A DIPLOMATIC APPROACH
Dave Lopez (re: Going Postal, "Manic Panic," May 24-30) needs to shut off Fox "news" and stop being brainwashed by the RNC's daily "talking points" for a while and make his mind up for himself. First of all, how many schools HAVE been opened up in Iraq? How many people have opened businesses there? You don't know because you don't care.
I am pissed off at all these "better than thou" conservative asses who keep BLASPHEMING the memories of those poor souls who died in the September 11 bombings and connecting them to Iraq in any way, shape or form! Just remember in the next few years … it was your president who started World War III, on false claims, on false pretenses and on false predictions of the outcome. We are in the beginning stages of World War III… and George W. Bush started it! And he's too damn arrogant to back down from it.
What you Republicans admire most is Ronald Reagan's defeat of the Communists in the Cold War. Remember … force did not defeat the Russians … financial warfare did. By your own definition, they couldn't afford to keep up with us.
The terrorists are taking a page out of our own playbook. We can't, financially, keep up with them. We've already almost doubled the national debt we spent defeating Russia in the cold war and we still haven't even secured our own ports and borders.
Maybe your president should consider the remote possibility of trying a little DIRECT diplomacy between nations before blowing their citizens to little bits in the name of a "pre-emptive strike" all in the hopes of winning their "hearts and minds."
Bob Denton
Temple Terrace
QUESTIONS UNANSWERED
I gotta hand it to Mr. Lopez (re: Going Postal, "Manic Panic," May 24-30), The last time I heard anyone defend big government as strongly as you, I could've sworn they were drawing a federal paycheck. For someone who calls people who challenge this regime "commies and leftists," your own tactics would do Joe Stalin proud. If you're going to smear and slander those who question your Comrade Bush, then you be sure to have your facts straight.
The communists built plenty of schools in Afghanistan when they invaded in 1979; they just slaughtered a million or so Afghans to do it. Using your reasoning, they did the right thing. So when Comrade Bush slaughters over 100,000 Iraqis during the invasion they shouldn't complain because they have a nice bunch of over-budget schools.
Patrick Henry said the duty of the patriot is to protect his country from his government. Your slavish support for big government in the name of the "War on Terror" shows that your allegiance is not with the Constitution nor with the American people.
You want happy war news? Sure, as soon as you answer a few burning questions like, Do you think it's cool that NORAD failed to intercept four hijacked subsonic jets on 9/11? Where the hell were our air defenses on that day? Here's another zinger: If 9/11 was an intelligence failure, why hasn't anyone been held accountable for those lapses? Or last but not least, Where are the freaking weapons of mass destruction? You need to open your eyes, follow the money and ask who benefits. You're either with the crooked politicians, or you're with the American people.
Ali Sugerman
St. Petersburg
A WISH FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
In Robert Monroe's letter (re: Going Postal, "Reagan Revised," May 17-23), he writes, "One can only wish that a man like Carter were in the White House today."
I worked with every president and first lady from the Eisenhowers through the Clintons. All of them had plusses and minuses. However, Jimmy left office with one of the highest "Misery Indexes" in U.S. history: 21 percent. The "Misery Index" is the total of unemployment and inflation. What Jimmy handed Reagan was 10 percent unemployment and 11 percent inflation.
Be careful what you wish for. You may not really want it.
Ronald Hurst
Via e-mail
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 6, 2006.