ARIANNA’S BACK ALLEYS
Re: Peter Ferrara’s Alley Cats of the Left:

Speaking as a Liberal, and I don’t mind the capitalization, please don’t lump in Huffington with us. Keep in mind that as recently as 2000, she was an Alley Cat of the Right. She was a control freak then and she’s a control freak now.

When she realizes that Liberals don’t like the government controlling everything either, I’m not sure where she’ll go next. China, hopefully.
— Matthew Huntington
Rochester, Minnesota

Allow me to rework the Queen Twit’s (Kos be da King) quote:

“It would help if the media reacted to Huffington[original omitted]’s drivel by treating it with the contempt it deserves instead of dutifully reporting it as if it contained an ounce of logic or sanity.”

As I learned it, the ad hominem attack is a sure and first sign of a losing argument. The Royal Couple and their legions lead with it as a matter of routine. How juvenile.
— Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

I don’t know if I’ve ever read such blatant lies in my life. I’m sure the author can find good reason to have a two-sided argument about whether blacks should still be enslaved, or that child abuse is a beneficial activity. The pure fact is that conservatives are not interested in small government for the sake of encouraging freedom (see their great backing of expanded military and prisons). Conservatives want smaller government because without someone looking over their shoulder, it makes it much easier to swindle people out of their wages, out of their homes, out of their life savings. It makes it easier for them to get rich by charging extremely high prices for energy and take food out of the mouths of children by forcing their parents to work for less than a living wage. The conservative philosophy with regard to the economy is, “To hell with you…I’m rich!”

The conservatives don’t care about education, about the poor, about single mothers, or about people out of work. The only time we see these satans raise their head at all is to protest anything that might take an additional 10% off of their multi-million dollar salaries. Elitists! Except for the less fortunate conservatives who have been tricked into thinking that these rich people actually care about them! It’s a joke. I work for an investment bank and so I see everyday how rich people look for ways to pay poor people less and less money. Romney is in this crowd. He made his money by firing poor people at struggling companies.

God will ensure that each and every one gets what they deserve in the end.
— Adrian S. Roberts

I read a book a few years ago about mathematics where the author stated that our education system has replaced logical reasoning with emotive reasoning. (It was about mathematics, I could not tell you the author’s political views). Many of Arianna and her fellow travelers seem to fall into the emotion as argument category. (I think Bill Cosby or another comedian made a reference years ago that, just because you can yell louder doesn’t make you more correct). Because they are more passionate and dramatic in their presentations, they must be correct. When emotion drives your actions, it is easy to be made afraid, and when you are afraid, you react by getting rid of what scares you, by whatever means necessary. When you silence dissent or an opposing view, it is easier feel in control. Who wants to be afraid and not be in control of the situation?
— Rebecca Welton

After reading about the hatchet jobs and ad hominem attacks perpetrated by Huffington et al. at the Huffington Post, I finally find myself to be at a loss for words. Since I can’t think of anything myself, I will have to depend on an elder statesman. Yes, the Boy President got it exactly right: “Scumbag!”
— Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

It doesn’t matter which prominent liberal — Arianna, Keith O., Howard D., Nancy, Harry, and now Barack Obama — their political message begins and ends by trying to persuade people that:

1. All conservatives are corrupt and inferior. They’re evil and dumb! They’re full of hatred, they’re dishonest, selfish, violent, hypocrites. Conservatives lack intelligence and proper education. They’re racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, intolerant, blah, blah, blah….

2. Liberals are superior in every way.

For liberals, this invalidates the need to discuss any issues.

The liberal message is nearly impossible in our society to avoid. It permeates media, news, entertainment, advertising and education. One has to work to get the conservative message. And yet, conservatives are proud to be called “conservative” and liberals don’t want to be called “liberal.” Can someone explain why only certain people believe and follow liberals like Arianna?
— Paul Hoffmann
San Antonio, Texas

The more I come into contact with screeds like those found on the ” Daily Kos” and ” The Huffington Post” the more I think back to a few deep conversations I had with my father. He was an English major in college and wanted nothing more than to teach drama and theater at our local community college, but under New York State law that meant having to have a Master’s degree to be eligible. So starting in 1963 he began working on that degree at SUNY Fredonia, the closest university that could grant such a degree.

Things went well for about three years and he had amassed about 27 of the 30 hours required and was in the process of working on his thesis when called in to see the dean of the English department and his advisor. Since he was doing high B work, he didn’t realize that this was not a counseling session but a dismissal. They did not like the fact he did not ” think” the ” right way” and told him under no circumstances would they ever let him get a degree from that university. Of course, any complaint would be his word versus theirs — i.e., a ” you lose” situation. After that he dropped out of the program.

