VULTURE CULTURE
Re: John Corry’s Scaredy-Cats:
John Corry is correct in bemoaning the devil’s marriage of
leftist ideology and supposed “help” for the trauma victims of
9/11. Seems pretty clear that the NEA and the psycho-vultures (you
know, the “mental health professionals” who jet around looking for
something bad to happen so they can be “of service”) are using the
tragedy to simultaneously fatten their wallets and dispense
propaganda.
To make matters worse, over the past eight years or so there has
been an increasing body of scientific literature that indicates
such “debriefings” are at best of no help, and may well exacerbate
trauma symptoms in many cases. Yep, that’s right — doesn’t do any
good, and probably causes some harm.
People in charge of such activities (e.g., mayors, police
chiefs, etc.) would be well advised to take a good look at the
scientific literature before calling in the trauma tourists.
Don’t get me wrong; not all psychologists and therapists are so
misguided, and I think most of the trauma tourists sincerely
believe that what they do helps, scientific evidence
notwithstanding. Nor would I indict the entire mental health
profession (yes, I’m a Ph.D. child psychologist myself). It’s just
that the combination of poor science and liberal activism is toxic.
But then again, hasn’t that always been the case?
— M.B.S.
CUTTING REMARKS
Re: Raoul Felder’s T’ain’t
Funny:
Mr. Felder would have been better served if he stopped his
article six or seven paragraphs earlier. His philosophy, like so
often happens with many of the opposite persuasion, i.e., liberal
writers, got in the way of a good factual response to Mr. Hanania’s
poorly conceived PR/marketing efforts.
Otherwise, I enjoy both Mr. Felder’s and Mr. Mason’s
contributions to the Prowler as I have in the past with
their humor and insights in the Spectator.
— Joseph G. Procopio
DEATH SENTENCE
Re: Jed Babbin’s Saddam
Esse Delendum:
The sentence with which Cato the Elder ended each speech was
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse: “Also, I think
Carthage must be destroyed.” Delendam is the feminine
singular accusative of the gerundive of deleo, I destroy.
It is feminine because it modifies Carthago, which is feminine, and
it is accusative because it is the subject of a sentence in
indirect discourse; the infinitive “esse” is used for the same
reason. The phrase as a stand alone sentence would be “Carthago
delenda est” — a more familiar version of the quote.
“Saddam has been destroyed” would be “Saddam deletus est,” using
the past participle of “deleo.” “Saddam delendum est” would mean
“Saddam must be destroyed” only if we assign the neuter gender to
Saddam, an insult equal to Bush I’s deliberate misaccentuation of
the name.
Maybe you can borrow a Latin proof-reader from NRO….
— Mike Bates
Jed Babbin replies: Thanks. Your
correction is much appreciated, but your version differs with other
scholars we’ve heard from. I have already deleted the reference
book from which I got the quote from my library. All I know is that
Saddam must be destroyed. Or, as you might put it, “Saddam delenda
est.” That’s what we’ll use for now
Errare est humanum.
—Matt Bartle
CLEAN-UP IN PROGRESS
Re: Bill Croke’s Outré
Oregon:
Dearest Prowler: It is with deep regret that I came upon your
site today, to learn that my home state had taken a right bashing
at the hands of one of your writers. My regret is not regarding the
article’s merit, as it was dead on the mark — or almost — but
that I had been negligent in checking TAP more often, and
thus missing out on such gems.
Now onto my comments on Mister Croke’s piece. I have only a few
observations. First, Medford does not belong on that list of
craziness — that fair, er… (city? whatever) is one of the few
thee-and-thou towns left.
And secondly, it is of interest to note the “rioters” who
greeted W and contrast them to our previous experiences with the
likes of Squirrel Nutkin, a.k.a. Tre Arrow, aka Micheal J.
Scarpitti (sic no doubt, but who cares?) who once perched on a
ledge downtown for many days as a protest to a timber harvest,
regularly defecating in a bucket in full public view, and now is a
fugitive from justice on terrorism charges, presumably unconnected
to his excretory antics.
