The American Spectator

There are many things to like and to admire about Ben Stein, but, to me, one stands out. In spite of his whining, he is able to step back and recognize the beauty of the moment, no matter how trivial and inconsequential that moment may be. One of his musings of years ago stands out in particular. He was visiting his parents at their Watergate apartment, sitting on the couch, watching them being the wonderful, smart people they were. He reflected how wonderful that moment was; and how fleeting it was because there would not be many more. Now with his parents gone, I’m sure he goes back to that filed thought and thanks himself for that recognition and the enjoyment it brought him.
— Paul Z

Summer is ending, writes Ben Stein, and I reflect like he, that it has been a difficult year. I have just returned from the western most ranch, where Mother and Daddy are barely hanging on. I spent days in lingering Texas sunshine walking the ranch and wondering how many bushels of beautiful Texas pecans we would be able to gather and put in the freezer for next year. The trees here hang with limbs breaking from the fullness of the bounty of pecans. Yet, last year the trees produced no pecans whatsoever due to the massive and lengthy drought. Mostly, however, I wondered as I walked freshly plowed and planted fields, if my folks would live through this winter. Life has been exceedingly fragile for them, as they still try to find ways of coping with diminishing abilities. Mother just left the hospital and dad, while just turning ninety, has said he has seen Heaven’s portals and his loving Heavenly Father is waiting for him. To me it seems that each is in a race to see who will reach Heaven first.

My father sleeps much of the day in his recliner. Occasionally, he will glance at the television and reflect that our precious country is lost and all that he and his father worked for is being given away to people who would not know what to do with what is given them. I find I cannot disagree with his assessment. And I wonder if this winter will truly be the winter of our discontent in our nation. I pondered this all the way home, some 325 miles, as I listened to June Carter’s and Johnny Cash’s last album. The old songs seem to soothe my soul and remind me that families go through intense times and that our consolation rests solely on a faithful God. I always remind my father that he and mother’s gifts to me are this wonderful strong faith, worked out in hard times and good, and given to my children in like manner.

So, I begin singing along with June and Johnny and relish the thought that I will soon be back in East Texas, to my loving husband, faithful pack of dogs (some 6 now), and the small herd of cattle. And I remember, with gratitude that “little son”, as we fondly call our pilot son, is home from many times at war and he and his sweet wife are expecting (with great joy) a second child. I wonder what name they will give this new child and wonder if it could be as great as the name he and his bride chose for their first child, a daughter named Liberty. And I thank God once more for this life, its sorrows and pleasures, for new life and lives well lived, and I pray for grace to meet all needs.

Not the life Ben Stein is privileged to lead but still, like his, it is grateful for all God has given. And like him, I rest assured that God will provide and His faithfulness will be seen by yet another generation. And I pray God’s grace over my nation, and God’s protection, and His love to meet all needs.
— Beverly Gunn
East Texas Rancher

WALKING AND CHEWING GUM
Re: Ben Stein’s Expelled From the New York Times:

Nice going firing that rotten Ben Stein. Why should you have one writer who makes sense and is funny at the same time? Now you have no one who can walk and chew gum at the same time. A perfect line-up.
— Gary Waller

REALLY SIMPLE
Re: Robert Stacy McCain’s Secret Protocols of Beck’s Legions:

The reason I like Glenn Beck is because he is MY VOICE! He talks about all the things that drive me crazy about our government but am powerless to express. That is the basis of his popularity. It really is simple.
— Jeanie Whittaker

THE PARTY OF SLAVERY
Re: Jeffrey Lord’s Race Pimping With Mistuh Jimmy and White Mo:

This type of hate filled sentiment still motivates Jimmy Carter and DemocRATS in the dark recesses of their bigoted heart. Race has been and always will be a guiding principle of the party of slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, segregation and tokenism — the DemocRAT party. For the oligarchs who control the party minorities are only as valuable as their votes that keep the “masters” in power and growing fat at the public trough.
— Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

I have news for you. Governor Wallace changed his views on race and segregation decades before his death in 1998. That means you can remove his name from such deceitful company as Jimmy Carter.
— Michael Skaggs
Murray, Kentucky

COWARDLY RACISM
Re: Ken Blackwell’s Obama Is Right and Carter Is Wrong:

Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, David Axelrod and others in Obama’s administration, as well as the Democrat Party leadership and the state-controlled media, cause irreparable national harm through their cowardly racism.

How could Carter take a cue from the White House? Obama, who learned nothing from the negative public reaction to his unrestrained racist judgment about the white Cambridge policeman, has issued only another half-hearted statement.