|
Letter of the week
UNFAIR TO CHIEF FLINCHUM
I've been a big fan of yours since discovering your writing in 2002. I own several of your books. I have thoroughly enjoyed your columns and rarely disagree with your conclusions. Having said that, it was a bit of a shock to read your attack on Wendell Flinchum (the Virginia Tech police chief). (Let's be realistic about reality).
I practice law in Blacksburg and know Flinchum on a professional basis. I have found him to be a very competent administrator and an overall "good cop" who has made the safety of the Tech students the primary focus of his job. You made a couple of points that I would like to respond to as I feel that you have been unfair in your appraisal of Flinchum's performance.
To paraphrase you, "the police should have locked down the campus after the first shooting." The police don't have the authority to lock down the campus to the best of my knowledge. Such action is the call of the administration, particulary President Charles Steger, who was apprised of the situation and waited nearly an hour before making a decision.
Locking down a campus of 26,000 students and 10,000 employees doesn't happen quickly. I also agree with the Tech professor that wrote you that this can hardly be reconciled with your opposition to the infantilization of college students. The Tech campus is the size of a small city. Homicides, as you pointed out, are exceedingly rare. Rare or not, I cannot think of a city with a policy of locking down the populace after every homicide. There is also the fact that a large number of students and employees were in transit at the time this occured -- locking down the campus in that atmosphere could have been a logistical nightmare.
It's my understanding that the police assumed (with some reason) that the first shooting was a domestic quarrel. They apparently had already located an individual who was the primary suspect at the time. This turned out to not be true, of course, but I believe that it to be a reasonable mistake given what was known at the time.
Finally, what if the lockdown had been successful? We know Cho returned to his own dormitory between shootings. If the lockdown had occurred, Cho would have been locked into his dormitory with hundreds of other students and his weapons. Who knows what the ultimate outcome would have been, but it's not hard to imagine that it could have been worse.
I have admired Chief Flinchum's composure the last few days in the face of the media storm. After such a terrible trajedy, to face daily questions attacking his competence with such unflappable demeanor is admirable. I know that professional commentators like yourself must sometimes render judgements on incomplete information due to the nature of your work. I believe that some of the adminstration's actions are certainly open to criticism in this incident, but I feel that you are unfair in labelling Chief Flinchum "incompetent." Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's extremely difficult to stop someone bent on murder and who is willing to die. To my mind, there is very little Wendell Flinchum could have done to prevent this from happening and I think you owe him an apology.
Feel free to print this, but please do not use my name.
Re: American carriers
CARRIER ON REGARDLESS
I travel to Europe frequently on business and the service on American carriers is appalling compared to European carriers. BA and Virgin have had lie-flat beds in business class for years now. American? They are just starting to introduce them on some jets even though they charge as much as BA and Virgin. Delta still has 1990s-era business seats. Most of them do not feature passenger-controlled entertainment systems, whereas the European carriers offer them in all classes. The difference is substantial.
Like you, it pains me to say that because I love my country and am proud of it. But our air carriers are not doing a good job.
David Cavalier
FIRST IN FLIGHT
American carriers suck. Air France is awesome in comparison. Decent wine, good looking stewardesses (Hôtesses). But I have flown them all and they are all far better: BA, SAS, SwissAir, Lufthansa, Icelandic Air, etc. Even Olympic Airways (which actually frightened me with their crappy old unsafe aircraft) has better service.
Joe Scuderi
THE CUSTOMERS ARE CHEAP
It didn't used to be that way. But somewhere along the line, the American people, en masse, started getting really cheap about what they'd pay for airline tickets. They don't seem to mind paying almost as much for a gallon of gas as a gallon of milk, despite the wailing the media likes to report on, but if they have to pay more than $200 for a ticket, well, that's a stoning offense.
Typical patrons of British Airways, Virgin, and Air France don't seem to have the same problem. Could be that they're used to $10 gas these days, or that they don't have the love affair that Americans do with the open road (maybe 'coz there isn't much of it in their countries). I don't know.
David N Jimerson
ASIAN SALAD DAYS
I agree with you in the main on choice of airlines. So if any of the NR reading pilots write to bug you about your post remind them that they only fly the planes, and pretty darned well, but they are not in charge of your baggage which is what invariably gets lost or mangled.
As for the Asian chicken salad, maybe if you ate it the first time they'd stop saving it for you. Eventually it's going to get pretty stale.
Craig Allen
FILL UP BEFORE TAKE-OFF
Absolutely agree on US vs. Brit air carriers across the Atlantic post on the Corner, but why the hell would you ever eat ANY airline's food? Are you mad! Even airport food is a step up the food evolutionary ladder from airline food. Just fill up on real food before you fly and ignore the stuff on the plane.
Brett Abbott
BEST OF BRITISH
To decline to fly BA on trans-Atlantic trips (at least first class, which I kept getting bumped to) is to demonstrate either a vocation to the cloister or idiocy.
