DIRECTOR’S CUTS
Re: James Bowman’s review of Sorry, Haters:
Thank you for reviewing our film Sorry, Haters.
I found your review very thoughtful, but somewhat misguided:
1. Why is our film obliged to explain all Arab/Muslim/American points of view? Is the message you received from Brokeback Mountain that all cowboys are latent homosexuals?
2. If you are looking for airtight realism, you might want to pick a film with a title that is not quite as silly.
3. As far as your claim that “(Terrorism) is not the work of sociopaths, however reassuring it might be to think so, but of people who have a political point of view, however misguided, which they are determined to act upon.” I would like to refer you to this airtight, real event where a New York policeman tried to set off a bomb in Times Square in 2004. He had no political affiliation that was known, and was, by all accounts, trying to recreate the “hero” feelings he had on September 11, 2001.
I am extremely thankful that the policeman’s bomb did not effectively detonate that day in 2004.
Your “ludicrous” labeling of Sorry, Haters aside, I am hoping that all of the psychologically troubled, disenfranchised people of our great society are recognized and treated, before causing any harm to themselves or others.
— Jeff Stanzler
Writer/director, Sorry, Haters
EASY DRIVERS
Re: Eric Peters’s Senior Drivers:
I used to work for a service station. The owner had a large number of old ladies with high mileage cars as customers. They did all their scheduled service. Their cars lasted forever. Usually longer than they did. Young men seemed to be able to wear out a brand new car in six months.
I sold car insurance before it was illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender. The statistics were very clear. Young men were the worst drivers. Old women were the best.
Young men have wonderful reflexes, wonderful vision, wonderful mechanical understanding and absolutely no good judgment. They drive terribly bouncing from accident to traffic ticket to accident. Old women drive intelligently and don’t drive when they think they can’t.
Old ladies with bad vision, bad reflexes, and no mechanical ability, may annoy young men, but they never stomp on the accelerator or the brake. They drive cautiously. They don’t get into accidents and their cars last forever.
Gentlemen, unfortunately the answer is clear. Our grandmothers are better drivers than we are. If you want to, improve your car’s life, its repair frequency, your insurance rates, your life expectancy, and your insurance rates, drive like your grandmother.
— Yaakov “Jim” Watkins
Denver, Colorado
Amen! All of the proposals in this article seem very reasonable and prudent.
In September of 1998, my parents, ages 68 and 69, were killed by an 86-year-old man accused of drunk driving. Before we knew of the alcohol connection in this wreck, I emailed AARP asking if they would support more frequent driver’s license renewal periods for their members, or suggesting their members go to driving classes to assess and maintain their skills. AARP said that they were not for anything that might infringe on the freedom of their members.
If Congress or any state legislature, started discussions regarding the suggestions in the “Senior Driving” article, they will face stiff opposition from AARP.
— Randall Allison
Abilene, Texas
Eric Peters emphasizes vision testing for seniors (I’m one myself, and agree with his recommendation.) He misses one point, however. The senior who proudly displays a “handicapped” tag from the mirror blocks a significant portion of the critical field of view and is driving with impaired vision.
Additionally, any bets on a change in accident rate statistics as we collect more data involving 21-64 year-olds who are in driving accidents while using a cell phone?
— B’ham
Mr. Peters did leave out one other part of the solution to declining driving ability in seniors: change the vehicle. If they can no longer drive a 1 ton pile of steel and glass capable of hurtling 85 MPH into a collection of children departing a school bus (or whatever horror show one could conceive with a non-too attentive older driver at the helm of his land yacht), there are now the LSVs (low speed vehicles) available on the market. Autos like the GEM car, only able to go 25 mph and presenting a much smaller vehicle to maneuver, could be the ticket for allowing senior drivers the ability to still get around, yet keep them away from freeways and other high attention venues. True, their driving opportunities would be diminished, but at least they would not be stranded.
— Harvard R. Fong
Mr. Peters makes many excellent points. However, I’m disappointed in his (apparently) rhetorical question: “who could argue with more frequent vision tests after, say, the age of 70?” Well, sir, do you want a list? How about the entire phone book for any retirement community in Florida? The membership list of AARP? A lot, and I mean a WHOLE lot, of seniors are just not willing to use common sense on this issue. If you bring it up, you better be prepared to take cover, because you will be assaulted like you wouldn’t believe. It’s a fact of biology that, as you get older, your eyesight starts failing, your reflexes slow down, etc. All things that can result in somebody being hurt or killed by you when you’re behind the wheel of an automobile. But these logical points are usually dismissed with the wave of a hand, and a cranky “you’re not taking MY driver’s license away!” I hate to say it, but this is all a part of the sense of entitlement that embeds itself into a lot of people over 50.
