Letters to the Editor
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Ugh
Only Douglas Feith would characterize the beginning of a war as 'Dawn'. Everybody else perceives it as the fall of darkness.
The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes."
I think I've mentioned before that I worked on standards for this. There isn't a way, short of the EU ban on collection of personal information, to stop this from being a form of surveillance, eventually.
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Exclusions
The limitations on discussions of issues is not limited to the Iraq war. If you want to discuss any of the pressing issues the same process described by Greenwald regarding the war exists. The "responsible" debaters on health care act as though a serious presentation of a single payer system is a waste of time. Thus we get the Democratic candidates limiting the discussion to proposals which, if implemented, will not solve the health care problem. The Obama/Clinton proposals are a bad joke but you would never know there are serious alternate proposals that are never discussed much less a side by side comparison done of what the "responsible" proposals will do compared to a single payer system. Who ever heard any serious discussion of land use restrictions and alternate, non-automobile means of transportation as part of the mix of solutions to the global warming crisis. Who discusses serious attempts to deal with income distribution problems. Who addresses the incredibly wasteful military budget. Who discusses serious reform of the sclerotic political system and the forced exclusion of those who do not buy into the two party dance of corruption and unethical conduct.
In all of these areas, "experts" carry water for a corrupt political elite who benefit immensely from any serious discussion of true reform. Of course this fits into the vested interests of the so called progressives like, for instance, the Daily Kos people, who are dedicated to restricting the discussion for their own reasons.
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I just sent an email to the NewsHour staff
asking them to consider adding some of the experts Glenn has cited here to their list of contacts and sources.
We'll see...
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Feith's upcoming book - a ray of hope
I'm actually kinda anxious for Feith to get his slime out in the open - and I hope the people he is trying to pass the blame onto read it. More importantly, I hope they respond to it. I'm looking forward to pissed off insiders responding with the truth about what happened... who did what when, and how the entire process was rigged with invasion as the all but inevitable end result. I can only hope that it will give rise to more people like Shinseki, Bunnatine Greenhouse, or Karen Kwiatkowski. Assuming of course that the jackasses at the helm haven't been entirely successful in their ongoing effort to purge professionals from the ranks.
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@Aycharach
He was completely unreasonable and kept saying how "God" had given the land to the Jews.. And I know for a fact he didn't believe in God..
A brocha on your friend, Aych. He has pierced to the very heart and soul of Zionism! If only I had the ability to acquire his acumen!
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@Obi Wan Liberali
If someone correctly predicted pre-invasion, what would happen post-invasion, then at least one should ask them, - what do you think will happen if the US withdraws? What do you think is a viable way forward? What do you think is the least damaging way forward?
I don't think GG is asking that someone who only opposes the war on general grounds but has no expertise should be at the table. I think GG is saying that people who have been able to predict the course of events should be at the table; from the track record, they have the best chance of being right on what we should do next, and what the consequences of what we do will be.
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@WT
In looking at the course of China's development, the one clear thing about it is that the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party has been wiser than our own Republican or Democratic Parties.
In what time frame have they been wiser, and with what predictions as to the future - including labor, ethnic relations, and the environment? China shares with the United States the distinction of being one of the two powers left that think that superpower domination is a viable strategy for the future. In every way that you can point to the twilight of the United States, China will be following close behind. Looking the other direction, to the past, no one competes with the Chinese Communist Party under Mao for shear bloodletting. The Great Cultural Revolution alone killed 14 Million.
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Aycharaych
Rather than fire a not-so-subtle insult of my own, I'll simply state that my point was that a person's stance on whether or not the invasion was a good idea has zero bearing on that person's ability to determine the best solution for the current situation, and that after five years, further discussion of the reasons behind the invasion is pointless.
I can only hope that my posts can someday earn your approval, hehe.
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But but but, if they show Walt some love...
Wouldn't that fire up the antisemitism engine? Nobody wants to deal with apologizing to the Antisemitic Bogeymen.
Walt's opinions are considered "unacceptable" by our Israel-First Political Establishment on more than just Iraq. I would argue that even if he supported the Iraq War from the start but still published his book, he still wouldn't exist.
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@SilkTreeLover
So true, so very true. Amazingly narrow on every subject, as if no other points of view existed in America.
And the way everything you mentioned is somehow twisted into a melodramatic narrative of "American values" which somehow always demand the the people (as people, as citizens) get screwed!
And we can't get enough of this stuff! It is truly astounding.
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@bird 94
I'll simply state that my point was that a person's stance on whether or not the invasion was a good idea has zero bearing on that person's ability to determine the best solution for the current situation, and that after five years, further discussion of the reasons behind the invasion is pointless.
And so very well you did state it! I understand exactly what you mean to say. And I'm glad, so glad my jaws are wired together or else I'd be picking my lowers up off the floor.