Ed Ahlsen-Girard
Florida
WORST OF BRITISH
My wife just returned from the UK on BA, but her bag didn't make it until 30 hours later. Customer service was similar to Jonah's experience on AA. Food stunk, and the inflight entertainment only worked on about 50% of the screens. BA ruined her mood, and thereby ruined my chances at giving her a , ahem, "proper welcome" upon her return.
Don't know what the official stats are, but our own experiences have not shown BA to be the cat's meow.
JG
OUR BAGS’ LONDON VACATION
Love your books, your visits to Hugh Hewitt, and your columns/postings to "The Corner".
Returned from Heathrow to Philadelphia on British Airways in March of 2004. My bags, with gifts for the wife and daughter, decided to stay an extra 2 days in London. Don't know how it happened as I arrived and checked in 3 hours before departure at Heathrow.
Anyway, all the airlines fall down at times; I know as an air traffic controller in Philadelphia.
Rick Casey
STRANGULATION BY REGULATION
Right you are about all American airlines. I avoid them whenever I can.
We are the richest big country in the world. Nevertheless, a fellow economist and I keep a list of those products where Americans have to put up with the worst of that product in the developed world and sometimes the whole world. Partial list:
1) Airlines
2) Cell phone systems (they actually work everywhere else).
3) Cheese
What do these products have in common? Through regulation, lack of competition from the rest of the world. If Singapore airlines could legally fly domestic routes, American Airlines would be out of business tomorrow.
Christopher Phelan
Minneapolis, Minnesota
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
You're lucky to have had a menu at all.
After having not flown since the mid-'80s, I took a business flight this past January. While waiting in the boarding area, I was joined by the flight crew. With their pizza boxes.
Charles Flemming
Texas
WHAT SHOULD I WEAR TO MY WEDDING?
Love your columns and your posts on NRO - but your reference to Moss Bros. in the UK led me ask something related to a more urgent personal issue.
I'm to wed in October. I am not English or any other variant of British, but I wish to buy an English-style tuxedo for the occasion, with waistcoat, and possibly hat.
My fiancee loves the idea. But I want to do it right. Hence my desire to buy, not rent, the suit. And based on my presumption of your sartorial expertise from your Corner advice to Jonah, I thought I'd ask you, since I respect your opinions on pretty much everything else you write about.
Any help for an imminent groom? (Perhaps it might help if I point out my bride-to-be is a native New Hampshire girl?) Authenticity and quality are paramount.
Name withheld
SUITS ME
As an American who lost his tux in travel for a wedding in London, I can safely say Moss Bros. is the greatest place on earth.
Vikram Reddy
Re: Positions on toilets
RECYCLING OLD MOVIES
Sarah Miles isn't the only one who recycles in Hollywood. Almost every movie that comes out has been recycled three or four times.
Stuart Koehl
SHERYL CROW’S THEME SONG
"Hip to be Square" - Huey Lewis & the News.
Joe Overton
Califorlornia
WIPE OUT
The question that keeps coming to my mind regarding Crow's new "One wipe instead of three will save humanity" mantra and her newly designed "dining sleeves" is this: how does replacing paper napkins with cloth ones save us from global warming? After all, I assume those "sleeves" will need to be washed, which will require hot water, which requires energy, usually in the form of gas and electricity. So, tell me how that reduces our "carbon footprint?" Unless, of course, they are proposing that we take our clothes down to the stream and hand wash and line-dry them all. Meanwhile, Travolta takes his commercial jet around the world to tell us the evils of energy consumption. It would seem that the global warm-mongers keep confusing their causes.
Darius Teichroew
AU NATUREL
When my son was 3 years old, we were visiting a small, local airport near Santa Barbara that didn't have restroom facilities. He had to go real bad, so I told him to pee in the bushes. He did so, and then proudly announced to his mother and just about everyone else he met, "I peed in the bushes!"
Drew Barrymore does not have to go to Chile to enjoy this awesome experience. She could probably even do it in the front yard of her home.
Jim Rudolph
Boise, Idaho
THREE’S A CROWD
Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required," she wrote.
Alan Jackson's obviously going to have to add a fourth verse to his hit classic, "She's Gone Country".
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
PROCTOLOGICAL POEM
A poem for Sheryl Crow's version of Earth (you should pardon the expression) Day
Sheryl Crow
Has figured out how
To decrease the size of her carbon footprint per diem
By one sheet per BM.
Your pal,
Kevin A.
President (if there were one)
Phlogiston Awareness League (if there were one)
IT GETS VERSE
Perhaps the Sheryl Crow song could be updated
"All I want to do is wipe my bum
When I asked Sheryl she said use only one"
Catchy, no?
Greg Dynek
Lincoln, Nebraska
LAVATORY LORE
I generally find that sitting down, is the position that works best.
Mark Wilson
YOU’VE GOTTA HAND IT TO HER
"All we are saying is give one piece a chance" - great line. I dunno about you, but if I ever get the opportunity to shake hands with Sheryl Crow, I'm afraid I'll have to pass, unless I happen to have a pair of rubber gloves with me.
Harry Koza
Richmond Hill, Ontario
SAVE THE GERMS
Mark, I mentioned to my wife (a talented RN/BSN nurse) Crow's remarks about toilet paper. Her response?