— unsigned
As a senior driver the only thing I agree with in Mr. Peters’s idiotic rant about senior drivers is that driving is, or should be, a privilege based on demonstrated competence. My driving is based on being defensive because of the number of lousy drivers I encounter every day regardless of age. I think there should be more actual driving test rather than just a written test for license renewals and the driving tests should be more than just around the block. But of course time and money does not allow for this.
— Thomas Bullock
West Covina, California
Boy, is your article timely. Just got back from Naples, Florida, and it’s becoming a real mess. Way too many cars on the road, especially in the later afternoon with every old person going to the “early bird,” to tourists coming from the beaches, not to mention all the locals trying to get home from work, where home is usually out of town. The parking lots are jammed with cars trying to get in and out. Old persons pull out in front of other cars all the time. On Rt 41 (three lanes), we saw, two different times, an older person come to a complete stop in the middle lane with their right turn signal on at a busy intersection. You rarely see a taxi in town. This is the solution to the problem. Just like downtown Chicago, make taxis more plentiful and affordable, and encourage the older people to use them for errand running, or going to dinner. There are still many skilled older men who would make good taxi drivers, and would like the opportunity. You can use your big car to drive out of town with. Naples is really growing, and soon to be a nightmare.
— John P.
Elmhurst, Illinois
I live among a very high percentage senior population, I am a senior and I agree with proposals to qualify seniors who drive. I also wish the writer would address a worse driving problem and that is the estimated 20 percent of California drivers operating without insurance. Is this a nationwide issue?
— Eric Walter
MISS ATOMIC BEAUTY
Re: Max Schulz’s Take One for the Team:
I’m a former Las Vegas resident and in complete agreement with your article. I never met anyone strongly against the Yucca Mountain site. To most people in Las Vegas, there is a big empty area the size of New England (literally — look at a map) between Vegas and Idaho. Reno and Lake Tahoe are off to the left on the California border. Yes there is some beautiful wilderness and numerous small towns, but we really are talking about some of the most sparsely populated real estate in the world.
You mentioned the nuclear tests which were once so popular a spectacle. There is still a general assumption that super secret, dangerous (maybe alien), and very cool military / government research stuff still goes on up there. People don’t worry about, the danger and mystery add to the glamour of Las Vegas.
For a Las Vegas resident to worry about Yucca Mountain is like a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey worrying about a site in central Massachusetts (and MA happens to be uninhabited). It’s simply out of mind until a politician whips up fears that dump trucks loaded with nuclear waste will be rumbling past their homes.
— Chris B.
It’s about time Nevada took one for the team. For the past half century Nevada has benefited from the billions of dollars spent by the Department of Energy at the test site. Thousands of Nevadans earned a good living working at the test site during that time, much of which I am sure rolled across the tables at the casinos in Las Vegas. Investment in Yucca Mountain itself is in the billions of dollars, most of which came from rate payers in other states.
— Thomas Bullock
West Covina, California
I am a huge Miss America fan and for the first time, I got to go to the Miss America pageant this year. When I arrived, all my friends couldn’t stop talking about the Mayor of Las Vegas’s comment about Miss Wosik, aka Miss Atomic Beauty. I think it was something like, “Miss Nevada certainly puts the word ‘Bimbo’ back in with beauty pageants.”
So thanks for your lovely story. It made me laugh and I am forwarding it on to all of my pageant friends and pageant family. They’ll all get a kick out of “taking one for the team.” Have a nice day.
— Pamela Sailor
Mission Viejo, California
From what I saw of Ms. Wosik I believe she could win Miss Anatomic, too!
— Wolf Terner
Fair Lawn, New Jersey
TRUE OBSESSIONS
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Better Than Oscar Night:
Previously we learned of Gary Busey’s anti-Semitic movie, Valley of the Wolves, which is now the most popular movie in Turkish history: a turkey for Turkey. Obsession reminds me of Leni Riefenstahl pro-Nazi German film, Triumph of the Will, considered the greatest propaganda film ever made. Obsession shows the commonly accepted and seldom-reported connection of Islam fundamentalists and the Nazis. Of course the big difference between Obsession and Triumph of the Will (and the Turkey film) is that Obsession shows both Islamofascists and Nazis to be the diabolical movements they really are, even similar in their unjustified hate objects. Curs of a feather flock together.