He and I had several long ” after action” talks about this (later I ran into a similar problem at Purdue with their English department and left in January 1968). His view was that it was a clash between objective thinking and subjective thinking, and if you held an objective point of view you could see — albeit rarely accept due to the fallacy of the thought involved — the subjective view, whereas a subjective thinker could not grasp your point at all and tended to belittle you for not seeing ” the bigger picture.”

He was a victim of such subjective thinkers who would not accept his objective views of English and the subjects covered, even though the teachers and professors did for the most part. I hit that same brick wall with an advanced English professor at Purdue who (after I made the mistake of exposing his shallow knowledge and poor grasp of even subjective points of view) ensured that I could not pass his course under any circumstances. I wrote it off to being a victim of what I called ” J.B.’s Theory” after my father.

Fast forward. Today it seems we have four basic types of personalities in politics (and life) — call them subjective liberal, objective liberal, objective conservative, and subjective conservative.

Subjective liberal is unfortunately the dominant form found on the left of center. These people believe their own myths and propaganda, and take too much time trying to either empathize with others or see things from their point of view to grasp reason. You either see things from their very narrow (and ill founded) point of view or you are a (fill in your favorite epithet for the person who does not conform) of the lowest form of life, or ” in lockstep” with others of such non-sentient forms of life.

Barack Obama is one of the flagship personalities for this sort of thinking, and those who post at the two main web sites noted above are true believers in this point of view and way of life. You either are a true believer or a fool in their eyes. They will tell you what is a topic for discussion and what is not; disagree and you are purged from the body, never to return. They will tell you what is correct and what is not; disagree and you are branded with an epithet.

An objective liberal is what used to be a Democrat. They were more attuned to social ills and improving the life of the little guy, but could see threats and dangers as threats and danger and not missed opportunities for communication and shared views. Joe Lieberman is probably one of the last serious objective liberals in Congress.

The objective conservative is what most of us who deem ourselves as conservatives are today, and Reagan was undoubtedly the best example. (Note how relatively easy it is to move from being an objective liberal to being an objective conservative, as he did.) Right is right, wrong is wrong, and there is no such thing as 6400 shades of gray in between. The sad thing is that the objective conservative is far more open, egalitarian, tolerant and willing to hear others’ actual points of view than any others except the objective liberal. But as there are differing levels inside the basic framework based on life experience, location, livelihood and other factors, getting all objective conservatives to agree is literally like herding cats.

The subjective conservative is in the minority, as they tend towards the paranoid. Nazis and Communists in the flesh — not theory — personify this point of view and as such can be extremely dangerous. These also are those who hide under their kitchen table with tinfoil hats so the black helicopters from the UN cannot trace their brainwaves and pollute their precious bodily fluids. Some could argue the more vitriolic on the right of center, such as Pat Buchanan, could be borderline subjective conservatives.

The sad thing is that the subjective liberals took over first education, then the media, and now are working on taking over the government at every level. They have nearly succeeded in Maryland with what is essentially one-party government (and one which successfully used the gerrymander and demonization of their opponents to ensure that it stayed that way) off into its own subjective world. There is no problem with illegal aliens; they are culturally misunderstood new Marylanders and as such CASA and La Raza need state help getting them under the umbrella of state programs. There is no problem with state government corruption; it’s just ” lockstep” clones of George Bush out to carry out political witch-hunts. There is no problem with education in Maryland that cannot be fixed with more money being given to the schools. If a Republican fires political appointees to replace them with his own political appointees, this is a crime that must be investigated to see if their rights were violated. If a Democrat governor fires political appointees to replace them with his own political appointees, then this is ” right sizing” government with fresh ideas and new faces to improve things (and the other ones were probably crooked anyway). You get the idea.

I fear that we may be in for worse if the subjective liberals get full control of the government. Nancy Pelosi’s threat to renew the ” Fairness Doctrine” is a perfect subjective liberal maneuver to still the voices of anyone who disagrees with them. All that does is replace any of the more rational courses of discussion and information with screed-heavy diatribes from the ” Huffington Post.”
— Cookie Sewell
Maryland

Liberal ideology revolves around two concepts: symbolism trumping substance and feelings trumping logic. Why do point-counterpoint arguments with liberals inevitably result in anger and name-calling? They can’t imagine how anyone could challenge their selfless virtue and utopian ambitions.
— Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

Wow, looks like the “lunatic right” taught the “lunatic left” well! Invective, intolerance, and stretching the truth apply to both sides of the political aisle in America.
— Carlyn Meyer

WHALE WATCHERS
Re: Elizabeth A. Terrell’s Blowhards and Blowholes:

