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Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from the Canada, America, Britain, France and Australia. 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. For letters on "The Rush Wars", see Mailbox Extra.
Letter of the Week
PROGRESS WAITS FOR NO MAN
You owe me. I followed your link to Melancholy Mellencamp's pathetic excuse for a blog post and ended up reading some of the comments to it, which were worse. Far worse. The level of ignorance on display at the Huff-Po is heart-rendering. So, I've been pounding my forehead on my desk to the point that I look like one of those muslim clerics with prayer burns.
Personally, I love the way the music business is going. Niche operators are setting up internet radio stations daily now, which means that artists are having an easier time reaching their audience, and the audience is being better served. These sites also promote artist appearances, which drives up the door as their fans attend. Then there's the revolution in technology that has allowed even garage bands who use Garage Band to make demos or even finished products that formerly cost thousands of dollars in recording studio fees to achieve, and that on a shoestring budget. I worked in the very top flight recording studios in NYC back in the 80's, so when I say the quality of some of these demos is astounding, you can take my word for it.
What is happening is that the music business is in the process of being de-centralized, which is nothing but good for artists and audiences alike. This same phenomenon is affecting publishing too, of which I'm sure you're acutely aware. Sure, it's messy right now, because nobody is quite sure what the new paradigm is going to look like, or even if there will be a singular paradigm. Then, of course, the death throes of the big labels looks something like the T-1000 thrashing around in that vat of molten metal, only in this case there is some real collateral damage, as their legal beagles sniff out every offending college kid they can. This too will pass, however, as progress waits for no man, or record company, or set of copyright laws.
George Pepper
Re: “I guess it’s official”
WHERE’S OBAMA’S DICK MORRIS?
Any bets on who might end up being Obama's Dick Morris? Or is Obama's so isolated from comprehending where the political center is that he'll never think he needs a Dick Morris?
Clinton at least understood that he had to abandon the cadre of Hillaryite liberal advisors who led the Clintons down The Path To 1994 in order to save his skin in 1996. But that may have been because he made the same mistake during his first term as governor, and had already used Morris' triangulation strategy to pull his chestnuts out of the fire two years later. As both you and David Warren note, Obama's never had any contact until now with what it takes to get elected in a non-liberal part of the country, other than keep your head down, don't make waves and don't get out in front of any controversal issue. That may have made him non-threatening enough to win election, but like David Dinkins when he was elected mayor of New York in 1989 (based on the idea the city would become rainbows ad unicorns if it elected its first African-American mayor), the positives his personality provided during the campaign turn into negatives when he has to govern, and is shown to be a weak leader who simply goes along with the ideas of the special interest groups who elected him.
It's doubtful Obama has close ties to even a moderate Democrat consultant that might convince him not to just utter middle-of-the-road boilerplate in hopes of continuing to fool the swing voters, but actually doing something that angers his base (like Clinton signing welfare reform) and gives him at least a little bit of independence from the special interests. You'd think having been in the Clinton White House that Rahm Emanuel would at least grasp a little bit of that, but Rahm still seems to think he can campaign spin the opposition into submission, and that's preferrable than to actually having to chellenge Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the other liberal leaders in Congress (most of whom haven't changed since 1996, and who Bill Clinton had no qualms about throwing under the bus in 1996 if that's what it took to get
another four-year term).
Jon Fulbright
YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’
If you think watching the square -glasses crowd fall into despair over Dear Leader is stunning, take a look at the moonbat epicenter, Democratic Underground. Those poor bastards don't know what to do. Dear Leader has adopted the Bush policy in Iraq and wants upsize the war in Afghanistan. If that was not enough to drive them over the edge, they are watching in horror as one high preist after another declares their messiah a fraud. The Krugman stuff is really good.
I think it was Churchill who said "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing - after they try everything else." My reading is we have spent the last twenty years trying everything else. The jug-eared neophyte is the last shot at the fantasy option. Now that everyone is broke and pissed off, the time for indulging fantasy is over.
Too bad Ron Paul is a bazillion years old.
Z
CRUMMY RATINGS
If this show is in trouble, does that mean that the Obama presidency would be the first presidency cancelled due to crummy ratings? And what would be the mid-season replacement, the Joe Blowhard show? I mean, Milton Berle had more gravitas (love that Beltway word) than the current Vice President. And who would sponsor the Joe Blowhard show?
If we're lucky, the Dead Air presidency will only run until January, 2013.
Tim Saunders
Half Moon Bay, California
BUSHISMS ARE BACK
Slate's running of the Bushisms is even more interesting when you look at their archives. They stopped running them on January 20th - for pretty obvious reasons. And then didn't start running them again till March 19th. I can come up with about 20 different scenarios of why they did this, all of them having something to do with following Obama's lead in reving up the "Bush did it" chant to cover the slide we are taking into financial oblivion under this administration.
Darryl Boyd
Re: If only
MELLEN-CHOLY
"John Cougar Mellencamp blames Reagan for the collapse of the music biz:" Aw, cut the guy some slack, Mark. Between the stress of fulfilling the physical demands of supermodel wife #3 in her sexual prime , and the lingering effects of Pump Head from 1994's 'heart a-tack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack' tour; well, 'you oughta know by now': ...this level of incoherent guilt ridden whinging is par for the course, when sitting atop a Mellencamp Money Mountain.
Steven Kettering
RETROACTIVE ROCK
Well, Johnnie has convinced me of one thing. Namely, if there's anybody who truly deserves to be retroactively taxed at 90% it's....John Cougar Mellencamp.
Mark Jaeger
Lafayette, Indiana
GET A SHOW
I didn't realize President Reagan negotiated Cougar's contract. What a dumbass that THC saturated feline is.
