The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Afghanistandard Procedure

3.5.09 @ 6:01AM

AVOIDING VICTORY, TOO
Re: Stefan Halper's Avoiding Disaster in Afghanistan:

What a sad, sad article, Mr. Halper.

It demonstrates clearly the depth and breadth of the new foreign policy of Cloud Cuckoo Land and, even more painfully, the new diplomacy.

Perhaps the Cko-in-Chief will go again to Russia, begging, hat in hand, teary eyes averted, voice tremulous, for help in Afghanistan, as he just did for help in Iran.

Not only must we change the Constitution to require a candidate for the presidency to have read the Constitution at least once (all the way through, mind), but also to have read at least one book on diplomacy. (Anything but Alice in Wonderland, which this administration seems to have mastered.)

Obama makes me long for the heady, wacky, muscular diplomacy of the Carter administration.
-- A. C. Santore

To our collective chagrin, the attempt to bestow the blessings of liberty on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan has led to the election of hard-left Democrats and reduced liberty in the U.S., and the trend seems further downward.

The question, then, is: Why should Iraqis and Afghanis value freedom when the Americans themselves -- the Americans! -- discard it so readily?
-- David Govett
Davis, California

CLUB RULES
Re: Matt Bowman's Sebelius and Kmiec Catholicism:

Irrespective of what people such as Sebelius, Kmiec, Kennedy, Pelosi or Biden may elect to call themselves, they are not, repeat, not, Catholic.
-- W. B. Heffernan, Jr.

People of good will can, and do, disagree about when life begins. But just as the United States has only one president at time, the Holy Roman Catholic Church has only one Pope at a time. He has been given the responsibility to decide basic and fundamental issues of what is acceptable in the Catechism and what beliefs are mandatory for members of good standing in the Church. According to the Holy See, life begins at conception. This dogma does not allow for exceptions; that is the very nature of dogma: no exceptions! To the faithful followers of the Catholic Church, killing a human being is a mortal sin. The age of the person is an irrelevant factor; shooting a nine year old with a gun is different only in degree from gassing millions in Nazi Germany; killing an embryo with saline solution, again, is different only in methodology but not morality.

Maybe Sebelius and Kmiec can be transparent in their beliefs and come up with a catchy name. Instead of Pro-Choice Catholics, why not just be straight and call themselves Catholic Murder Company. It's catchy. It's up front. But it ain't Catholic.

I don't belong to the club, but I understand the membership rules.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

THE GAME CONTINUES
Re: Peter Ferrara's Obama's Fantasy Budget:

Mr. Ferrara writes, "This is not George Bush's deficit," which is, in fact, the truth, but what does truth have to do with economics and politics when dealing with a willfully blind electorate and a highly biased media? Remember pinning a tail on an elephant is easier than on a donkey. As with the deficit, size matters.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

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