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Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from the Canada, America,
Mexico and Britain. Mark reads all the letters, but especially enjoys the vicious
ones. If you drop a line to Mark's Mailbox 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.
Re: Coronation Day
THE LEAST QUALIFIED AND THE LEAST QUESTIONED
Today the least qualified President in American history takes power with
an absolute majority of Congress poised to do anything he asks. An
unprecedented number of Americans are prepared to follow him wherever he
leads them. And the vast majority of the press is showering him with the
kind of adulation that would make the editor of magazine for teenage
girls squirm in her chair. A nation takes leave of its senses. A citizenry that is
ignorant and confused and searching for glib answers. A completely defeated
minority party. An infatuated press that shuns the loneliness of the Fourth Estate
and wants to play a political role. And a president who is an arrogant, narcissistic
manipulator, and who can use the entire nation as a canvass for the silliness of his
imagination.
How can any good come of this? We are about to learn who Barack Obama
really is.
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
COTTON CANDY
"Pleasantly gaseous uplift" - that's the term I have been seeking. Thank you.
I have been trying desperately to "feel it" and it just isn't there. I read the
inaugural speech - it is cotton candy. I ask my liberal friends what they recall
of it and they refer gleefully to that insulting invocation. I had the epiphany
that we have not a generation gap but a TV gap. I have not owned a television
for 15 years so I am not schooled in the emotional teary Oprah drama of the day.
I have a real life. Besides, I have to work during the day. So much emotion
invested in one man is profoundly disturbing.
Name withheld
CLINGING TO HIS BLACKBERRY
You probably saw this, but it made me laugh:
Article: "Obama refuses to surrender Blackberry"
Quote: "Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use
to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside
the presidential "bubble.’"
Yeah, because that's what real salt-of-the-earth Americans do, is cling
to their Blackberries. But wait, aren't bitter Americans busy clinging
to a gun in one hand and a Bible in the other? So how are they going to
get their thumbs free to fire off notes to his 'berry? ("Hey O, going to
Liquor Barn and for groceries. Back at 5 pm. Hugs, Bernie Oberblatt.")
Or will he calm the billows of bitterness, so that they will beat their
guns into Blackberries, and learn war no more?
It's going to be a fun four years for you!
John
DEEPLY INSULTING TO THE CZECHS
Thank you for this:
"... that Tom Brokaw comparison between Obama's inauguration and the
Czech revolution is, of course, deeply insulting to millions of people around
the world who know what it's like to live under a tyrannous regime and
aren't so parochial and narcissistic as to confuse it with sitting around
over a decaf latte and lo-fat granola bar complaining that Bush is shredding
the Constitution because some radio station in Texas hasn't put the Dixie
Chicks' "Rock Against Libby" CD into high rotation."
We often love you because you are funny, and often because you are
right, but we should remember to tell you that we owe you a debt of
gratitude for remembering and respecting our tragic past.
BBTIC
Canada
CHEESY
So, there's this cheesy Star Trek novel called "Dreadnought!", where
Kirk has to stop a conspiracy within the fleet, said conspiracy led by a
admiral who wants peace through change and unity - by making everyone
conform at phaser point.
I mention this because Kirk's first inkling that there's something not
quite right, is that the admiral has a personal logo (a "command
emblem").
I've had the same nagging feeling since the Obama logo was birthed. The
celebu-led, infantile, circular if not empty chant of "I will be the
change I seek" is not helping ease my mind.
John Muraro
THE APPROPRIATE INACTION
2008 was the year in which the MSM really affirmed itself. They took the
necessary action, and as well, the appropriate inaction where required
(in terms of investigating The One's Chicago connections, His disappearing
academic "paper trail", and so on), and they pushed Him to a comfy victory.
Personally, I expect the MSM's orgy of self-kudos will be the hardest thing
I'll have to live with over the next few months. Only when Matthews and
Olbermann types' ratings begin to scrape bottom will we see some gentle
criticisms of The One.
John Gross
Quebec
PS And always keep this in mind, Mark: Dissent is the lowest form of racism.
So watch your step.
THE VITRIOL MACHINE
The ending of one of your comments today weighed on my mind a little bit:
"Obama has been at pains to emphasize continuity. But in the broader culture
I would bet that the delegitimization of the last eight years is set to
continue indefinitely."
