The American Spectator

Reader Mail

THE RIGHT CONNECTION
Thank you very much!

This morning I picked up an old issue of TAS (the one with the Supreme Court on the cover) and discovered your web page. In my never-ending search for the truth (conservative web pages, etc.) I cannot understand how I missed your web page.

I have been a subscriber to The American Spectator for many, many years. It is great to see the old gang back. The infidels can never sleep well at night knowing you are on the job.

Go get 'em! Thank you,
-- Rip Gorman

SNIPER TERRORISM
Re: Reid Collins's To Be Tried by Twelve?:

Is everyone afraid to say the word terrorist or the possibility of a terrorist attack. Israel has to deal with this kind of murder on a daily basis ,we should not rule out any possibility or be afraid to mention it.
-- Hal Nash
Hayward, CA

IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING TRAINING
Re: Editor's note Twin Killing:

Oh, the Diamondbacks World Series victory was legit all right. They have the trophy to prove it.

Why even question the legitimacy of baseball in Arizona? Sure the Major League franchise is only five years old (with three NL Western Division titles and a World Series victory), but The Arizona State Sun Devils have won five College World Series and gave the major leagues a slew of baseball stars like Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Fernando Vina, Paul LoDuca, etc., etc. I'll chock this cheap shot up to yet another example of Eastern media bias in sports.
-- Joe Huston

HILLARY CARE IN PRACTICE
Re: Francis X. Rocca's The Joy of Getting Carded:

I thoroughly enjoy Francis X. Rocca's comments about living in Italy. However, having lived in Europe in countries that border on Italy, I have to take exception to his observation that "socialized" or state-sponsored medicine offered a better alternative to private medicine.

With four young children and 8 years in Europe, we had multiple occasions to make use of medical services, and believe me, private, supplemental services won out over over-the-counter state services every time. One of the major advantages of working for a large firm in Europe was the supplemental health benefits plan which allowed affordable access to those private services. Even then, one summer visit to the U.S. was consumed with dental appointments to address problems not uncovered during our regular visits to the local (European) dentist.
-- Richard L. Ptak

Francis X. Rocca replies: Mr. Ptak's correction is well taken. I shouldn't have generalized about Europe, since my experience with medical care is limited to Spain and Italy. In those countries, private clinics and hospitals typically don't have the equipment and staff to deal with the more complicated cases, so if you want to do better than the state system, you need to get on a plane to the U.S. At least that's what everyone tells me. I hope I never have to find out for myself.

WHAT, ME HURRY?
Re: Peter Hannaford's Speed Limits:

It was with great pleasure that my eyes fell upon Peter Hannaford's spot on "Speed Limits" this morning. I am fast coming up on my half-century mark and the sentiments expressed in this piece resonate strongly. When I moved back to the Washington area I made up my mind that I would live in Arlington, work downtown, and use the subway and shank's mare for my mode of transit. How refreshing to walk out of one's building down into Metro and then to one's office and not take the jitney out of the garage sometimes for weeks on end (especially in the wintertime when the golf clubs have been stored away).

I also second Mr. Hannaford's thinking when it comes to loud bars and restaurants. Although still a bachelor bon vivant, I have decidedly much less use for the trendy "meet" markets and instead favor the more low key neighborhood joints. Washington is full of wannabes, gonnabes, thinktheyares and other such species of specious hustlers. I genuinely feel sorry for folks who have to mingle with these people on a professional basis.

Now, if someone could just do something about the idiots running up and down Metro's escalators leaving the elderly and disabled disheveled and sometimes injured in their wake we'd be on to something. People in a hurry to go nowhere -- a Washington tradition par excellence.
-- Bill Harrison
Arlington, VA

THE LAW OF RULES
Re: The Washington Prowler's The Torch's Afterburn:

I absolutely disagree with those who believe the Republicans shouldn't seek and the U.S. Supreme Court should not grant review of the New Jersey state court's ruling. If attempts to enforce the rule of law and standards of morality are abandoned, the groups that oppose them are able to pronounce them of no effect and our standards of right and wrong are inevitably eroded and changed -- a prime example the American Church's refusal during the past half century to enforce its abortion doctrine against defiant clerics and politicians. If the Rules aren't enforced there aren't any Rules. Those of us who went to law school in a different era could not have imagined a time when most law professors would enlist in such lawlessness, but that was before their takeover by Marxists and Liberal gunzels. If any of you must send your children to law school, send them to Tom Monaghan's school in Ann Arbor.
-- unsigned

NAIL FILE
Re: George Neumayr's $28 Billion in Personal License:

I'm 75 years old, and can't figure out why someone is as dumb about smoking as she said she was. In the 1930s my dad and uncles used to ask if they wanted another "coffin nail, gasper" and similar names for cigarettes. If it was known then, where was her brain when she started smoking?
-- unsigned

"Before heading off to lunch with Bullock's attorney, jurors explained their Solomonic reasoning to the press. 'It's just a year's revenue for Philip Morris,' juror Jose Farinas said casually."

Obviously, Mr. Farinas doesn't derive his income from Philip Morris. I wonder what his reaction would be if his employer were sued to death and he lost his job?
-- Greg Barnard
Franklin, TN

MRC CIA
Re: Enemy Central's Iraq and Back:

I've been reading your page today and then linked to Media Research Center. From Streisand to McDermott, everything I've seen illustrates the obvious: they are incapable of considering the big picture -- the sweep and ramifications of events. It's still true: right is right and left is wrong.
-- Tom Bennett

topics:
Sports, Abortion, Law, Supreme Court, Iraq, Israel