Ms. Terrell, please stop encouraging your mother to put her dogs on a vegan diet. Dogs, and cats, are carnivorous animals. It’s not a choice for them. A vegan diet, even one high in protein, will make them very, very sick and eventually kill them. If you love animals as much as you profess, please recognize that only a handful of animals are omnivorous like humans, and may just require meat-based diets. And while we might be tempted to suggest a mixed diet for our cats and dogs, all it really takes is giving them some access to the outdoors, or including some potted grass and other plants inside. They need very, very little plant matter and get it through a little chewing on grass or other plants.
— Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

If PETA had real concerns for animals they would be lobbying for Congress to pass a “Save the Seals from Polar Bears and Orcas” resolution. Anyone who has ever witnessed the suffering of seals from the vicious and inhumane killing methods by bears and orcas would certainly support such a measure.
— E. Patrick Mosman

Ms. Terrell is in danger of making the skeptics of environmental causes seem stupid. While there may good argument for allowing the harvesting of a few whales by indigenous groups who have traditionally hunted the whales, it is hard to justify using whales as a source of anything much in a world where a few thousand whales that would have to be divvied among six billion people. If every extant whale in the seas were to be weighed, they would amount to a fraction of the beef Americans consume in a single year. I hoped for a moment that Ms. Terrell was spoofing about the possibility of using whale oil to compensate for the shortage of petroleum — but no luck — she’s evidently that dumb. If you could keep Ms. Terrell’s thoughts away from public scrutiny you would be doing the cause of American conservatism a solid.
— Don Carlson

Jeremy Lott replies:
I thought we’d included enough hints for readers to get this but the vegan diet line and the whales-as-alternative-fuel-source paragraph were clearly jokes. It was an over-the-top rant, folks, and clearly labeled as such.

NOWHERE MAN
Re: W. James Antle III’s Biting Young:

First we get a piece on Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, then comes one on Alaska’s Don Young. It is no wonder at all that the “Republican” brand is tarnished (and that’s being kind). There doesn’t appear to be much hope that Iowa will fix things but perhaps Alaska will, at least in their own back yard, which will help all of us who want to see smaller and less expensive government. It will take time but it would be a good start. Clearly we have little hope at the top of the national ticket.
— Roger Ross
Tomahawk, Wisconsin

It’s nice to see Mr. Antle joining John McCain in decrying earmarks and those who abuse the Federal taxpayers — well at least a Republican RINO. This is a far cry from his April article in which he said, “give them (the Democrat Congress) their pork…” in hopes of getting them to agree to cut overall spending. In light of the Reid/Pelosi Democrat Congress’ penchant for more spending and pork it’s good to have Antle on the anti-earmark bandwagon. As for Young he’s a quintessential RINO and needs to go so we can save the seat from a Democrat who will push for more pork and spending in the do nothing Reid/Pelosi Congress.
— Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

I truly hope Congressman Don Young goes down in flames during the August primary. Even after the 2006 congressional shellacking, he is still the poster boy for everything that is anathema to conservative principles. What a breath of fresh air Sean Parnell will be in D.C.

Mr. Young is for an increase in the federal gas tax, a laugh considering the prices we currently pay. He voted for card check, and he voted for the recent farm bill. He even inserted an earmark for a state he doesn’t represent — talk about scratching the back of a fellow congressman with the taxpayers’ money.

With two ongoing federal investigations, I believe Mr. Young will soon be walking the “path to nowhere.”
— Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

I work for a large corporation, and I won’t say which one. We do have a PAC, of which I am member. The PAC invited my congressman and another one from Texas down for a lunch, and both congressmen are thankfully conservatively minded Republicans. Someone brought up the question to the congressmen as to why they think the Republican brand is in such disarray this year. The congressmen admitted to media bias and “Bush fatigue.” I will admit that these two things are contributing, but the media bias has been around a long time. I think that Lieutenant Governor Parnell hit the nail, hard, on the head. And I said much the same thing to both congressmen. It was the abandonment of small-government and personal liberty principles that are costing the Republicans so hard. Personally, I can’t wait for Young to be removed from the Congress. Let’s hope that Alaskan Republicans are smart enough to do that in the primary and we can see a real conservative moved into his place.
— Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

Mr. Young, in regards to your outrageous statement, “My money, my money!” sir, respectfully, NO. It is the public’s money. You’re dismissed.
— Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

HOT OFF THE GRILL
Re: R. Stacy McCain’s ANWR Burgers, Anyone?:

Mr. McCain mentions spotted owl that has killed off the timber industry in our Northwest. Spotted owl is a widespread pest that kills most birds by eating their eggs, among those some rare species such as wild canaries and parakeets. It lives mostly in warm regions of the continent — Mexico and our southern states, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas. In these areas it is properly considered a pest and is treated as such — by poison and shotgun. As you go north their numbers get smaller, and by the time you arrive in Canada they disappear. In order to kill our timber industry the environmentalists for the first time in the history of science have invented the notion that the species “spotted owl” must be split into two new species — “southern” and “northern” — according to where they live most of the time.

