The American Spectator

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Current Appeal

9.20.07 @ 12:01AM

ALIEN APPEAL
Re: William Tucker's Tesla's Last Triumph:

William Tucker writes that Nikola Tesla has "sunk into obscurity." The statement does Mr. Tucker credit, for it shows that he is unaware of the importance Tesla enjoys in the amazing crackpot world of the UFO enthusiasts. In that alternate universe, Tesla's name frequently pops up as the inventor of (suppressed) technologies that underlie fantastic vehicles, weapons, and other systems of all sorts. It boggles the mind.
-- William Ducker
Austin, Texas

I hope one of those five remaining D.C. customers of Con Ed scheduled to be terminated by year end is not the New York City Transit System. Subways, elevated trains, and commuter rail lines using third rail to gather current are run with D.C. Trains using overhead electric catenary systems are AC.
-- Stuart W. Settle
Richmond, Virginia

FAST TIMES
Re: Jeffrey Lord's Vanity Wares:

As I read the last line in Jeffrey Lord's essay, my reaction was the same as tennis great John McEnroe when confronted with a questionable call: "You can't be serious!"

For what is President Bush well on his way to greatness? Iraq, Katrina, cleaning up corruption in Washington, fiscal responsibility, greater transparency in government, addressing the social security issue, figuring out what to do about health care, taking care of our troops, uniting us?

It appears that his one real accomplishment is cutting taxes primarily for the most affluent in America. Sure the stimulus worked in the short term -- it always does. But, now we are staring at ballooning deficits and a huge national debt, much of which is owned by people who don't necessarily have our best interests at heart. Does anyone really believe as the Vice President does that they "don't matter?"

Oh, I forgot. It's all Bill Clinton's fault. Sorry. Clinton hasn't been President for a long time. And, the Democrats were the minority in both houses of Congress until the last election.

There used to be well known conservative principles. Now it appears that conservative principles are whatever the GOP is doing.
-- Mike Roush
North Carolina

Mr. Lord has managed to make me laugh out loud while at the same time providing a sobering and insightful look at the beltway and the current "conventional wisdom" in D.C. The worst part being so many of the faithful don't seem to have either the intellectual honesty to recognize it or the intellectual curiosity to question it; so smarter than the room in their own minds I suspect laziness. After all, in the words of a great American most people's historical perspective begins with the day of their birth.

Bravo!
-- Stuart Reed
Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan

I guess what they said was true: the skills you acquire in high school will serve you for the rest of your life. Especially if you go into Washington politics.
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

THEIR EGOS AGAIN
Re: Lisa Fabrizio's Imagine That:

Regarding ego as sometimes being a primary political motivator, one can see that the reason Jesse Jackson attacked Obama for acting like he's white is that Jackson himself is green. Moreover, Jackson should have said "acting as if he's white" in order to avoid grammatical errors that are sometimes used to stereotypes blacks.

Sidney Harris once held up as a test of authenticity the willingness to include in one's efforts work for a cause that does not directly help oneself. He cited the Pro-Life movement and the ACLU as groups that do this. It would be good if Jackson and Sharpton spoke up and demonstrated for the Swedish cartoonist now in hiding and under government protection.
-- Richard L.A. Schaefer
Dubuque, Iowa

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Health Care, Bill Clinton, Social Security, Founding Fathers, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Israel, NATO, Africa, North Korea, Immigration, Oil