"We'd all die of disease and infection".
There's a reason we have toilets and use plenty of toilet paper.
Benjamin A Collins
Texas
NOT MOVING MY POSITION
Like most of your corries, I am not reluctant to take a stand on pretty well any (t)issue at hand. But on this question, I will not even take a sit, if you don't mind.
John Gross
Beloeil, Quebec
P.S. If a guy in the stall next to mine doesn't pull on that roll at LEAST 3 times...I'm not going anywhere near him the rest of my life.....even if he was a pal of mine.
Re: America Alone
BRITAIN BITES THE DUST
Am an uber-fan and have been for years. I greatly miss you in the Telegraph and Spectator.
Here's an article from the magazine of my incredibly exciting profession (The Actuary), about fertility trends in the UK over the last 30 years. Given the thesis of America Alone, I thought you'd be interested. Note Chart 2, it shows the UK is literally killing itself off.
Try this link: or else go to the Actuary magazine and look for the "Fertility Assumptions" article in the current issue
David O'Maoldowney
Ireland
WHERE ARE ALLTHE CONVERTS?
I trust your demographics argument on Europe. But there seems to be one part you've overplayed, perhaps I'm wrong, and if so please enlighten me. You have mentioned conversions to Islam, by "pasty faced" whites (I like the humor), but aside from a few that some of us can publically name, Richard Reid, or the seemingly rare chick from New England with a name like Susan Smith or Jones, who is now wearing a vail, I think these are very few, and very far between. Am I just deluding myself, or are you on to a bigger trend than I see?
Michael Margolies
Brooklyn, New York
YOU MADE ME HAPPY TO LIVE IN UTAH
Reading America Alone made me feel much better about living in Utah. I reside on the Wasatch Front, a 120-mile strip of cities and suburbs lying along the eastern edge of the Great Basin. The population here continues to explode, due primarily to the high birthrate of its Mormon component. Where else is it common to see a breathtakingly beautiful well-dressed 30-ish middle-class American housewife doing her shopping with a gaggle of young kids in tow, all of whom are hers and all of whom have the same biological father, who happens to be her husband? It's kind of like the classic American nuclear family portrayed in those wonderful 1950s TV sitcoms, except that instead of 2 kids there are 4, and mom, instead of looking like June Cleaver, looks more like that hot #6 Cylon on Battlestar Galactica.
An amusing exercise is to visit one of the big cinema megaplexes in southern Salt Lake County on a Saturday night. You'll wade through oceans of (mostly) squeaky-clean American teenagers and young adults, and if you're lucky you'll occasionally encounter a fellow geezer over the age of 30.
One result of all this breeding activity, of course, has been an explosion in the building of new suburban homes along the Wasatch Front that long predates the recent nationwide housing boom. Kids grow up here, get married in their early 20s, and need a place to live. Before I read AA, I shook my head in disgust each time I saw yet another square mile of pastureland or farmland or orchards or sagebrush being thus consumed. Post-AA, I view these new cookie-cutter subdivisions with pride, pointing them out to visiting friends and commenting that Utah's economy is booming and dynamic, with an unemployment rate hovering around 2% and chronic surpluses in the state government's budget. And, although mainstream Americans may view Mormons as being a bit weird, corporate America certainly doesn't seem to mind setting up new factories and offices and research facilities in a place where the workforce is dominated by young, healthy, well-educated, American-born, English-speaking teetotalers. Even some of the "jobs Americans won't do" are done here by locally-born young Americans. In particular, one rarely sees an imported Mesoamerican maid or groundskeeper performing chores at a
suburban residence in Utah. Most Utahns clean their own houses and mow their own lawns, or have their kids or grandkids or great- grandkids do it. And a large percentage of the employees at the local fast-food restaurants are young Americans. Compare this with L.A., where I lived in the 1990s, where even low-income Americans hire foreign maids and groundskeepers, and where many fast-food joints haven't had an American employee in at least a decade.
Utah's large families provide social benefits as well as economic ones. My widowed but still-sprightly Aunt Evelyn has, by my latest estimate, nearly four dozen living biological descendants, and at any given time has one or two grandchildren living in her house while they attend college nearby. She spends summer weekends at her cabin in the mountains, holding court and entertaining a rotating crowd of kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids plus their significant others. Not exactly a lonely way to while away one's golden years. On an unrelated matter, I'm not aware of any liberals among Aunt Evelyn's voting-age progeny.
Not all of Utah is equally fecund. The birthrate in Salt Lake City proper (as opposed to the much larger Salt Lake County) is significantly below the state average, and the birthrate in tony Park City is probably not much different from that of Santa Monica. Interestingly, Salt Lake City and Park City also happen to be the state's two bastions of liberalism. I have several leftist acquaintances in these cities, only one of whom has more than one child. Most of the rest have zero children. By contrast, most of my local right-leaning acquaintances have made procreation a major theme in their lives.
