The American Spectator

Reader Mail

She's With Bubba

2.28.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 2)

I found the Spectator article "Farewell, Grand Master Bertie" about the death of Fra Andrew Bertie, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta most interesting. His full title says it all: "His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, the Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ." Centuries ago, the military mission of the Order was equal in importance to caring for the needs of the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. The Order's devotion to the cardinal virtues of Christianity have been synonymous with the famous eight-pointed Maltese Cross. I am confident that today's Knights of Malta will continue that "humble guardianship." I am a papal knight in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem as well as a member of the Brotherhood of Blessed Girard, which is the relief organization of the Order of Malta. Helping the sick, elderly, refugees, children, the homeless and those with special needs has become a central mission of the Order. We have the motto: "TUITIO FIDEI OBSEQUIUM PAUPERUM -- Protection of faith and service to the poor." To follow the teachings of Jesus Christ is to follow a path of faith, hope, and charity toward our fellow man.
-- James A. Marples
Longview, Texas

CARBON SCHMARBON
Re: Patrick J. Michaels's Carbon Copies:

Thanks for your article and the philosophy underlying it. We must all try to protect ourselves from our legislators, wherever they may be.

At the same time, let me remind you as I have reminded every writer on the subject that I come across. It does not matter what the level of CO2 emissions may be in any state, province, country or area of the world. Just as the miniscule increases in temperature that you enumerate, CO2 gases represent such a small part of our atmosphere that they could increase by 1,000 per cent and we would never notice it.

This fact is based, not on some voodoo computer modeling scheme, but on measured scientific data. For verification, consult Dr. S. Fred Singer at the University of Virginia who has verified my analysis.

I continually ask all of you who write for a living to help me in exploding this myth before it destroys the country.
-- Les Arbo
Daphne, Alabama

REVERSE QUERY
Re: RiShawn Biddle's Prince of the City:

I certainly have enjoyed RiShawn Biddle's articles. He has a grasp of the problems of urban areas. I would like to see some articles about the educational system, Title IX problems and how boys have been left behind while feminist mandates rule.
-- George Pellett

WHEN READERS ATTACK
Re: Michael Tomlinson's and Mike Roush's letters (under "Obamanation") in Reader Mail's Northern Exposure

'It is no coincidence that the housing market and stock market slumped once the Democrats seized Congress in 2006. The markets instinctively know that the worst thing for the economy is Democrats."

The housing market and stock market slumped once the Democrats seized Congress in 2006? Gee, I thought the collapse of the sub-prime induced housing bubble, the exploding deficits and national debt (financed by China) caused by an administration that simultaneously wages war and cuts taxes while supporting outrageous earmarks and costly energy (supplied largely by the Middle East) resulting from the lack of a timely, coherent energy policy were responsible, at least in part, for what we are seeing in the markets.
-- Mike Roush
North Carolina

Mike Roush is certainly correct in his response to Jeffrey Lord's article when he says, "Sometimes when people ask a slum-lord for heat they are not trying to remake the United States in the image of Cuba; they are simply asking for heat." However, no one I know of is advocating that the poor or disadvantaged should have their needs unmet. The gambit of choice, used by liberals of all stripes, is to paint all who voice opposition to federal wealth re-distribution programs as some sort of uncaring and evil pariahs. The question that needs to be answered is, "Who can best meet the needs of those who require help?" After decades of governmental malfeasance associated with having Congress in control of doling out welfare benefits, it should be obvious that the let-the-federal-government-do-it approach to this problem, espoused particularly by Democrats, has failed to meet its stated objectives at every level.

What it has produced instead is a pernicious and entrenched bureaucracy which has created a multi-generational dependency that liberal politicians have successfully manipulated for their own benefit for years. These phony crusaders are little more than "poverty pimps" who, in my estimation, are at approximately the same level on the food chain as the slum lords that Mr. Roush so reviles.

What most conservatives want to see is real compassion for the poor. This cannot be done from Washington. We want programs administered by entities within our local communities that eliminate dependency by making people self-sufficient, not groveling politicians who pander to an underclass they perpetuate and can count on to get themselves re-elected.
-- Rick Arand
Lee's Summit, Missouri

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Education, Sarah Palin, Economics, Business, Earmarks, Environment, Military, Iraq, NATO, Energy, Alaska, Oil