The American Spectator

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Party of Three

6.4.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 5)

Let's say someone offers me a choice between eating trash and eating garbage. "I'd rather have strawberry ice cream," I reply. "Well, you can't have that. All we have are A. Trash and B. Garbage. Pick one or the other or you get nothing." "I'd still rather have strawberry ice cream," I reply. And I would go on record as preferring strawberry ice cream even if I get nothing. I mean, who wants to eat trash or garbage?

If enough people vote for a third party candidate, they can tip the election. Unfortunately they tipped it the wrong way in 1992, when Ross Perot took enough votes away from George H.W. Bush to hand the election to Bill Clinton, who by the way only got 43 percent of the vote, but won the White House anyway. Let the chips fall where they may; I voted for Bush in 2004 but this year I might vote Libertarian. As I said, I'd rather have strawberry ice cream, even if I can't get it.
-- Kelley Dupuis
Washington, D.C.

Lots of good men and women have died so that any of us have the privilege of voting.

Wonder if those who served and died because of that service -- regardless of which war or place of conflict where they were sent -- could still vote for anything. would they be so cynical to throw their vote away, or condone anyone else throwing their vote away?

If for no other reason to honor the sacrifice of those men and women, eligible voters ought to find someone they could support, passionately or not, given the circumstances surrounding the vote and the implications of some lunkhead -- say, for example, Barack Obama -- winning because lots of cynical Americans don't understand the right they're squandering.
-- C. Kenna Amos
Princeton, West Virginia

BIG BROTHER BEGONE
Re: Jeffrey Lord's Orwell Does the Hamptons:

I'm in cognitive dissonance -- I'm a liberal and I agree with Mr. Lord. I concur with his statement that the Hampton police surveillance is an abuse of government. But there are similar but worse abuses of government about which I am anxious to from Mr. Lord, the warrantless surveillance of Americans. At least the Hampton police surveillance he describes is legal.

Right now, in addition to being spied on without judicial scrutiny, any American can be arrested without cause and imprisoned indefinitely. On the whim of the President you can be charged and convicted of crimes without ever seeing the evidence against you. He has declared that as President he is under no obligation to obey laws passed by Congress. Now that's serious abuse of the Constitution. Mr. Lord appealed to the Constitution of the United States in the actions of the Hamptons local government. I would now like to hear what Mr. Lord has to say about President Bush as Big Brother.
-- Ron Schoenberg
Seattle, Washington

Like the frog in the stew pot being cooked slowly by degree, too often the American public allows its legislators and police forces strip away our liberties and freedom without much notice or protest. While the temperature rises, we sit and enjoy the warmth mistaking it for comfort and safety.

Recently a friend of mine was pulled over and given a ticket by a police officer for not being buckled in her car. (She was buckled, as she pointed out to the officer, but since she was of a large frame, she was unable to buckle the device as prescribed; the officer was unmoved by the explanation.) When the click it/ticket laws were first passed, our legislators promised these laws would only be enforced as an ancillary incidents; the lack of a seat belt would never be sufficient reason for being stopped by state agents. Few protested the erosion of our Fourth Amendment rights then. Now the police have their right to stop and search our cars for the appearance of the possibility that a seat beat is not being properly worn.

The Hamptons are known for their warm waters and comfortable surroundings. Let her citizens not confuse being cooked alive for a feeling of well being.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

The heck with apologies! To a cop, the time spent writing an apology is just time off the street, closer to the coffee machine. What is needed is a means to make the bureaucrats responsible for their errors (Dan) and lapses of judgment (Vered), like the rest of us. I understand that may be a Sisyphean task, but the old fashioned "vote the bums out" approach no longer works as the bums (Democrat or Republican) have become interchangeable.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

Apparently this type of device is not only used in East Hampton. Last year Newsday reported:

The Long Beach [NY] Police Department is among a growing number of law enforcement agencies nationwide using the roof-mounted license plate reader, known as the Mobile Plate Hunter.

At least 18 police departments on Long Island, including Nassau County and Suffolk County police, use readers, which cost about $22,000, said North Carolina-based manufacturer Remington ELSAG.

More than 220 departments use it nationwide, the company said.

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Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Trade, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Business, Entitlements, Global Warming, Constitution, Law, NATO, Conservatism, Libertarianism, Immigration, Alaska

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