Until recently, Utah had two congressional districts, one of which reliably elected a conservative Republican and the other of which tended (and still tends) to swing between center-right Republican and moderate Democrat representation. A few years back, a second conservative Republican congressional district was added, and we now appear to be on the verge of getting a third, for a total of four districts. With regard to representation in the U.S. Senate, the last Democratic senator from Utah retired 30 years ago. Liberalism has become pretty much a self-extinguishing ideology here by sheer virtue of differential birthrates, and the size of the state's "red" congressional delegation will, barring a constitutional amendment, continue to grow at the expense of other (mainly "blue") states. These thoughts comfort me up and make me want to raise a non- alcoholic toast to my Mormon friends and neighbors. Heck, I might even be persuaded to find a local wench, end my bachelorhood, and crank out a few kids of my own.
As an addendum in light of recent events, I note with pride that people with concealed-firearm permits (of which there are about 70,000 in Utah) are allowed to carry their self-defense weapons in public schools and on the campuses of state-operated colleges and universities here, unlike the situation in Virginia (where this sort of act is strictly forbidden). Since the mid-1990s, Utah law has prohibited state institutions from enacting their own gun rules, but the University of Utah flagrantly violated this statute and banned legally-concealed firearms on campus until the Utah Supreme Court ordered them last year to obey the law. The aging ex-hippies running the "U", who, I'm convinced, genuinely believe that guns should only be in the hands of government personnel and their own private bodyguards, must now deal with the daily discomfort of knowing that there might be a few dozen lowly graduate students and staff members on campus (and maybe even a maverick professor or two) who are actually prepared and equipped to defend themselves and those around them in the event that a sociopath were to initiate deadly violence.
N W Clayton
Sandy, Utah
HARI KIRI
Being unable to sleep the other night led me-naturally-pick up my copy of the New Statesman (it's an insomnia cure so potent it should only be available on prescription) where I found Johann Hari's ludicrous monstering of America Alone. Since you usually post all your reviews on your website, even bad ones you should point out that Hari is Blair's tamest hack on fleet street. Perhaps this could help you ween you off your delusion that Blair is "half the time" a bold visionary. He is a self serving creep 100% of the time.
PS- Whats with the type face on your new web page layout. The paragraphs jump randomly between font sizes making it very confusing to work out what parts are meant to be quotes. Did you have it done on the cheap or is your web designer making an Impressionistic, artistic statement?
Richard Montgomery
Glasgow, Scotland
INSPIRATION FOR THE EBOOK
Just downloaded the ebook version of America Alone from the Sony store. Not because I will necessarily read it again in electronic form, but because I take credit for being the first to introduce you to this format and thought you'd better get at least one sale out of the deal if
I were going to have this distinction mean anything.
Brendan P Cullen
Palo Alto, California
LAUGH? I NEARLY CRIED
I just finished America Alone and wanted to let you know how much sense you make continually throughout the book. I enjoyed the pithy style and wide ranging scope of your thesis. I also know that we have one weapon the Islamists don't have - and that is a sense of humor, which I appreciated very much in your writing. Keep up the good work.
Oh, and I also subscribe to The Atlantic and appreciated your Other Papa article.
Roders
SOMETHING AMIS
This isn't necessarily for publication, because you were kind enough recently to publish a letter of mine, and other correspondents deserve their due. But I have to comment on the Martin Amis review. I just love the line, "As I closed the book I found myself deciding that Steyn's sense of decorum must be almost inhumanly thin." Can you imagine? From Amis?! Now there's comedy!
William Altimari
Tucson, Arizona
Re: The other Papa
SWINGING TILL THE END
I loved your article on Denny Doherty - it brought the "good" 60s back for a moment. As I read it I wondered if you knew that Denny Doherty's Canadian compadre, Zal Yanovsky, found his own 60s fame and fortune as a member of the Lovin' Spoonful with John Sebastian. I guess he was famous, because I was 12 then and his face came back to me instantly when I saw his name in your article. One more comment -- for some reason I read John Phillip's autobiography some years back. It was ostensibly his story about surviving drug abuse and coming out the other side a healthier and wiser person. The drug soaked and swinging life style of the Mamas and the Papas and friends that he described was repellent (for instance, Michelle kept bowls of condoms on her coffee table), and even more so because he was still so obviously proud of it. I suspected that he couldn't possibly have given up the drug life because he clearly still thought it was the coolest thing one could imagine.
Karen Gunderson
Fairfax, Virginia
POST MORTEM
Pining for the return ...
Tonight I leafed desperately through the newly arrived Atlantic in a futile attempt
to find my most cherished feature: POST MORTEM. What gives? I presume its absence is
temporary because of your duties at the Conrad Black trial (an evidently
soul-crushing experience which you've managed to enliven considerably through your
Macleans blog).
The POST MORTEMs are perfection and I look forward to their return.
Peter Segnitz
Vancouver, BC
THE ATLANTIC IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU
I saw in a recent posting at NRO that your Atlantic obituaries are now a thing of the past. If this is correct, I will truly miss them. Not only for the wit and wisdom, but also because I liked to think that they caused moments of discomfort for the mag's liberal readers.