— R.L.A. Schaefer
Dubuque, Iowa
Mr. Tyrrell is both precise and accurate in his criticism of the radical left that controls Hollywood. I often wonder what good might be accomplished if the working class champions like Martin Sheen, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and their odious ilk would just put their money where there mouths are and set up a charitable foundation and donate to it just half of their income and worth. They might just reduce poverty’s ravages in California. But I digress.
The west will not be roused until some stunning tragedy occurs in both Europe and America. Europeans are completely uninterested in any injury to America. America is not much interested in Europe either. As we saw in the 1930s, had Europe acted when Hitler invaded the Rhineland, World War II might not have happened. But instead, Europe dithered and staggered into war over Poland. By the time Europe was fully engaged its sons were enlisting in the Greater Germany SS formations to fight the Russians and partake of the “New Order” and England was freedom’s only bastion.
America will not waken until the radical left, now controlling America’s media, sees a threat to its supremacy. This is not unlike the model organization of today’s Democrat Party — the Communist Party of the 1930s. Few of our happy radical leftist dumkopfs of today have any knowledge of history and so for them I point out that the Nazis and Communists in Russia were allied and actually divided Poland between them. Because of that alliance the communist party here agitated in favor of the Nazis and hurled invective and venom (in a manner now practiced with great skill and verve, by Mrs. Clinton among others) at those who voiced the dangers of fascism.
Today little has changed except the Democrat Party. It has taken the place of the Communists of the 1930s. Its leaders ignore or downplay the threat posed by a Stone Age barbarism alive and well in the Middle East and having that hatred’s creed preached in mosques all over America and Europe to day: DEATH TO THE INFIDEL. Hatred, murder and genocide have found a new home. And once again, nobody cares.
— Jay W. Molyneaux
Wellington, Florida
Just because some of us don’t spend every waking hour thinking about death, destruction, guns and what an Army Sergeant makes in a year, doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the scope of the sacrifice of armed service men and women in the U.S. America isn’t just the country it is today because of war and guns (Just look at North Korea, Vietnam and Iraq). The U.S. has a culture that is loved by millions around the world. Part of the culture that the rest of the world loves mostly doesn’t involve the gun-toting, violence-driven, god-bothering, red-necks that seem to be the vast readership of this magazine.
The main problem with Hollywood — not that this is something most right-wingers care about — is the obscene amounts of money they are given, for what really amounts to tripe. It was reported that Reese Witherspoon will receive $34 million for her next role. This is a kick in the guts to any ordinary American, and why would we spend our “very” hard-earned, contributing to another Tuscan villa, or sauna, for ordinary movies in return.
— Nathan Maskiell
R. Emmett Tyrrell’s description of the pretentious preening and aristocratic goofiness of Oscar night might have added another item — the evening of Democratic self-congratulations comes at the expense of the local taxpayer. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the Los Angeles City Council waived $1 million in fees and costs for city services to put on the event. The welfare state has extended to rich movie moguls, who apparently can afford millions of dollars in gowns, jewelry and parties but bill the taxpayers to put on their event.
— Caroline Miranda
North Hollywood, California
The chances of Hollywoodians, Left Coastians and many East Coastians, as well as diehard Blue Staters, in general, watching or supporting Obsession?
What’s that saying about the chances a snowball has in hell?
— C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia
I’d like to see the movie, but I think they’d better send it straight to Netflix. I don’t have the guts to wait in line.
— M. Scott Horn
Akron, Ohio
IT’S NOT OVER
Re: Christopher Orlet’s Is the Neocon Dream Dead?:
Thanks for Christopher Orlet’s quickie perspective on what seems to me increasingly obvious. Neither Francis Fukuyama’s flights of geopolitical fancy (is history still over, or has he changed his mind on that one too?), nor Andrew Sullivan’s mea culpa (who’s overestimating what?), nor Bill Buckley’s latest pronouncement (well — what venerable elder can be denied the right to be tired?), nor for that matter the neocon calculus (how many Army Rangers read the Weekly Standard?) makes a flea’s whisker of difference to the present conflict.
We are a nation at war with an implacable enemy, pursuing a cogent, protracted strategy that hasn’t come close to being refuted by events; a war conducted by serious men of action who do not make their bread by punditry or think-tank wordsmithing. Our civilization will be victorious, or it will be destroyed. Get used to it.
