|
Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from the Canada, America, Britain and Israel. Mark reads all the letters, but especially enjoys the vicious ones. Drop a line to Mark's Mailbox and if you're chosen to be the one and only Letter of the Week you'll join our roll of winners from four Continents and receive a copy of Mark Steyn From Head To Toe. It would help if you could indicate your city or town, or, at least, your state, province or country. Failing that, your continent or hemisphere would do.
Letter of the Week
LAND OF MEDS AND HONEY
While attending a charity event Saturday evening, I overheard two men in the Gents discussing the shooting at Northern Illinois University. One man offered his opinion that once Barack Obama is president there would be no such shootings because the Federal government would never again deny people like Mr. Kazmierczak his medications.
Let's leave aside for now that there is no evidence of a link between not having taken his medications and Mr. Kazmierczak's decision to shoot up a lecture hall. The evidence does, however, point to the fact that he had his medications and chose not to take them.
Is there something in the Obama health plan that would assign government doctors to administer our medications daily whether we wanted them or not?
DH
Evanston
Re: Shades of Gray, and Blackie and Ave atque vale
HOPE FOR OBAMA-NATION
Now that the great William F. Buckley has gone on to his well-earned rest and reward, we can be grateful that we have Mark Steyn to carry on the fight. We need his articulate, informed, and engaging prose more than ever. While the Democrats use empty platitudes to turn America into an Obama-nation of desolation (where critical thinking is concerned), we have the wit and wisdom of the likes of Bill Bennett and Mark Steyn. Keep it up, Mark!
Duane Garrett
BUCKLEY'S LEGACY
I became "Conservatively Aware" during the 1964 Presidential elections, a fan of Mr. Goldwater. Shortly thereafter, my father introduced me to National Review, and I
became a fan of Mr. Buckley.
I can recall over the years worrying about what would happen when Mr. Buckley no longer participated in the conservative movement. I now know that there are many
who have taken-up his yoke.
I no longer worry.
He is at peace.
God bless William F. Buckley, Jr.
Kurt Vogel
GODSPEED
I'm so sorry to hear the news.... Godspeed, WFBjr., then R.I.P.
Shannon Grubb
Re: The Pseudo-hero of the ersatz revolution
ASSASSINATION FANTASIES
When I read about the venomous assassination comments coming from (Nobel prize-winning) Doris Lessing, my first thought was "that's obscene, "second was,"she may be right, but they'll find him in the park, dead from a head wound." I'm stunned by the picture that Europeans have of America, wonder what alternate universe they live in, but chalk it up to the foreign media, and leftists in general.
However, when Hillary and Barack are campaigning, I sometimes wonder what country they are talking about.
Anyway, best article ever, perfect. The title started me laughing.
Wait, though, it's just beginning. Time for National Public Broadcasting to dust off "Camelot", JFK specials, PT109. My prediction - it'll be nothing but Bobby, Jack, and Jackie from now until November.
“112”
THE LESSER EVIL
You wrote -
“The Clintons are a busted flush, and it's just as likely a victorious Obama campaign will enable the Dems to emerge united and having tossed overboard the party's principal liability.”
Maybe so, but if it does turn out this way, an Obama candidacy will be a fresh coat of paint over … nothing. That, I hope, will be a big enough liability to put McCain in the White House.
Please note, I have many reservations about McCain, but he is most certainly the lesser evil compared with the two Democrats running. By far.
Jeff Robinson
YOUR FAIR SHARE OF NOTHING
The question is not whether one candidate is a Pied Piper or another candidate is a machine candidate? The big question is beyond the election. It is will the liberals control our nation and reduce our country to a third world country that produces nothing, but divides it equally?
Floyd Folve
Pasadena, California
OOOGA BOOGA
If anyone is familiar with gaseous platitudes, it's you, a**hole.
Oooooga Booooga. Scary black man make Mark Steyn crap his drawers. Marky need make more white babies. Oooooga Boooooga.
F***head.
Jeff Borden
Chicago, Illinois
jeffborden51@yahoo.com
REVENGE OF THE CLINTONS
If Obama were to win, who could imagine the nature and intensity of Clinton or Clinton-inspired revenge? Remember what happened to Vince Foster and Ron Brown - just for starters? Obama is committing political suicide one way or the other. If he wins, he loses. If he looses, he
loses. The Clintons are just harbingers of doom. Wait and see. "I'm ready whenever you are, C. B."
A E
RUNNING SCARED?
"Barack and certainly the missus are a bit of a downer, and, for a couple who've soared so high so young, very pessimistic."
