FAIRLY UNBALANCED
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Fear of
Fox:
Mr. Tyrrell’s depiction of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and
Barack Obama as “Chicken Democrats” needs refinement. As any
graduate of Texas A&M’s animal sciences programs could tell
you, this trio is not comprised of chickens, but of a hen and two
capons. (Well, at least you got the “Democrat” part right.)
In more serious timbre, our feathery fearers of Fox News should
reevaluate their phobia The intrepid Democrats are not boycotting a
news network as much as they are boycotting an audience of millions
of Americans who will vote come November 2008.
Slightly weird, to say the least.
— Doug Roll
Jacksonville, Texas
In your latest column, you imply that the Democrats who withdrew
from the Fox News-sponsored debates are cowards and state that
”the liberals’” favorite debate is no debate unless the forum is
totally dominated by them. Even then there will preferably be no
argument, just the liberal point of view sedulously propounded in a
forum shaped completely by them.
The latter part of that statement offers no supporting evidence
that liberals, or even the Democrats in question, prefer to avoid
debating against dissenting voices. The former part indicates that
you believe a forum can be dominated by a particular
group. If you are justified in being suspicious of their chosen
forum (and you offer no compelling argument for why anyone ought to
agree with you), then they may have equally valid concerns about
your preferred forum.
Fox News is long on spin and short on journalistic ethics and
integrity. They are the least qualified of all the major cable news
networks to host a serious election debate. It is difficult to take
your condemnation of the Democrats’ withdrawal given that your
column avoided making a coherent, fact-based argument and rapidly
degenerated into childish mockery (invoking comparisons to the
Nazis.) In support of Fox News you claim that they are widely
viewed — so was the 20th century European propaganda you mention.
You give me no reason to believe you over the Democrats.
Of course, I would expect no less than such mindless drivel from
The American Spectator.
— Bart Trzynadlowski
I think this is so funny, the Democrat Party, no I will NOT use the
term Democratic, can go overseas and talk to people that want to
kill us, but not Fox News. They are so afraid they might be asked a
question they have not approved. Has anyone watched the softball
questions lobbed at Hillary?
— Elaine Kyle
The description of Don Imus as a “surly vulgarian” is
priceless.
I laughed for 2 minutes.
— Doug Santo
Pasadena, California
LABOUR PAINS
Re: Hal G.P. Colebatch’s Blair’s
Britain Turns Ten:
Hal G. P. Colebatch left out the bad news about the Blair
government — Gordon Brown is the hot favorite to be the next Prime
Minister. If you think Britain (I left out the “Great” because it
doesn’t apply anymore to the British) has problems then you can
hardly believe what is said about this guy. A former head of the
civil service called him a Stalinist who treats his Cabinet
colleagues with open contempt and a coward who runs away from
making decisions. People who have worked with him describe him as
having the interpersonal skills of a whelk.
He is routinely described as rude, arrogant, thin skinned, bad
tempered, deceitful, secretive, surrounded by yes men, incapable of
accepting criticism and incapable of making decisions. A Cabinet
colleague openly wondered whether he was psychologically impaired.
Gordon Brown has now increased taxes in Britain 100 times and he
presided over an incompetent disaster called a tax credit that has
inflicted fear and suffering on thousands of the lowest income
earners in the country — there are Members of Parliament who claim
they spend the bulk of their time trying to intercede with the
government on behalf of constituents who have had their lives
turned into an absolute misery by this frightful scheme. That is on
top of a massive and sustained tax grab on the British pension
system that has destroyed the retirement prospects of large numbers
of retirees well into the future.
Gordon Brown’s ability to screw taxpayers and squander money
that should never have been taken from their pockets is second to
none. Only in a declining, decrepit, self righteous failure like
Blair’s Britain would this record be judged as competent.
I can only wonder just how bad things are in Britain for this
massively incompetent and disagreeable man to even be appointed to
Cabinet, let alone considered as the Prime Minister in waiting. I
sure am glad my father immigrated to Australia from England when he
was a young man. Conditions here in Australia beat what the British
have hands down, the government of John Howard is everything that
the Blair government isn’t and I am pretty certain the differential
will increase further in the future.
— Christopher Holland
Canberra, Australia
Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film version of Anthony Burgess’s book,
A Clockwork Orange may be seen as a self fulfilling
prophesy in Britain 10-20 years from now. That presumes there will
still be anything that looks or acts British left in Britain by
then.
— Thom Bateman
ENEMY OF THE WEAK
Re: Enemy Central’s Scars
Guard:
I will have to ponder long on my nomination for Enemy of the
Week; there are just too many candidates. If only the Oscars had so
many quality choices!
In regards to the Rutgers basketball player’s comment, “This
event has scarred me for life,” if this were the worst that she
will face in life, she would truly be blessed. Too many of our
younger brethren do not understand what true pain and suffering
means — the death of a loved one, a family member’s ravaging
illness, a life filled with repression in a communist country, life
in Israel where a violent death is a realistic fear, and many other
examples of true suffering.
