Thursday, August 31, 2006

Two Letters on the Government and America

Margaret Atwood has written an open letter to America.

Keith Olbermann has written an accurate and rather scathing indictment of Donald Rumsfeld.

It begins:

"The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American. For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve."

2 comments:

Lyle Daggett said...

Lee, thanks for these links. As it happens, I got the editorial about Rumsfeld earlier today in an email from a friend. The Atwood piece is good too. I've loved her poetry for years, have also really liked the couple of her novels I've read (The Handmaid's Tale and Bodily Harm).

I saw Atwood on T.V. a few weeks ago, in one of the segments of the Bill Moyers seven-part series Beyond Faith and Reason on PBS. It was a great interview, lots of talk about the rise of right-wing religious fanaticism in the U.S.

Lee Herrick said...

Lyle, I hope that Rumsfeld piece by Olbermann gets circulated and that something comes of it. Thanks for your comments. I only heard the first portion, but I read the entire piece online. It's hard to fathom just how illegal and unethical his actions are.

Michael, I agree, it was pretty powerful. I wonder how much more damage Rumsfeld can do before Bush's term ends, and I hope it's minimal. He's a very scary and dangerous person.

Margaret Atwood's first Selected Poems was one of the first books of poetry I ever bought and read all the way through.