Saturday, February 19, 2005

Letters to the editor

Philosophy perspective

Editor:

This is in response to Marilyn Starrett's letter to the Editor (El Defensor Chieftain, Feb. 9). Her letter to the editor is fallacious (and) here is why: In her attempt to show that Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck and Shawn Hannity are not great philosophers, she strings together an egregiously weak argument.

Her first attempt at demonstrating they are not great philosophers was by only quoting two of the four men, Rush and Hannity. And, because she was attempting to show that they are not great philosophers, she chose some of the weakest quotes possible such that she could create the impression that those men are not great at all. ... It is through the use and command of rhetoric and logic to create effective arguments that makes a philosopher great, not great quotes. So you see, she would have been far better off by stating at the end of her letter, "thus, my letter has illustrated what Einstein means when he states: 'Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.'"

As a note, (her letter) further (fails to make) the connection, in my original letter (Feb 2 and its correction Feb 5), that each of the philosophers that I strongly urge liberals to listen to all have one thing in common, the logic and rhetoric they use is in the defense of freedom. The only person she cited that spoke of freedom was Plato. I also find one more thing very troubling: that she considered what I wrote as "a cleverly written parody of ultra-conservatives." Would she have been mocking Cicero when he spoke of the enemy within? Or, perhaps she would have mocked the Congress of 1776 when they were so concerned about the enemy within that they held secrete sessions.

This concerns me because liberals have a tendency not to make the connection between the actions that they commit and the harm they do to this country, i.e. on one hand you have Gary Jaramillo, whose letter to the editor could easily be quoted by the Islamo-Facista ... and on the other hand you have ... attorney, Lynne Stewart who helped Omar Abdel-Rahman (who was responsible for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 (Frontpagemagazine.com Feb. 11) pass messages to his ... brethren around the world, who still believes that she did nothing wrong (nytimes.com, Julia Preston, Feb. 10).

This is why Michael Savage says, "Liberalism is a mental disorder." For all you conservatives that enjoy reading my letters, I would encourage you to read Ann Coulter's book "How to Talk to a Liberal (if you must)," and for all you liberals, your mental disorder won't cure itself, you have to be proactive, so it is time you read Michael Savage's book "The Enemy Within."

Eric Jurist

Socorro

Defying the insurgents

Editor:

We all remember the City of Fallujah, a city of approximately 300,000, the main stronghold of the insurgents in the Sunni Triangle. This was the area the United States Marines and the U.S. Army worked so hard to rid of the grip the insurgents had. Here is an update on some of the things going on in that city since the clean up before their election.

One of the successes came on Election Day when nearly 8,000 people defied the insurgent's threats, left their homes, and walked for miles to vote. This figure accounted for about 44 percent of the entire votes cast in Anbar Province, which includes the Sunni Triangle.

"The Local Iraqis say 'its better that the Americans are here,'" says Abdulrahab Abdulrehman, a teacher. "I have the freedom to be a student, or whatever I want to be."

Children wave at the marines, and accept candy the men keep in their pockets. Many adults wave, too, though some are showing resentment, but even as many Fallujans shift from anger to accommodation, there are complaints. There is little electricity and less running water.

The city remains sealed to all but residents. There is a curfew in place and some of the rules enforced are no weapons and a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who incites violence. Marines are receiving more local tips about suspects and ordnance: one led to the discovery last Friday of a hidden cache of mortar rounds, rockets and 2,000 blasting caps essential to making roadside bombs.

Some do not feel things are all good and do not like the United States still in Iraq, and wish for us to leave their country. Things are getting better and once we get electricity running and fresh water, it will be even better for all. The job now is to rebuild the city and the homes so that they can try to get back to living a normal life.

Ed Britt

Socorro

From Taji, Iraq

Consider this

Editor:

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman voted against Alberto Gonzales as the first Hispanic being appointed as the U.S. Attorney General. (To those of you who are) Hispanic, when Sen. Jeff Bingaman comes up for re-election, keep this in mind.

Amado U. Chavez

Albuqueque

We need diplomacy

Editor:

There is a concept that may be of interest to your readers who have supported this administration's invasion of Iraq, but are puzzled by the threats that we seem to be receiving from Iran and North Korea.

I submit that a country trying to maintain the appearance of being the only superpower, and being the only one with both the power and the resources to make the rest of the world follow its lead, cannot afford to demonstrate any weakness.

Our general ineptness in Iraq, coupled with our shouting at the top of our lungs that we do not have available adequate manpower or equipment to take on any other ventures is a demonstration of weakness. It would not take much imagination to assume that both Iran and North Korea see us as something of a paper tiger, and that we are not to be feared as we are not in a position to take action to stop anything they would like to accomplish.

As any sharp card player would counsel, don't show your hand if you don't have to. By attacking Iraq, we showed our hand, and it's my guess it doesn't seem as powerful as everyone assumed.

Secretary Rice has made an effort to convince everyone they should go back to their original positions, as though we demonstrated nothing to indicate that we couldn't carry out our threats if we wanted to. Doesn't this seem a little naïve?

Diplomacy is more than shaking our finger at those who don't follow our counsel.

Charles DeMenna

Socorro

Not a detraction

Editor:

Socorro needs recreation of its own. (We have no) bowling alley, no skating rink, no big lakes nearby. This motorcycle racetrack will offer to many people something to do andalso attract many visiting people.

The business circle of this attraction will never end — I mean like motels, restaurants, fast food establishments, gas stations, convenience stores; and even down to nuts and bolts, cans of spray paint at hardware and parts stores, and again, even camcorders at local electronics stores.

Surely there is somehappy median that can be provided to the neighboring residents; and I seriously doubt that this racetrack at Escondida will distract travelling motorists on I-25 or create any traffic congestion.

LeRoy Huebner

Socorro

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