The American Spectator

Really, you use the phrase “European Liberals” a total of seven times in your latest article. European Liberals? Don’t you really mean Socialists,…or Fascists? In Europe, the word Liberal means more like what Liberal really means; as in 19th Century Jeffersonian Liberalism; or how about Classic Liberalism. I really can’t understand why all of we “so-called Conservatives” persist in granting all the Socialists/Fascists of this world the honor of an up-front lie. First of all, the only liberal thing about them is their mouths. Secondly, since when have they tried to give us limited self-government, or responsible individualism, or free trade?

Seriously, you might wish to reconsider your description of a Collectivist by some other means. If it looks like a Socialist, than it must be a … you know what I mean. And if you just can’t bring yourself to state the truth, or you accidentally get back in the habit, try “illiberal.” Another added result from this is that you will get others’ attention more readily.
— John Kelly
Cary, NC

SOLID GRANITE
Re: Bill Croke’s Where’s Sacagawea?

“There is another controversial theory that she lived nearly a century, died in 1884, and is buried at Fort Washakie on the Wind River Reservation in western Wyoming. In the next grave lie the supposed remains of her son Jean Baptiste. Or so the Eastern Shoshones who live there would have us believe.

“A University of Wyoming historian, Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, made this claim in her 1932 book Sacajawea (also the preferred Shoshone spelling). The book was mostly based on hearsay and the personal recollections of by-then elderly Shoshones, but caught on with the Indians themselves, and Wyoming boosters. In 1941, a rough granite marker was dedicated at the cemetery by state and tribal officials.”

A most interesting article. My grandfather, Allen F. Space worked for the Department of the Interior as an engineer at Fort Washakie during the twenties and thirties. My mother was born there just prior to the 1932 date referenced in your article. It was their contention that the pastor who christened my mother was the same pastor who performed Sacajawea’s burial service. Once during a trip through the area, my grandfather stopped along the road somewhere and pointed out the granite monument that he had been responsible for, dedicated to Sacajawea. As I said, a great article, brought back very old memories.
— Al Koenig
Chugiak, Alaska

PROBLEMATICS
Re: Myron Lieberman & David Salisbury’s Keeping the Nation at Risk :

First, I am not an educator, just an observer. We had two sons “get through” the public school system. Problem 1: the fact that it is a “system” controlled by wherever the money comes from (federal to state to county, etc.) and they all think they know what they are doing. Teachers are mired in guidelines and testing, not educating to the class in front of them. Students come from different backgrounds, economical and regional. You cannot jam a universal code of learning down their throats, it is a huge “hit or miss” concept.

Problem 2: This is largest in my opinion, kids have to enter into school ABLE to learn, not just mentally but socially. Today’s children (I generalize) for the most part are socially dysfunctional, or are coming from non-English speaking families and have to have special handling, but are tossed into the mix. Teachers are now forced to be babysitters, referees, social workers, etc. everything but educators. More time is being spent keeping an semblance of order than teaching.

Problem 3: The students capable and desirable of learning are shortchanged because the schools are forced to teach to the lowest and slowest common denominator. Students that are able to learn at an average or above average level get bored and frustrated and they too become problematic.

We keep blaming our schools for not educating and yet we do not give the administrators or teachers any power or even respect to run their own regional districts as needed .

Our society has changed, but our educational system has not, except for the metal detectors, and police in the hallways.
— Gary Warren

Don’t antitrust laws apply to unions? Seems to me that “trust busting” is in order here.
— Craig Reynolds

MORE BAD MEDICINE
Re: Robert A. Levy’s Constitutional Malpractice and Michael Warner’s letter in Reader Mail’s Newt Understandings:

One thing Mr. Levy and reader Mr. Warner fail to mention is that much of the medical malpractice climate to day can be attributed to the lack of internal enforcement of doctors by the AMA.