The American Spectator

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Happy Days

2.2.07 @ 12:01AM

TWO GREAT TASTES
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Ben Is So Right:

RET is quite right in praising Ben Stein's articles. I recall having people come up to me at a Lutheran church, saying, "Have you read Ben Stein in The American Spectator?" That was about 1988.

I appreciate Ben's patriotism and love for our soldiers. I get to teach active duty Marines from time to time. They are deserving of all our praise. In fact, I hand them good cigars whenever I can. I gave one to the wife of a Marine who was due home soon from Iraq. She smiled with tears in her eyes and said "Thank you." We should have tears in our eyes for what they do for us and for others.

That is what Ben Stein's articles do for so many -- help us to be grateful to God for our country, our soldiers, and their brave families.
-- Gregory L. Jackson, Ph.D.
Glendale, Arizona

I am a huge fan of Ben Stein's writing, and also of R. Emmett Tyrrell's. So don't take this the wrong way when I say that, to me, the U.S. has a tragic flaw: the abomination that is abortion. As long as we continue to allow an entire class of human beings to be so completely disenfranchised as to have no protectable interest even in their own lives (like we did in Dred Scott v. Sandford), the good we do in the world will not protect us from an unhappy end. President Lincoln put it better that I ever could in his Second Inaugural Address, when he wrote of blood drawn by the whip being repaid by blood drawn by the sword. When I think of the wide coverage of last week's anti-war temper tantrum, compared to the almost compete silence in the press about the much larger pro-life demonstration, even though both events occurred within days of each other at the same locale, I weep for my country.
-- Anne T. Stinneford
Chicago, Illinois

I'm glad that R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. took a break from his "spitball heaving" to laud Ben Stein, and trust that he feels better for having done so. However, I hope that he won't give up "heaving his diatribes" against those who would cloud America's heritage and future as a democratic republic.

Ben Stein has a nice way of expressing in words something like what Norman Rockwell did in paintings. He's cozy and heart-warming, rather like a solemn Fourth of July speech delivered after a rousing parade. His columns are also welcome for their artistry and nice turns of phrase. What's not to like, as far as they go?

However, I recall something about the price of liberty being eternal vigilance. After the heady celebrations of Independence Day we need spitballs and diatribes to be heaved in the direction of those who would compromise our heritage and our future for their own selfish or misguided political ends.

Sometimes, as I read Mr. Stein's musings, I have to wonder whether or not the life in Malibu and Beverly Hills for which he is so grateful may not be a mite too comfortable? Does he never feel the urgent need to launch a spitball or two in the direction of our ruling elites? Surely his next invitation to dinner at the White House wouldn't be jeopardized by a little such naughtiness?

Of course, gassing up his verging on antique Caddie regardless of the price of gas doesn't cut into the budget for heating his lovely homes, and record profits for the oil companies (to pick a topic on which I took issue with him on this page) are all to his advantage. I don't know anyone personally whose life is as blessed as Mr. Stein causes me to believe his must be, and I appreciate his postcards from that remote domain. I find it especially gratifying that he can live and work in that domain without becoming the sort of Hollywood jackass so adored by the main stream media.

So, Mr. Tyrrell, I see no reason for you to apologize for what it is that you do so well. Indulge yourself as you see fit in a nice soft column lauding America from time to time. No doubt it's good for the soul. In the main, however, leave the paeans to Mr. Stein without guilt. As a fellow spitball heaver, I know that your appreciation for the blessings of your life in our great county is not lacking. Rather, I see what you typically do as of service to the country. TAS provides a forum for many to voice concerns about those who would abuse our freedom and our system, and I wouldn't have it any other way, but you deserve a day off now and then.

I hope that no one will read this and conclude that I intend to diminish Mr. Stein's work. I wouldn't expect Norman Rockwell to have painted Guernica (but I'd surely be curious to have seen such an attempt). I wouldn't expect to see Mr. Tyrrell doing comic turns on my television, and frankly, I hope I never will. All in all, I'm quite happy with the contributions that Mr. Stein and Mr. Tyrrell make to these pages, for what it's worth. May God continue to bless them both.
-- Mark Fallert
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

CONFINED TO QUARTERS
Re: Happy Feder's My Two Bits:

Thank you for the best article I've seen in I don't remember how long!

Mr. Feder has neatly and plainly written just what Republicans in Government and elsewhere, really need to know.

Letter to the Editor

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