The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Yes, Virginia

12.4.02 @ 12:01AM

OUT OF BOUNDS
Re: Virginia Rose's letter ("Out of Left Field") in Reader Mail's Continuing Education:

It's hard to cram so many incorrect statements into a single short letter. Ms. Rose confuses the Mariel Boatlift with the Boat People. The former did come from Cuba; the latter -- in overwhelmingly larger numbers, and the group which created the phrase -- from Vietnam after 1975, fleeing the Communist government which had come to power. The Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia, not Laos, in 1975. The U.S. had done everything in its power to prevent their triumph until Cooper-Church and similar follies perpetrated by the Left cut off our aid to the opposing forces. (I spent six years in Cambodia doing development work in 1995-2001 and my wife is from there). The U.S. did, for a while commencing in 1979, refuse to recognize the Vietnamese puppet government that threw the Khmer Rouge out for strategic reasons arguably valid at the time. I am 59, a Vietnam veteran and proud to have served. My friends from those days are equally proud. One hard lesson we learned is that some of the Americans whose freedoms we defended were ingrates, or ignorant, or both. Ms. Rose's letter just goes to show...
-- David Clayton Carrad
Augusta, GA

Well, Virginia loves America? I think Virginia went to too many Peace Marches in the seventies. Vietnamese Communists were more honorable than the American soldier? She probably thinks the Black Panthers were a bunch of cuddly, lovable teddy bears. I am sure the 7, 000 or so people in the Vietnamese village of Hue who were SLAUGHTERED by the Vietcong for no apparent reason, except they were South Vietnamese, might disagree with Virginia's apparent love relationship with the Vietcong. As for "hurting people for private gain and not sticking around to rebuild and only loot," as an Air Force veteran I can personally tell you that I spent my career "staying around" in countries defending their sovereignty. Japan, Germany, and South Korea also come to mind as a matter of fact. Last I checked we were "sticking around" there pretty good too. Republicans, like me, live in the real-world. And Virginia, in the real-world there are a lot of nasty people who do a lot of nasty things. I would love to live in the sixties-Liberal version of what the real world should be like, but that has already been tried -- in Russia. P.S. It didn't work, just ask the many million Stalin SLAUGHTERED during his tenure.
-- Andrea Wolfe

Virginia Rose is wrong. I once had the pleasure of counting as my next-door neighbors a family of "boat people." They were proud Vietnamese who vowed never to call Saigon "Ho Chi Minh City."
-- Kevin McGehee
Coweta County, GA

IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DOC
Re: Lawrence Henry's Calling Doctor X:

One of the medical practices that have allowed quacks like Doctor X to continue to kill and maim their patients is a practice enshrined in federal law and lobbied for by Doctors and Hospitals that prohibits release of "after-action reports" to the public or other Doctors. These "after-action reports" are reviews by Hospitals and Doctors of a botched procedure which include recommendations on how to avoid repeats. Hospitals and Doctors have brought the Doctor X problem on themselves. If some injured patient of Doctor X is able somehow to find out the identity of one or more of the sniveling cowards who covered up Doctor X's malpractice by omission, the patient should be able to sue the coward for allowing Doctor X to continue his butchery.

The patient is hurt in body and mind. Doctor X might be hurt in reputation. Who would the cowards rather face? Their cowardice is not about lawsuits, it is about the good-old-boy "protection" Doctors provide each other. Until "after-action reports" on botched procedures are required by law to be released to the public, the good-old-boy protection racket will continue and patients will continue to be butchered and maimed by quacks and frauds like Doctor X.
-- John Gridley

EXTRA CREDIT
Re: Reader Mail's Continuing Education and John R. Dunlap's Tuition Delusion:

The point about college costs has been missed entirely. The reason costs are out of control is that the universities are controlled by socialists. History has proven that everything socialists do costs 3 to 9 times as much as it would if capitalists were controlling it.
-- Steve Nikitas
Pittsfield, MA

BURY BUSY
Re: The Washington Prowler's Production Value:

The Democrats found out that it cost them more than $16,000 to have their sexually deviant ex-President appear in public at the Wellstone "love in." Mondale can testify to that fact as pal Clinton "buried" him along with Paul Wellstone come election day.