BTW, Please x a trillion (a popular number these days) get a radio show. I was howling at your streams of conciousness today. Sending Hillary Clinton to Russia with a Staples “Easy Button.” Priceless.
Also, the analogy of Treasury buying up $1T of bonds was like you buying a million of your own books to become rich. I immediately thought of a Simpsons episode where Homer bought all of Marge's popsicle stick curios to make lots of money. Great, now we have Homer Simpson in the White House. DOH!
Dickie V.
Louisiana
HIS GREATEST HITS
In one sense, Mellencamp is doing what too many elderly pop singers are loathe to do - play their greatest hits. Mellencamp was taken seriously by the New York critics because his was considered to be an authentic, anti-Reagan voice from the heartland. "See it's not just Jackson Browne and Bono - this guy from Indiana agrees with us too", was the logic that got him on the cover of the Rolling Stone. So, talking about trickle down and Reagan is as natural for him as playing Hurt So Good or Cherry Bomb.
R YarbroughMUSIC BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE
I was amused by your posting on the plight of rock stars. Personally, there hasn't been an album produced in at least the last 15 years that I wanted to purchase. I always thought that it was the internet that destroyed the record store. People jeered groups like Metallica when they attempted to protect their copyrighted material. Getting free music was a way to stick it to the man. Now those crappy musicians no longer get to bury their one good song in an album of crap, and the end-user no longer needs to move the needle over it. Who would of thought that tough times for recording studios and record producers would "trickle down" to the artists? Music belongs to "the people" and not the artists. There is so much irony about keeping the fruits of one's labor and the collectivist tendency amongst artists. With the advent of the internet, every musician stands an equal chance of their song getting out there but without reward of album sales.
Adam Lysene
USS Ronald Reagan
REAGAN WAS A FAN
I'm sure you were pleased with yourself when you wrote that line about how if it were up to Reagan, John Cougar Mellencamp would be playing third ukulele for Guy Lombardo. You might want to do more research before coming up with your "clever" insult next time, though. Your description of Reagan's opinion of Mellencamp's music is on shaky ground.
In reality, if it had been up to Reagan, John Cougar Mellencamp's song would have been used for Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984. See here, and here.
"'Pink Houses,' its second single, reached Number 8 on Billboard's pop singles charts, and ultimately became an American anthem for the working class. Even though the song's underlying message says, “the American dream ain't all it's cracked up to be,” its catchy chorus got the attention of then-President Ronald Reagan, who wanted to use the song for his 1984 re-election campaign. Mellencamp, a life-long liberal, refused."
Joe Sill
FRUIT FOR THOUGHT
Q.Where do cantaloupes go for summer vacation?
A. They go to the John Cougar Melon Camp.
Loved ya on Rush today, as always.
Diane
(a gorgeous chick. Just so you know.)
COUGAR ATTACK
Well, not in the sense that he intends, Cougar is correct in blaming Reagan for the music biz collapse: it was the great technological innovations resulting from the boom that Reagan unleashed in the 80's that has changed how people acquire recordings. Perhaps there is a slender analogy with the Gutenberg press putting the calligraphering monks out of business.
Bill Dostalik
MORE SELECTIVE
I thought that article by John Cougarless Mellencamp was pretty funny when I read it this morning. I hadn't expected you to pick up on it, though.
The music business is changing. The traditional distribution apparatus, not so much. Some bands release their albums on USB thumb drives now. Some bypass the record companies.
It would seem that ol' Cougar's not content to make art in the back alleys, taverns or bars. As any Spinal Tap fan can explain, his appeal is not waning, it's just becoming more selective.
Mark Van Valkenburgh
HUFF PUFF
Could you please warn your readers when you have a link in one of your posts that takes one to the Huffington Post. That was scary!!!!
Brenda
Re: Stop the whining
A WHINE-FREE ZONE
One side effect of Obama's whining is a growing nostalgia for W.
My wife used to clench her fists and hiss "Bush!" whenever he came up in conversation. Now she gets a warm, far away look as she remembers a straight shooting, competent President who did what he thought was right and was not pushed about by public opinion like a feather in the wind.
M
Re: Stimulated right into being another Europe
A WRINKLE IN TIME
A visit to an "optional" beach in St. Martin a few years back brought new meaning to the lyric "hope I die before I get old".
You know what I mean!
Dick
ARAB GIRLS IN BIKINI
you never been to Marseille or côte d'azur, cuz you would not write falsh views, the arab girls are in bikini, they wear strings and show their breast, just what is still decent to do
you fancy us as Eurabia, I bet you'd like the idea to challenge your desert in mind
Marie Claude
MARK REPLIES: What desert do you have in mind?
EUROPE NOT SO BAD
Have you seen this bit of swill?
Tom McCobb
GET UP OFF THE SOFA, AMERICA
Love the characterizations of Europe in its reclining, declining years. I may have to disagree with the PM and Europeanization thesis. Doesn't this all look more like an attempt at Sovietization, under yet another rendition of a "Dear Leader". Europe sort of slid into socialism. There was "the War", and then its components were fed and digested separately. But then when it was done; they realized that they couldn't lift themselves from the sofa. So what the hell. Why not another order of wurst and cabbage, or pomme frites, mit schlag, and another week of vacation to eat it all? I fear something much darker is being foisted on us. His promise last July of "a national security force just as powerful, just as well equipped, just as well funded as our military", was clear evidence that he was not looking at the models of "old Gerhard or Jean-Claude" for inspiration.
No, he was thinking about the leadership of the former monastery student from Gori, Georgia. The man affectionately called Josif Vissarionovich by his terrified colleagues. Be certain of one thing. If Obama is re-elected, he will be in office for as long as his idol.