I first encountered your writings in the American Spectator while in college during the late '90s. I vaguely recall them being put under the banner of "culture watch" pieces, but whatever the exact details were I became an immediate fan. I still rather vividly remember an essay that riffed on the sell-out of classic rock (particularly Bob Dylan) to the world of advertising.
Anyhow, I fear this email is starting to sound like a rather bland obit, so let me just say that I look forward to your future essays and columns outside the pages of the suddenly less-renewal-worthy Atlantic.
Vince Ryan
Re: There’ll always be an England
YOU’RE ALL AT SEA
An otherwise excellent article but you appear to have gotten a few facts wrong in the last paragraph. First of all, I'm not sure scuttled would be the correct term to describe the Barham being sunk by a German U-boat - I always thought it applied to the act of sinking one's own ship. In any event the Barham was not the largest British warship to be "scuttled" by the Germans - that honour lies with the 48,360 ton Hood. In fact you aren't even close - the Prince of Wales (43,786 tons), and the Royal Oak (33,500 tons) both come in ahead of the Barham. And as the Barham was powered by oil-fired steam turbines, it's unlikely that the good Vice-Admiral found
himself treading water in diesel-perfumed seas.
No doubt these lapses can be put down to the sedative effects of all those prosecution witnesses you've been listening to in Chicago.
Drew Belobaba,
Chertsey, England
PS: You're in good company though. I attended the rededication ceremony for the Vimy Memorial a couple of weeks back and chortled when Mr. Harper talked of picturing those Canadian soldiers going over the top with their rifles slung over their shoulders. I'd always assumed that in those circumstances you'd want the rifle in your hands with the business end pointing at the enemy.
GIVE 'EM 'LL
There may be only two major lyrics with "awry," but how many are there with "There'll?"
Israel Pickholtz
Gush Etzion, Israel
Re: A Killer Opening
PLANE WRONG
"When a former Miss America was confronted by a thief in her Kentucky barn last week, the plucky 82-year-old knew just how to react. Venus Ramey, whose figure adorned Second World War B52 bombers, pulled out her .38 calibre handgun, leaned on her walking frame to steady her
aim and coolly shot out the tyres of the startled intruder's getaway vehicle."
I wish we had B52's in WWII it would have made a much shorter war. Once again a media hack shows lack of knowledge and a inability to research before they write their onion.
Marc Bouchard
SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES
I enjoyed your post regarding European monomania about American schizophrenia.
One particular detail jumped out at me. According to your quote, Alex Massie mentioned "Second World War B52 bombers."
That would be a neat trick, since SAC didn't take delivery of the first B-52 Stratofortress until 1955.)
I don't doubt he meant B-17 Flying Fortress. Still, one would expect a professional journalist to fact-check themselves before publishing...
Casey Tompkins
www.thegantry.net/blog
NOT MY HOWLER
Thanks for your subsequent post. Not needed, by any means, but kind nonetheless. That B52 thing is a terrible howler: not mine however. Introduced without my knowledge by an editor. Still, in general terms the UK press has been pretty feeble this week. Heck, even The Economist has been abandoning its classical liberal credentials when it comes to gun control.
Then again, the press is always at its worst when it hops upon a high and moralising horse.
Alex Massie
Re: The Black blog
KEEP OUT OF JAIL FREE CARDS
If any juror in the Conrad Black case has ever worked in business, he will wonder why witness after witness is saying things that would get him fired in an instant were he to say them to his clients or his boss. It would seem that the main thing connecting the pieces of the puzzle is the prison-stripe patterned background: the defendants are all trying to stay out of jail. Nothing but a threat of prosecution would make a lawyer or accountant state that he is incompetent, doesn't know the law, doesn't read the contracts, doesn't check the books and wasn't paying attention. Since these are all very career-damaging admissions, it suggests that the witnesses are worried about something more threatening than the unemployment line.
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
DOESN’T LOOK LIKE FRAUD TO ME
I often find myself reading your descriptions of the evidence in the Black trial and wondering what the evidence has to do with whether a crime has been committed.
If the guy from Cravath's disagrees with the guy from Tory's about whether non-disclosure of who specifically got how much in non-compete fees will attract shareholder lawsuits, so the hell what? It isn't a crime to risk s/h lawsuits. People do it legitimately all the time, and whether there is a risk of a s/h lawsuit depends on things like whether a plaintiffs' lawyer thinks there is a percentage in threatening to get his favoured theory of a case before a jury. It may be imprudent to risk s/h suits, but that's it.
(Plus which, I hate legal advice that looks like 'X will risk shareholder lawsuits', which is cover-your-ass for saying neither 'X is lawful' nor 'X is unlawful'. The difference I detect between Tory's and Cravath's is really that Tory's gave legal advice and Cravath's didn't.)
If the lawyers had disagreed about whether failure to disclose who got what in the way of non-compete fees was a crime, then that might have something to do with the case that is being tried.
As it is, it sounds more like the prosecution wants the jury to reason: Risking shareholder lawsuits is indefinably bad; the accused are therefore bad; therefore they are guilty of something.
Unless I'm mistaken, the essential bit of a fraud trial is, someone either lied to someone else to get him (not some shareholder) to give up something he wouldn't otherwise give up, or failed to tell someone something that he had an obligation to tell him, to the same purpose. If you've not misled a decision-maker you've not done fraud.
