The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Sorry, Dianne

11.19.07 @ 12:01AM

(Page 4 of 4)

SAVINGS WITH A SMILE
Re: John Carlisle's The Greening of Wal-Mart and the "Due Left" letters in Reader Mail's Obladi Obama:

Just read all the bad letters about Wal-Mart and I want to say I LOVE Wal-Mart. I make out my grocery list using ads from other stores and when I check out, the everyday prices at Wal-Mart are usually lower than the sale prices of the other stores. The store in Cleveland, TX is clean and the employees are wonderful. NO I do NOT work for or have ever worked for Wal-Mart, but they save me lots of money every week.

I do wish they would get off the "Greening" kick and do what they do best, care about the customer. Liberals are never going to like Wal-Mart, like liberals are never going to love Republicans....stop beating a dead horse.
-- Elaine Kyle

A FORTY-YEAR DIFFERENCE
Re: Joseph Baum's letter (under "Schools and Society") in Reader Mail's Obladi Obama:

While I agree with the thrust of Joseph Baum's thoughts on the Public School system not being the problem in and of itself, I would remind Joe and his fellow educators that 40 years ago failure was an option in school for a pupil and there were consequences for failing that had merit. That option no longer exists for the most part and it is the Teachers who pass failing students and Administrators that graduate failing students from one grade to the next over 12 years that rob the society of any chance of setting the student and their irresponsible parent(s) on a better path. It cost the taxpayers just as much to school a moron as it does a genius, but 40 years ago morons didn't end up with a High School diplomas that meant nothing to society as it does today.

Yes, society is deteriorating but the institution of Public Education has led that charge rather than maintained the standards required and let the results speak for themselves rather than just take the money for 12 years and certify a moron after 12 years of taxpayer support. Teachers, Administrators, Parents and Pupils have an equal part in this equation but all those paid professionals involved with the education process have the sole responsibility of enforcing standards of excellence and not becoming part of the problem. Several of my friends home school their children because the Public School system maintains no standards of substance and panders to the lowest common denominator in society. Failure is an option in life; it should be in taxpayer funded education also right from day one.
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

DISAGREEING TO DISAGREE
Re: Mike Dooley, Clif Briner and Mike Showalter's letters (under "Dorell Open") in Reader Mail's Obladi Obama:

Uh-oh, looks like I'm being triple-teamed again. Some additional clarification is in order.

A beneficiary of affirmative action who renounces it after implicitly accepting it in order to advance his career is not the same as a privileged white person who happens to be the beneficiary of racial advantages and then decides that the system is unfair. The former could be characterized as disingenuous while the latter could not if he grew up within a status quo that he only recognized after the fact. In other words, if Clarence Thomas thought that affirmative action was bunk, which he apparently did from an early age, he would have been more intellectually honest if he had rejected it outright at the beginning by not accepting what it had to offer him personally. On the other hand, a descendant of slave owners can disapprove of his family's history without any inconsistency of thought, because the injustices occurred before he was born, without his participation. He can, for example, consistently support affirmative action either on its own merits or as a corrective to redress past wrongs, because he never believed in slavery.

Regarding Justice Thomas's nomination within the conservative context, it is fair enough to say that a conservative president can nominate someone whom he thinks is in alignment with his agenda. However, in choosing Clarence Thomas, George H.W. Bush was certainly thinking about keeping people happy by appointing a black to replace Thurgood Marshall. The fact is that there were undoubtedly dozens of conservative judges who were more qualified for the Supreme Court than Clarence Thomas. In my opinion, this makes Justice Thomas especially boorish, since he willingly participated in the favoritism of which he ostensibly disapproves while denying a more qualified person the job.

Yes, George Washington was a revolutionary, and there was no inconsistency in his repudiation of British colonialism.
-- Paul Dorell
Evanston, Illinois

Re Dorell Open and the comments of readers on Paul Dorell's stunningly stupid statement that Justice Thomas "seems to be biting the hand that fed him."

At the risk of having Mr. Dorell carry out his threat in a letter to TAS in 2006 to "please warn Diane Smith that her e-mails are being covertly monitored by dangerous leftists..." and his tinfoil hat fantasy that "they" might conduct an e-mail assault on me. I'll take the risk.

Allow me to add my read of Justice Thomas' reasoning. Clarence Thomas merely wanted to be recognized for his intellectual effort rather than because of a law that he felt obscured or diluted the individual's accomplishment. He resented being lumped in with everyone who shared his skin color, their ability and ambition notwithstanding.

Surely Mr. Dorell can understand that yearning -- as he went to such lengths to prove his brief membership in the Mensa Society....
-- Diane Smith
South San Francisco, California

HOOSIER HERO
Re: RiShawn Biddle's No Parent Left Behind:

As an Indianapolis resident who supports school choice, I'm thrilled to see RiShawn Biddle writing for your publication. His iconoclastic work at the local newspaper was a breath of fresh air.
-- Happy Camper

Letter to the Editor

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