Jim McCaffrey
SHOCK THERAPY
In early 90th in Russia post-USSR collapse architects of Russian privatization program called it Shock Therapy. The idea was to privatize all national wealth by any means with the purpose to move behind of the point of no return as soon as possible and by any cost even if that would bring enormous suffering to Russian people.
The following is an excerpt from Wiki about Russian privatization program:
"Russian privatization was the reform consisting in privatization of state-owned industrial assets that took place in Russia in the 1990s, during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, where private ownership of enterprises had been illegal for a long time. The privatization enabled Russia to shift from the deteriorating Soviet planned economy towards market economy, but as a result a good deal of the national wealth fell into the hands of a relatively small group of so-called business oligarchs (tycoons), and the wealth gap increased dramatically. Many non-industrial assets, most notably, most of the social welfare and telecommunications, as well as strategic industrial assets, including much of the Russian military industry, were not privatized during the 1990s. The privatization of the 1990s is still a highly contentious and polarizing issue in the Russian society, stirring up strong sentiments among the population, including the widespread negative attitude towards Anatoly Chubais, one of the most instrumental figures of the reform, and even calls for its revision."
It appears that today's administration have exactly opposite goal but apply the same means. Sometimes they remind me doctor Evil from "Austin Powers" comedy sequel. Doctor Evil blackmailing US government demanding one million dollars. The amount is very small because doctor Evil was frozen for a few decades and was not aware of what money cost now. His assistant "Number 2" whispered behind his back that one million is too small amount to demand. Then doctor evil demanded trillion of trillions dollars. It is obvious that he does not understand the difference. Doesn't it remind you something.
Ilia Chekhter
Re: Human rights commissioner jailed
DOWN UNDER WITHOUT BLUNDER
Thanks to Mark for enlightening the whole world about Australia's signal triumph in busting our human rights commissioner Marcus Einfeld. Australia has shown world leadership by upending this latter-day Pharisee. What was the secret of our antipodean advance? (1) We gave him enough rope. (2) We made him obey his own rules. (3) We didn't let him use Zionism or global warming as a defence. (4) We didn't let the government bail him out. (5) We didn't believe he could be in two places at once - not even when we were told the science was settled.
David Elder
VANITY
Glad you picked up on Marcus Einfeld. While he never had the kind of power to punish or persecute that your HR commissioners have, he still made a career of self-righteously attacking John Howard. Einfeld was a textbook case of the hyper-egotist who needs an adoring audience, and finds that the surest and shortest way to get it is to present oneself as a champion of “human rights”. His vanity knew no bounds: right up to his final court appearance - literally in the car on the way to the court - he was giving a tv interview to the ABC. Tellingly, he referred to the public as his "audience" without any irony or selfconsciousness. In whatever forum he appeared, he was, like Norma Desmond, always ready for his close-up.
Gerard Hayes
Melbourne
HOWARD’S END
Hi from Brisbane Australia. I just wanted to thank you for your website and for standing strong on so many issues of importance. It does indeed seem to be a crazy world with the "socialist philosophy" taking over more and more in western countries. I am so depressed for Australia as we now have a PM in Kevin Rudd who is proving to be as reckless and "liberal" as the Obama administration. The great legacy of John Howard in economic and security stewardship is rapidly diminishing. And we have state governments run by dysfunctional Labour parties who are sending us massively in to debt!!
Well that is my rant for the day. I guess the problems are the same whether we live in Canada, UK, Australia or the USA. It seems the so called "moderates" of the US Democratic Party and the Australian Labour Party are now showing their true colours once in power and it will be interesting to see what the rest of the year brings. Can I move to New Zealand perhaps!!!
Keep up the good work and know that in this world we need people like you who speak up and stand against the onslaught of lies and propaganda that we get from the mainstream media.
Fra Power
MELBOURNISTAN
I love reading your articles on NRO and occasionally in The Australian. I only wish they weren't so profoundly accurate.
It seems Londonistan has a sister city: Melbournistan on the Yasser River. Here's why.
Leo Wassercug
Re: The brokest generation
PICKING UP THE CHECK
Loved your latest on the Obama generation's future indentured servitude. I especially loved the line about "When you come to take your seat at the American table (to use another phrase politicians are fond of), you'll find the geezers, boomers, and X-ers have all gone to the men's room, and you're the only one sitting there when the waiter presents the check." I'm afraid it's even worse than that; the geezers, boomers and X-ers have all dined out on Dom Perignon and Wagyu beef while you were late to the party, and because of the current administration's proposed new energy and environmental initiatives, the Brokest get to eat the new, eco-friendly organic carrots and tap water that are now on the menu. Cheers and keep up the great work you do.
LTC David Armstrong
U.S. Army
NO ONE CAN AFFORD A HOUSE
In the “ocregister” this past Friday you remark, "If you're an 18-year-old middle-class hopeychanger, look at the way your parents and grandparents live: It's not going to be like that for you. You're going to have a smaller house, and a smaller car – if not a basement flat and a bus ticket. You didn't get us into this catastrophe. But you're going to be stuck with the tab".
Why are you considerate of children but not of adults who also "didn't get us into this catastrophe"? Instead you caricature the latter as buying a condo they could not afford. Try as I might I cannot find a single well-known conservative commentator who has not either applauded or echoed Rick Santelli's, in my view, infamous generalisation of struggling home owners as "losers".
Throughout my lifetime I have never known anyone who could afford a house. All home owners I have known have had mortgages, and all of them would have expected to be able to sell if and when times got difficult. Since 2007, however, they would have not been able to do that. And on top of that, wages are down and unemployment is up. Did I miss the part where conservatives were warning that the mortgage industry was inherently flawed and that everyone should rent instead?