By the same logic a polar bear in the Bronx Zoo should be classified as a new species, say “Bronx Polar Bear”, and be extended protection in perpetuity, including its progeny. This is “science” from the Dark Ages. Now we import timber from other, more environmentally backward countries, and our loggers are on the dole.

As for ANWR — there is no more desolate and empty desert in the world, with exactly ZERO tourists willing to expose themselves to that swamp full of mosquitoes to see it during the two months in the year when it is unfrozen.
— Marc Jeric
Las Vegas, Nevada

DON’T RUSH TO CONCLUSIONS
Re: Thom Bateman’s letter (under “Don’t Go There”) in Reader Mail’s All Dogs Go to Heaven:

In my original letter, I gave a few reasons why, in spite of the fact we share the same politics, I found it difficult to listen to Rush Limbaugh. Among the particular grounds, I stated that Rush’s three failed marriages belie his claims to understanding women. Mr. Bateman has objected that by my standard Bill Clinton has an extraordinary understanding of women as in spite of it all he has had one wife. He then finishes his letter: ” Are you sure you want to go there with that kind of shallow judgment of relationship issues?”

I assure Mr. Bateman I am well qualified to make such a judgment. I met my wife during seventh grade Sunday school class in Faith Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, Illinois. We started off as friends and then began dating in our junior year of High School. In 1975, we were married in that same Lutheran Church we met in. We did not write our own vows as many of our friends had. Instead, we bound ourselves together without the contemporary ” escape clauses” under the orthodox Lutheran marriage liturgy. (” till death do us part” ) We remain devout Lutherans and attend the Divine Liturgy together every week. After all these years, I still say she is the best thing that ever happened to me.

We had the same beliefs. We wanted the same things. We both had the soul of a small town in southern Illinois in our bones. All these things continue on to this day. We had and have so much in common.

And yet, after all this time, I can’t even pretend I understand my wife. By extension, I don’t pretend I understand female types. Women are wonderful folk but my problem is I am a big dumb male. In my experience, it is the rare fellow who isn’t a big dumb male. Experience has beaten it into me that us guy types are horribly mismatched to the task. To me, this is one of the humorous things about the human condition. Therefore, I am incredulous (to say the least) when any guy with three failed marriages claims he’s got women pegged.

When it comes to Bubba Clinton, by no means to I count his marriage successful nor do I see his long procession of bimbos as evidence of special insight into the female sex. Many men are amazing first dates and one-night-stands. Some can keep the magic going for their girlfriends up to a certain point. But very few of these have a clue about long-term relationships. I think these things hardly lend themselves to a solid understanding of women.

Anyway, back to Mr. Bateman. Of all the things I said in my long letter, I thought it was my statement that I sensed Limbaugh was a jerk would have been the one that would hit a nerve. Instead, I am supposedly judgmental about Limbaugh’s failures in wedded bliss. I admit to being judgmental in the sense that I am confident Rush shares our fallen nature. We all have delusions about ourselves. Thinking we know more than we actually do is one of them. So it be with Rush and women. In any event, it has to be remembered that the purpose of my letter was to defend Rush against the charge of racism. Rush may be wrong about life as it is lived here and there; but I am not going to tar and feather him on false charges to just to ” prove” to a bunch of liberals I am consistent and fair.
— Mike Dooley

HEAVEN ON EARTH
Re: G. Tracy Mehan, III’s My Dog Died Today and Reader Mail’s All Dogs Go to Heaven:

I read something not too long ago that said Heaven is where every dog you ever owned comes running to meet you. I hope its true, because I have two Scottish Terriers I hope are waiting for me. They died about ten years apart and I felt a terrible guilt over leaving the first one with the vet. Vowed I would never be that cruel again. Said I would never have another dog, in fact. But a litter of Scots can melt the heart in a hurry.

About four years ago we knew our second Scot had cancer. We prolonged the inevitable as long as we could. Hoping we were not making her suffer because of our cowardice.

My husband is an accomplished cabinetmaker, so I had him make her a beautiful little casket, which I lined with her blanket. Then I took her to the groomer. Put her in “show trim” for her going away party. She sat in my lap as they gave her injection, then we carried her out and put her in her elegant bird’s eye maple coffin, where she could sleep forever in her own backyard.

Whenever I hear lofty praise of loyalty of dogs, I always think of a stand-up comic of the ’50s. Brother Dave Gardner said “You know why a dog is man’s best friend, don’t you? Because he won’t tell on ya.” It may be as simple as that. Although I put greater reliance on the fact that mine knew who the Keeper of the Kibble was. Me.

I can never look into the soulful black eyes of another Scot. So, I am searching for a miniature Basset, if there is such a dog. I think their eyes are amber.
— Diane Smith