I suppose the question is: can a person or organization just turn off on a
dime the vitriol machine? To say our public discourse since the 2000
elections has gone down the gutters is an understatement. The Left has made
slander an art form, which I suppose, will one day be taught at Antioch
College (whoops! I forgot they're no more). The Right hasn't been shy about
slinging a few arrows either, but they're more like the Toastmaster Club
when compared to the Leftwing blogosphere and MSM. In any event, if Obama is
serious about governing from the Middle (it appears events may have already
forced him there), then there will be plenty of upset people. The occupants
of our university faculty lounges, Malibu beach houses, and Georgetown
manors didn't not go out of their way to re-elect a Clinton - or Heaven
forbid, another Bush. It may turn out that Obama's best friends may be in
the GOP Senate Minority. It is way too early to tell, but we may have
just seen the inauguration of Bush44. Spending $1 trillion in borrowed
taxpayer's money, I would say President Obama is off to a good start.
Jerome Koch
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
OK, so I watched the video and the thought I come away with is this...
It appears that the only way Liberals / Progressives can muster the
intestinal fortitude to do good deeds, be a good parent, neighbor,
friend or even commit a selfless act of service to others is if they
agree with the politics of the person in the White House. No wonder
libs are so miserable most of the time. They have spent most of their
adult lives with all of their goodness bottled up inside because the
evil republicans ran the show! The good news is at least we will have
one less frustrated lib behind the wheel flipping off anyone who dares
to do something he doesn't agree with...... I wonder if he will have to
take a tolerance class to overcome his urges or if it just comes
naturally now that "The One" has arrived?
Thanks for all the good work,
Sean Ryan
Illinois (where I am surrounded by angry, nuanced progressives -
hopefully they'll lighten up a bit now)
INANE BILE
Old boy you're god's gift to the Democrats. While your admonitions on loopy far l
eftists aren't totally without truth, they have nothing on you personally for sheer
inanity leavened with healthy doses of bile. The piece on Michelle Obama was
a little masterpiece of the sourest grapes about an accomplished woman whatever
you think of her politics. It's your kind of mindset that caused me and I'm sure
many others to leave the Republicans. Palin wasn't the only cancer on the
Republican party.
John Ellis
THE MISSING THREE MILLION
One million at Obama’s inauguration. So much for media/MSM estimates of 2-4 million.
They froze their tuchas off too.
800,000 at Clinton's 1993 inaug
Pat T
LEARN OBAMESE
I ran across this in my local Tokyo bookstore in the self-study
English language text area: “Learn English by studying the Obama
speeches that changed history”.
Eternal keepsake! Sigh.
Sylvan Payne
Re: I pledge to love more strangers twice weekly
SOUNDS A BIT GERMAN
Perhaps "I pledge to be a servant...." is this year's version of "Ein
volk, ein Reich...."
Ed Deitemeier
THE LAND OF THE FREE?
I thought that the main benefit of being an American was that you didn't
have to pledge to be a servant to your politicians. Shows what I know.
Greg Taylor
I PROMISE TO ACT LIKE A PRAT
Remember all the cries of hysteria and fears of little storm troopers
in-the-making when all the secularist libs got a gander at a few Pentecostal
kids in North Dakota praying next to a cardboard cutout of "W" in "Jesus
Camp"? And yet we are treated to this unbelievable glut of emperor worship
from Hollywood's Idiocracy as put forth in this ridiculous celeb pledge
sequence - "I promise to serve my president"?!?! Is this America?
Keep on keepin' on, Mark.
Larry Eskridge
Re: Kilt man
THE END OF ETHNIC JOKES
Thanks! My blood pressure just elevated a few points...OK, I am bringing it
down now.
Ireland is now putting together an Obama heritage site. Wait, isn't Obama
the first black President? How much Irish or Scots background can he have?
Wow, I am stunned. With his pedigree, there will be no more ethnic jokes
anywhere in the world. Have you heard anything from Japan or China yet?
I am a bit perplexed that President Obama has completely rejected his
Western European heritage yet there are the boot lickers waiting in the
wings.
Dana Reed Thurston
BEST PUN
“You can’t hide your Lion thighs”
Best corny pun ever.
Marc
Re: The September 12th Presidency
HE TALKED IT AND WALKED IT
I'm not much of an arse-kissing type, nor do you seem much the type
who accepts it. That said, the September 12 Presidency column is
outstanding, crystallizing with razor wit and poetic language many
loose ideas of varying completeness that have floated around in my
head. (Perhaps not the greatest advertisement for you, but one of the
many reasons I appreciate your writing.)