None of this justifies any part of the "stimulus bill", which should of course be examined on its own terms, but is all government spending inherently bad? Were tsunami victims "losers" because they picked the "wrong place to live"? Was it their responsibility to take out tsunami insurance? Perhaps the Iraqi people should have taken out dictatorship insurance? Should the American government not have helped in these places? And if it should, why not at home?
Kevin O'Neill,
London, England
Re: Rhetorical questions
A GOVERNMENT THAT HAS A NATION
"As President Reagan said, we are a nation that has a government, not the other way round. The nation pays for the government, not the other way round. I pay for Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd, not the other way round."
Dude, not any more. That was then.
This is now.
"As President Obama says, we are a government that has a nation, not the other way around. The government pays for the nation by borrowing money from hapless investors and communist dictatorships. When that runs out, we just prints more. Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd are paid using money they wheedle and extort out of taxpayers by force of law...or new laws crafted on the fly when the blood we get from squeezing you turnips starts to run out, as we saw this week. Congress and I promised bonuses to lure people out of retirement to run the company we ran into the ground we used to insure incomprehensible credit swap default portfolios, and once they joined up, we voted to "repatriate" the bonus money from them so we could spent it buying off some other sucker, suckers."
It is the Dawning of the Age of HopeChangyness...Age of HopyChangyneeeeEEEESSSS! HopeyChangynEEEEess.
Jesse Cole
Butte, Montana
Re: Educational experience
NOBODY CARES
I'm third-generation in education -- Grandpa was a high school principal, Dad served on the school board after retiring from teaching.
Newspaper reporters covering school board meetings? Maybe on three occasions:
1. Proposed increase to the mileage rate. Two residents show up to comment; both quoted in article. Nobody cares.
2. Accusations of "Sex Ed" come up. Minister and ten women show up to comment; minister and loudest woman quoted in article. Board covers up; nobody cares.
3. Petition circulated to fire football coach. School Board meeting moved to gym; fire marshal called because gym is not supposed to have more than 675 people in it. Front page headline with pictures.
Dave Taggart
Calhoun, Georgia
Re: The hopeychanger has a rough week ,
Grassley loses it and Your money or your life
WHAT PROFITS?
Hey Mr. Steyn,
The Geithner's WSJ article on his tax plan notes the following:
"Second, the Public-Private Investment Program will ensure that private-sector participants share the risks alongside the taxpayer, and that the taxpayer shares in the profits from these investments."
Since we taxpayers will be sharing in the profits from this Public-Private Investment program, what I want to know is: What are you going to do with YOUR share of these profits?
...is this guy serious? With the Trillions of deficits that are now cracking the foundation of the U.S. banking and financial systems with the sheer weight of the interest that will be piling-on for years to come, where is this "profit" going to go? Retention bonuses to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd?
Seriously. How do the financial "geniuses" think? Are our taxes going to go down? Energy prices? How will we taxpayers know when we've made a profit?
And finally: Will we have to pay taxes on it?
Dave
DON’T DEFEND AIG
Your defense of AIG, this morning, comes down to essentially saying that they are too big to fail…
(As a side note, when conservatives were attacking poor people because they weren't able to make their mortgage payments nobody seemed overly concerned about generating anger against those people. It is quite unbecoming to attack people who are weaker than you and defend those who are stronger.)
Instead of being concerned about the health of AIG conservatives need to be concerned that by defending these huge institutions they are making the case for increased government regulation. If AIG is too big to fail then the government should not allow AIG's to exist. To allow institutions which are too big to fail to exist is to implicitly agree to bail them out which, of course, encourages their employees to take greater risks than they would otherwise, particularly where their compensation is not determined by the profit to the company but by how many transactions they are able to close.
Greg Marquez
MARK REPLIES: I didn’t “defend” AIG. I’m defending the market, the law of contract, and centuries-old Common Law against bills of attainder. I think AIG should have been allowed to fail last fall. But once the US taxpayer (ie, me and, I assume, you) have been involuntarily invested in AIG, I don’t want our investment screwed up by a thug like Barney Frank. It’s not about weak people and strong people; it’s a preference for the moral consequences of the market over the whimsical tyranny of Frank.
SMALL-TALK WITH SUICIDE BOMBERS
Regarding President Obama's comparison of AIG executives to suicide bombers, many seem outraged about what that says about AIG executives. But the more revealing thing is what it says about President Obama's views about suicide bombers. His advice about how to deal with them? "You've got to kind of talk to them, ease that finger off the trigger." How often has that worked? This is one fellow I wouldn't hire as a security guard at an Israeli pizzeria.
Allan Golombek
OUT TO GRASSLEY
I love your writing, but your defending Grassley is too much. Clearly he was attacking the AIG execs. For myself, I would not mind seeing Grassley practice what he preaches for the damage he has wrought on our country with his insane ethanol program. He should be held accountable, for the lost money, the higher food prices, and the purse stupidity of it. Grassley is an asshole.
Kent Ramsay
Aurora, Ohio
DEMAGOGUERY
You're finding an awful lot between the lines of Grassley's statement.
What I heard was that he thinks many AIG employees would do well to kill themselves. He has raised the bar for demagoguery, and embarrassed any Republican notion to criticize the Democrats for their emotional and exaggerated rhetoric.
If the GOP doesn't lead in Washington, no one currently there will.
Gordon Aggress
NICE WORK
The AIG managers were bonus-bribed to stay on and dump as many toxics as possible. They got rid of about $1 trillion. That's a 6000:1 payoff for the bonuses. Think you (or anyone else) could have done better?
Brian Hall
INSANE
"Why should AIG bonuses be exempt from a federal cash-cow predicated on rewarding failure? As long as there's one last feedstore clerk somewhere in Idaho putting in an honest day's work we can all stick it to, who cares?"