Name withheld
Canada
UNDERWHELMED BY YOUR ARGUMENTS
Not quite right. A number of rather poor arguments keep re-appearing in your entertaining coverage of the Black trial:
Argument 1: Its right that the non-competes benefited Black rather than Hollinger because the buyers were actually worried that Black would come back to compete. No one was worried about competition from dull old Hollinger. The problem with this argument is that Black had taken money from the dull old Hollinger shareholders. These investors thought they were investing in Black and his willingness to work with them some of this time (while using their money) while cutting them out of the non-compete fees feels wrong.
Argument 2: The investors did better under Black than they have under the people that replaced him. This may be true but some investors plainly feel that, even if things were going incredibly well under Black, he had no right just to appropriate more of the upside without discussing it properly. Just because the successors are dolts, and possibly more criminal than Black, that doesn’t justify Black taking money.
Argument 3: Black followed the advice of his expensive lawyers. Well who needs to be persuaded that expensive corporate lawyers are not paragons of ethical virtue? And I’m guessing that their advice was paid for by Hollinger anyway. They were taking the fees and giving advice – that doesn’t make them right.
From your coverage I would guess that Black has a chance of getting off. And that would have its upsides. But there is little doubt that Black’s behaviour, like that of the other recent fat-cat big company managers, has helped to seriously damage the reputation of the widely held public company. And that has serious implications for us all.
Nigel Wallbridge
Cochrane, Alberta
HOW TO OVERCOME ‘OBJECTIONS’
I am a little surprised that the defence is not using a little more gamesmanship on these little battles. I saw one such some years ago.
I had occasion, after arguing a Motion myself in one court in Toronto, to wander into another courtroom, where an acquaintance was carrying on the defence in a civil trial, in front of a jury. (I have not myself done a jury trial. Nor many trials period, for that matter!)
Plaintiff's counsel had just done the 'Asked and Answered' bit and had been for some time I think. Justice Roberts (now deceased) seemed quite resigned to the piece of theatre which followed. Defendant's counsel countered that the question he had asked was a different question... and demanded that it be read back.
While the record was searched, he repeated out loud, that he had NOT previously asked whether the witness had himself tested whether the moon was made of green cheese. He had asked what the moon was made of.
Eventually the recorder found the spot, and read back the question, together with the answer which had been given (the moon is made of green cheese). Counsel then requested that his new question be re-read, since he had forgotten what he had just said. He then argued out some possible answers to the present question besides the answer that the moon is made of green cheese, pointing out the possibility for exploration of new areas.
By the time he was done, he had the original question stated 3 times, and the answer at least twice, his new question at least twice, and an opportunity for the witness to clarify...or a black hole into which the witness would disappear forever, since he could never dissemble around that area again. Not only was the original answer now known, it had been carved into the front of the witness box. If the intention had been to get that answer hidden in the murk, that intention failed. And if the counsel was just being a jerk in objecting, he was thereafter covered in jerky, as the jury would be bound to wonder why that objection was made: what was the importance of that answer? (sometimes useful even if there was no importance). Now it may just have been that Justice Roberts was a very patient judge. He certainly was in a trial I had before him. But a good litigator can kick that sort of obstruction into next week.
And with respect to the 'No foundation' objection, the killer response is to apologize to the judge for what you expect will be a wasted "X" hours of court time, and proceed to prove foundation for the document from the witness....starting with...as in the Dilbert cartoon, "The Sumerians had no concept of zero". It is also useful to apologize, when done, for either over-estimating the time, or under-estimating the time required to get back to where you where. Whether you chance a 'What? No objection?' depends upon your judge.
Any idea when Bredeen will take the stage? (That *is* the correct word I think). Interesting to see whether his own 'exhaustive' review (print that in font sarcastic, or disdain italic). garnered the facts that Lord Black had been issued a T4 for the plane trip, or that the non-competes *had* been disclosed in SEC filings. Does he actually know what is to be disclosed in those 10-K's, 10-Q's and 8-S's? I doubt it myself.
For that matter, why was Tweedie Brown jumping up and down? Did *they* not read the damn filings? Did ANYBODY? (Whooa, careful, I saw that flinch, you gotta avoid the philosophical branch right now...the one "if no-one reads what they file, why do they have to file it" It's just like the fart made by the man by the tree in the forest. For of course, the tree *smells* it, and since the tree is a woman, *he's* in trouble..anyway, it is the law, whether the law means what it says, or even says what it means. Although that may be another whole column for you!
Keep on keeping case, gender and tense in syntactic order.
HAH! 'Keeping, case, gender and tense' sounds like a law firm!
Name withheld
PRESUMED GUILTY
I'm afraid the outlook looks black for Conrad Black. Sure, from everything you say, he's totally and by documentary evidence innocent. But that doesn't mean anything -- the jury doesn't like him.
