The American Spectator

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The Left-principled party can -- and will -- hold permanent advantage if, as Mr. Neumayr warns, Republican leaders fail "to pull the Big Tent down and start taking their platform seriously," on every issue, with the confidence that bespeaks leadership. It is not enough in these times to stand athwart history and yell STOP! One must plant one's heels and shout BACK! and push. Push hard.
-- Ranald Hay
Bexley, Ohio

DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH POLITICS, JUST PLAY THE GIG
Re: Daniel J. Flynn's Stuck in a Moment:

I do like U2's music a lot. I have found it's their lyrics I have trouble getting past. Rock 'n' Roll is about drivin' mom and dad's car too fast, havin' a party when they're out of the house, skippin' class or sneaking beers. Where rock usually falters as pop art is when it swerves into Heavy Trips. To paraphrase Black Flag's Henry Rollins, imagine yourself at a Midnight Oil concert and a song is introduced: The singer says; "LISTEN PEOPLE! This song's about world hunger. Hey you! Third row center! Stop smiling!" This is turf where U2 has tread too often. Awesome musical talent taking itself too seriously to have fun, and forgetting their audience.

After 20+ years of being a semi-pro musician, I have come to realize that it is difficult to consistently write positive, upbeat, happy pop tunes that the listening audience will positively respond to. The audience doesn't care what we think, or our skill as musicians, they want us to reflect what they think and want. It's that simple.

Almost every week our band is in a pub playing our own versions of the entertainment world's joyful pop songs. The bar crowds we play for just finished a Michigan work week (unless they're already laid off!) and they want to unload and unwind. Those Pub owners and their crowds stay with us because of our business model: It's never about us! It's about them!

Posing in our cheesy cover band, we don't let them down. It seems that U2 can afford to.
-- P. Aaron Jones
Michigan

LAWYERS' FEAST
Re: Ronald D. Rotunda's A Modern-Day Bleak House:

The only sure winners in any extended litigation are the lawyers and their friends. I would love to know how much has been spent in attorney fees and in preparing the case for its various hearings and appeals. The money expended for depositions, travel, expert witnesses, photocopying, etc. often goes to friends and relatives of the attorneys who are hired to perform these essential services. The Marshall case will go on and on, because with over 450 million dollars at stake, the attorneys will be sure to drag it out until they get their share.

I speak as one having some knowledge. I began practicing law in Ohio in 1966, and by 2002, I couldn't wait to retire. "Big litigators" have turned the profession into a joke. Sadly, it is another example of a relative few giving a bad name to the honest and trustworthy many.
-- James F. Csank 
Seven Hills, Ohio

RIGHT MEANS RESPONSIBILITY
Re: Joseph Shattan's The Right to Development (in Gaza):

While Mr. Shattan's article was most excellent, he did drop a stitch. He writes with every right comes "a corresponding obligation to enforce that right." Did Mr. Shatton forget or take for granted that all readers naturally understand that with every right comes responsibility, not just an obligation of (state) enforcement of that right? Forgetting the corresponding responsibility to a right is what has gotten America into the very messes we are facing now.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

16 YEARS OF BOBBY
Re: Ryan L. Cole's Don't Give Up on Jindal:

That title is a joke right? Give up on Bobby Jindal? I am counting on him for VP '12-'20 and for Prez '20-'28.
-- Patricia