Exactly. I don't agree with AIG handing out bonuses. But I could give two flying @#$#s about its symbolism. Of all the insane behavior of the past year, THIS is what gets everyone fired up? A tenth of one percent of our 170,000,000,000 bailout that rewards bad behavior is going to reward the bad behavior of specific individuals!
Not that! Oh glorious bipartisan outrage, do let thy spirit take us lest we tremble before thee!
Brian
THE LAST FEEDSTORE CLERK
I owned a feed store in Clinton MI. It went bankrupt in 2005, and I am working (and have been) as a project manager at jobs from Phoenix to New York. Your crack about the last feedstore clerk really hit home.
I owned the feedstore, mixed and bagged the feed, drove the truck, waited on customers and made sales calls. I worked my ass off, and loved the work, but there is just NO MONEY in selling feed, except for huge firms. If we are hoping for that last clerk (tongue in your cheek) it is going to be a hongry (sic) winter.
Brian Reilly
THE LAST FEEDSTORE CUSTOMER
"As long as there's one last feedstore clerk somewhere in Idaho putting in an honest day's work we can all stick it to, who cares?"
Dear Mark, As a horse-owning, feedstore patronizing Idaho resident, I care. But, sadly, I see your point.
No one can make me smile while at the same time give me cause for grave concern the way you can. I thank you for that!
Jim Brannon
Athol, Idaho
FEARS FOR THEIR SAFETY
My husband works with Jim's brother and received an email this morning telling him that Jim and his family had to leave their home and the state of Connecticut because of fears for their safety.
Mark, there is something wrong with a President who allows this but has time to fill at NCAA brackets and go on Leno and 60 minutes. I didn't vote for Obama but never dreamed he would be as incompetent as he has turned out to be.
Sorry Mr Brown couldn't watch those DVD's.
Risa
MADNESS
I know an AIG executive. I don't know if he received a bonus or not, but I know this. He worked like two dogs for that company. There aren't many people on earth willing to work as hard as he did. Yes, he's relatively wealthy, but he enjoys his life only because he is utterly disciplined, committed and tough. Most people, in my opinion, would have an emotional and physical breakdown if they attempted to do what
he does. This is madness.
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
WHITE-COLLAR FLIGHT
Every cloud has a silver lining. I can see the Obama Administration placing an increasing emphasis on immigration - stopping professionals from leaving the USA.
Dave Ward,
Reston, Virginia
THEY HAVE THE POWER
I don't really see what the big deal is. The government has had this power, and exercised it, since the 16th Amendment was ratified. Note that the top federal rate was 90% before JKF lowered it to 70%. It is also clear that the tax code allows the feds to segregate your income into whatever categories it wants and tax each category at a different rate.
But, if you keep complaining that this is unfair to the bonus babies, I'm sure Madam Speaker can rectify it - by taxing all our income at 90%.
Mark Lake
NO, SORRY
Taxing the bejeezus out of AIG bonuses is not a bill of attainder nor is it a violation of the ex post facto clause. Both of those clauses relate to criminal penalties levied without the benefit of trial, legislatively (against a specific person in the case of a bill of attainder, or a group of people in the case of an ex post facto law). Ex post facto only applies to criminal law. See Stoeger.
Congress has the power to tax income (much as I deplore it) under the 16th amendment. Congress also has the power to condition the receipt of federal funds on certain conditions. A 90% tax on those receiving bonuses who are making over $250K is entirely legitimate and constitutional. It's no more an abrogation of contract than the imposition of an income tax in the first place.
There's no goodness (social) or justice that comes from washing our hands of something that can be remedied, especially when we can make an example at the same time. I'll admit I'm not a pure free marketer by any stretch, but don't mangle the Constitution to support immoral economic behavior simply because it's part of the "market"
An ISI Honors Fellow
YES THEY CAN…
“the legally binding terms of contract between independent parties can be modified by a judge”
That's what judges do - and should do - and where it should be done. That's why they're called judges. When a contract can't be met, whether through fraud or unexpected circumstances, a judge needs to, well, adjudicate. NOT allowing judges to be part of the solution is what allows problems to cascade, and not coalesce.
Billy Harvey
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
I just heard the president say that these are not his contracts because he didn't draft them. But didn't he choose to buy the company who did make them? He put our money up to purchase those contracts as part of the AIG package. Why does he he think he bought the good parts of AIG and not the bad parts? Can you even do that? Isn't there an obligation of a person buying something to check it out, and once you buy it you take ownership? If he didn't want those contracts, he shouldn't have bought the company. If the company was so bad that it was not worth buying the answer should have been bankruptcy. But that's not what he thought. He thought it was a good purchase using our money. If you buy the company, you get all of it including the liabilities. Before you spend $150 billion you should do some research into what you are buying. If the $165 million was a deal breaker, the government should have just walked away. Maybe he doesn't like capitalism because he just doesn't get how it works.
Matthew Feist
GIVE IT BACK
So you're gonna confiscate all my bonus money, eh, by taxing it at 90%?
Fine. I'll just give it back to the company! Why give it to the government? Anybody thought of that?
Tim Crosby
THE LAST TAXPAYERS
I guess your friend Rob Long wasn't too far off in the latest news stand issue. Re-read his little Larry King "interview" from 2010 with the "Petersons," the only people left in America who are still paying their taxes and mortgage. Loved your last Happy Warrior piece, "US, eh?"
Vicky
NYC
Re: Environmental tip
A CUT ABOVE
Gosh Mark, I didn't realize that I had actually done something good for the environment. Maybe it was because I was just one day old.
Now I have a good retort for those in hybrids that give me the finger for driving my SUV - "HEY BUDDY - at least I'm circumcised - How about YOU?!"