I can tell conservatives are scared of Obama. NRO has become the skunk works of anti-obama memes. I look forward to you coming years in the wilderness.
cw
SPOUSE IN THE HOUSE
The Hillary/Barack race is so close, the final result might well hinge on aspects quite unrelated to the style or policies of either candidate, but rather on a visceral process of elimination ...where the primary voters will have decided which of the candidates' spouses they would LEAST like to see standing next to the new president as he or she is being sworn in. There's a solid gap in favour of Michelle's survival here, but she sure seems intent on making that "spousal" contest much closer than it should be.
John Gross
Beloeil, Quebec
UNSUITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE
I think Mrs. Obama meant exactly what she said in stating that she felt pride in her country for the first time. The words sounded perfectly natural to me, and the sentiment behind them perfectly familiar. As for the suggestion that Mrs. Obama ought to have felt some pride in America's greatness is winning the Cold War? Give me a break. Does anyone pretend that Mrs. Obama ever gave five minutes thought to outcome of the Cold War, or internalized those global conflicts
for fifteen seconds?
Anyone who thinks that Mrs. Obama - or her husband - are not utterly parochial people with an childish emotional frame of reference entirely unsuited to the White House is more naïve than Mrs. Obama.
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
Mark, it's a very interesting observation about the demand for new faces on the left. It seems that this is because a truly leftist agenda is incompatible with a functioning and sustainable society, so Dem politicians have to "move to the center" - or fail in enacting their agenda. As a result, the Dem electorate is unsatisfied and searches for the new dream candidate, no matter how inexperienced (the more, the better). Since the campuses (and to some extent the media) are filled with the "hard left", the cycle keeps going - until either enough people are brainwashed to be pulled into socialism by a truly leftist President, or a temporary pause in the ratcheting mechanism while the Congress or the Presidency is in the Republican hands. The real solution is to return pluralism into the education system, so that college graduates in social sciences (A)can think for themselves; (B)can think critically.
Leonid Petrovich
St. Louis, Missouri
Re: Nobody cares
YAWNEROO
It's not that it's exhausting, far from it, it's that it's just not that scary of a threat. These terrorist sthat so scare the shit out of you have never for a second caused me to lose a second of sleep. I do not worry about them anymore than I worry about aliens coming to attack us from another planet. Why? Because never in the history of this nation have we faced such a pathetic group of adversaries as we do now. You want scary? How about the Nazi's and Imperial Japan? How about the Soviet Union and there 40,000 or so nuclear weapons that were aimed at us? Now that was some scary stuff, the terrorist living in caves in Pakistan, not so scary. You mention 9/11 and how it's slipped from people’s minds. It's not that, we all remember what a horrible day that was, but we have been able to put it in perspective. They got lucky due to the sorry state of airport security and Dear Leader’s refusal to take that August 2001 memo seriously. So while I will never forget 9/11, I just don't let it get to me because the chances of it happening again are slim and none. So all I can say to this great threat to humanity and especially the west is YAWN, I'm just not impressed.
Kelly Armstrong
Louisville, Kentucky
MOVED ON
Yes, most of my countrymen are "over" 911. Until the next time.
Pessimistically yours,
Boris Berejan MD
Re: The Bob Dolification of John McCain is underway
HIS TURN
Actually, the Bob Dolification of the GOP candidate began when the GOP nominated an old, uninspiring, cranky Senate lifer because it was his turn.
P J McClain
BLAME THE BLOGOSPHERE
The Bob Dolification of 70-to-80-year-old Juan McAmnesty began a long time ago, only it began with the right-wing blogosphere. Now it's going mainstream. Look, Mark, you're a brilliant, talented guy. You don't really want to crawl back onto the Tourette's Express for the next eight months, along with El Drugbo and the rest.
Just stick to cultural stuff till it's over, that's my fatherly advice.
John West
South Carolina
Re: Dull and pointless
BEARD WARS
Love the quotation from Paul Currion about you being stuck in the echo chamber of the internet, and how you should be confined to your bedroom.
Mark Steyn: on the bestseller list, writer for the Spec, Telegraph, National Review,Chicago Sun-Times, Jerusalem Post, The Australian, The Atlantic Monthly, etc. etc.
Paul Currion: last published in the May, 2007 edition of "The Quiet Feather," and currently making a Google Maps website.
Who's stuck where?
Sean Berry
Toronto
A TRAITOR TO REASON
I'm a long time reader of all of your writing, and a great fan. Having grown up in Iran, and now witnessing the cultural suicide here in Europe, I'm immensely grateful for your clear headed and courageous writing against all the odds.
I clicked from your site through to Paul Currion's blog, and noticed that there were no comments on his recent attack piece. I therefore posted the following. I wonder if it'll still be there tomorrow? Here's the text of my post for what it's worth.
