The American Spectator

Reader Mail

The End of the Story

3.3.09 @ 6:01AM

HARVEY SIGNS OFF
Re: Christopher Orlet's Paul Harvey, Good Night:

Like my Spanish brother in law would say in his very limited English vocabulary, Paul Harvey was "a good man."

'Nuff said. I'll miss him.
-- Gene Hauber
Brick, New Jersey

A fine tribute, Mr. Orlet, to the greatest of the great.  Paul Harvey, with every broadcast, restored my faith in God, in country, and in myself.  Like Ronald Reagan, he made me feel proud to be an American.  You must have been in a hurry, though, when you wrote this.  A couple of "misquotes"?  I thought it was "nattering" nabobs of negativism, and I wasn't even a fan of Spiro Agnew.  And, isn't it "snake OIL" salesman?  Although, "snakeskin" would be a bit more interesting, and challenging, even for Paul Harvey.  However, I enjoyed learning about Mr. Harvey's neologisms.  He certainly had some famous "imitators."  Now, what American President is also well known for his, uh, "neologisms"?  OK, maybe that's being a little too complimentary.  "Strategery" doesn't quite make the cut in neologism land.  Still, it beats understanding the meaning of the word "hope."  Mr. Harvey certainly did, but truly now, do you really think Barack Obama actually knows the meaning of the word?

Good DAY!
-- Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

NEW SCHOOL TIES
Re: Ken Blackwell's Not Making the Grade:

I think American universities have been aligned with the economy for quite some time now. Universities have for a long time produced smug, self-important wankers who think they are entitled to rewards without achievement or responsibility. These are exactly the same qualities as the Wall Street operators who broke the financial system and now the economy by paying themselves shameless bonuses for lending money to people who can't pay it back and for investing in worthless securities that nobody understood. The universities certainly were producing for the market, supply was matched to demand -- the trouble is, it was a market that has now spectacularly failed. Maybe now the demand for wankers and their worthless products has collapsed under the weight of its own ridiculous contradictions and inanities, the universities will also change towards producing graduates whose skills are more durable and worthy and who are more thoughtful and disciplined and less self-indulgent. I believe this is called creative destruction -- let there be much such destruction. There is still hope for those who value an old=fashioned, quality education.
-- Christopher Holland
Canberra, Australia

As Shakespeare wrote, "I must be cruel only to be kind." (Hamlet Act 3, scene 4)

Rejection never feels like a kindness, but rejection can be a greater kindness than unreasonable acceptance. A college admission officer must be honest with his applicants in order to serve them well. To accept an under or unqualified candidate who will simply under achieve or fail is unethical. When colleges exclude viable tests that have a high level of accuracy in predicting success in order to bolster students' self-esteem, they are doing a costly disservice to these students. College is expensive and time consuming. Tests, such as the ACT and SAT, serve to give valuable information to admission officers and the students themselves. To let an unqualified student make the cut is the unkindest cut of all.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

TERRIBLE MISQUOTE
Re: The Prowler's To the Left:

Does anyone else see the irony?

Barack Obama -- who is not just riding the coattails of Abraham Lincoln but has stitched himself inside them -- presiding over a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” and helping it along to perish from the earth.
-- A. C. Santore

THE FUTURE IS HERE, AND IT ISN'T PRETTY
Re: Max Schulz's Bio-Fools:

"It's just a matter of time before Associate Justices Judith Sheindlin and Joe Brown take their rightful places on the high court."  Wasn't that the plot of Christopher Buckley's last novel?
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

Dr. Bittner is a patriotic genius, don't you see?

Liposuction fat = biodiesel  is a  cosmic breakthrough!

At last, at long last, we've found a use  for all those  activists,  preachers, screechers, crusaders, planners, uplifters; the leftover pop stars, mega-nannies and  act-out neurotics, the commissars masquerading as professors, lawyers and  lawmakers -- in short,  all the professional pains in the neck who are hell-bent on giving orders to the rest of us.  Hasn't their tireless " compassion" made most of them affluent? And isn't Obama's New Order all about making rich people contribute their fair share AND helping the environment by decreasing oil consumption?

We won't sink to the point of  eating Soylent Green -- instead we'll  fill our tanks with Soylent High-test, made from the high income "contributors" we all know and love. A two-fer, and an "alternative energy source" that for the first time,  will make us proud of our country.

And best of all, they've already set the legal groundwork for it. Just call it a full-term abortion, and turn on the machines!

If they object, remind them "it's for the children"...
-- Martin Owens
Sacramento, California

THE THAW
Re: James Bowman's Perma Frost:

In my opinion, President Nixon was a brilliant foreign policy leader. Naturally, his many achievements are swept under the rug by the hate-mongers on the left. "No More Vietnams" and "RN," The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, should be required reading for Political Science students. Johnson's atrocious handling of Vietnam is overlooked by the media, while President Nixon is vilified.

As far as Watergate is concerned, President Nixon was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1972, five months AFTER the break-in became public knowledge. The Media and the Democrats smelled blood and went after President Nixon in a frenzy. One book that proves the double standard is Victor Lasky's "It Didn't Start With Watergate." The abuses perpetrated by previous administrations are astounding. However, with the leftist control of the mainstream media, these abuses are given a free pass. Personally, I feel that the mistreatment of President Nixon is a huge injustice to him and his family. High School and college textbooks are nothing but garbage when it comes to American history and civics. Hopefully, someday honest, hard-working professors will write the truth instead of the liberal fiction being written today.
-- Mickey

THE CONSERVATIVE ONE

Did any of us guess twenty years ago
That from the collapse of the GOP would grow
The conservative leader “we’ve been waiting for,”
That our old friend Rush would settle the score

For the millions of us who have waited so long,
Knowing our message had turned so wrong,
But the new Reagan has been here all along.
It’s time for a new American song.

Even when we were not yet aware,
Ronaldus Magnus himself named his heir.
-- Mimi Evans Winship

Letter to the Editor