You reported that one journalist said, "It may not be illegal, but it sure stinks." That's an example of the current phenomenon of, "Even if you're right, you're wrong." It's like in the Duke case -- the lacrosse players did nothing wrong, but Rose McGowan says, "Maybe they didn't rape this woman, but I would say there's probably definitely been with them ... probably a long history of very inappropriate things." Conrad Black probably definitely might be found guilty too, even though he's definitely probably innocent.
And remember Israel's latest set-to with Lebanon? Hezbollah besieged Israel regularly with rockets, and abducted some of their servicemen. So was Israel in the right? No, even if you're right, you're wrong - if you're not one of the liberals' pets. Israel's response was disproportionate" - wrong, even though right.
Similarly, some pretext may be found to condemn Black. It all boils down to "who they like better" -- not facts, law, evidence, or justice.
Larry Eubank
PROTECT THE RICH TOO
Jack Markowitz, in his review of David Cannadine's biography of Andrew W. Mellon notes that FDR sicced the IRS on Mellon, who nonetheless was finally vindicated by the courts. If I were Lord Black, I would be commissioning and having published a few articles on Mellon's travails, and perhaps those of others. It might just remind the public that the courts must protect the rich and powerful from political enemies, as much as the poor and lowly from the powerful.
Chris Humphrey
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Re: De-boning Turkey
TURKEY’S SPLIT PERSONALITY
You refer to Michel Garfinkel's Commentary article in Deboning Turkey. The problem with Garfinkel's analysis (that there are two Turkey's - one of the Kemalist tradition and the other of the Anatolian tradition, the latter being Islamic and highly reproductive) is that during the 1980s, Turkey saw an increase of population, an influx of Rural Anatolians into Istanbul and other population centres, and economic depravity, but was led by Ozal. Ozal was a devout Muslim and was from the Motherland Party, which was a largely Rumelian party. Nevertheless, he steered Turkey in a pro-Western pro-American direction and did not change the secular nature of the state.
The difference today is more about strategic planning. Turkey is following foreign policy advisor Ahmet Davutoglu's 'strategic depth' doctrine - creating a global sphere of influence by prioritising engagement in Turkey's regional systems – the Muslim Middle East and Europe especially, areas where Turkey has a cultural and historical affinity with, where Turkey could obtain a leadership role. Relations with America and Israel are therefore less important. This explains the AKP's EU hopes while also ensuing strong relations with the Muslim Middle East and their 'up yours' approach to Israel and America.
Simon
London, England
THE FERTILE SIDE OF THE FAMILY
I can't quite figure out why the fine-combed examination of demographic differences Mr Steyn applies to Kemalist Turkey vs Anatolia or Yemen vs Algeria isn't extended to red vs blue states. Evangelical Christians in America (at least in my family) seem to be quite a bit more fertile than the rest of the nation. They may be more reluctant to teach evolution in schools, but perhaps because they understand the implications better than anyone and they don't want to give the rest of the country a heads up. The sophisticates may sneer that the Christian rednecks with their state college degrees and unglamorous jobs are unsuccessful in life; but they are successful at life, per Mr Darwin's definition, and in the long run that's what matters. The fertility rate may average out to 2 births per woman across an America evenly divided at the moment between red and blue, but if it's 1 birth per woman in New York and LA and 3 births per woman everywhere else, the future will be very different: our betters will be dead, we'll be red.
You posited that 90% of the Italian citizenry has a 1.2 fertility rate, on average. But if only a third of that number is still devout Catholics, the second and third generations will grow more religious rather than simply more Islamic. And Europe isn't as uniformly blue as the BBC would have us believe either; Fabrizio Quattrochi's stirring last words were emphatically not, "please allow me to demonstrate how a citizen of the European Union dies, if it's not too much trouble."
All this is conjecture without some data on fertility rates of different subgroups
below the national level; do you have any?
Brian Gates
Re: Reverse assimilation
NO NO NOT T/O!
'While very pleased that Mark Steyn, in his column "Reverse Assimilation" (April 9), mentioned a guest-post of mine at "Daimnation!" ("Do the math: Who will be the Canadians of the future? Where will they live?" March 14) I must register my protest at being identified as a "Toronto Blogger". As the "Daimnation!" site clearly states I live in Ottawa. Go Sens Go! And may the Maple Leafs remain compost fodder.
Mark Collins
Ottawa
References:
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/009058.html
LOSING THE FIGHT
As your next door neighbor living here in Valparaiso, In, (I know you're in Chicago now because I hear you every Thursday on Hugh Hewitt the best part of his show by the way) if the Democrats insist on us getting out of this war in the Middle East what's going to happen when our guys get out and no one wants to enlist to fight for these jerks? You know they are not going to break down the barriers if Her Highness gets in. They should be thinking of all the backlash don't you think? Just a thought.
Betty
RIGHT UP HIS STREET
Just wanted to let you know that as a reward for his friendly attitude toward Palestinians and Muslims in general, and his animosity toward Israel,the first street to be named after Jacques Chirac after he leaves office next month won't be in France but in Rammallah.
Great honor for the recipient of the 2006 Dhimmi Award on Jihad Watch !
Benedicte Bosche
BEWARE THE EIDS OF THE USPS
Here's something that I found disconcerting. Yesterday I was checking the US Post
Office website to see if I could find out when the new rate increase goes into
effect, and what the increase will be for overseas and found this:
Eid
Pane of 20
$0.39
Self-Adhesive
The Eid stamp commemorates the two most important festivals—or eids—in the Islamic
calendar. On these days, Muslims wish each other Eid mubarak, the phrase featured in
Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. Eid mubarak translates literally as blessed
festival, and can be paraphrased as May your religious holiday be blessed. This
stamp is part of the Holiday Celebrations series.
Colin Fergus
New York, New York
ONLY 5,000 DEATHS
With all the coverage of the Virginia Tech horror this week, a lot of elite media reaction to the Supreme Court's excellent ruling against partial-birth abortion has gone under the radar. The NY Times and kin have, of course, blasted the ruling. None of the media diatribes, however, actually spells out what partial-birth abortion entails. The barbaric act is referred to as a "procedure," obviously a talking point in full mainstream-media favor right now. The most pathetic reaction to the Court's ruling is an editorial in the Philadelphia Bulletin today (4/20). Listen to this almost-incomprehensible moral "observation":
"But, out of the more than 1.3 million abortions in this country each year, a small number are intact D&X. Even the National Right to Life group can't inflate the estimate past 5,000."
What kind of mentality sees 5,000 brutally destroyed infants as negligible? There's something chillingly perverse about such a statement. It leaves me speechless.
Bob Strauss, Jr.
Greenwood, South Carolina
UNFAIR TO PHIL
I recently heard you on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. During the discussion, Hugh asked whether you would enjoy covering the upcoming Phil Spector murder trial. The comment I remember you making regarding Phil Spector was you felt that Phil was totally overrated as rock music producer. I believe the comment you made was any music would have sounded good coming out a 2" monaural speaker on a transistor radio. Now, politically you and I are in complete agreement. But in this music arena, we have a big disagreement. Phil has been described as eccentric, crazy, different but his talent in producing rock and roll music is unchallenged. The Beatles even hired him on their last album. The Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody and Tina Turners River Deep Mountain High are actually musical milestones. His production process recording in monaural is legend. His love of guns and alcohol, coupled with his personality are a formula for what everyone probably understands occurred at his home with Lana Clarkson.
Tom Antal.
LACK OF WEIRD PROTESTS
We really enjoyed meeting you and hearing your talks in Berkeley and are sorry the surprising lack of weird protests disappointed you. Considering that a large ad was placed in the student daily paper, apart from other advertising, I think it means that a) most enrolled students even in Berkeley don't care about being informed about real issues and prefer to remain ostriches, and b) those who are not students prefer to remain pleased with their preferred illusions.
In any case, we hope you will do a piece on the condescending progam of disinformation PBS broadcasted that allowed Robert MacNeil not only to call Islam a "peaceful and noble religion" but also to use his influence to bump the far more important film "Islam vs. Islamists" from the schedule by calling it "alarmist." Lending your voice and wide reach to the call for PBS to release the censored film may make a difference.
Let's win this one!
Stephen and Aina Arroyo
Sebastopol, California
DO YOU TAKE THIS GOAT?
Sudanese man has issues...involving Goat............Now see if Good Morning America will cover this....
Be more discrete next time.
Bill Rickords
YOU'RE SO RIPE AND JUICY
Since you're into weird melon stories, have you read the 1973 novel by John Fortune and John Wells " A Melon for Ecstasy "? The title is from an old Turkish proverb, which provides a suitably Middle-Eastern connection.
George Kerr
MELON-CHOLY BABY
There is the old Arabic saying...
"For sons, a woman. For pleasure, a young boy. But for true ecstasy, a melon!"
Dave Taggart
Calhoun, Georgia
ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT
So just what the heck are they doing with those imported Israeli melons in Saudi Arabia? Can't they "just say no" or at least, wear protection? I prefer my melons for breakfast, not sex, but then again, I'm old fashioned.
W D Anderson
Toronto
WHAT’S A TOSSER?
Oh you are a naughty fellow, aren't you. So I was going to ask you what a tosser was, but then I thought, "Google it," instead of writing the man. While I'm sure your answer would have been educational, I'm glad I went to Google first. I laughed so hard that I choked on my own saliva. In the words of Miss Emily Litella, "Never mind."
Deborah
ACTUALLY YOU CAN
It would be nice if one could write a standard email to a standard email address.
Just like National Review. Why not provide it?
George Steiner
Lachine, Quebec
MISSING POSTS
I miss the links to various interesting news items or blog posts you had on your web site before the recent make-over.
Michael Blumberg
Vancouver, British Columbia
YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND
Mark: I'm a big fan of yours and an occasional contributor in the form of your letters column. But I've also come to look forward to hearing from your other readers. What happened to the almost weekly update of letters? Hope you get the extra help you need on this. Speaking of which, I'd be glad to help with this if there's anything I can do.
Len Hamm
Point Roberts, Washington
LAST WORD
Please update the mailbox!
I miss hearing the voices from the echo chamber
Erik Larsen
Calgary, Alberta
|