“I'm an Iranian living in London. As an apostate, Islam condemns me to death, and it ain't a nice place to be. Whilst you and your progressive mates culturally cringe and do your self-loathing multi culti dance, me and millions of other victims of the vicious, uncompromising and totalitarian ideology of islam have to fight against not only islamism, but the wretched, ad hominem spouting, apologists from the modern left. I'm with Steyn all the way. You can stick with your cowardly defence of supremacist ideology and keep sucking the lemons. But drop the moral self righteousness, bro, you're a traitor to reason.”
Keep up the great work, Mark
Tim Yousef Mirsadeghi
Greenwich, United Kingdom
Re: Coed capers
WOMEN ONLY
When I was in college, something similar happened, though there was no Muslim component. I was at the Mormon owned Rick's College (now called BYU-Idaho), and the gym was closed to men for two hours three days a week because the women said they were "uncomfortable" exercising around men.
As luck would have it, my schedule only allowed me those two hours open for exercising. I complained, as did several other guys I knew, but we were told "look, we Mormons already get enough flack for being insensitive and patriarchal. If we cancel the women only gym time, the cries of 'sexism' and 'discrimination' will upset the administrators."
Eventually, however, so few women used the gym, and so many men complained, they instead created a "women only" weight room in the gym.
I have no idea what's going on there now, though. I'm sure there's a doctoral dissertation somewhere in studying "women only gym times on college campuses." I'm sure there's a vast shadow history here that's been overlooked (or not).
Ivan Wolfe
GENDER BENDER
Some enterprising young Harvard conservative (there's got to be at least one, right?) should sue on the basis of gender discrimination. As for this comment, ""I guess as long as the time is divvied up fairly, there should be no issue," how many cries castigating this as an argument in
favor of "separate but equal" facilities would we hear if it were men getting women kicked out at certain times?
Joshua Speaks
MAC AND CHEESE
Does this mean there will be no Burqa Raids this year? How about the nude lesbian macaroni and cheese wrestling that is so common with the kids these days? Where will we draw the line?
Troy
Riverside, California
MAJORITY-VICTIMOLOGIST
It wouldn't have taken you any more effort to note that it's six hours a week. On a trial basis, for about a month. Or to say "having women-only gym hours" rather than "banning men." But I suppose those would detract from the post's resentful majority-victimology power?
Donald G Judy
Re: So what would it take to alarm you?
WHAT KIND OF ACCENT IS THAT?
I loved "Better Screwed Than Rude"? Is there a T-shirt? Your last few Macleans columns have been fantastic. I saw you on TV with Mike Duffy. I have to admit, the accent (what accent?) kind of threw me. Here I thought you were Canadian. Is that how Vermonters sound? Anyway, good work as usual. We'll beat the bastards yet.
Thomas LaBelle
Thunder Bay, Ontario
JUST GET A NEW PASSPORT
Is this whole HRC issue a tempest in a teacup? I seem to remember reading recently that you were about to become an American citizen which would make the whole issue moot. I think the notion of these tribunals is ridiculous and and not worthy of a Western First World Country but nonetheless; it might be useful to show up as an American and tell them to pound sand. I think your political commentary on US matters might carry a bit more gravitas if you were part of the USA, 1st Amendment, oldest written constitution team. Am I missing something?
Mark Salas
Leavenworth, Kansas
MARK REPLIES: Look, it's nothing to do with whether I'm American, Canadian, Slovenian or Fijian. If the Mohamed Elmasry and his sock-puppet students get away with this, there will be no meaningful "freedom of speech" - and, in the long run, that's bad for the United States, too. I am not ready to let a G7 nation retreat into darkness at the behest of a Judeophobe goon like Dr Elmasry. So I am doing what I can to turn back this unholy alliance between "tolerant" "multiculturalists" and an avowedly intolerant uniculture. So far my side's got the support of Canada's two national newspapers and a Liberal Member of Parliament who's proposing a motion to remove this section of the Human Rights Code. That's not bad for a month's work. When you see a twit like the Archbishop of Canterbury saying that sharia is "inevitable" in the United Kingdom, it's all the more important for the rest of us to push back. I'm pushing back. My passport has nothing to do with it. I'm not going to be told by some hack bureaucrat in British Columbia what I can and can't write.
GUILT BY ASSOCIATION
While I wish you the very best of luck in your trial, there is a certain irony in your complaining about the ridiculous criticism by theoretical association being directed at you by the Canadian thought police on NRO. There's at least five or six writers there, including two editors, who were attacking Ron Paul on the basis of his theoretical associations not all that long ago.