The GOP might consider contributing money to Bill's travel budget to help him do the same for Gore et al.
-- Ken Wyman
Huntsville, AL

BREAKING UP ISN'T HARD TO DO
Re: John Corry's After the Inevitable War:

You ARE a genius! I say this because you agree with me. I was advocating dismembering Iraq back in 1990, and everybody thought I was nuts. But really, WHY NOT? It isn't like it's a real country or anything. It's just a chunk of the Ottoman Empire that was a convenient size for the British to run after WWI. It kept the Arabs paid off and mostly quiet. Nobody cared much about how rough it might be on the Assyrians, Kurds, Sh'ia's and even the Sunnis.

I say, rip it apart. Ain't no one gonna miss it.
-- Harry Haley
( A faithful subscriber for most of the last 10 years.)

57 TAX BREAK FLAVORS
Re: Editor's Note, Kerry On:

A "tax break for the rich" that Senator Kerry derided on "Meet The Press" Sunday. From the Sacramento Bee: "H.J. Heinz announced Friday (Nov. 22) that a plan to spin-off brands such as StarKist Tuna and 9-Lives cat food to Del Monte Foods will be tax-free to the companies and their shareholders. The Internal Revenue Service's decision capped a regulatory review that was the final hurdle for the companies to complete the estimated $2.5 billion deal, which includes transferring $1.1 billion in debt to Del Monte."
-- Anthony Rohl
California

CONSERVATISM STRIPPED BARE
Regarding "Born to Lose" by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., I am in general agreement. Perhaps President Reagan had the best saying when at the 1984 Republican Convention he stated, "Did I leave the Democratic Party, or did the Democratic Party leave me?"

However, it was disappointing that Mr. Tyrrell painted nudists as a bunch of leftists and nudism being a public health menace.

The terms naturism and nudism are both basically the same thing meaning social clothes-free/nude recreation void of open sexual activity as a central theme. This is not to be confused with natur*al*ism which is activities like bird watching although many naturists are also naturalists.

Naturists believe mere nudity is wholesome, healthy, and is neither sensational nor shameful. While clothing can be useful such as when it's cold, nudity is considered more sensually pleasant and comfortable in many situations. Those naturists that no longer deal with cold, clammy, miserable swimsuits full of irritating sand likely know this quite well!

Naturists make up males and females of all ages, physical shapes/appearances, racial and ethnic backgrounds, political and ideological views, income brackets, and most religions. While there are probably more Democrats and liberals in nudism, you will find many Republican and/or conservative nudists as well judging from those I've met, those that post on naturist message boards, and from informal polls (I'm not that knowledgeable, but I wouldn't be surprised if the extreme environmental and animal rights groups are almost totally left-wing, and socialism by its nature is left of center). Toddlers and kids are often natural naturists as many parents have found out and studies suggest kids raised as nudists may have higher self-esteem, lower body shame and far lower teen pregnancy rates than textile kids. Few naturists have "perfect" bodies and anyway are much more interested in inside personalities than outside body shapes. Many Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Pagans, etc. feel naturism is compatible with their faiths.

There are communities that apparently don't think naturism is a public health menace. There exists clothing-optional beaches at Haulover Beach, FL, Gunnison Beach, NJ, North Baker Beach, CA, etc. Voters in Wilmington, Vermont, after first banning nudity, have returned The Ledges to being a naturist beach again. In addition, it is becoming somewhat common for family-oriented naturist resorts to be admitted by the local Chamber of Commerce.

A 2000 Roper poll by the Naturist Education Foundation (part of The Naturist Society) showed significantly higher acceptance of naturism compared to a similar poll in 1983 (see). Nudists generally don't want to offend so acceptance of naturist beaches and resorts is largely tied to society at large accepting naturism. This is a goal of both the American Association for Nude Recreation and The Naturist Society.

While nudists may be a small part of the population, it's hoped that conservatism is not trying to leave nudists behind (no pun intended) as often one of the few differences between moral/political conservatives and nudists is the dress code.
-- George Martin
Kentucky Campus Nude Recreation

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Religion, Environment, Law, Iraq, Russia, NATO, Socialism, Conservatism