Especially relevant to today's increasingly superficial society is the
comparison to Churchill's both walking and talking it. A great
example of the much broader and ever-more important failure of
conservatives and Republicans in allowing Democrats and the left to
define the issues in words of their choosing. For example,
conservatives know well how the U.S. federal tax burden is borne by
income demographic, but the left talks of the pursuit of a more "fair"
tax system?? Absurd.
I could continue to rave about the column, but will instead just say
"Thanks" and send the link along to a few who I think might appreciate
it.
Ed Nowak
Belleville, Illinois
DJ IN CHIEF
Re your recent article on George Bush - I can't believe you started out as a DJ.
How did you become so intelligent? How did you learn to write so unbelievably
well? When are you going to run for President?
Joan Sands
Bluffton, South Carolina
HE LOST MY SUPPORT
I enjoyed your analysis of the Bush presidency and, from my perspective,
what
happens to popular support in the case of abdication of any leadership
responsibilities. I personally backed Bush with my money and support
even when I didn't particularly agree with his policies and thoughts
because I thought he was at least trying to do the right thing. He lost me
as a supporter when he announced publicly that those of us who want
immigration law enforced and want efforts to be made to make Americans
out of immigrants of any stripe were xenophobes and bigots.
I was immediately put in mind of when he said that he looked into Putin's
heart and soul and found him to be an honorable man he could work with
(or something to that effect).
Don't get me wrong: I do give him much credit for tackling Islam and firmly
agree with his attempts to change the status quo in the middle east. This
is his only decent accomplishment as far as I am concerned.
It seems to me that he can't avoid some private thoughts about his role in
the current deplorable state of his party and the lack of good will from his
former base.
Phil Elmore
HELLO DULLING
Great idea! Let W tell the teachers that the Japanese internments were not
such a big deal a couple weeks before the Abu Ghraib story breaks.
Hanging around NR types is a dulling experience.
Joe Perez
MARK REPLIES: You may be right, if your letter's anything to go by. Why put
yourself through it?
Re: Richardo Montalban – Charmer, and Civilisational Crasher
DYNAMITE
Who would have ever guessed that you are/were a Colbys enthusiast?
As you noted, Ricardo Montalban and Stephanie Beacham were dynamite
together and were the saving grace (along with Beacham's paint-peeling
scenes with that other great showbiz trouper, Barbara Stanwyck) for what
was otherwise an up-and-down 80s soap opera. (And kudos to Beacham
for believably playing a 50-something Bel Air matron when she hadn't even
hit 40 when the show started and her on-screen children - Maxwell Caulfield
and Tracy Scoggins - were only 12 and 3(!) years younger than her.)
Steve
A GOOD CATHOLIC TOO
As you may recall he played the villain in the first Naked Gun movie.
According to the director's audio commentary track, the cop played by
O.J. Simpson (!) was supposed to be at a hospital called "Our Lady Who
Never Got The Pickle".
After Montalban, a devout Catholic, read the script, he agreed to do the
film but insisted that they drop that joke. According to the directors,
he said, "Look guys, I don't ask for much ..." The directors, including
David Zucker, relented and the joke is not in the film.
Sean Higgins
CAN’T BEAT IT
Can anyone forget his performance in The Naked Gun? I mean - Japanese
fighting fish and Leslie Nielson. You can't beat that.
SDS
Washington, D.C.
FREEZE A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW
One other great and all-American performance by Ricardo Montalban came
in a 1949 movie “Battleground”, where he plays a GI from Los Angeles who
had never seen snow until Bastogne and (spoiler alert) ultimately
freezes to death (and is based on a true story). For my money,
“Battleground” is one of the best and most convincing war movies ever,
especially when one considers that it was filmed on the MGM back lot
during the summertime.
Tim Saunders
Half Moon Bay, California
PLAYING HOOKY
"Khan" is in my opinion the greatest B-movie turn of all time. During
its first release I played hooky as a copy editor on a trade magazine to
go see it on Broadway. I can still remember how happy I was as I exited
the movie blinking on my way back to work.
Theodore Iacobuzio
I MET MR MONTALBAN
I had the great pleasure to meet Mr Montalban when he was in Detroit
filming the Cordoba commercials. I was working, then, at the front desk
at the Hilton Hotel downtown, and we used to get all kinds of celebrities -
from actors and entertainers from the various theaters to the baseball
players in town to play the Tigers.
