Denver Johnston's letter to the editor claims HCN failed to provide "diverging viewpoints" on the Bush administration in the Dec. 22 issue (HCN, 2/02/09). Unfortunately, the people of the Bush administration who concocted the present disaster did not do so from merely divergent viewpoints, inadequate facts or confused values. They worked diligently and deliberately to wreck the federal government and render it inoperable.

Can a middle ground be found alongside political sabotage and deceit? Thomas Frank in The Wrecking Crew and James K. Galbraith in The Predator State and many other authors provide a basis for saying that supporting divergent viewpoints in the face of such hate-filled destructiveness is naive at best. It has to be remembered that the "mining, timber, ranching, fundamentalists, etc." mentioned by Johnston worked hand-in-glove with Bush/Cheney to achieve their resource grabs and promote their political ends. Whether they now deserve any consideration whatsoever is doubtful.

It is one thing to differ in an opinion, based on varying evidence and interpretation and evaluation. It is another to deliberately seek to destroy constitutional guarantees and warp governing procedures and process.

James C. Whiteside
Danbury, Connecticut