— John R. Dunlap
San Jose, California
From the next to last paragraph: “Yes, there will be sectarian violence. And it will not be limited to Iraq. The Shiites and the Sunnis have been beating each other over the head since the Prophet ascended into paradise in 632. Sectarian violence is common in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, and until recently Ireland.”
Let’s not forget Detroit, L.A., D.C., Houston and other war torn American cities. Oh wait, the neocons are wrong! We should give up on all the strife and mishandled democratic cities of North America too.
— Jack Wheat
Sterling, Virginia
The fantastical dream that we can defeat a nation, invade its homeland, kill its people, smash its form of government and institutions, then ignore its ethnic traditions and force our governing philosophy upon it is surely specious.
For all these reasons I believe that Japan will never become a successful democracy. Iraq on the other hand…
And as for the notorious Francis Fukuyama, have any of his notions managed to last even a decade before imploding?
— Richard Donley
New Lyme, Ohio
THE CHALLENGE OF OBJECTIVITY
Re: David Aikman’s Mao by a Mile:
I haven’t read The Untold Story but was somewhat struck by Mr. Aikman’s one criticism of the book that the authors included editorializing when just the “facts” and “numbers” would have sufficed. I have read The Black Book of Communism, and I must comment that the concentration on “facts” and “numbers” was simply mind-numbing. It’s so difficult to wrap your arms around 75 million, 100 million, 150 million dead. That’s like killing everyone on the U.S. eastern seaboard, and then some. How can anyone understand that? And the constant repetition of the atrocities and deaths in LBBoC made it almost impossible to get personally involved in what was being antiseptically described.
This is no criticism of Mr. Aikman or his review. I think I would have preferred some editorializing in LBBoC. I’m going to buy The Untold Story in the hope that the editorializing will offer something other than mind numbness. Still, I know it will be horrifying reading, just like the LBBoC. But I’ll consider it as medicine: it’s God-awful going down, it might unsettle the system while its digested, but you’ll get better in the long run and build up immunity to the disease.
— Karl Auerbach
Eden, Utah
THE SAGE OF MALIBU
Re: Ben Stein’s Missed Tributes:
God bless you sir.
Here on Guam we have a large military presence both permanent and rotating in and out on a regular basis. I have come to know many of these fine young Americans who by their actions, have convinced my son to join the U.S. Marines upon his graduation next year. I could not be more proud.
These people are all heroes. Serving our country with pride during a time of war. Thank you so much for your clear thinking and well communicated take on the state of our nation.
— Robert Lackey
Guam
Received you article of 6 March from a friend. I wanted to say thank you, not for recognizing men like myself, but for recognizing the greatness of the ones left behind who watch news reports night after night and want nothing more to hear the voice of their husband and to hold him again. When you’re doing the job, most days it isn’t that bad. Knowing that no news is good news is the hardest role to play.
— Capt. Rich Fisher, Commander Charlie Company 4th Recon, USMCR
Bravo for “Missed Tributes” by Ben Stein. Keep up the great work. We’re out here, we’re listening and we’re with you!
— A. Gerunda
Brooklyn, New York
Let’s have a demonstration to show Hollywood how much we don’t appreciate them. How much money do you think they’d loose if for just one day, 24 hours, no one watched a movie, or rented a DVD?? What do you say? Let’s everyone take a day off. Instead of watching the damned tube, take a hike, go for a walk, take the grandkids sledding, go snow shoeing, cross country skiing, take a bike ride, take a nap. Do whatever, but give Hollywood and TV land the one-fingered salute!
— John D. Armstrong, CTRC, USN, Retired
I’m not nuts about the Hollywood types either, but to single them out as un-American because they don’t support the war in Iraq is showing your one sided view of your country. The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech to all of my countrymen including those in Hollywood. I may disagree with some of what they say, but that don’t mean I would stop them from saying it. We’re not in Iraq for American security issues, but for the greed of a select few who are represented by those in power right now. If you think that actors are overpaid you might want to check out what the oil barons make in a year. CEO’s in this country can’t seem to make enough while at the same time they ship American jobs overseas, so they don’t have to share the wealth with their fellow Americans. I’m a veteran myself and I don’t care if Hollywood approves of me or not, but I do care that almost all of the present administration was too damn good to fight for their country like I did in Vietnam; yet they’ll send our finest off to Iraq to die for oil. Most of the loudest pro-Iraq war people I’ve met were never in the service and would cry like hell if they had to go now. I don’t hate the rich, but I do not like anybody who runs over the working folks in this country to get more personal gain for themselves. If the corporations like China so much why don’t they move there?