He stopped at the counter, after dinner by himself at the Beef Baron restaurant,
with a small question, but stayed talking to me for over 20 minutes about the
Star Trek episode and many other things. He was a very gracious man, a true
Gentleman with a capital G, and he surpasses even Whitey Ford on my list of
"real-people" celebrities whom I've met. Good memories - he will be missed.
Patrick McGoohan also passed away - on the 13th...
Dorothy Day
Independence, Michigan
PLAYFUL SENSUALITY
Thanks for the post about the passing of Ricardo Montalban. My DVR is full
of movies recorded off of TCM. I hope they will air a Montalban tribute marathon!
I loved the link to "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter. (Why is
it that movies today are always full of foul language, violence, and blatant sex?
I'll take the playful sensuality of movies from the 40s and 50s any day.) This
wonderful Frank Loesser song won the Oscar in 1950 for best original song,
by the way. I wonder if Montalban and William's playful rendition had anything
to do with that? I was fascinated by the story you posted about Soya Qutb's
reaction to Montalban and Williams. It is just further evidence that the "religion
of peace" is full of fanatics.
Did you know that in spite of his sexy image, Montalban had been married to
Georgiana Young (younger sister of actress Loretta Young) for 63 years at the
time of her death in 2007? Young Hollywood could learn something from
Montalban's generation!
I respect him even more now that I know he was a supporter of NR. God
speed, Mr. Montalban.
Caroline Young - BusyMom
Houston, Texas
BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
Thanks for your great post. You have a major fan club outside of Boston. If
you ever get down here I have two others who would be honored to take you
out for a great steak dinner. We are not axe-murderers, Gov Romney can
attest he performed my husband and mine wedding ceremony two years ago,
chupah and all.
As for the video, I had to laugh, the picture window shows the beautiful
mountains of sunny California.
Stay warm, I know it is -15 at Hanover where my daughter is, and it’s about 5
here in Newton.
Risa
RICARDO AND FERNANDO
Were Ricardo Montalban and Fernando Lamas really two different people. If so, why?
An attorney in Alabama
YOU’RE NEXT RELEASE?
Thanks so much for that clip .... I kept hearing you and Jessica Martin though,
Coulda been a B-side.
Ken
Re: Smoke gets in your eyes
THE ESSO BLUES
It was still a potent image for Britons watching TV in the post-Platters era,
for whom the song is indelibly linked with Esso Blue, the home-heating
paraffin of choice. As the jingle put it:
They asked me how I knew
It was Esso Blue
I of course replied
With lower grades one buys
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes...
Nice to see that someone else remembers the Esso Blue version. I alas no
longer have the flexidisc on which Joe, the Esso Blue Man travelled the
world, and enjoyed foreign-language versions, such as
Comment est-ce que j’ai su
Que c’était Esso Blue?
Mais au nom de Dieu!
Avec les inférieurs,
Les fumes vont dans vos yeux.
I bet Kern would have loved that.
Chris Smith
Shetland, Scotland
CHUFFED ABOUT CHAFFED
You wrote about “chaffed” in your column on “Smoke gets in your eyes”
this week. Usage of that word might have died over a century ago in
the rest of the English-speaking world but it lives on in South
Africa. The word chaff is still quite well understood in parts of
South Africa - especially in the small towns to the east and west of
Johannesburg, I would imagine. We say it with a long “a”, as in
giraffe, which rhymes with scarf, and it means to tease or to pretend.
To “chaaf the girls” is to flirt with them; “this is just chaaf-chaaf”
means we are just pretending, as in: “is that just chaaf-chaaf or are
you really going to live in Botswana?” The most common use is probably
“I was just chaafing you, man” to mean “I was just kidding around”. I
have no idea where it comes from but the meaning of our “chaaf” is so
close to the one you cite that I doubt they are unrelated.
The person most likely to have used Chaff/chaaf in a song is David
Kramer, who has sung about moments and events in small-town suburban
life. I have not been able to find chaff in his lyrics but that might
be because I don't know his music all that well.
AJ Snyders
THE TEMPOS THEY ARE A’CHANGIN’
I enjoyed your account of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." I have always had warm
feelings about the Platter's version of this song.
I was especially interested by your point about the role of modifying the tempo
in writing the song. You might have pointed out that Jerome Kern used the
trick of changing the effect of a song by modifying the tempo in other places.
See, for example, what he does with "That Man of Mine" in Showboat; in Act 1,
it's a ballad, but it reappears in Act 3 as a the tune for a Charleston.