The 2002 “Bash the Shrub” protest was much smaller in number
than previous anarchist love fests, and it was painfully obvious
that the organizers were trying to hide this. Protesters circled
the nine square block exclusion zone repetitively, passing the
cameras many times over, in an attempt to make their numbers appear
larger. Having learned from previous encounters, the Portland
Police brought in backup from neighboring jurisdictions to spread
the blame of enforcing the law with, and successfully controlled
the crowd. This left such a bad taste in the mouths of the
protesters that they were back out there the next afternoon, long
after W had “left the building,” just to try to provoke another
incident, interrupt the evening rush hour traffic, and get pictures
of themselves being peppersprayed on the 11 o’clock news. Welcome
to the cause, new initiates!
All in all, they are a joke, and the people of this state
tolerate them less and less. Now, after we wash our hands of them
at long last, can we please get a little help here? Our nominally
Republican controlled Legislature needs a fund established to get
them some vertebrae implant surgery.
Best,
— Alexander B. Craghead
Portland, OR
PATCHWORK
Re: Dave Shiflett’s The
Real Dogpatch:
The Clintons in “The Real Beverly Hillbillies”? No, they’re more
of the “Deliverance” type. After all, they’ve been doing it to us
all these years.
— Kitty Myers
Painted Post, NY
Dave Shiflett is ahead of the curve again. I wouldn’t mind seeing a
few episodes of “Beverly Hillbillies From Yale” starring W.J.
Clinton, the sorry culmination and disastrous end of the Snopes
line, which clan, if you’ll remember, rarely owned the homes they
defiled and always lived by bamboozling others.
— Larry Thornberry
Tampa, FL
EX-CATHEDRAL
Re: George Neumayr’s The
Cardinal’s Superdome:
You are doing a great job. Loved the article on Cardinal
Mahony’s “cathedral” (?). Nothing Catholic about it. I see it as a
way he expressed and paid homage to himself, thinks he is bigger
than life. Tries to please every pagan god he worships including
the almighty dollar. His job is to help save souls, but there is no
evidence of that when you put him to the light, or compare him to
an Archbishop Sheen. Mahony sold out long ago and continues to be a
disgrace to the Faith and all that is holy (which the cathedral is
not).
— Mrs. Pat Scott
Houston, TX
MASTERY NOVEL
Re: Michael Craig’s Masters,
Misters, Missus & Misses:
This question was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court when it
ruled in favor of the Boy Scouts. A private organization is just
that: a private organization. What would America be like without
them? Certainly not a place where I would want to live. In short,
leave my Morris Women’s Club alone.
— Annette Cwik
Michael Craig replies:
True enough, though there are some exceptions in which private
organizations (which are protected by the first amendment’s right
of free association) become quasi-public by the nature of their
activities. That’s not the case here, and the NCWO is not, and
probably would not, institute legal proceedings.
More important than whether what Augusta National is doing is
legal — it is — is whether it is right. I come out on
the liberal side of these issues more than most of TAP’s
readers or writers and I still think the NCWO is wrong and doing
their legitimate issues a disservice by grandstanding on this one.
(Notice how no women of the stature who might be invited to join
are coming out in favor of this. I wonder how everybody would view
this if Augusta National decided to invite a woman to join and it
was Hillary Rodham Clinton. What would she do? What would liberals
think? What would conservatives think?)
If Augusta National was some local enclave where the business
and political bigwigs of the town hashed out their business,
excluded businesswomen might be right to think they were at a
permanent disadvantage because their competitors, customers, and
suppliers engaged in the flow of commerce without them. Maybe
they’d be cry-babies or sore losers or couldn’t prove anything, but
if they were right, shouldn’t they complain somehow? As a proponent
of fair and open markets, I’d like to see competition.
That said, membership at Augusta National does not fit that
situation. It doesn’t add up that the Carly Fiorinas and Martha
Stewarts aren’t getting a fair shake in business because they
aren’t members. The club is closed a fair portion of the year, the
members rarely show up, and it’s bad form to talk about
business.
As far as the Morris Women’s Club is concerned, I think you’re
safe. Men rarely push to get into women-only enclaves; it is more
often our behavior than our gender that gets in trouble in those
places.
WIRED
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Thanks,
— Angela Costa