If you see a car decal to tout this moral high ground on which I sit, please let me know!
Robert McLeod
Re: Special Olympschtick
NOT SERIOUS
Caught a clip of the president's strange Leno bit. Looked like some "Surreality Show". The man seems completely detached from the giant challenges of the job. I couldn't believe my hearing-aid as I listened to him feeling oh so bad about all the tough stuff poor Tim Geithner has on "his" plate- AIG, the bank problems, the auto-industry problems, and so on. Yep, he seemed to feel terrible about poor Tim burning the midnight ethanol workin' on all that stuff , while he's yukkin' it up with Jay ..the message being, we suppose,..."Tough for Tim...but, hey...I WON" . It's Tim's problem, folks. (Make that problems. Plural) .
This is a very bizarre attitude for a president to have. Almost scary to be witnessing. Geez, just two weeks into his presidency he explained to a class of grade-schoolers, he " was glad to get away from the White House for a while". Hey, even we adults like to play hooky once in a while, no? (Tiny Tim's takin' notes for him, so no problem).
This president gives every indication that he hates the job, except for the celebrity aspects of it. This is not a serious man. Never has been. Bet he'll be crooning this to his beloved any day now:
Let's take a trip to Los Ang'les
No need to come back till fall.
Let's leave the 'prompter..
With Rahmie or Geithner'
Let's get away from it all.
John Gross
Quebec
OOPS
And how revealing is it, too, that Olbermann then begins to ask Ferguson, "What should we do..." only to correct himself and say, "What should he do about that?"
Whoops.
Kevin Ginter
Hull, Quebec
OFFICIALLY STUPIDER
Everyone on your site is officially stupider for reading this post. It is stupider then anything Lopez has ever posted including her douche chill inducing Palin posts of last year, which is a feat I once thought
unattainable. I, personally, vomited twice in my wastebasket, and must now spend my own money tipping the cleaning people due to your breathtaking stupidity. I am outraged that you receive a paycheck and
probably a tax return from this nation, and have alerted Sen. Grassley to begin publicly saying that you should kill yourself. I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul.
Ben
p.s. even if you yourself are in the Special Olympics it does excuse the alarming, breathtakingly, un-hesitatingly, unfathomable, god-awful, stomach churning stupidity of this post. I fear for our nation after reading this post and am considering it the watershed moment that the downfall of this planet truly began.
CLASS WILL OUT
Mark, I wonder how David Axelrod feels about this little "gaffe," since David has a special needs daughter himself. I know this because she resides at the same residential facility as my child in Chicago. Axelrod is, of course, the DARLING of this well-known residential facility, having already given a speech to the fawning parents’ organization last month as Obama's point man.
This particular facility is also the darling of the Daley crowd, since the Daley son resided there when he died as an infant. It is, to me, a perfect microcosm of the Illinois Irish Catholic/ political machine.
Anyway, I'd say Barry owes a Big One to David for this little "slip". What a preening, pretentious pig. Watch him bend over now and pretend to LOVE all retarded (oh, excuse me, "autistic") people. Probably have one or two to the WH for a few frames of bowling, some pizza, and a lot of pictures. People like this, who get caught ridiculing the less pretty and appealing disabled people in the world make me sick. It's worse than racism. Class will out.
End Rant. Thanks.
An Illinois Mom
P.S. "Retard joke" is a bit strong..."retarded" is nicer. What a bad word. That's why "autism" is so big....how long has it been since you've heard an A-list, cool person say "my child is mentally retarded"? 4-5 years now, right? Anyway, perhaps you should have more aptly termed it the "first retarded President's joke" :)
Re: Be kind, rewind
IT’S A FAIR CROP
As you know, Nowruz is celebrated in many countries, not just Iran. The White House produced two versions of the message, viewable on this WH website.
The generic version is a wider shot showing an American flag in the background. The version with Farsi subtitles, obviously intended for viewing in Iran, is cropped tighter, thus excluding the flag.
I've written about it here
Mark Finkelstein
Ithaca, New York
Re: Regional Power
SCUMBAG
I'll bet you're a fan of Kingsley Amis, but not Martin. So I guess there's no point in my bringing up M.A.'s riff in "Money" about thinking that "scumbag" was just a figure of speech, then finding out that it really wasn't. But I gather you get the gist. You scumbag.
Glenn Kenny
glennkenny@mac.com
MARK REPLIES: Actually, you'd be surprised by how much Martin and I are on the same page these days. He was denounced in The Independent last year as a "Steyn-hugger". Two scum in one bag, if you ask me.
Re: Cartoon Hyperbole
THE HOUSEHOLD GOES TO HELL
Thank you, Mark! I have been saying this about health care for years. Take the United States out of the equation and most of these countries would be 20 to 30 years behind in their health care technology and cost. Do we really want the same health care we had 20 or 30 years ago? Even the disenfranchised have access to health care today that was unthinkable back then. It is the parent/child relationship. The only reason that the child can sit around and play video games all day is because there is an adult in the house who takes on all of the responsibility. When the adult begins to act like the child, the whole household goes to hell.
Tom
Re: The Rush Limbaugh show
MOO POO
With regard to your comments on the Rush show about cow flatulence: There's good news.
A small company in Northwestern Nebraska is working on a system that will re-cycle the methane produced. The cows must be kept in an enclosed building 24/7. Huge fans at the top of the barn draw the gas into refining equipment. The gas is then piped into tanks, which can be sold to the government to help satisfy the energy needs of this country. Thus, instead of the poor farmer having to pay confiscatory taxes, he can actually make a profit.