Vox
MARK REPLIES: Well, I tiptoe in this subject, because it always prompts a barrage from the Ronulans, but my recollection is that my NR colleagues were exercised about certain fellows who were writing for Congressman Paul's newsletter. I think there's a difference between a Nazi who happens to support my position on free speech and a Nazi who happens to have a regular column in /The Weekly Steyn/. That said, I have no animus against Mr Paul. I disagree with him profoundly on foreign policy, but I appreciate a candidate who champions constitutionally-grounded constraints in domestic policy.
Re: Portents of tomorrow
CAN EDUCATED PEOPLE BE THIS DUMB?
It's too bad the gay reporter doesn't know that he could have went undercover in a cave in Afghanistan and scored just as easily. I'm sure there are millions of Moslum men who would take great pleasure in sawing his head off after screwing him all night long. These people belong to a religion that stones people to death for homosexual behavior.They do this knowing full well that those who throw the stones are just as guilty as the dead guy. Maybe this is the reason liberals find it so appealing.
Rob
Waterbury, Connecticut
Re:Song of the week
MR JONES
A man went to the doctor with a strange complaint.
"Well it's like this Doc, when I drive to work in the morning through the country lanes I start to sing 'The green green grass of home'. If I see a cat then it's 'What's new, pussycat?'. It's so embarrassing, even when I'm asleep and dreaming, I still keep singing. Last night, it was 'Delilah', and my wife was not amused!"
"Yes, it would appear that you have the early symptoms of Tom Jones syndrome."
"Well I've never heard of that, is it common?" asked the man.
"It's not unusual," replied the doctor.
Mark Candon
WHY DELILAH WAS DELETED
It's not just Stoke City fans who've used "Delilah" to get things going. In the late Sixties Newcastle United had a Welsh centre-forward called Wyn "The Leap" Davies whose sole talent was to head the ball. This made him less than totally effective - rather than have him kick the ball you'd have been better off swinging him by his ankles and using him as a golf club - but he commanded great affection from the Geordie fans, who loved a trier. To get him in the mood, the club used to play "Delilah" just before kick-off, and the fans used to join in. They replaced him with a centre forward called Malcolm MacDonald, who could kick the ball, if only with one foot, and Delilah was deleted, MacDonald coming from Luton or some such nowhere.
Phil Atkinson
PARTON SHOT
Having watched the Oscars last night, the following new verse to Hooray of Hollywood occurred to me. It is sufficiently cynical to fit the Mercer vibe. Being a Savannahian, I feel perversely qualified to add to the Mercer catalog. Ladies, thanks for the inspiration.
"Hooray for breast implants,
You need two new ones just to have a chance,
For any Dolly who wants a start in,
Must look like Parton,
Just to get a second glance."
Chuck
Savannah, Georgia
BING AND THE BAZOOKA
I always look forward to Mondays because of your Song of the Week column, but was surprised by that you were thrown for a loop this week by one of Johnny Mercer's cultural references in "Hooray for Hollywood."
The lines:
They come from Chilicothes and Padukahs
With their bazookas
To see their names up in lights...
The bazooka is a reference to Bob Burns, the "Arkansas Traveler," who was Bing Crosby's house comedian on the "Kraft Music Hall" from 1936 to '41. He featured a homemade musical device made out a funnel and plumbing he christened "The Bazooka." (GI's in WWII named the weapon after Burns' invention.) Alas, there a very few shows in existence. When NBC donated their radio collection to the Library of Congress in 1971, only six complete shows remained, the rest had been destroyed to recycle the aluminum base during the war. Gone were Bing's first radio appearance with Bob Hope and the broadcast debut of some Irving Berlin song that was associated with the Ol' Groaner.
You can see Burns and his creation in the Crosby picture, "Rhythm on the Range." That movie is notable for the odd pairing of Bing and Frances Farmer, plus the screen debut of Martha Raye and uncredited performance by Roy Rogers and Louis Prima in Johnny Mercer's "I'm an Old Cowhand."
Brian Johnson
Canton, Ohio
FACTOID
When I was stationed in Germany, the Armed Forces Radio and Television service played PSA's and military historical factoids in lieu of commericials; one of these 30 second spots concerned the comedian Bob "Bazooka" Burns, and I am very sure that this is what the lyrics in Hooray for Hollywood refer to. Here's some info.
I am now back in the US, and I honestly miss those little factoids, I hate commercials.
Robert Gutkowski
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES
You have excelled yourself with your presentation of “Hooray for Hollywood” song; re- versions of that song, the “Hellzapoppin’”, upbeat version is fine, but I am also taken with the slower, subtly impressive Doris Day version (here).
