The American Spectator

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Miss Teen USA

5.12.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 5)

Pee-wee Herman, Rob Lowe. Britney Spears, vs. Roy Rogers, Bill Boyd, Shirley Temple.

If you are making money because of a certain "image," in my opinion you lose the money when image is destroyed. Shame on Miley and Miley's exploitive father.
-- Annette Cwik

Judah Friedman may know something about mistakes, but he apparently knows very little about the entertainment industry. The Vanity Fair photo shoot was not a "mistake," but a carefully calculated piece of a larger picture: how to "transition" a child star into an adult one, under the "watchful eye" of her parents -- along with a manager, an agent, a publicist, merchandisers, record company, movie and video
execs, and anyone else with a "piece of the action."

Some "mistake."
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

AGAINST THE GRAIN
Re: Lene Johansen's Food Fracas:

Johansen wrote: "The price increase is not a result of a weakened dollar, the increase is seen worldwide."

That point is completely false. All currencies worldwide are fiat currencies and the WSJ has had articles in the past three weeks about worldwide inflation. It is indeed primarily the debasement of the value of money worldwide that has caused the increase in food prices. Indeed, food producers and people on fixed incomes get harmed the most.
-- Allen Niven
New York, New York

In order to get politics out of the way in food and energy production, it is going to be necessary to require that all potential members of Congress have to pass a test on basic economics and science. If this were instituted, there'd be far fewer lawyers gracing the "hallowed halls" of the Capitol Building, which would be a good thing.

If only we had any leaders these days. My father was fond of the quote, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." If only those in Congress, who are incredibly stupid about basic economics and science, would consider their own qualification and follow the relevant part of the quote, vis-a-vis their own capabilities.

Five hundred thirty-five American citizens over the age of 50, one for each congressional district, and two extra for each state, picked at random out of the phone book, could do a better job than group we currently have in Washington. As long as we didn't allow any lawyers who might get selected to actually serve.
-- R. Goodson
Vero Beach, Florida

Mr. Johansen in "Food Fracas" claims that the current increase in world-wide food prices is the result of increased ethanol production and growing living standards in China and India. Like global warming, China and India appear to explain every economic event over the past decade. But the fact that the prices of energy, metals and food are all up to records levels, and the dollar to record lows, hint that something else may tie them all together. The only event known to economics that could produce all of these phenomena is a world-wide glut of money. It works like this: the U.S. inflates the supply of dollars through credit expansion (via low interest rates). As a result, U.S. citizens import more goods. Exporting countries take those dollars and use them as reserves in their banks. Larger reserves enable them to inflate their money supply even more than they usually do. The end result is a flood of money of Biblical proportions. I realize that people trained in mainstream econ will simply role their eyes at this explanation of wide spread prices increases because they limit explanations strictly to supply and demand (demand in China and India); money is neutral is their religion. However, mainstream econ should go back and study the decades of the 1960s and 1970s again. It's deja vu all over again.
-- Roger D. McKinney
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

THE BIG FIVE-O
Re: Jay D. Homnick's Stuck in the Middle:

It is here, but it is good, and rest assured you are not "stuck." Life starts moving faster that it would seem -- think summer as a kid and you'll get the idea.
-- Roger Ross

If you think you're old now, Jay, just wait until you have grandchildren.

I turned 58 this year. So far my face is still naturally smooth; my hair is still naturally brown; I wear t-shirts and Adidas sneakers; and I listen to Amy Winehouse on my iPod. Most days I feel like I'm 18. However, I have four grandchildren, ages 5 to 16, all of whom periodically remind me of my chronological age.

Letter to the Editor

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