Wayne Keller
Cincinnati
MARK SWINE AND HOG LIMBAUGH
Dear Mark Swine
You decided to be associated with Hog Limbaugh. Both of you have same roots deeply submerged in manure of own making. It take the Clear Channel Hatequarter to spread racism and emit the hatentertainment sludge you produce while gorging racist vomit. I understand you were raised on Republican Terrorist Farm and schooled in the Ku Klux Fax Camps to have strong ideological odor.. The only Cuban Republican Communist, the Castro bastard child could be your soul-mate and brother who enjoy smell of swine.
Ben York
INCISIVE ANALYSIS
It's a great country when a dumb-fuck like you can get a gig on Limpball's rant-fest, huh, skid-mark? I am just amazed that morons like you, Limpballs and Little Seanie Vanity actually get paid for your vapid commentary and juvenile pissing and moaning.
Your 15 minutes of fame is now up. Please pack up your family and go back to Canada. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, pant-load.
boshes67266@mypacks.net
INCREDULOUS
I enjoy your tone of incredulous amusement. That's how I'm getting though this too.
Next time you're on, could you say "Judy, Judy, Judy"?
Jim Treacher
LIVING THE BELGIAN DREAM
Oh, you are so funny, Mr. Steyn!
And your listeners are even more funny, comparing Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Bismarck, and others!! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!
You know, I voted for Obama, and knowing what I know now, I would still vote for him. Having said that, yes, I am concerned about the amount of money that is being spent. But, to compare him with murderous dictators like Hitler and Stalin is beyond the pale. It's just ignorant, stupid, and causing more division in this country.
About your Belgian dream comments, I think I read somewhere that you might have once lived in Belgium. If true, perhaps you have more insight than I do.
But, I lived in The Netherlands for 4 years. The apartment I lived in was nicer, had more room, and was less expensive than the apartment I had been living in Chicago before I moved to Europe. The neighborhood was not the nicest, but it was safe..and the neighborhood I lived in Chicago wasn't much of a neighborhood either. A good American friend of mine worked in Brussels at the time I lived and worked in The Hague. She had a very nice 2 story apartment. I would love to have lived there. She, her husband, and two kids now own their very nice 3 story home in The Hague. It's a couple of hundred years old...lots of charm. No yard to speak of, but she loves it; I would love to live there. If I understand it correctly, they did not have to put up any kind of a down payment for their home..apparently that's the way it is in The Netherlands.
I have a good Belgian friend who bought a very nice two story home in Brugge. It's 360+ years old and almost right in the middle of the old town. It has a very small yard, but I would love to live there. I don't need a big yard. It's quite an incredible house with lots and lots of charm.
I have a very good Belgian friend who bought a very nice, large home in Denderleeuw. It's "out in the country," and he has a large yard. If I were the type to prefer living in the country rather than in a big city, I would love to live in his home.
So, in other words, I think you are full of it when you say there is no "Belgian dream."
I'm just sick of hearing right wingers like you, Limbaugh, Beck, and others claiming we are headed towards Communism, Marxism, and totalitarianism. You are just stirring up the masses with your gibberish.
R
Clayton, Missouri
LOCKED IN
You left out one major factor in the auto unions. Over the years the federal government hasn`t allowed the automakers to stem the union contracts by allowing the locking out of the workers when they go out on strike, thus the unions haven`t had a reason to come their senses.
Right now, today, it`s the auto workers who aren`t doing the necessary things like eliminating or even lowering to a manageable level the cost of retirement that are destroying the competitive ability of gm, ford and chrysler. when unions protect mediocrity they are losing better pay for the able worker.
djs
Re: Song of the Week
BOOGIE WOOGIE
"Celery Stalks at Midnight!" Can't believe how long since I saw that title, much less heard the music!
Thanks a million for your article on Buck Privates, the Andrews Sisters, and THE SONG! I never knew these things about the author, and I appreciate knowing them.
I saw Buck Privates when I was six and my father was in the army at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio. We were Army all the way until 1945. Thanks again.
Betty Wilson
SMOKIN’
For sure when you start on the Jobim songbook, I want to be there!!! I'm sure Astrud Gilberto would be proud!!!
Tall and tan and young and smoking
Obama's a socialist, and I'm not joking,
But when the teleprompter gets going,
The press are almost choking with awe
Joe H.
Malvern, Pennsylvania
Re: Healing the planet
FRUSTRATING
You wrote:
I was hoping they'd misspelt it as 'Lulu'. And given him the DVD of To Sir With Love. Dubbed into Spanish."
Of course they would have, since Brazilians speak Portuguese. But I'm sure you knew that.
Keep up the good work,
Sean
MARK REPLIES: Er, that's the joke. Honestly, the Internet is a very frustrating thing sometimes.
GOT IT
I got the joke.
Brad Beall
Springfield, Missouri
VOTING PRESENT
Best I can tell, Prompter Man has a great scam going. By letting Congress essentially do their own thing (that he actually loves), they get the bulk of the blame while he continues to ride the Hope & Change wagon. Think about it -- Obama is effectively voting "present" like he always has, yet gets the credit in the minds of his followers for all of the "good" stuff that they believe he is spreading.
Ed Buzzi
Wequetequock, Connecticut
SOVIET JOKE
Reminds me of the old Soviet joke:
Brezhnev instructs his clever assistant to write him a ten minute speech. "Remember, just ten minutes," he admonishes. After returning, Brezhnev is furious and berates the assistant mercilessly. "You fool, I told you to write me a ten minute speech but it took twenty minutes to deliver. The assistant replies: "But comrade general secretary I gave you two copies.
Noel Pixley
BRAIN STRAIN
Ever since the election, I've called The One, "Pinky." It's been the subject of some debate around here just who The Brain might be -- Hillary? Biden? Pelosi? Frightening choices all. I think you've revealed the truth. It's been the teleprompter all along. I'll breathe a little easier now knowing that.