Alan Rooney
United Kingdom
PLAY MISTY
Mark, I expected you to cite Errol Garner's "Misty":
Never knowing my right foot from my left,
My hat from my glove
I'm too misty and too much in love.
I always thought that was a swell line. Do you think the song is over-played or something? I think the song's middle eight is about as good as it gets, but I live so far out in the sticks we have to pipe light in, so what do I know?
BTW, would you re-run your farewell to Denny of the Mamas & Papas? It has my
nomination for all-time best obit.
Love your work.
Len Price
Evergreen, Alabama
FRANK LOESSER’S PAD
My daughter sent me your "Baby It's Gold Inside" article and I loved it.
Fifty-five years ago, I spent an evening at Frank Loesser's house. I was the vibraphone player with the George Shearing Quintet and he invited us to his home after out last set at The Crescendo. Frank played his still unfinished "Most Happy Fella". George played Frank's "I've Never Been in Love Before" among others. In another room. Frank's wife was throwing cigarettes up to the ceiling. If you lick the end they sometimes stick and there were lots of cigs on the ceiling.
Fast Forward 55 Years...
Within my show series The Golden Age of Movie Musicals, I perform a show called "Hoagy & Friends" where I talk, sing and play the songs. Harry, Frank, Burton Lane and Johnny Mercer were all contract songwriters in Hollywood. Hollywood was crazy for songs!!! Hoagy as I recall was getting $1000 a week. It's in Hoagy's book that you meet young brash urban renaissance man Frank (the anti-Hoagy). They played spin the bottle a lot. And so, F & B - "Moments Like This", "I Hear Music", "Moments Like This", "How'd You Like to Love Me" and "The Lady's in Love With You". F & H - "Small Fry", "Two Sleepy People" (with its adorable verse) and "Heart & Soul". H & J - "Lazy Bones", "In The Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening", "Skylark" and all would go on to Greater Glories. I chose Burton Lane for that and do a "Clear Day" and "Finian's Rainbow. Hoagy and Johnny would find a zillion collaborators, write a zillion songs. Of Hoagy's songs I play, "The Nearness of You", "One Morning in May", "My Resistance is Low" and many others.
I have your: Broadway Babies Say Goodnight book and it ain't for nothing that the enclosed flyers read, "The Golden Age". I can imagine Mel Brooks' reasoning re: the Producers.. "I can write the songs, at this point who will know the difference not the audience. Susan Stroman was kind and said, "Look, it's a comedy and not a musical." The songs are not on Hoagy & Friends level. That's history. Many great songwriters are not musicians but they hear melody. They are: Irving Berlin, James Taylor, Jerry Herman, Paul McCartney, Sammy Fain and others. Referring
to Broadway Babies, I don't do the British shows. The Pop Series, I have sent you, will not be updated. My audiences are in the seventies and eighties.
I think the American Songbook needs to be preserved. Within my Golden Age Series, there are 24 , 90 minute live performances inclusive of "Movie Musicals", "Broadway Musicals", "Tin Pan Alley" and "The Pop Series". The shows and films need to be remembered, student's need to be taught the skills needed to play "My Funny Valentine" beyond the notes on the page. And then, you watch The Grammy Awards and wonder, "is this all there is". I wish I could find a way to keep the songs alive and any ideas you may have on how to do that would be wonderful.
Thanks so much for your wonderful article.
George Devens
New York, NY FUNNY VALENTINE
You missed a great one...
Check out Rickie Lee Jones' cover on an import LP from the late 80's called Girl at Her Volcano.
Loved America Alone. I read you loud, clear and regularly.
How are you going to spend your chunk of Stimulus Package?
I figure I'll make a fourteenth mortgage payment for the year.
Craig Cavanah
Thousand Oaks, California
Re: Earthquakes are caused by gays
A NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT
Please don't judge Israel by the remarks of Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri who thinks that earthquakes are caused by acts of male homosexuality. Although Benizri was elected to represent a small segment of Israeli society,he is in fact what is technically known as "an idiot".
To be less generous, Benizri and his remarks are what we politically correct Jews refer to as "A shanda fur der Goyim!", that is: an embarrassment in front of the Gentiles. That is about the worst thing a Jew can be, except perhaps a serial killer, which would be an even bigger embarrassment in front of the Gentiles.
Uzi Amit-Kohn
Jerusalem, Israel
YES, THE EARTH DID MOVE
I was in San Diego Feb 7-10.
There was an earthquake not too far from there (Mexicali).
I'm gay.
A coincidence? I think not.
Cheers!
Robert Todd
SHARE THE BLAME
Wouldn't it be more accurate to assert that gays are responsible for 10 percent of an earthquake? As a full blown heterosexual I'll take the blame for the remaining 90 percent.