— Butch Ryan, American
According to his credits, Mr. Stein is “one of them” — actor, that is and is living amongst those whom he criticizes. Brave man, he.
— unsigned
Isn’t it about time Hollywood gave a lifetime achievement award to the American soldier. God knows Hollywood has made billions in war movies over the last 78 years. If all they worship is money, they aught to say thanks to the people who enable their religion.
— G. E. Reilly
I think of Hollywood as entertainment. And that Hollywood is not connected in any way, to war. Are you just getting your fifteen minutes of fame, by complaining?
— Jeannine Varner
A great article on the missed tributes at the Oscars, right on as usual.
— Walt Boyne
Nailed it, you did. God help us.
— Doug Huggins
Thanks for saying in print what so many of us think privately. I would say you are a brave man to put your thoughts in print. Like you I send many prayers for those courageous men and women who defend us in any foreign place and at home.
I miss your TV show. It was a real hoot.
I don’t throw tributes at people often. But I think you are an American hero.
— Toni Sue Landry
I agree with your article! It is a shame when anyone or any group can forget those that have given and are giving their all for us and by doing so allows us the privilege of living in this GREAT Nation.
…
Who will Hollywood call upon when their lives are put into harm’s way from terrorists when they serve no purpose anymore? There is no trailer to let them see what is coming soon. There will be no director to stop the action and do another retake. There will be no stunt double to take the fall for them. There will only be the BRAVE men and women in uniform to protect them from those that would cause them harm. I wonder how they will feel about our troops then
— Eric Edwards
Good morning, will you please let Ben Stein know how much I appreciate reading his articles — and especially that he appreciates the sacrifices that our military men and women make every single day for our freedoms. I still have his article of tribute to the military family displayed proudly on my refrigerator! I am a military spouse and military mom – my husband and son are serving on active duty in the US Navy. I am a volunteer for an organization called TAPS (Tragedy Assistance for Program for Survivors) that is a wonderful program for the survivors of military personnel killed on active duty. Thank you for your time and please pass on my thanks to Ben Stein.
— Anne Drennan
I lived in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years and in that time I met many, many actors and even attended the Awards ceremony one time. Of the numerous actors and others in the film industry that I did meet, I can think of only TWO that were actual ADULTS: a character actor by the name of Cliff Emmich and the late, much lamented John Ritter. So readers can rely absolutely on Ben Stein’s view of the unreality of the Los Angeles lifestyle. It’s why I don’t live there any more!
— unsigned
Excellent point by Ben Stein on “Missed Tributes.” Hollywood is Camelot…nothing on the outside, mainstream America affects it. No wonder Democrats are stuck with the albatross around their necks by the support of Hollywood. The Academy Awards lost me when it didn’t consider Passion of the Christ as an Oscar competitive movie. If movies about gays, forbidden gay relationships, lesbians, prostitutes, murderers and not so veiled accusations that the CIA or high-ranking government people killed Pres. Kennedy or waged illegal wars or assassinated individuals for the sake of big business can be honored by the Academy, then why can’t a movie about a religious icon, Christ, be given the same consideration?
Sometimes I think most of America is grounded in the soil of the land and Hollywood, well, Hollywood is a brisk wind, a Santa Ana Wind if you will, blowing quickly away from us. May the box office receipts show that disparity.
— Dan Kellum
The Oscars are an awards ceremony for an art genre. To believe that these artists have a responsibility to do more than thank their mothers and their agents is unrealistic.
Though it would have been a good thing if acknowledgement was granted to those fighting for American freedom, holding Hollywood accountable for those thanks is unfair. Why, anyway, would you want thanks from anyone whom you so little esteem?
It is also small minded to believe that because greatness lurks in our VA Hospitals and National cemeteries that it cannot co-exist elsewhere. I’ll bet everyone lying in those hospitals right now is watching a movie to help pass the time. Don’t forget that freedom doesn’t apply just to those who are doing the fighting and those who are openly applauding them, it also applies to the ones making films about gays, McCarthy, and “Big Oil,” even if they are dressed in fancy gowns and even if they make more money than you.
The world that you want is only big enough for people who think like you, and that is NOT what America is about. Being a patriot means loving America and therefore loving Americans, not by thinking of your own people as the enemy.
So rant if you like. I will respect you and my country enough to honor your comments with my own, and because I am deeply grateful to the courageous people preserving my freedom I will continue to be proud of those Hollywood artists who are free to express themselves, whether or not I like their art.