Barney Krebs
Re: The United States of Emergency
I LAUGHTED UNTIL I CRIED
Your latest article, “The United States of Emergency”
was easily one of the best I've read in the past year. I was gasping for breath
from laughing so hard. And then I felt like crying.... It was a great read!
Ashley
Columbus, Ohio
Re: The Oldest Hatred
PHRASES THE LEFT CAN UNDERSTAND
Maybe if, instead of "anti-Semitism," we started referring to it as
"Judeo-phobia," the left will begin to think differently about its stand
against Israel.
Tom Gilfether
Tucson, Arizona (recently escaped from Washington, DC)
JUST WHERE AND WHAT IS THE BLAME?
Hey Mark, I have but one question. You said "There is fault on both sides, of course,
and Israel has few good long-term options." Just where and what is the blame on
a race, country and people simply trying to defend itself against ongoing and
brain-dead hatred? The UN offered land, country to both the Jews and
Palestinians in '48. Israel accepted. The Palestinians rejected it and immediately did
what they continue to try and do to this very day. That being to slaughter and
exterminate the Jews.
I am an American of German heritage. But I am only an American. I try and
look at everything objectively but this ongoing asininity against the Jews is as
obvious as the noses on all of our faces. Yet we get those defending the
indefensible. That being the Palestinians. These people, based on a religion
dictated by a dead guy, have been trying to, and have VOWED PUBLICLY to exterminate
the Jews. There is no excuse for this thus everything the Jews do is in
defense of the being against fanatics that just can't seem to discern simplicity, or
compassion. The Jews haven't done this to the Palestinians. The Palestinians
have done it to themselves with the help of all the surrounding Arab nations
that could easily assimilate them into their country, yet ALL they and the
Palestinians want is to destroy Israel. It is simple and blatant hatred of the
ultimate kind. Coupled with pathetic complicity by many of the nations of the
world. Seems the world can't seem to tolerate the intellect of the Jews. A race
of people that certainly seem to be God's chosen people, for if they weren't
how could they have fought off 6 INEPT Arab armies who tried to destroy them in
'48? This is between you and me. I want my name in no way attached to this
topic publicly, but more than happy to discuss it further if you feel the urge.
I don't need these fanatical Muslims coming after my family for simply
espousing an opinion!
I support Israel hook, line and sinker, and will do it financially if need
be. And until I croak! A more persecuted people have never existed on this earth
and the world should be ashamed of its complicity in the actions surrounding
it. Do YOU have a rational explanation for all this inept hatred against a
people who are continually made to have to defend their very existence only to be
again attacked for defending themselves? IS there an explanation? A rational
one? A reasoned one? An honest one? And not one from the perspective of a
Muslim please, for they lack any objectiveness and truthfulness. They like most
lieberals have only THEIR agenda at the cost of anything rational or truthful.
And a religion that commands the violence they do.
Name withheld
WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ‘ATTACK”?
Hi Mark. Love your work.
Perhaps in France, someone saying: "Mon Dieu! Those Palestinians!"
qualifies as an anti-Muslim attack.
Greg Milligan
Olympia, Washington
HATE THE NATION, LIKE THE PEOPLE?
No difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism ?
Aren't Zionists a subgroup of the Jewish population ?
Duggy
MARK REPLIES: Who said there was "no difference"? Not me. We're talking
about a continuum. We're talking about the point at which criticism of
Israeli policies shades into delegitimization of Israel's national
existence: that line has been crossed. And we're talking about the point
at which criticism of the Jewish state shades into outright hatred of
Jews: On the streets of Toronto, Fort Lauderdale, London, Amsterdam and
elsewhere, that line has also been crossed.
IF GOEBBELS HAD HAD CNN WE’D ALL BE NAZIS
The reader that responded to your post is a jerk (and apparently
thinks that you are Jewish).
The question seems simple to me: what would this reader suggest?
If Mexico had a Hamas-style government and it was allowing
(sponsoring) people to lob rockets into San Diego, what should the response
of the US be?
If Goebbels had had CNN and the rest of the MSM working for him
(broadcasting obvious frauds like the "doctors" performing CPR on the
"dead child"), we'd all be Nazis.
As a gay man, I cannot make myself understand why the oh-so
compassionate Left embraces and supports the most illiberal and
brutal culture in world history. Do these people really think the tiger won't turn
and eat them when the rest of us are gone?
Robert Todd
PS: loved your stint on Rush's show!
VICTIMS NO MORE
“...someone asked: ‘Politically speaking, who are our friends?’
