EXCUSE ME?
Re: The Washington Prowler’s John
and Jeanne:
While I find the general thrust of your story on John Kerry’s
New Hampshire moves believable, I must object to the dagger you
inserted:
“In reality, if Kerry doesn’t win there, his campaign may be
toast. This, after all, is a primary in a state that is basically a
suburb of Massachusetts.”
“Basically a suburb of Massachusetts”? Have you examined the
difference in the makeup of the state Senates and state Houses of
Representatives in New Hampshire and Massachusetts? Have you
compared the congressional delegations from the two states? Are you
aware that more and more New Hampshire high tech workers are
working in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts?
The truth is, most New Hampshire residents would shudder at your
characterization of our state. Have you ever been here?
— Tim Mark
Goffstown, NH
THE SPORTING LIFE
Re: Francis X. Rocca’s Buy
God:
Though I agree with Francis X. Rocca’s observation about
shopping , one can’t help use his arguments to point to a bigger
American idol: sports.
Sports is a great filler for life of course because there’s no
serious threat from it. We can’t offend someone the same way we
would if we talked about politics or religion. Moreover, besides
the occasional Colombian soccer player or English hoodlum, no one
dies being a sports fanatic. The same can’t be said of Chinese
democracy workers or practicing Christians in some Middle Eastern
countries.
Show up at any sports event (I call them services) and you
realize it’s amazingly like a large church, where a friendly
audience gathers to cheer on the home team. All you need is a short
15 minute sermon — which sports commentators gladly provide. As a
friend’s shirt pontificates, people love to “Eat, sleep,
sports”.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with playing midnight hockey or
catching the finals on TV. However, when a culture devotes much of
its time to filler, the rest of life, including God, becomes
halftime entertainment.
— Jose Ruba
Ottawa, Ontario
ENEMY OF THE WEEK
Re: Enemy Central Among
the Philosophers:
You could not pay me enough to miss this. It almost always makes
me want to laugh and cry at the same time. The real question is
should I bless you or damn you. With respect,
— Dick Lambert
Eagle Rock, VA
Re: “Among the Philosophers” this evening, LOL!!! I’m glad I took
the time to read it Sunday evening when I have the time to savor
it, and not Monday morning when I’d be in a rush. Keep up the good
work!
— Gail
NO KIDDING
Re: Manhattan
Stealth:
I really enjoyed Paul Beston’s description of his life as a
Conservative in Manhattan. I daresay I share some of his
experiences as a Conservative in Seattle. I never fail to be
amazed, and amused, by the groupthink that passes for political
opinion here, especially when it comes to the idea of diversity —
of utmost importance except when it comes to diversity of opinion,
which simply shall not stand. As my (Liberal) wife often says,
“You’re the only person I know who thinks _____”.
While walking my dog, I saw a display on a house near mine. It
consisted of two lighted signs. The first read “Peace on Earth.”
Fine. The second read “No War.” Leave it Liberals to politicize
Christmas.
— Ron Finch
Seattle (Baghdad’s sister city), WA
DARKER SHADES OF GRAY
Re: George Neumayr’s Our
Public Scofflaws:
You are right as far as you go, but you missed Davis’s
monumental cynicism: he promoted Bill Simon’s candidacy against
Richard Riordan, thinking correctly that Simon would be beatable.
Davis even went so far as to say, in effect, “I’m the one who
screwed it up (I am nobly taking responsibility) so re-elect me to
fix it.” Simon’s campaign was so awful that the S.F.
Chronicle’s token conservative Deborah Saunders reluctantly
endorsed Davis because he at least had some degree of competence.
Not enough people believed that Simon did, allowing Davis, with a
62% unfavorable rating in the polls, to win. (I voted for Simon
since I loathe Davis so much, but I did so with great
trepidation.)
— Peter Borregard
El Cerrito, CA
BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY
Re: The Washington Prowler’s Patty
Revisits Osama:
Patty, we just love to hear you talk about the
wonderful things Osama has done. Keep at it. Never mind
what your party and virtually everybody else is saying about how
you are committing political suicide.
Sarcastically yours,
— Jeff Schicke
Wharton, NJ
FROM THE BARRICADES
I am writing about the article “What
Big Business Is Really Like” by Lawrence Henry, published by
you on 11/5/2002.
In the article, Mr. Henry states:
“At a ‘teach-in’ on the Cornell University campus, according to
an October 24 account on Frontpagemag.com by a graduate student
there, Joseph A. Sabia, ‘Dr. Chip Gagnon, assistant professor of
politics at Ithaca College, charged that the Gulf War was fought so
that Dick Cheney’s former employer, Halliburton, could get rich off
oil deals.’”
Despite this report, I did not say any such thing. What I did
say was that following the Gulf War, in the period when Dick Cheney
was CEO of Halliburton, that company did $72 million dollars worth
of business with Saddam Hussein. Here are my sources:
“A discreet way of doing business with Iraq,” by Carola Hoyas,
The Financial Times, November 3, 2000.
“Halliburton’s Iraq Deals Greater Than Cheney Has Said —
Affiliates Had $72 Million in Contracts,” by Colum Lynch, The
Washington Post, June 23, 2001.
In no way did I even imply that the Gulf War was fought so that
Cheney could do oil deals. I did not address the motivations behind
the Gulf War in that talk. The focus of the talk was the dealings
that the Reagan and Bush administrations had during the 1980s up to
August 1990 with Saddam Hussein’s regime, as well as their efforts
to prevent the U.S. Congress and the U.N. security council from
condemning Saddam for using chemical weapons against Iranian
soldiers as well as against Iraqi citizens. These are facts that
are very well documented in mainstream media sources.
As you can see from the above-cited sources, it is a fact that
Cheney’s company sold oil field equipment to Saddam Hussein when he
was considered an enemy of the U.S. in the 1990s. My point in
mentioning this fact and others was that Cheney and others who now
paint Saddam as the epitome of evil are hypocrites; moreover, their
previous dealings with Saddam showed extremely bad judgment on
their parts.
Unfortunately, Mr. Sabia’s report on my talk is extremely
distorted and does not reflect what I actually said, what my main
points were, nor the sources that I used in preparing the talk I
gave at the October teach-in at Cornell.
Thank you for your attention.
— Chip Gagnon
Ithaca, NY
LATE HITS
Re: “Games Teams Play” letters in Reader Mail’s Taxing
Times:
With all due respect Mr. Shaver and Mr. Britain, but please
consider the following:
Steve, your much ballyhooed Oklahoma Sooners were trounced by
Texas Tech — who themselves were previously trounced by The Ohio
State Buckeyes. And Pete, The Ohio State Buckeyes could beat
Washington State — what’s USC’s excuse for not doing the same?
— Michelle Heisler
Columbus, OH