Without a life grounded in religion and a liberal education,
this young woman is clueless that her “scarring event” is a pimple
on the rear end of true suffering. Does she even know about Joan of
Arc’s life, the willing sacrifice of Nathan Hale? I assume she
knows the stories of families ripped apart in slavery. Rather than
applauding her for her “bravery,” perhaps the media should pity her
for her lack of perspective, for how will she handle true adversity
when it tries to suck the life out of her?
— Tom Fries
Dublin, Ohio
GUTLESS WONDERING
Re: The Washington Prowler’s Republican
Wimps:
The Prowler gives print to a problem that continues to pain me
like the blisters from an ill-fitting pair of shoes. Why are
Republicans so bloody gutless when faced with standing up to the
Dummycrats? The recent inability of members of the GOP to stand up
to the resident Orc from the Left Coast, Henry Waxman, has me
alternating between nausea and blind rage. I have yet to comprehend
what is wrong with the minds of these people….
— Jim Bjaloncik
Stow, Ohio
MEDIA APPROVED BIGOTRY
Re: Ben Stein’s Sharpton in
the Morning:
Whenever the “Reverend” Al Sharpton puffs himself up with moral
indignation, deflate him with just two words: Tawana Brawley.
— Stuart Koehl
Falls Church, Virginia
After reviewing Al Sharpton’s sordid record of bigotry, Ben Stein
writes that for him “to be sitting in moral judgment on anyone at
all is incomprehensible. For the media to take Sharpton seriously
is unbelievable.”
No it’s not, not if you understand that clowns like Sharpton and
Jesse Jackson are stooges for the left-wing elite. They are paraded
out and given prominent air-time so as to keep the blacks mentally
chained in ghetto of victimhood and to reinforce the guilt feeling
that white liberals have.
Given the reality of today, if Sharpton and Jackson didn’t
exist, the mainstream media would have to invent them.
— Peter Skurkiss
Stow, Ohio
Whatever one may think of Don Imus, or what he said, I’m just not
thrilled by the idea that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can tell
me, or anybody, what we can say, or listen to, or read, or
write.
— Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida
FOOTLOOSE
Re: Michael Dooley’s letter (under “Touchy Feely Education”) in
Reader Mail’s Not So
Sharpton:
I must disagree with Mike Dooley, as much as it pains me to do
so ‘cause Mike usually knows what he’s talking about.
It hurts to admit this, but in HS, I was a geek. This was before
the word geek was even bandied about. I was tall and gangly,
uncoordinated (I was the only one I knew who could fall UP the
stairs), a real bookworm, didn’t do any sports, and let’s not even
talk about my nonexistent ability to even talk to girls. What with
acne, stuttering, my mom being a teacher at my HS (boy, talk about
paying for THAT!), my popularity was down in the noise floor, or
possibly lower. I didn’t date a girl until my senior year, and she
was a junior from a different school.
But I can remember when, in HS, they began teaching us to dance
during gym classes. They started out with square dancing, moved to
the polka, and graduated to more “formal” dancing though time
constraints were such that this last step didn’t receive any focus
worth mentioning.
I don’t know why but this uncoordinated specimen of a man could
actually dance this stuff! Suddenly, for these miraculous 45
minutes twice a week, my lack of popularity vanished. For some
reason I couldn’t fathom (and still can’t) these HS girls who
wouldn’t give me the time of day suddenly wanted to dance with me!
The teachers would line us up on either side of the gym and walk
the lines together. Who you ended up with was your partner for the
45 minutes. I couldn’t believe it when the popular girls would
jockey their position in line to dance with miserable me. I pissed
off some of their boyfriends, though.
I could actually touch a girl who wasn’t related to me. I could
put my arm around her waist. I could lead her in the dance and
control our movements. This was heady stuff. Of course, after the
45 minutes, it was back to Mr. Un-popularity, but I really
cherished those 45 minutes.
But let’s not talk about the Saturday night dances where
“free-form” was the rule and rock was the way to roll. I never
could learn that type of dancing. It wasn’t structured enough for
me to “learn” it. Though I tried, I’m afraid my endeavors were more
along the vein of the recent Karl Rove dance moves available for
viewing on YouTube. I won’t even try today. I’m not sure my
insurance would cover it.
So yeah, I get a little teary eyed when I hear a polka. And I
swear I’ll beat the tar out of anyone who snickers at that.
C’mon, Mike, it really wasn’t that bad!
— Karl F Auerbach
Former Polka Dancer
Eden, Utah
DON’T FORGET THE LAWYERS
Re: Judy Barrett’s letter (under “No More Viagra Commercials”) in
Reader Mail’s Not So
Sharpton:
Judy Barrett writes an interesting and short letter decrying the
money spent by drug companies on drug commercials. She opines that
it must equate to approximately the same as the R&D costs.
Judy, how much money could the consumer save, do you suppose, if
the lawyers stopped advertising for clients to sue for any and all
unfortunate results of living one’s life. I bet the reduction in
insurance premiums alone would be huge.
— Ken Shreve
VIDAL STATISTICS
Re: Florence King’s In Sickness
and In Health:
I guarantee Florence King’s review is better than the book. Her
review was so enjoyable I might just have to at least take a peek
at the Gore’s book.
— Louise
Frederick, Maryland