(“Jew baiting then and now” )Nobody had an answer, and the consensus
was that Britain’s Jewish community felt lonelier than within living memory.”
And why has that happened? Oh, right! It's because of the work of
omnipotent Palestinian lobbyists and public relations experts. That must
be why the "contemporary lefties", along with about half the Jews in
America, have turned their back on Israel. Either that or the fact that
Israel has made the transition from victim to oppressor...?
Naw, it's gotta be all those Palestinian lobbyists.
Bill Harpin
THE ISRAELIS ARE BEHAVING LIKE FASCISTS
The conservative party of Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain wasn't
particularly visible at the battle of Cable Street. Probably because it would
have been embarrassing if they'd bumped into Mosley at Whites. The reason
the left, and most people actually, are souring on Israel is because the Israelis
are increasingly behaving like Mosley's blackshirts or their cousins in Germany.
Only a total fanatic like you would fail to notice this simple fact that is going to
ultimately destroy Israel if they carry on behaving like this. And do stop elevating
these silly little skinheads in Bumf**k Canada to the status of the Nazis. It's an insult
to millions of Jews who perished in Europe. But then only someone totally lacking
in any sense of proportion would be unable to tell the difference.
John Ellis
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
Amos Oz has a quote about that very thing somewhere. Before his parents fled
Germany for Israel in the 1930s they saw signs and graffiti that read "Jews to
Palestine." Now when he goes to Europe he sees signs and graffiti, "Jews Out of
Palestine." His take on this, and the quote I'm referring to, goes something like this:
'What they are saying is Don't Be Here and Don't Be There. In other words, Don't Be.'
Thomas Neeley
Re: Cracker Americans
WAY TOO MANY SYLLABLES
Speaking as a current resident of Atlanta, and a long-time resident of the
various states south of the Mason-Dixon line (military service), "cracker
Appalachia" doesn't ring true. I suspect a denizen of Berkeley, CA
perpetrating a foul calumny on good mountain people.
They do that sort of thing, out in Berkeley, CA.
This: "A demographic catastrophe will play out in the United States as well
as in Europe. We will become Mexico; they will become Lebanon" is something
no cracker would write. "Demographic", for example, has way too many
syllables. And as for becoming Mexico, that's a dead giveaway isn't it? I
mean, there are way too many firearms available here at the southern end of
the Appalachians for Mexico to make a good go of it here. Disarmed CA, on
the other hand, well, it's already part of Mexico, isn't it?
Oh, and no true cracker reads the "IHT."
Patrick
DODGY CREDENTIALS
I saw you on C-Span and you didn't look particularly baby-faced to me.
The e-mailer must be thinking of Rich Lowry. At any rate, I am dubious
about the e-mailers Appalachian credentials. The tone is more upstate
New York, if you ask me. Writing to you from just this side of the Blue Ridge,
R Yarbrough
TO APPALACHIA BY WAY OF HARVARD
How many "Appalachians" kwow who the Zuckermans and Sulzbergers are?
I smell a Harvard grad. yanking your chain.
Anonymous
CRACKS IN THE CRACKER
That post you had from an Appalachia Cracker just doesn't make sense.
How the hell do you car jack something sitting on four cider blocks in the
front yard? Obviously this was a counterfeit cracker.
Erik
CRACKERS ABOUT YOU
I don't think your recent correspondent is representative of most
Appalachian crackers. I'm one myself and I love you dearly and wholehearted
disagree with him.
Just so you'll know....
Your devoted Kathryn
BLAME GAME
Er...so that guy thinks "the Jews" are to blame for low U.S. & European birth rates?
MAN that sounds familiar! Now where have I heard that that religious
group was to blame for...what was it again? Oh yes, everything.
Scott B
USEFUL BRITISH WORD
Happy New Year! I note approvingly that in your correspondence with your
Appalachian antagonist you make use of the British term "homosexualist".
This is helpful in separating persons from behaviour, and I wish more people
made the distinction.
Miles Smit
Re: Masterpiece unveiled
AWESOME ART
Is this for real? If so. Awesome! It seems that our artist friend managed to
get something decent by the bureaucrats and get paid properly.
This is so often not the case with public art. No wonder everyone is angry.
Great story!
Robert Chaplin
BIG GOVERNMENT HILARITY
I have been a huge fan of yours for many years and I especially like
your weekly interviews with Mr. Hewitt. With that said I'm not sure I
have ever laughed as hard over any of your work as I have over your
Masterpiece Unveiled post on The Corner. If that doesn't sum up big
government hilarity I don't know what does.
Keep up the great work and try to stay warm up there.
Nick Sharkey
NO FEAR
This is such a great story. Here in Chicago, the Museum of
Contemporary Art bannered the streets with their "Fear No Art"
propaganda some months ago. That's right up there with there is no
capital T Truth as one of those things you are just supposed to say
"yes, of course, of course" without even a thought. I've always
translated "Fear No Art" as "the power is mine." For that my three
art professor friends tell me I'm a paranoid, close-minded, right-
winger who just doesn't get it. Fear no art! I really, really like
this story...
Doug
DENVER'S 'BEANIS'
Thank you for pointing us to the story about the new EU art installation.
Perfect. I haven't laughed so well since hearing about Denver's latest
piece of subsidized art, known locally as the Beanis:
Dan
HE’S JUST A THIEF
He lied about the 27 collaborating artists and kept the money for
himself. He's just a fraud and a common thief. But you think he's
cool. Hmm.
Bill Harpin
BOURGEOUISIE BUSTER
When it comes to the aims of art, Baudelaire said it best:
"Il faut epater les bourgeois."
And I can't think of any bourgeois more deserving of epater-ing than the
EU-nuck bureaucracy.
R Lee Grantham
FRESH AIR FROM NEW EUROPE
New Europe is still breath of fresh air, which leaves me free to conclude
that old Europe is fresh of breath air. Here's to Mr. Cerny and the Czech
Republic! And let the vision of no state sponsored artist be shackled.
Down censorship - this time.
John Mark Hunter
GO THE CZECHS
That Euro-sculpture is terrific. It's that got that perfect blend of
tongue-in-cheek irreverence, jocular absurdism, and gentle, witty satire
known internationally by the bland but appropriate phrase "Czech humor".
God, I love those guys. And you may recall that the glorious Czech
nation is one of the few stalwart allies of the Cuban people in their
struggle freedom. Go, wild and crazy Czechs!
James Blandford
A GREAT NATION
Your two posts, the eu brochure, and the photo gallery of the artwork
were perhaps the most fun I had today.
I love the Czechs more and more. The Czech president is probably one of
the best outspoken modern European conservative voices and now this
artist!
There needs to be a petition to save this artwork! If dung on the
Virgin Mary and a Crucifix in urine can be art there is absolutely
nothing wrong with this!
Kyle Blank, P.E.
Houston, Texas
LET’S MAKE A TRADE
Brilliant! Perfect! Let's trade it for "Piss Christ" and hang it in the new UN HQ building
(in Brussels) as a lovely parting gift.
J. David Holme
MEMORIES OF MOSCOW
Thank you for linking to the wonderful pictorial. I do have a point of
disagrement. Bulgaria does not have the distinction of having these exotic
toilets. Seeing the picture brought "sweet" memories of my youth in Moskow,
USSR where all of the public toilets were like this. I can't describe the
revulsion caused by a visit to such establishment and I can still recall the
unique "smell-&-vision" memory of those few experiences.
Janna Blanter
COMFORT STATIONS IN ITALY
I have not travelled in Bulgaria, Turkey, or The Levant. But those
toilets are a vivid reminder of my travels in Italy in 1984 - that was
the standard toilet in every train station's men's room. Yugoslavia had
better toilets.
Anthony Argyriou
SQUATTING IN JAPAN
Mark: The bullet trains in Japan have squat toilets (in addition to the "Western"
toilets) unless they've been eliminated in the last few years. Also, two of the
worst squat toilets I ever saw were in Geneva (!) and Verdun. All in all, unless
you travelled in the old Eastern Bloc countries in the 70's, all the more "modern"
squat toilets aren't that bad.
Jean
FLUSH TOILET SOLIDARITY
I used one of those squat toilets in a chic cafe in Milan a couple of months ago.
It looked pretty fresh - not as though it was an accidental survival. They are also
available as an option in the transit lounges in Singapore Changi airport. They
are endemic in France - the public lavatory in the town hall in Nevers has one
and I recall waiting in a car outside a rural railway station in Brittany (15 ish years
ago) gazing at a wall that was covered in tar. I thought something along the lines
of "If I didn't know any better I would think that was a urinal." Shortly later two blokes
turned up and proved that that was exactly what it was.
I think Stephen Ambrose alleged in Band of Brothers (book not TV show) that the
GIs felt a lot of affinity with the German population because out of all the nations
they encountered during the war the Germans were the ones most likely to have
indoor flush lavatories.
Thomas Flynn
TURKISH-STYLE
I have had to squat “à la turk” in France, Italy and Greece. Takes some getting used
to. Is that what Dave Brubeck had in mind?
Kent Guida
Houston
TOPPING UP THE DEATH-CULT DICTATORSHIPS
Looks like Canada is getting good value for the $56M we gave China in aid
last year. Not just nuclear force modernization, anti-satellite missiles and
censorship of the internet, but putting a woman death for putting her children
to death before Beijing got a chance to put her children to death.
And that's on top of the $400M+ we've given the Palestinians since 2003. Looks
like CIDA's batting 1.000.
We haven't missed any repugnant death-cult dictatorships, have we? Mugabe
all topped-up, cash-wise? Kim Jong-Il got enough cognac?
D.A. Neill
Ottawa, Ontario
A POSTER BOY FOR TAX REFORM
Geithner clearly should have known enough to have paid his taxes, but
instead of opposing his appointment, the loyal opposition should turn this
to our advantage.
Let's make Geithner the poster boy for major tax reform. If someone with
Geithner's credentials can make a mistake in paying his taxes, then the
system is clearly broken. How can anyone be expected to know everything
contained in the 67,000 pages of the code? Let's abolish the IRS and replace
it with something that will not allow something like this to happen in the
future.
There is a double standard and media bias. What I am suggesting is that
instead of taking a stand against the nominee or complaining about the media
double standard, that conservatives, libertarians, etc., should make a case
for something. In this case, that something is tax reform. Most of the
public is not paying attention to the confirmation process or if they are,
they are likely to tune out the typical political response.
What would be President elect Obama's response to the Republican charge that
his nominee is proof of the need for major tax reform? The media is
reporting that this is an "honest mistake" and a "common mistake." The
Republicans should take those comments and champion Geithner and the
American people. They should express how complicated and contrived the
67,000 page tax code is. They should express their concern for the American
people and their desire to make sure that no other American will make the
same mistake that Geithner made.
Deane Duggan
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE ELECTION
You say in this post:
"If the non-political sphere is permanently left-of-center — the movies,
the pop songs, the plays, the sitcoms, the newspapers plus the
churches, schools and much else — it's simply unreasonable to expect
people to walk into a polling booth every other November and vote
conservative."
I realize the post was about culture, but there are lot more elections than the ones
in even years, at least here in NJ.
If conservatives think there are so few elections, no wonder we're losing.
NJ has school board elections every April, a primary in June, and Gov/state leg in
odd years. Then depending on your town you could have mayor/town council in May
(with possible run off in June) instead of November. So over two years it is at
least six elections one should vote in.
The folks who work for the state/county/town/school understand this - they'd vote on
Christmas for dogcatcher, just to show that they turn out. It has given them
tremendous clout. (See what Steve Malanga writes at City Journal) Meanwhile,
conservatives sit home waiting for the perfect candidate to emerge & lead a top down
revolution.
Bill Tobias
IS POP CULTURE LEFTY?
Re the problem of conservatives and pop culture: this is something I have
pondered long and hard. In reality, there is a lot of pop culture that is
not truly of the left. A lot of pop culture is morally bankrupt, but a lot
is not. Thomas Harris novels and the films made from them are worse than
morally bankrupt. But the work of Joss Whedon is not. I have given papers on
Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which I point out that there is a solid moral
foundation to the series. You can even analyze a character's moral
development in Aristotelian terms. So I had a funny moment when I was
reading about your trial and the appearance there of a Buffy scholar. Most
pop culture scholars are of the left, of course. But not all. In any case I
have been writing a book on the moral fabric of popular narratives and not
only is it perfectly feasible to do so, but it makes discussing them a lot
clearer.
Bryan Townsend
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
CONRAD SNUBBED
Why has Conrad Black been snubbed by Dubya re: a pardon? Given that GWB is
aware of the type of prosecution (persecution) and head hunting that P.
Fitzgerald engages in from the Scooter Libby/Plame leak investigation, one
would thing that he would recongnize that an injustice had been done to Mr.
Black and his co defendants Atkinson, Boultbee and Kipnis and move to
correct it.
I have frankly been surprised that there has not been a more concerted
public effort by conservative pundits in radio, print and TV to help a
fellow conervative. Why?
Ward Benedict
LAST WORD
The language of the future?
Olivia Smith
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