you are pro-Ahmadinejad, want to see Israel destroyed, and favor the execution of homosexuals.
It's the most simplistic form of a black/white mode of "reasoning" known, one that was rarely seen outside of a group of 8-year-olds until the Bush-following faction took over our political dialogue.
-
Iran's Supreme Cleric's ruling on Nukes
From Deusxhe Welle:
Europe | 04.06.2006
Iran's Supreme Leader: "Using Nuclear Weapons is Un-Islamic"
Khamenei defended Iran's nuclear program in front of a picture of his predecessor, Khomeini
Iran's supreme leader on Sunday rejected international demands that his country suspend sensitive nuclear work, vowing the Islamic republic would not buckle in the face of "threats and bribes."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also gave the United States a staunch warning that any "mistake" in its dealings with oil-rich Iran would lead to consequences for global energy supplies.
"We have achieved a lot of scientific goals," Khamenei said in a speech marking the 17th anniversary of the death of Iran's Islamic revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "This is an historic investment. It represents our political independence and national self confidence. We should not sell out this precious resource because of the enemies' threats and we should not be fooled by enemy bribes."
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are poised to present Iran with an offer of incentives and the prospect of fresh multilateral talks -- involving the United States -- on the condition that Iran first suspends uranium enrichment.
That activity is at the center of fears the country could make nuclear weapons. Iran insists it only wants to make reactor fuel -- and not bombs -- and that enrichment is a right enshrined by the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Solana to travel to Tehran
Solana (right) with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani during a March meeting in the German embassy in ViennaBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Solana (right) with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani during a March meeting in the German embassy in Vienna
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected in Tehran in the coming days to present the proposals. Iran has been given just weeks to make up its mind -- or else face Security Council action including possible sanctions.
But Khamenei added to indications that the offer could end up being dead on arrival by shrugging off any fear of the consequences.
"There is no consensus against Iran," he said. "It is only the Americans and some of their allies. This is all about a political monopoly of energy. They want others to beg for energy."
Speaking at Khomeini's mausoleum on the southern outskirts of Tehran, Khamenei insisted that "Iran is no threat to anyone.
Khamenei: Nuclear weapons un-Islamic
"We have friendly relations with all the region and Asia," he said. "We have good and healthy relations with Europe, and in the close future, because they need our gas, these relations will become even better. They accuse us of developing nuclear bombs. This is an absurd lie. We do not need nuclear weapons and bombs. We don't have any target to use them on.
"Using nuclear weapons is against Islamic rules," he continued, according to AFP news service. "We will not impose the costs of building and maintenance of nuclear weapons on our people. Our explosive source is the power of our faith."
Ahmadinejad with a giant poster of Khamenei on SundayBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ahmadinejad with a giant poster of Khamenei on Sunday
On Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed that in a telephone conversation earlier Saturday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, he had been asked "to examine the proposals and not act hastily."
"I said that we will not act hastily and that we will examine the proposals," Ahmadinejad said while ruling out any halt to the country's enrichment program.
"Negotiating our absolute right would be like accepting to negotiate on our independence," he said, according to news report