The American Spectator

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Judicial Activists Strike Again

6.27.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 7)

Even if every other sentence Mr. Tucker has written in his article is 100% correct, The Supreme Court's decision to overturn a Louisiana statute imposing the death penalty for child rape should, indeed, cause quite a bit of conversation among conservatives.

Once again, the Supreme Court has ventured in to the territory of the people and their elected representatives and trumped the democratic will. All of the fine arguments Mr. Tucker makes are points to be considered by our elected representatives in crafting legislating. As Robert Bork pointed out, not every bad law is unconstitutional.

Unless one wants to make the case that counter-productivity falls within the penumbra of unusual, I'm afraid that Mr. Tucker has written an excellent argument while completely missing the point, and the Supreme Court has, once again, proclaimed itself to be a super-legislature.
-- Tim Falk
West Des Moines, Iowa

The best practical argument for the death penalty is this: Without it more criminals would kill the witnesses to their crimes. As bad as child rape is, it seems to me, we shouldn't give the rapists new incentive to become child killers.
-- JL
Lynden, Washington

SAFE, BUT HOW SAFE?
Re: Philip Klein's In Defense of George W. Bush:

Someone should remind Mr. Klein that it was 8 years between the first and final attacks on the World Trade Center. Terrorists are very patient people. All that Mr. Bush has done is to ensure that there will be another attack by fanning the flames of hatred every day in Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout the rest of the Middle East.
-- Pamela R. LaPier

If on the day after the next Inauguration a tragic terrorist attack on the US occurs does it follow that the new President has failed to protect the United States? Your argument for Bush is specious at best.
-- Thomas Hewitt

Bravo, Phillip Klein! Bravo!
-- Chris Scibelli
Los Angeles, California

ENVIRON-MENTALLY UNSOUND
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Tracing the Roots of Environmentalism:

Bertran has a spiritual heir (perhaps even his reincarnation) in the noted pacifist singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn. Though the latter's preferred tool is more technologically advanced and therefore more efficient, the blood-lustful sentiment is the same:

Here comes the helicopter -- second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they've murdered only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay

I don't believe in guarded borders and I don't believe in hate
I don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states
And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would retaliate

On the Rio Lacantun, one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation -- or some less humane fate
Cry for Guatemala, with a corpse in every gate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would not hesitate

I want to raise every voice -- at least I've got to try
Every time I think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate, echoes of the victims cry
If I had a rocket launcher...Some son of a bitch would die

Now that Mr. Tyrrell has discovered the roots of these kooks out to destroy the environment in order to save it, perhaps he can embark on another quest. I would like to know the actual head count. In our country, world-wide, how many of them are there? How many of us are there? If we outnumber them, how come they seem to be making new rules daily for us to live by?

I am getting so sick of "going green." In a women's magazine I read recently that Jennifer Aniston has gotten her showering time down to three minutes and this includes brushing her teeth, while showering! Wow. My spiffy electric toothbrush has a timer device on it and it exceeds Jennifer's entire toilette. Moreover, being a born oral hygiene nut, I brush long past the signal to quit. I am going to write that magazine a letter and tell them to ask Jennifer is she has a swimming pool -- and if she knows what it takes to keep it at the fill line. Water evaporates, Jen. I used to watch my warm pool going up in steam in the cold night. Some of it is carried out on swimsuits. Maybe if you use the pool, you should require everyone to wring out their suits back into the pool after each use. Geez.

Letter to the Editor

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Trade, Barack Obama, Business, Federal Budget, Satire, Religion, Islam, Environment, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court, Iraq, NATO, Fascism, Conservatism, Libertarianism, Oil