— Marina McLeod
Thanks for the thoughtful words that assist when I sometimes wonder, am I the only one who sees something wrong here?
— Richard C. Murphy
Thanks to you for publishing Ben Stein’s editorial! He is one in the spotlight who has it figured out! God Bless America!
— Connie Christensen
…Wake up and see the facts as they are and not as you wish they were. Hollywood’s silence is not the problem. This administration’s policies are the problem.
— Joe Iannucci
Thank you for having the conviction and courage to speak out in behalf of our true heroes — the men and women that defend our rights and make it possible for Americans to truly enjoy freedom.
If the people in Hollywood are all so unhappy here, I am sure we could raise enough money — not that they need it — to send them a one way ticket to the country of their choice. I would sincerely bid them farewell and hope that they never step foot on our soil again. Actually, I would like so see them permanently banned from entry into the United States of America.
— L.A. Martineau
As a member of the active duty military I salute Ben Stein as a true American patriot. Salute!
When were the Oscars on? Did any of the movies that won make any money? Is it true that most Hollyweird movies are made in Canada so liberal producers can avoid paying union scale? Are they trying to “break the back” of the unions or what? I bet Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave to know what the left is doing to his union.
By the way — we’re winning in Iraq, but you wouldn’t know that to listen to Copperhead Murtha and the hacks in the media.
— Michael Tomlinson
Crownsville, Maryland
Ben Stein’s recent remarks about the Oscars hit the nail right on the head!
— Tom Swanson
Anchorage, Alaska
Thank you for your recent comments in “Missed Tributes.” My husband is in the service and has been made a career of serving our country. I stand by him in his decisions to stay in the service and I volunteer my time to help others in the service.
We all have a right to object to American policies, I doubt Hollywood remembers why we fought in the Revolutionary War. I am just thankful for the all the individuals who have take the oath to defend our country so Hollywood and its followers can stay in its fantasy world.
Thank you again Mr. Stein.
— Desiree Cole
Mr. Stein is correct in many of his criticisms of Hollywood. Yes, Hollywood is “all about self: self-congratulation, self- promotion and above all, self-protection.” And he is justified in feeling that there is inequity in recognition when stars receive so much money and so many accolades while the real heroes lie unnamed in Arlington. This is something to be upset about. If this was his real point, it would have been good to stop there, because he would have found, and kept, many sympathetic ears.
But he used this point as a platform to launch a very thinly veiled attack against those that would question the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, using the specious technique of implying that criticism of the decisions of an administration implies criticism of the soldiers that do their bidding. This can be actively destructive of the military itself.
Soldiers are outside of politics. They make their sacrifice in the name of their country, which is above reproach. If what they are instructed to do is eventually determined to be destructive to the country’s interests, it is not their fault and should not detract from their sacrifice. But the reality is that it does, and the military suffers a serious hit to its credibility, a hit that affects every surviving soldier personally. This is tragic and terribly unfair.
The attempt to justify bad decisions made by an administration using the argument that disagreement dishonors the military is very dangerous. The country, including the military and its members, is best served by an administration that makes informed decisions backed by proper motives. We must support our soldiers by doing everything we can to ensure that they are never asked to make their sacrifice in vain.
— Ben Harmon
Santa Cruz, California
My thanks to you for so eloquently defining and outlining the Hollywood left and their “celebration” this week. The self-congratulatory tone of what little I watched was unsettling in its naivete. Even sadder is the fact that the average American no longer seems to question the logic of the Left, particularly what is espoused in the entertainment world. At least the pretty boy, George Clooney, admits that he is out of touch with the mainstream.
My wife and I have had the pleasure to work at a couple of family events for the Marines at the Naval Air Station, Marietta. You can’t be around these fine men and women and not feel the great pride and conviction they have for their mission. Yes, they will lay their very lives down for us and ask for nothing in return but our respect. Yet, as you so aptly note, they don’t merit a single word while Hollywood celebrates racial hatred, class warfare and the gay/transgender agenda. The one good point I have heard about all of this is the fact that the Oscar nominees were, by and large, ignored by the movie going public. Will they ever get the message?
— John R. Stockfisch
And not one word about the passing of Don Adams, Don Knotts, or Dennis Weaver, all WWII veterans.
Hope you are still enjoying that teenager. He’s lucky to have you for a dad and a mentor. My bride really cherished your emails and thoughts.
— Don Milsop
The Woodlands, Texas
Wow. Nicely done. No, mightily done. Congrats to Stein.
— R. Gloff
Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico