The American Spectator

Reader Mail

One Referendum Too Many

6.23.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 6)

An effective way to support the First Amendment is to change current legislation to allow any and all U.S. citizens (and only U.S. citizens, sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton) to fund the candidates and campaigns of their choice. Couple this with the power of the internet, so far the ultimate free speech distribution system (thank you, Mr. Gore) and freedoms grows instead of being illegally and unconstitutionally undermined and denied. Any contribution over a certain dollar amount, say $2,500.00, must be reported to the FEC and posted on a searchable website run by the same. People can then log on and see who supports whom and infer what is logical. Contributions would become transparent, and as the nostrum goes, the light of day is the best disinfectant. Allowing for contributions and open access of information will increase citizen participation in exercising our civic duties. America was founded on principles of freedom. Now is not the time to turn our backs on the gifts we have been granted.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

LOST CAUSE
Re: Doug Bandow's LOST at Sea:

Pass this treaty and you will see all kinds of offshore drilling, none with American flags flying from the drilling platforms and all within view from anywhere along the complete coastal waters of America.

Do you think any of our senators in the coastal states realize that they will not be able to do a thing to stop this offshore drilling?

It is bad enough foreign countries are drilling fifty miles from Florida; how about fifty yards!
-- Oldguy

An excellent analysis and expose of the Law Of the Sea Treaty by Mr. Bandow. LOST is nothing more than the Kyoto Accord on steroids. It serves none of the interests of the United States. It serves to place 75% of the Earth's surface under the direct control of an extra-governmental agency that is independent of the US or any other government. And it grants this agency control of activities within the sovereign territory of the US and every other nation that has any physical link to the planetary oceans.

Unfortunately, many [if not most] of our Senators are salivating over the chance to ratify this treaty. Should that happen, not only may we NOT be able to drill for oil on our own continental shelf, but those drilling rights could be given to another nation, without our consent.

BAD, BAD treaty.
-- Michael Tobias

KEY WEST
Re: Robert Stacy McCain's Colonel of Truth:

Every American should send Col. West $1.00 for his campaign. This guy is the real deal! We should all know his story. I'm glad he's running...maybe he can shame the other Republicans into discovering their manhood.
-- Gene Hauber
Meshoppen, Pennsylvania

I feel the need to make one relatively important correction to the "Colonel of Truth" article: Claw Shaw was a 13-term (26 years) Congressman, not a 13-year Congressman.
-- Charles P. "Chuck" Tiedje
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

MORAL EQUIVALENCE
Re: Jennifer Rubin's Reject and Denounce:

While I am in total agreement with Ms. Rubin in her thesis about Mr. Obama and his unwillingness to completely and totally reject and denounce Louis Farrakhan, I would like to posit a similar problem with Conservatives.

We have among us a person who fully as virulently anti-Semitic as Minister Farrakhan or Mr. Shabazz. I refer, of course, to Patrick Buchanan. While Mr. Buchanan is more circumspect in wording his Jew hatred than these two, it is no less vile.

Yet, with the single exception of William F. Buckley several years ago, I have not seen leaders of the Conservative media totally reject and denounce Mr. Buchanan and his ranting and railing against the "Neo-cons," his favorite code word for Jews. Far from it, two supposedly "conservative" web sites, Human Events and Townhall, regularly give a platform to Buchanan for his screeds. Sean Hannity had him on his program to promote his laughable "history" of World War II, and other Conservatives seem perfectly comfortable with Buchanan carrying around that label.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Business, Islam, Abortion, Constitution, Law, NATO, Oil, Unions