Pam Racette
New Boston, Missouri
BLOWN AWAY
This whole “teleprompter as president” thing reminds me of Garry Trudeau's cartoon image of Vice President Quayle as a feather. I don't imagine Mr. Jane Pauley would want to risk being disinvited to
cocktail parties in the Hamptons by cartooning President Obama as a teleprompter... but it would be funny. (Does Doonesbury even exist anymore? I stopped looking for it 25 years ago)
Leta Hix
Re: The stories we tell
FLIP SIDE
I loved your missive today, "The Stories We Tell". And I was wondered if it is possible to weave into it the death by tasering of that poor Polish fellow by the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport last year. Because it occurs to me that the rush to taser (again and again and again) is at the same time the flip side and the same thing as the RCMP's failure to act in the bus beheading incident. I listened to the officers involved testify, one by one, that they "feared for their safety" - and that's why the guy was on the floor 30 seconds after they first set eyes on him (he was armed with a stapler, after all) and dead less than 5 minutes later. I'm sure you could do better with this than I have, but I guess I'm saying that what I see in the Vancouver incident is much the same - cowardice and callousness, although perhaps in Vancouver laced with a strong dose of laziness as well. Can't remember how long it's been since I was proud of the Mounties.
Laura Finsten
NOT FUNNY
Dear Mr. Steyn, your article entitled, THE STORIES WE TELL , was chilling. I notice it lacked much of your trademark humor as well it should have. There is nothing funny in the emasculated men in Canada which is also a trend in the USA. If there is no physical courage among our men in the face of danger? Do we not abdicate our responsibility as free citizens to deterimine our own destiny when we refuse to defend ourselves? My father was a Special Forces Officer in the Vietnam "Conflict." When he retired here in Fayetteville, NC, he would always awake immediately when I came home late as
a teenager, no matter how sleuth I tried to be. I hated that because I always had to be ready for a forceful interrogation as to my night's activities. The idea of any one breaking into our house with any intent of harm was laughable. I pitied the poor guy who ever tried. In fact it was a running joke with my high school buddies, whose fathers were mostly retired Special Forces, about any attempt to burglarize any of our houses. I never feared any criminal or bad guy more than I feared my father"s wrath. Of course none of our houses were ever robbed or invaded. These were men whose physical bravery and abiltiy to defend themselves under any stressful event were never doubted by anyone who knew them, and the personal safety of any of their family was never an issue.
Alex Hoadley
Re: Man-caused disaster
OH MAN
Will Virginia have to change its license plate from Fight Terrorism to "Fight Man-Caused Disaster?"
Nick Baker
Herndon, Virginia
UNFAIR TO WOMEN
Shouldn't that be "person-caused" disasters?
Frank Ray
PARTY ON
The first "man-caused disaster" was the election this past November. Each day of the glorious reign of our Dear Leader brings a new fresh hell. Yesterday it was disarming the pilots. Tomorrow? Giving North Korea and Iran nuclear information, or appointing Chavez as a Latin America czar. The sky is the limit on Air Force One. Party on!
Has there been a study yet on an increase in the purchase of alcohol since November 5th? Perhaps that would be a safe stock to buy these days (vodka and gin?). Cheers!
Crazy Guggenheim
WAR ON THE SPECIFIC
I’ve seen this scam work the other way, too: using “humanity” in place of naming a specifically persecuted group—Jews in WW2, e.g. The play “Diary of Ann Frank” employs it. It universalizes the sense of suffering (which is a benign goal) but also has the sinister effect of obscuring the motives for the targeted persecution—as if the fact of her Jewishness had nothing to do with Ann being hunted by the Nazis.
Chris Zakian
New York, New York
GET A LOOK AT THIS BOONDOGGLE
Some punk writer actually used the words "Baby Boomers" in a bill submitted to the
United States Congress.
L Weaton
LEGISLATING VOLUNTEERISM
Are you aware that the House this week passed a bill, HF 1388, called the GIVE Act that is supposedly focused on expanding volunteerism in the US. Here is the Fox story.
It seems to me something you may be interested in; because of the troublesome elements related to studies of mandatory service requirements, uniforms, $6 billion in spending, etc, etc. Not much has been written about it yet -- and, well, it seems that light should be shined on what would - or could - be a lot more damaging than even bailouts and stimulus packages.
Laffer Curve
INSANITY BYPRODUCTS
Please tell me I'm not the first one to send you this!
Recession Byproduct--A Cut In Emissions
But low level may hurt cap and trade program
Boston Globe, today, above fold p1
How about:
Plague Byproduct--Gratifying Drop in Excess Population
But Movie Ticket Dip may cost Hollywood dearly
Can we have a contest-? Mine's pretty weak.
Alex Vuckovic, MD
THANKING OBAMA
Sometimes, you just have to wonder about people. Presenting the "I Thank Obama" site.
Ilion Troas
THE MAILBOX EDITOR WRITES: But scroll down to the comments.
BASEBALL BOOS
Though I don't know if you're a baseball fan, I thought you would find this interesting. I'm sitting here watching Venezuela play Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic on ESPN. When Magglio Ordonez, the Venezuelan big-leager, came to bat, he was greeted with loud boos from both Puerto Rico AND Venezuela fans. The announcers noted that Magglio Ordonez has been an outspoken supporter of Hugo Chavez, even appearing in Chavez campaign ads back in Venezuela. Anyway, it was nice to see public expression of a political position I can agree with for a change.
Here's the AP writeup.
Lawrence Borchardt
LAST WORD
We once had a social engineering, rock star media darling leading our country. Look at the debt that Trudeau ran up. We are still paying for the hangover of that love fest. The Americans unfortunately seemed to fallen for the same.
Norman
Calgary
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