The American Spectator

Reader Mail

ALL-STARS
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Good Sports, Great Sports:

Forty four years ago I was privileged to briefly serve in the Special Forces.  I can only say "Hear, Hear."  I guarantee you Americans ought to sleep better knowing these incredible warriors are on duty.  God Bless them each and every one.
-- Jay Molyneaux
North Carolina

A simply wonderful piece, Mr. Tyrrell. I am reminded of the recent Nike commercial featuring Earl Woods describing Tiger as the "most mentally tough person he'll ever meet."

With all due respect to Tiger and the late Earl, both of whom I admire and appreciate greatly, I can only conclude that Tiger will never meet the folks in your article.

Thanks, keep up the good work.
-- George Pazin

There is an amazing contrast between men like these that the 300 Spartans would welcome into their ranks as brothers and the standard bearer of Democrat heroism and patriotism John Fake Kerry and his ink...

I lost all respect for those in professional sports as role models decades ago when millionaires started going on strike for more money…

I doubt the kinds of people that make up units like the 3336 would find anything heroic about professional sports today or people who get three scratches and out…
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

OH THEY'LL SPEND YOUR MONEY, ALRIGHT...BUT LATER
Re: Philip Klein's Health Care Reform May Have to Wait Until 2010:

Just goes to show how Democrats view the American public -- if we don't play ball, then they'll "force us" to play ball.  How arrogant that Rep. Stark would force me, a healthy individual, to enter the market in order to water down the premiums that unhealthy folks would pay.  Maybe my personal decision is to pay my health care bills out-of-pocket. Who the hell is Stark to say otherwise?  He was elected to represent the people, not coerce them.

Just where in the U.S. Constitution does it authorize Congress to become involved in the health care issue anyway?
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

Spend thinking not of tomorrow. / Spend every cent you can borrow. / Beggar thy neighbor; impoverish thy friend. / There’s more where that came from. / So spend, fool, spend.
-- David Govett
Davis, California

DOUBLE STANDARD
Re: Bret Joshpe's Protecting Free Speech:

It is one thing for the U.N. to be its true self and promote “tolerance” by attacking freedom of speech.  What else have we come to expect? What is disturbing is so many non-Muslims in the universities and even in the churches advocated much the same thing is the name of “civility.” Thus, the very places where religion is discussed, criticized, dissected, re-interpreted, rejected and defended have become zones in which critical discussions on Islam are proscribed.  Of course, they are quick to assert that they are not singling out Islam for protection.  Instead, it is claimed that critical writing and speech about Islam must be “respectful.”  What that means is practice is left vague and flexible.

The odd thing about all this is that very few have a mind to have proponents of Islam to wear the same hat.  The Koran, various Islamic books, and Muslim websites regularly attack Christianity, refer to the Gospels as fake and concocted, present Gnostic heresies as what the Church teaches, and by any standard "blasphemes” the person of Christ Jesus.  The portrait of Christianity painted by Islam and Islam’s advocates is nothing short of libel and slander.

But Christianity will never be afforded the “tolerance” many wish to extend toward Islam.  We live in a country where the great many live by the ABC (anything but Christianity) code.  The animus many have toward Christianity is so great that they will make common cause with those who do not wish them well.  This is a mistake.  It is a short distance from prohibiting theological statements to forbidding political ones.

As much as Christians resent such abuse, it is part of the cost of living in a country devoted to liberty and freedom to speak one’s mind.  This is only how a free and self-governing people should be.  Indeed, how can America defend Christianity against abuse and theological slander by restricting the speech and written word of non-Christians and still remain a free society?

In the same fashion, members of all religions must take their knocks as well as their praise.  Only by doing this can we all join the company of free and honorable men.
-- Mike Dooley  

IMPUGNING DRUNKEN SAILORS
Re: Quin Hillyer's Limited Government, Expanded Popularity:

Please don't insult our inebriated mariners by comparing their spending habits with those of senators, congressmen, and presidents.  There is a qualitative difference.  Drunken Sailors spend only their own money, and they stop when they run out.  The Idiots in Office spend OUR money or they spend borrowed money and secret away the debt obligation to be laid on generations of taxpayers yet unborn.  In more honorable times, these Idiots would be tarred, feathered, ridden out of town on a fence rail, and warned to never come back.  We reward these mountebanks by reelecting them and permitting them to award themselves pensions.

The only way to pay off the accumulated $10 TRILLION of federal debt is to sell federal assets, primarily land plus the occasional Ark of the Covenant that is stored in some federal warehouse.  No other option makes any sense. Paying off the debt with inflated, printing press money is theft.  Taxing future generations of Americans for money already spent is theft.

Repudiating the debt is theft, though some use the magnanimous term "debt forgiveness".  Not paying off the debt and paying the interest forever is as dumb as hell. Our Idiots in Office steam me no end.  President G.W. Bush, for whom I voted twice, is as guilty as anybody for failing to address this scandal.

Would someone exercise some fiscal sobriety?!  This is not a new issue.  This has been an issue since the Reagan election of 1980.  Our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will curse our names for failing to resolve this offense that threatens to sink our Republic.
-- David Shoup
Dublin, Georgia

Quin Hillyer replies:
Mr. Shoup has an excellent point, and I am chastened. I hereby apologize to all drunken sailors. They did not deserve the insult.

FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS
Re: Joseph Lawler's Jindal Care:

It will fail...

The only way to turn around our failed system is to make users of health care more responsible and move away from the entitlement mentality.
-- Gregory J. Hummer, M.D.
CEO, Simplicity Health Plans