The American Spectator

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Mall Rats et al.

4.23.07 @ 12:01AM

LOCATION, LOCATION
Re: Lawrence Henry's The Kids Are All Right:

It is amazing to me that people of our generation seem so afraid of teens. I live in a wonderful small city in central Virginia and on nice and not-so-nice days there is a walking mall that has become the major hangout of teens of all stripes. You see hip-hoppers, kids with multi-colored hair and a lot of piercings, and kids in all black... Yet whenever I find myself entering a store or coffee shop behind or ahead of these young people they invariably hold the door. It always makes me smile, especially when one of these polite young people is dressed in jack-boots, spiked hair, leather--that somewhere a mother or father has taught them politeness which they choose to practice. These strange looking and acting teens appreciate politeness from others as well. There is a very successful dumpling store on this mall that has an incredibly loyal following of teens (as well as the rest of the city that knows about them) primarily because they are inexpensive and also they treat these young people as people and not annoyances. Do we not remember our own childhood and that terrifying transition between childhood and adulthood?
Regards,
-- MarthaJoy M. Spano

The second paragraph of this web posting indicates the Mayfair Mall is near Detroit, however the Mayfair Mall is in Milwaukee, WI.

There does happen to be a Fairlane Mall outside of Detroit (in Dearborn) that enacted a similar curfew on teenagers.
-- Ian

There is now a mall in Milwaukee that will only let teenagers in if they are accompanied by a parent.
-- Frank Gizinski

OPPORTUNITIES WON AND LOST
Re: Jennifer Rubin's Many a Silver Lining:

I believe Ms. Rubin has shorted the list of gifts that the GOP collected from their Democrat colleagues. She cites the abortion decision and allows that the voters will be appreciative of the judges nominated and confirmed in the last few years to the Supreme Court. She says nothing about decisions at the Court of Appeals level, such as but not limited to, the 2nd Amendment decision in the Washington D.C. gun ban case.

Ms. Rubin suggests that the elected Democrats kept their heads down on the gun control issue as given momentum by the Va. Tech. murders. Well, several high profile, elected Dems did shoot their mouths off, including such as Chuck Schumer, DiFi, and others. Even though Bloomberg in New York has an "R" behind his name as mayor, most are aware that he was always a "D" until he noticed that he could change parties and have a better electoral chance. Also the NRA can be counted on to beat the drums as to each and every group, organization, or individual that screeches for more gun laws, and what their political orientation is.

The tax increases that the Dems are determined to pass could be a huge benefit to the GOP, except that so few Republicans of any note are beating the drum to notify the public about what is coming.

Hillary's negatives will be increasing. She has tried to triangulate regarding her stances and votes on the war. All she has, in fact, done, is manage to increase her negatives among Dems on both sides of the issue.

Additionally, it is simply folly to leave out the war issues. The influential and activist Left is forcing the Dems farther and farther out of the mainstream, and the Dem elected leadership is determined to give them everything that they want. Reid, Pelosi, Murtha, Webb, Kennedy, and others have abandoned all caution and gone all anti-war, all the time. Pelosi, Murtha, et al. have pushed the envelope to the point where they are hanging by a thin thread. I believe a case can be made that Reid has gone farther and actually broken the thread. Many in the military, and their families and loved ones, have become more and more disenchanted with the way Bush has pursued the war. I believe the Dems in general, and Reid in particular, have brought these people back to the GOP. The Dems' anti-war radicalism is the gift that keeps on giving. Of course that presupposes that there are GOP candidates with enough backbone to take advantage of this gift.

Ms. Rubin notes how McCain and Mayor Rudy should receive increased support because of their brownie points on domestic and foreign security issues. I would opine that Fred Thompson should also benefit, as soon as he get in the race. I was convinced that the GOP's hopes, virtually across the board, were extremely bleak for 2008. The action of the Democrats now have me believing that the GOP should be able to retain the White House, and either switch control or narrow their minority status in both houses of Congress, if they don't screw it up.
-- Ken Shreve
New Hampshire

Silver lining? Lets see now, we have Nancy Pelosi negotiating on her own with a terrorist state, we have Harry Reid saying the war is lost and we have Harry Reid and the boys and girls on the left holding up funding for our troops in harm's way.

Now I ask you, folks, which political party is the best friend of the terrorists and which political party is the domestic enemy of our troops at home and which political party is enabling the terrorists to fight on? And just where in the hell is the outrage on the Republican side of the equation and where in the hell is the public outrage?
-- Jim L
East Sandwich, Massachusetts

LOST CAUSE
Re: Christopher Orlet's Turkey at the Crossroads:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Mainstream Media, Television, Business, Social Security, Islam, Abortion, Hollywood, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, NATO, Immigration, Energy, Oil