Dear Sirs:
I applaud you for your excellent article on “Bush inaugurated in atmosphere of foreboding.” I wish there were more journalists having the courage to print the truth about this crooked hypocrite. Keep it up. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
LB
25 January 2001
Dear Editors,
Terry Cooks' January 20 article about the Australian Federal Courts' decision to endorse the right of mining giant BHP to “offer” individual non-union contracts to its workers will be, as he points out, a new stage in the history of industrial relations in Australia. His detailed analysis under the heading, “The decay of the unions”, showing the economic and historical developments behind the decision, and the central role played by the trade union bureaucracy in facilitating the destruction of jobs, wages, working conditions and the last remaining remnants of any inner union democracy was spot on.
Despite almost 20 years of the deregulation of the financial and labour markets in Australia, which began under the Labor Party of Keating, and which was enthusiastically supported by the union bureaucracy in the name of “competition and best practice”, workers here are now faced with the prospect that the “dirty secret” behind the miracle of the US economy and the Wall Street bubble, (before its spectacular collapse) is now to become Australian capitalism's preferred way of life for them also.
Yours sincerely,
AC
25 January 2001
Dear Mr. Martin:
I have followed your reporting and analysis of the incoming Bush administration with great interest. I am particularly impressed with the analysis of the Ashcroft hearings. You are correct in noting that Ashcroft should be rejected for his ideology.
This is particularly true with Mr. Ashcroft. From his statements and actions I infer that he is an adherent of the most noxious of ideologies: Christian Reconstructionism. Briefly, Christian Reconstruction holds that the US, from its inception, is a Christian (as in fundamentalist) nation. Only those who are suitably pious should hold leadership positions. The ultimate goal of Reconstructionists is to establish an Old Testament theocracy in the US and impose strict religious tests upon the populace. Those who aren't suitably pious, would be stoned.
Ashcroft, like many in the GOP and some in the Democratic Party, frequently parrot the line “The US is a Christian nation,” or in more ecumenical settings, a “Judeo-Christian nation.” Reconstructionism thrives on poor theology, deliberately falsified history and crass political opportunism.
There is a tremendous and rigorous academic literature that examines the influence of Reconstructionism on the US. Sara Diamond, Frederick Clarkson and Chip Berlet are some of the best investigators.
That the Senate Democrats and some of the more “moderate” Senate Republicans won't reject Ashcroft speaks volumes. I fear that a host of repressive and regressive apparatchiks and policies will easily find home in Washington.
Most sincerely,
CL
20 January 2001
You give us hope and keep us from having to listen to the lies and blather of the corporate media. Thanks for your insightful columns.
MVL
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
20 January 2001
To all at the WSWS thanks for making my world view balanced and informed with matters that are real. Clinton's comment on the “stolen election” was great and full coverage. WSWS is serious about the issues and must be the major player in the goals of all thoughtful minds everywhere in all nations and lands.
The science sections and many other parts of your site are my daily vitamins and I hope to be able to contribute in the future to your team.
Best for the New Year. Vigilance to social truth is the faith of the mature citizenry.
JJA
13 January 2001
To the editor,
I wish to congratulate David Walsh and Joanne Laurier for their review of Quills. I have been a reader of your site for quite some time. While the overall quality of the coverage is outstanding, as a graduate student I particularly appreciate the way in which you relentlessly criticize the fashionable mix of individualism and pessimism—or, in other words, of chronic fear of the masses and ill-concealed complacency in the face of the existing order—that is widespread in certain academic circles. Your review of Quills was only the latest example of your remarkable and necessary effort in this direction.
ES
10 January 2001