Stephen in P(H)etro-Calgary
YOUR FAULT
Your post repeats a common misunderstanding. The San Andreas Fault does not run through San Francisco. It runs through the Peninsula south of San Francisco, but is actually offshore by the time you get up to SF's latitudes. See here for example.
John O’Leary
Re: Keeping cool with Coolidge
MODEST MEN
I enjoyed your post in the corner about Coolidge's grave. The post made me
think of my reaction upon seeing Ronald Reagan's ranch, which I had the
privilege to visit two summers ago. When you walk in the door of this
modest dwelling, partially built by him and where by all accounts he spent
some of his happiest days, you understand immediately and completely that,
for all the talk about Reagan as nothing more than a script reading
Hollywood actor, "amiable dunce" etc, he was the right man for the job, a
genuine American with a real appreciation for the republican ideal you speak
of. I am willing to bet that a member of any one of the seven generations
of Coolidges from Plymouth Notch would have felt very much at ease sitting
around Reagan's kitchen table at the Rancho del Cielo.
William Tretiak
Westmount, Quebec
CAL ON CAMPUS
More enjoyable than the Coolidge grave site, I think, is a statue of Coolidge on the campus of Smith College in Northampton, Mass. If those Smithies had any idea at all about the man glaring at them every day, they'd probably petition the school to have the statue booted off the campus.
Richard A. Fagin
Richmond, Texas
Re: Running the numbers
HE’S NO MACHIAVELLI
Mark, I had a look at Warren Kinsella's website, after your mentions of him made me aware of his existence. His topics and writing seemed as boring as room-temperature oatmeal. The comparison some fanboy made between him and Niccolo Machiavelli, which Kinsella has chosen to show off in his righthand sidebar, is for me the most interesting thing on the site. It's interesting for the quarter-educated ignorance it implies in Kinsella's fan and Kinsella himself. I can't imagine that any ordinary mortal who understands anything about Machiavelli would dare to compare himself to a man of such depth and enterprise. Moreover, it seems that Machiavellianism is of such a nature that no real Machiavellian nor Machiavelli himself would consent to be known publicly as "Machiavellian." So after my recent, forced acquaintance with El-Masry, LawIsCool, and Kinsella, I've begun to imagine your southward move years ago was for the sake of greater intellectual stimulation.
Do you have any intellectually formidable opponents in Canada, Mark?
Doug Wingate
New Orleans, Louisiana
EXPLETIVE NOT DELETED
This is a small point.
In the reprint of the Warren K. emails you printed the f*** word.
Always, your webpage takes the "high road" even when you are being pummeled.
In my small opinion, reprinting the f*** word using all the letters, wasn't in keeping with your usual "high road".
That is all..carry on.
Ken Megale
DOWN AND DIRTY
I'm a long-time fan of yours and I just wanted to write to encourage you to keep putting the screws to Warren Kinsella. He is truly a despicable character and I'd pay money to see his reputation and influence destroyed. Unfortunately, thoughtful and carefully crafted arguments will not win the fight against Warren Kinsella.
You got to play it tough and dirty -- just like he does. Keep harping on the bad “associations” that his side keeps. Take a page out of Warren's book and keeping the crap flying around (whether is legitimate or not) -- at the end of the day, Warren won't come out of this smelling like roses.
John Johnstone
Montreal, Quebec
Re: America Alone
BEST OF WESTERN
Just finished your book. You deserve all the praise you've gotten for it. I won't repeat it here. I hope the Western World can get its act together. I won't be holding my breath.
Smyth
THE END OF THE ROAD
Our liberties in America have been dwindling before the ink even dried on the
Declaration of Independence. We are merely at the end of the road now. The destiny was set centuries ago. There is no stopping it. We are pawns in the game of collectivist activism, and we always have been. Even the American Revolution was waged by the few wealthy elites. Today, the wealthy elites want to turn us into their slaves. They use warm fuzzy platitudes to convince us to voluntarily give up our liberties to save them the trouble of having to use guns and death squads to force us. It's inevitable. There is nothing to be done. Soon, you will be silenced.
We all will. And I’m one of the few optimists out there….
Jacob Strutherfield
Newton, Massachusetts
FREE TREATMENT FOR TERRORIST ATTACKS
As I read your book for the second time, many things race through my mind due to the upcoming presidential election. Although I feel it is a very important election, there are really no candidates in whom I feel confident in supporting or confident to trust them with the nations security. I have come to one conclusion, however.
Due to the Free Health care slogan that both Democrat candidates are leaning on, I feel that unfortunately it will be greatly needed if Clinton or Obama are elected into office.
