The American Spectator

Reader Mail

IF YOU'RE IRISH AND YOU KNOW IT
Re: James M. Thunder's St. Patrick for Adults and G. Tracy Mehan, III's The Solitude of St. Patrick :

Lá Fheile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

May Messrs. Thunder's and Mehan's stirring tributes to St. Patrick, a true giant of the Western world, be that desperately needed germ which brings even only a few Irish Catholics, preferably politicians, to the acknowledgment that claiming the mantle of the Celtic culture and faith, while living and legislating more like the pagans whom Patrick saved, is gross fraudulence. Speaking of which, Mr. Thunder's quoting of John F. Kennedy in concluding his otherwise exquisite piece is ironic in the extreme.
-- Francis M. Hannon, Jr.
Melrose, Massachusetts, by way of Counties Galway and Cava

A CONFESSION
Re: Jeffrey Lord's Mr. Frum's Cult:

Forgive me Fathers Hillyer and Tyrrell,

For I have sinned. It was unknowing. It looked innocent enough. An email by virtue of some Republican donor list to join the "New Majority." I ventured forth with eyes open, expecting my flanks to be covered by know allies, or at least brethren of similar families. It was only for a few weeks, and even then, only an hour or two of actual browsing and commentary.

Once the Newsweak announcement was made, I knew I had been betrayed. I looked in vain for any avenue to cancel my login & password. Finding none, I feared they had me. I merely ran out, leaving a note vowing never to return.

I seek forgiveness, and shelter here, for now I know, and will never stray again.
-- P. Aaron Jones
Michigan

A couple of points:

1)  There is no Center of the Known Universe. Any point is as good as any other. (You can ascertain this by consulting Jorge Luis Borges' story, "The Library of Babel").

2)  Take the center of the Milky Way Galaxy as the center of the known universe, for practical purposes. What is at the Center?  Of course, a Black Hole.

Mr. Lord's assumption that one can exit the Center is becoming less and less true, as Washington progressively (pun intended) develops the characteristics, from a standpoint of economic and political power, of a Black Hole, with no exit possible once one crosses the event threshold (Beltway). Mr. Lord is right -- the best strategy is to stay as far away from Washington as possible, to avoid the danger of irreversibly being sucked into the Hole. Or for Mr. Frum -- get out while it's still possible.
-- Kent Lyon
 College Station, Texas

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STAY OUT OF THE WAY
Re: Joseph Lawler's Overcoming Aid:

1. If I saw someone in immediate danger and acted blindly, I would unquestionably heighten dangers by taking action that directly causes interference with the professional and proper execution of trained and paid life savers. For instance, my jumping into the ocean to save a distressed swimmer might well create greater jeopardy to all who are trained in water safety and rescue.

2. If I act blindly, without checking to see if lifeguards are on duty, I can directly bring about the exact opposite result of what I sought to bring about.

Conclusion: An intelligent or thinking human beings is aware of his surroundings and take this information into consideration before taking hasty action.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

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ADMONISHED
Re: The Prowler's Obama Security Breech:

I am a long time fan of the online Spectator and, in particular, the Prowler. I was very disappointed to read, on RedState, your criticism of Bobby Jindal. Yes, I have read the retraction but the story is out there and now it's a bit too late.

Shame on you for not checking your facts before you "slam" a fellow conservative. My opinion of spectator.org has, sadly, been diminished.
-- Linda Sparks

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CAP AND FROWN
Re: G. Tracy Mehan, III's Has Obama Killed Carbon Cap and Trade?

The Democrats and the schools have long promoted the myth of man-made global warming as a means to destroy industrial capitalism. The "Green Energy" initiatives are a "head fake" to the Unions as the policy seems to support "industry," and yet at the current and foreseeable future these technologies are simply non-competitive. The end result is continued de-industrialization and energy dependence. In addition, the "Cap and Trade" program is merely a tax on industry, and will no doubt be used by the Democrats to create yet another powerful and wealthy GSE to reward the party faithful and siphon funds to Democrat friendly environmental groups. Destroy industry and capitalism while funding Democrat special interest groups; it simply does not get any better than this. But to beat an idea, you need an alternative idea!

Solution: Make all power generated from "Carbon Free Energy Sources" tax free!

Objective: Encourage energy independence and "Green Energy" alternatives while reducing the complexity of the tax code without creating any new bureaucratic expenses! Makes the "Cap and Trade" program unnecessary as the "more desirable" energy sources will have a major cost advantage and it is less disruptive to current power solutions.

Unstated Objective: Encourage Nuclear Power and allow competitive alternative energy a competitive advantage without putting the government in charge of selecting the winners. Prevent the Democrats from creating yet another bureaucratic infrastructure to reward party faithful and buy votes.

Remember Fannie Mae but this time on industrial grade steroids!

Democrat talking points and counter arguments: Hard to think of a rational argument, which is why I am not a Democrat, I guess! The likely objection would be to Nuclear Power but the simple counter is "Carbon Free." Then accuse them of being anti-union, which is in favor of Nuclear Energy.

Remember, split the Democrats along the Green / Industrial Union divide -- the two groups are ultimately incompatible.
-- Henry Lucas

OVERLAWYERED
Our Democrats in Washington have decided to nationalize health care this year. Our health care costs about $1.5 trillion annually (it should be called sick care -- care of the healthy costs little or nothing) in order to decrease this cost while extending health insurance to all 300 million citizens from the 250 million insured now. Of this total cost of $1.5 trillion about one third or $500 billion is spent on malpractice insurance and defensive medicine.

The combined population of Japan, Germany, and Great Britain is some 250 million; those three countries have a total of 35,000 lawyers. We maintain some 1,100,000 lawyers in this country in the style to which they have become accustomed, which is very much higher than that of and average American professional.

How come this enormous difference? Well, in all developed countries except ours the loser in a court case pays all the costs, of the court and of the defendant, both direct and indirect; here the loser just walks away to sue somebody else, preferably a private drug corporation, a doctor, a hospital, or anybody with a deep pocket. Our trial lawyers are hyenas sucking the blood of this country's economy, with the help of phony experts and primitive juries.
-- Marc Jeric
Las Vegas, Nevada