The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Everywhere, Angst

8.13.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 5 of 5)

The rest of us must hold our peace. So much more of this election remains that it should not be laden with such irrelevant dreck. Neither the republic nor the human psyche is indestructible.
-- Edmund Dantes
Coshocton, Ohio

VERIZON CRUSH
Re: Stuart Koehl's letter (under "Wireless and Powerless") in Reader Mail's Lost Verizon:

In his letter regarding Ryan Young's "In Defense of Early Termination Fees," Stuart Koehl's seemingly interminable diatribe against Verizon Wireless stands in direct contrast with my experience with the company.

My first wireless company was Verizon Wireless and I'm still with them. All three of my children and their spouses have been with Verizon Wireless from their first phones as well.

None of us have had a problem with them in all these years. Not an electronics wizard myself, I have had the opportunity to deal with their Technical Support Department a couple of times and have found them to be a model of courtesy who patiently answered my questions to my complete satisfaction. The same applies to their Customer Service Department, who have twice voluntarily suggested that there was a better and less expensive plan for me.

I admit that I prefer electronics with the minimum number of "features" and prefer to stay as long as possible with the telephone set I have. I admit that I believe that courtesy breeds courtesy. I admit that I could never be a customer service representative or technical support technician.

I'd punch somebody before the end of my first shift.
-- A. C. Santore

ROUSH DELIVERY
Re: Craig Sarver's letter (under "Roush Roughed Up") in Reader Mail's Lost Verizon:

Mr. Sarver writes: "My point, and do have one, is that for all the caterwauling by the left (and Mike), in the real world some choices are forced on you by necessity..." I remember that in 2003 there was much press coverage of Bechtel and other companies withdrawing from bidding on contracts because they concluded that the process was a sham. Thus, a choice was forced on the Bush administration by necessity and Mr. Cheney was distraught for days. Mr. Sarver also writes: "In fact it (Halliburton) lost huge amounts of money adhering to the contracts let by State, and when they (Halliburton) tried to sell the contracts through bids no other company would bid them." It is also true that Halliburton lost money when government auditors uncovered non-performance and shoddy work by Halliburton and held the company accountable.

Bidding on government contracts is a complicated and political process (witness the Boeing/Northrup-Gruman tanker contract). I admit as a stockholder and a taxpayer, it can be difficult to calculate one's own best interests. Since I won no points with Mr. Sarver on the government efficiency front, can we, together, at least raise a glass to profits?
-- Mike Roush

EASTERN ETHOS
Re: Dmitri "Dima" Varsanofiev's letter (under "Speaking of Russian Bear") in Reader Mail's Lost Verizon:

Dima, Dima, Dima! Since you claim that Georgia started this current conflict by attacking the South Ossetians, and in the process the Russian "peace keepers," could you please explain a couple of things to me?

First, how can Georgia be blamed for doing what any nation seeking to maintain a stable nation would do, in putting down a rebellion in a province that is defying the rule of the government? South Ossetia, regardless of what the South Ossetians or Russians think, is part of the sovereign nation of Georgia and is to be dealt with by the Georgian government...not by the Kremlin. In this instance, the Georgian government decided that it was time for them to put down a rebellion that was growing more and more serious as time went on, especially after the Russian "peace keepers" arrived on the scene, and according to many reports, providing training and material support for the rebels. Georgia has an absolute right, in fact she has a responsibility, to enforce the rule of law in all of her provinces, regardless of the ethnic background of the people in those provinces. And once the "peace keepers" began assisting the rebellion, any claims of neutrality they may have had went right down the drain; their involvement made them legitimate targets, as they were actively fomenting rebellion against the sovereign state of Georgia.

Secondly, just what business does Russia have sending "peace keepers" into Georgia, and what business do they have in issuing Russian passports to the South Ossetians? Just the act of unilaterally sending their forces into Georgia, no matter their stated reasons, was a violation of Georgian sovereignty that begged for a response. If Russia had such an intense interest in the safety of the South Ossetians, would they have not been better off to deal with the Georgian government instead of inserting troops into Georgian territory, and using those troops to support the Ossetian rebels?

Finally, your lamenting the military response by the Georgians in the region rings hollow, and more than a bit hypocritical. I seem to remember a little conflict in Russian territory where the Russian government did not hesitate to use force to put down a rebellion in a province that was attempting to break away. There were no tears shed when the Russian army was putting down the rebellion in Chechnya, so why the crocodile tears being shed over the Georgian government taking the same actions in South Ossetia?

My brother and I were watching the Olympics last night and remarking on how intensely the people of China and Russia loved their nations, even if they did not always love their governments. Those people, when push comes to shove, have an attitude that borders on "My country, right or wrong"; while this is oftentimes commendable, in this instance that loyalty to (I assume) your native land is blinding you to the facts that are right in front of your face. Georgia has every right to respond the way she did to an openly rebellious province, and Russia had absolutely no right to interfere in the internal workings of the Republic of Georgia.
-- Eric Edwards
Walnut Cove, North Carolina

A CAUTIONARY TALE
Re: Mike Roush's letter (under "Dooley's OK") in Reader Mail's Family Traditions:

The bouncers delivered a couple of punches and then threw me out into the alley. I had insisted on splashing my face with several whiskeys and helping the strippers with their g-strings. Somebody took exception. Fortunately, they didn't bust up my $75.00 bottle of diet Coke so I sat against the wall and contemplated my fate. Soon our local blues man, Naptown Ottis, came out and said "S%$#@, Man-child, that Clinton chick gettin' to you again?"

"Nah, I kinda got a good news/bad news thing. First this guy named Roush put me in the same sentence with Ben Stein. Pretty cool. Then he said that in the darkness of my heart I knew that Dobson and Roberts wanted to take away my porn."

"Ol' Jim and Paddy? Shoo!!! D'ay ain't no account. Anyways, I wanna get rid of Rap 'cause it keeps taking my gigs. Don't mean I get to. Ain't no Repub'can going to get rid of no pictures of no nudy women. They like 'em too much. Ain't no Repub'cans do without no sex. 'Sides. The dude just sayin' that so ta' keep murdering them babies."

"You're right, Naptown. I don't know what got into me."

Naptown then leaned back and asked: "Didn't you tell me you was some kinda Catholic?"

"Well, yeah, close enough. Lutheran."

"That's it. So what was that 'bout that old U-boat sub captain preacher man say? You know, that Luth'an preacher who wrote that poem."

Niemoller? Well, actually it was a warning. It went something like this:

First they came for the homosexuals
And I did not speak out
Because I was not gay.

Then they came for the adulterers
And I did not speak out
Because I was not John Edwards

Then they came to for the pornographers
And I did not speak out
Because the best ones come from Europe via the internet

Then they came for my beer
And no one was left
To chug- a- lug with me

"See. Paddy and Jim can't do nothin'. Luth'en won't let 'um."
-- Mike Dooley

Letter to the Editor

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