As I am sure you know, they plan on cutting our military budget, bringing troops home, and becoming lackadaisical on the war on terror. This in turn will lead us into being attacked on American soil. But hey, as long as everyone can receive the free health care they will need to bandage up their wounds from the mall bombings, bus bombings, and maybe even worse attacks that will ensue, I guess all is good in the land of Oz. Of course they will hind behind the "lucky we have free health care" motto and turning a blind eye to the inevitable truth that next to the Islamists themselves, they are in fact the leading cause to the carnage that American citizens may have to endure.
Maybe they should read your book to try and understand that even if they stop taking the fight to them, they will bring the fight to us.
Gregory Svihlik
Garfield Heights, Ohio
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…
I just finished reading "Retort from New Hampshire" 2000 in Readings from
the Spectator "Politics and More".
Sometimes reading past reports and columns makes me realize that the more
things change the more they stay the same. Your take on McCain is as good as it gets 8 years later. And for Bush, you were right on the money.
Thanks for looking for the truth.
Lynda
P.s. I recommend your America Alone to a lot of people. Read it in 3 days which is a record for this 69-year-old active grandmother and coach of gymnastics!
DANES CHEESED OFF BY IMMIGRATION
I have not seen you comment on the Danish Newspapers reprinting the political cartoons that so aggravate certain Muslims.
I purchased, read and enjoyed your latest book, America Alone. However the world is not static. I have a good friend who is in his fifties who returns to his homeland, Denmark, a couple of times a year. He advises me that the Danes are pushing back on the Muslims and requiring a level of assimilation unheard of in Europe to date. Hooray for them. My friend immigrated to America in the seventies and is now a citizen. He can be thankful he is not a Canadian citizen. I know I am.
The Swedes were highly critical of the Danish policies but have now adopted them. As a person of Scandinavian heritage, we are slow to anger and act but when we do it is significant. I only hope the Norwegians follow suit.
I understand it is easier for the Scandinavians to clamp down on their Muslim minority because they are much smaller minority than France, England and Germany. England and France are now suffering for the Mideast, Pakistan and India colonies they had in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Germany for importing but not assimilating Turkish workers to grow their economy.
David W. Johnson
P.S. Chistopher Hitchens has written that Europe will not become Muslim and it will not be pretty. The Europeans will do anything to protect their liberal culture except reproduce. The lucky Muslims will be able to return to their home countries.
MARK REPLIES: I did comment on the reprint - here .
ISLAMIFICATION OF EUROPE
I'm writing a novel about an Islamist takeover of Europe. Because I'm writing a work of fiction I need to generalize to a degree, and getting specifics on demographics is more complex than one would think.
Would a generalized statement in the effect that by the year 2050 Western Europe may become majority Muslim?
Erik
New York City
MARK REPLIES: Well, Bernard Lewis has said that western Europe will be majority Muslim by the year 2100 and others dispute it. The point is if 90% of your population has 1.2 children per couple (the Italian average) and the remainding 10% has 3.5 (the Muslim estimate), they'll have caught up within two generations. That's before you add in continuing immigration, conversion, and the so-called "white flight" already evident in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Britain. So it would seem to me that well before 2050 western European nations will either be essentially Islamic in their politico-cultural character or strife-torn war zones.
Re: Don’t make me send you to the cynicism shed
JAM TOMORROW
That joke about the boss handing out "I'm Empowered" buttons is just a variation on the old joke about the Communist speaker in Hyde Park who says "After the revolution, it will be a paradise! All the workers will eat strawberries and cream!"
One of his listeners replies, "Not me, mate, I don't like strawberries and cream."
The speaker points at him with a scowl and says "After the revolution,
comrade, you will eat strawberries and cream and LIKE IT!"
Jim Dickey
Alexandria, Virginia
CLOSET CONSERVATIVE?
That cartoon about the compulsory "I'm Empowered" button reminds me: Most such incidents occur at the behest of capitalist, private industry, not at the behest of socialist government.
Could it be that Michelle Obama's statement, about Barack's compulsory shedding of cynicism, was really an endorsement of capitalist principles? Has she been reading The Economist and National Review, and is now about to extend a hand to conservatives everywhere? Should we invest in America? Or else?
Robert Allgeyer
Aptos, California
DEATH WATCH
Re: Your Atlantic Monthly Obits. I like the magazine, but stopped subscribing when your astonishingly great obits stopped.
Besides your book, Passing Parade, which I am going to get, are you writing any obits any more?
J Rohrbach
Wilmington, Delaware
MARK REPLIES: I love writing obits and so, when the opportunity presents itself, I still do occasionally for Maclean's - ie, Evel Knievel and Miss Moneypenny.
