The American Spectator

Reader Mail

An Activist Named Grover

4.11.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 3)

As long as Wall Street is allowed to leverage investments at a 32-1 ratio (NY Post, March 31) Americans will be at risk for a financial meltdown. Think of it as the same thing as having made slightly more than a 3% down payment on a house. If things go south, you can walk away with little loss to show for it -- while sticking the bank with a piece of real estate they have to sell for a steep discount.

As it stands, Wall Street can stick it to America the same way.
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

REVERSE QUERY
Re: Frank Stevenson's letter (under "Fragile and Reversible" in Reader Mai's Staying Put:

Any chance of getting Frank Stevenson on board to replace Mehan? He has a remarkable understanding of history and geography. Remarkable, sadly because we have become a nation that thinks history was what happened yesterday. Being a reader and saver of old issues, I have at least 40 years of American Heritage magazine. Picked one up the other day that ran some time in the early '70s, I believe. In it there was an article describing the genesis of OPEC, its effect, world wide, on oil prices and also the creation of "the idle rich" in that region. It touched on the children of the oil rich -- no problems, no purpose in life. Uneducated (then) and adrift. What was that saying, "Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind."?

As to the hearings themselves, why does no one remind Obama when he says we had no reason to go to war with Iraq, of just a few of the reasons? He is another example of people who wake up to a new world each with no memory of what went on before. Does he not remember Saddam Hussein's boasts of having the nuclear means to vaporize the entire continent on which we reside, if it amused him? How were we to know it was the boast of a man, when found in his spiderhole, had a storehouse of two things, Viagra and black hair dye. Did Hussein's 35-year reign of terror escape the attention of Obama? That lunatic had been nursing a major grudge against the U.S. ever since he had occasion to rue the day he didn't put back-up lights on his tanks, after threatening us with the Mother of All Wars over Kuwait. Perhaps Obama is unaware of Hussein's playing fast and loose with unkept promises to the UN. As you can see, I am not a historian, myself. But I know more about why we are in Iraq than Barry does.

It would have been a sight easier getting out if there had been a country called Al Qaedistan with battalions of uniformed soldiers armed with artillery rather than a bunch of cockroaches making roadside bombs.

If we would modify our rules of engagement and let our military fight a war without the impediment of consulting Miss Manners, that would also help. Finally, if we could gag Jack Murtha, Dick Durbin, Jean Francois Kerry, et al for the duration, it might improve morale at home.

Seriously, give Frank Stevenson a by-line. It will keep elderly gadflies like me from criticizing former EPA "suits" who have a limited understanding of their subject -- although I was agreeably surprised to see I was not alone on this one.
-- Diane Smith
California

GONE COASTAL
Re: Jay D. Homnick's Return of the Warm-Monger:

Yet again, Mr. Homnick has either misunderstood or intentionally distorted the claims of the scientific community. Scientists do not believe, as Mr. Homnick seems to think, that anthropogenic climate change will actually destroy the earth. In (rare) cases when such language is used, it is shorthand for "rendering the earth unfit for human occupation." As Mr. Homnick points out, over the course of geologic time the earth has experienced great fluctuations in climate, but has obviously managed to endure such perturbations. He's absolutely right -- the earth (and life in general) is very robust to change. In the grand scheme of things, if the icecaps melt and sea level rises, the earth will be fine. Bacteria, algae, and arthropods will be fine. But humans, who generally insist on living near the ocean, might not be so fortunate.
-- Nat Johnson
Charleston, South Carolina

SELLING ONESELF
Re: Kaz Long's letter (under "No Gimmie") in Reader Mai's Staying Put:

I wouldn't brook Mr. Long's right to vote for whomever he chooses, however, with a first choice of John Edwards and a second choice Barack Obama, I would question his judgment. Both Edwards and Obama have taken so many prostitutional positions that they could qualify for the Kama Sutra of politics. My question to Mr. Long would be: Which one of those kaleidoscopic positions on gun control and gun ownership does he believe, and why does he believe that particular one?
-- Joseph Baum
Garrettsville, Ohio

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Barack Obama, Hank Paulson, Religion, Books, Military, Iraq, Oil