OUR LIPS ARE SEALED
Re: The Washington Prowler’s The Secret Life of Howie Dean (scroll down):
On October 10, 2003, The American Spectator ran an article about the sealing of some of Governor Dean’s official records as Governor. The article quoted an anonymous member of Governor Dean’s New Hampshire staff speculating on when and whether Governor Dean might unseal these records. The author of the article did not contact the Dean campaign for comment. No member of the Dean campaign’s New Hampshire staff with authorization or knowledge of the Governor’s policy decisions spoke to The American Spectator, and the campaign strongly doubts that any member of our staff provided the quote. Regardless, the information printed is inaccurate.
In the future, we encourage The American Spectator to contact Dean for America’s New Hampshire press department in conformity with traditional journalistic practices.
Sincerely,
— Karen Hicks
New Hampshire State Director
Dean for America
PONTIUS IN THE NOSE
Re: Jeremy Lott’s SaveTerri.com:
What more would Mr. Lott have Governor Bush do??? To compare him to Pontius Pilate is absurd and obscene in several ways. Get a grip JL, we have laws in this country, including Florida, and unless you’ve got some better idea leave absurdities out of it, it does your cause no good.
— Roger Ross
Jeremy Lott replies: Not sure how the Pilate comparison hurts my “cause,” so I’ll bite: Where does the analogy break down? Assuming Mrs. Schiavo’s death isn’t halted, in both cases you have a governor who reluctantly presides over the taking of an innocent life for the sake of preserving the peace. How is that a get-a-grip worthy statement?
MORON MONITOR
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s The Moron Vote:
Well and good. But, the mere act of mentioning that they are morons may cause one or more to modify behavior. Why risk it? I prefer the self-revelation approach, as in, “He was such a moron that even the other morons noticed.” Let them reach that point on their own (and, maybe, the moronity is so evenly distributed that they never will).
— M in Colleyville
HELLO, DOLLIES
Re: Shawn Macomber’s Live Free or Try:
OK, libertarians can be a little loopy. (Some of them think stop signs are immoral.) Like Dolly Parton, they take a good thing too far (however, they don’t have Dolly’s charm, talent, and good looks). But they’re a walk on the beach compared to Massachusetts and New York liberals (pardon the redundancy), cultural vandals who’ve already ruined Vermont and are in a fair way to doing the same thing to New Hampshire. If this second bunch prevails politically and culturally, New Hampshire will have to change the slogan on the license plates from “Live Free or Die,” to “Just a Bunch of Wusses Like the Rest.”
— Larry Thornberry
Tampa, FL
BULL’S-EYE
Re: Reader Mail’s The Meaning of Compassion and Lawrence Henry’s My Name Is Rush L.:
I became a widow at 35 as a direct result of my first husband’s alcoholism. Sadly, it was a release for me and our three children. It hurts me to see anyone in the process of destroying themselves with alcohol (a drug), and I can only rejoice with anyone who manages to stay sober. Thank you, Mr. Henry, for telling your story so unflinchingly.
— Jenny Woodward
GUNGA HO ON EDUARDO CIANNELLI
Re: Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder’s Traitors and Hypocrites:
Thanks for your excellent piece about the Democrat politicians’ despicable accusations — slanders actually, against the
sitting Republican President, and the Republican administration.
All their earlier tactics failed to tear down the President, and now they resort to an increasingly destructive and bizarre game plan – spearheaded by Teddy Kennedy’s vile blathers that the President lied, etc.
It seemed the silence was interminably long, before anyone did any hue and cry, and it has seemed too little: These villains need to be verbally rabbit-slapped up and down both sides of their heads for their bald-faced lies.
Much of the media have been willing accomplices, and they are equally repulsive, as repulsive as old Chappaquiddick Teddy. I have watched some of these fake newscasters get in the faces of Republicans and challenged them to defend
themselves — against such lies! I hate every one of them.
A driving lust for power — at any cost, or the cost be damned — is what we are witnessing, I think. It’s sickening; evil: These bastards want to destroy our President; the Administration, – as a means of getting themselves back into the White House. These are exactly the wrong individuals who should be allowed any power.
Enjoy your column very much; thanks for your good work.
Best Wishes,
— C. Melgard
I have perused the musings of Messrs. Mason and Felder with pleasure, more often than not nodding in total agreement. At times, the levity invoked by this dynamic duo has been audible, at least to my wife, who asks why I am laughing. After all, you don’t get any better as a stand-up comedian than Mr. Mason, and Mr. Felder, I am sure, holds his own in writing legal briefs and columns. But I must respectfully dissent in their latest effort, “Traitors and Hypocrites.”
To those of us of a certain age – mine – who remember ten cent admission to movies, the film Gunga Din is indelibly etched in our memories. Gary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and, my favorite, Victor McLaglen, were memorably cast. Sam Jaffe, however, seemed out of character, and the instant tan lotion the studio provided to darken his features still left a great deal to be desired. In short, he didn’t really fit into the role. But not to worry; this is the movies, remember?
But if Mr. Jaffe was poorly cast, the real villain of the movies, perfectly typecast, was Eduardo Ciannelli, and it was he, not Mr. Jaffe, who “exhorted his followers to Kill for the sake of Killing,” although I recall that some deity was invoked to accomplish this dastardly deed rather than the summoning of pure pleasure. But it is the diabolical Ciannelli character who, rather than surrender to his enemies, hurls himself into a pit of cobras, that should be remembered. He was a man of conviction, evil, to be sure, but much easier to recognize than those described by Messrs. Mason and Felder.
Salutem plurimam dicere.
— Vincent Chiarello
Sam Jaffe did NOT say that. Watch the movie again!
— Nancy Condie
A small point about Felder/Mason column. It wasn’t Sam Jaffe as Gunga Din exhorting his followers to “Kill!” It was another wonderful character actor Eduardo Ciannelli. Remember, he jumped into the pit of snakes?
— David Osterlund
Wasn’t Eduardo Ciannelli the guru in Gunga Din? Sam Jaffe was Gunga Din, the water carrier.
— John Manguso
San Antonio, TX
BZZZT — WRONG! Eduardo Cianelli was the nasty Guru inciting all of the fanatics. Sam Jaffe was the humble and noble Gunga Din himself, who gets killed saving “The Colonel.”
— Cookie Sewell
Aberdeen, MD
The article referenced, written by Mason and Felder, was right on. Finally, someone (two?) says what I’ve been thinking about for some time now.
But I must nit-pick. I may be mistaken, but, in the movie Gunga Din, I believe Sam Jaffe played the role of Gunga Din, not the leader of the Kali cult. And, further, that worthy, the father of “Frogface” as one of the three British troopers called him (I believe it was Cary Grant’s character) urged on his merry men with the cry “Kill for the love of Kali” not “kill for the love of killing”.
Now I may be wrong about all of this since my gray cells betray me more and more each day.
Of course, correct or not, I don’t want to diminish in any way the really fine article by Messrs. Mason and Felder.
I really enjoy your website and am constantly impressed with the intellect of your writers and readers. Hope I haven’t embarrassed myself with this letter.
— Thomas F. Kennedy
Allendale, NJ
Sam Jaffe was Gunga Din, the heroic water carrier. Some other guy played the Thug high priest, who advocated killing for the love of killing. Good point, however. There is little difference between a religious murder cult and modern day terrorists.
— R. Rogers
Bloomfield Hills, MI
These descriptions of the authors: “Jackie Mason is a comedian. Raoul Felder is a lawyer,” are mere inconsequential labels reflecting their chosen occupations. Patriots of the highest order is what they really are.
— Mark Hessey
Belmar, NJ