COOLING ON WARMING
Is it me, or has "global warming" been replaced with "climate change?" Don't see anything about global warming anymore. Who dictates propaganda terminology changes like this? Have I perhaps missed a column of yours on this?
Ray Dupuis
MARK REPLIES: Actually, several. I've been writing about the change in nomenclature for a couple of years now - in fact, ever since the "global warming" stopped and the mild cooling trend began.
DRIVING THE LIBERALS NUTS
Keep up the good work. Anyone who slows down this country's inevitable (inevitable in my opinion) march to a government mandated welfare state, is doing a service to this country. Your comments are (1) right on the money, (2) stated in an eloquent manner, and most important to me, (3) likely to drive (or more accurately, "putt")the liberals nuts.
Reed Coray
BOOK SHOP TALK
The other night I forwarded a passage from your speech at Hillsdale to a
young socialist I know in NYC, attending Law school at the People's
Republic of Columbia University, for a giggle. This one:
"The second difference between our economies [America's and Canada's] is
that Canada is more protected. I was talking once to a guy from the Bay
area who ran a gay bookstore, and he swore to me that he's had it with
President Bush and that he was going to move to Vancouver and reopen his
bookstore there. I told him that would be illegal in Canada and he got
very huffy and said indignantly, 'What do you mean it's illegal? It's
not illegal for a gay man to own a bookstore in Canada.' I said, 'No,
but it's illegal for a foreigner to own a bookstore in Canada.' He
could move to Canada, yes, but he'd have to get a government job handing
out benefit cards. His face dropped, and I thought of pitching one of
those soft-focus TV movie-of-the-week ideas to the Lifestyle Channel,
telling the heartwarming story of a Berkeley gay couple who flee Bush's
regime to live their dream of running a gay bookstore in Vancouver, only
to find out that Canada has ways of discriminating against them that the
homophobic fascists in the United States haven't even begun to consider."
To which I received this:
"The 2004 Statistics Canada figures indicate that Canadian-owned firms
accounted for 41% of domestic sales by Canadian-based publishers (with
Canadian subsidiaries of foreign-owned multinationals accounting for
59%). However, due to the methodological changes identified above, these
figures likely overstate the share of market for Canadian firms, as some
large distributors of imported titles (e.g., exclusive agents) are
excluded from the survey sample."
So in fact there are more foreign owned bookstores than bookstores owned
by Canadians.
Well?
Warmest regards;
Brian S Wise
MARK REPLIES: Your socialist chum is either being disingenuous or
unusually obtuse. That statistic refers to publishers - to the Canadian
subsidiaries of mostly London and New York publishers, such as "Random
House Canada" or "Oxford University Press Canada". It does not refer to
bookstores. To repeat, it is illegal for a non-Canadian to open a
bookstore in Canada. And, if your friend doubts me, the next time he's
up north he's welcome to look for the Toronto branches of Barnes & Noble
or the Montreal flagship of Borders. No such emporia exist - by law.
ALL THINGS BRITISH
I was walking down Broadway in Chicago the other day when I came across a small sign affixed to a lamp post. It read: "All things British are hip." I thought, how sad, that Americans are so fixated on foreign lands these days, especially Europe, because they have been taught to hate their own country. America really won't survive this. Then I thought, are all things British really hip, like skinheads, soccer hooligans, terrorist breeding camps and horrible oral hygiene? Luckily I had a pen with me, and I was able to correct the sign. It now reads, I'm sure much to the chagrin of snot-nosed inner city lily white Chicagoans, "All things British are sh*t."
Chris Stanslowski
Chicago, Illinois
HATE-MAILER NO MORE
It's been brought to my attention that I've made some intemperate and inappropriate comments about your person in the past. I apologize for those remarks. In addition, I noticed that you posted and replied to a letter of mine (one of the less crazy ones) with good humor and intelligence. I appreciate your decency in that regard and, in future, will do my best to follow your example.
Sergio Rizzo
Atlanta, Georgia
BABY DADDY
I have enjoyed every word you have written since you started
writing words. You have substantially improved my world-outlook, and I
thoroughly enjoyed "America Alone". Maybe not so much "Broadway Babies Say
Goodnight". But after what you've said regarding cosmetic surgery and
Margaret Wente's article, uhmmmmm, can I have your baby?
For the sake of my marriage, I will disavow ever having written
this letter.
Mike Saunders
Houston, Texas
LAST WORD
Jew boy!
Why did u change your name from Stein to Steyn? U embarrassed about being a
half-witted Jew? Uh, jew boy??? Why r all u jews such commie bitches?? Go back to russia where u belong, jew boy.
T. McMahon
Canada
Danmistaboy@aol.com
|
