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Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from the Canada, America, Britain and Japan. Mark reads all the letters, but especially enjoys the vicious ones. Drop a line to Mark's Mailbox and if you're chosen to be the one and only Letter of the Week you'll join our roll of winners from four Continents and receive a copy of Mark Steyn "From Head To Toe". It would help if you could indicate your city or town, or, at least, your state, province or country. Failing that, your continent or hemisphere would do.
Letter of the Week
IT'S NOT HAPPENING
I read a post of yours on the Corner about a philosopher who advanced this theory of Simulacrums. The topic was on the first Iraq Invasion. If you have a second could you fire off his name?
Ever thought of doing a column on Frank Zappa?
Mathew Koukounakis
Hamilton, Ontario
MARK REPLIES: It was Jean Baudrillard, the late French postmodern social theorist, if you'll forgive the expression. M. Baudrillard was celebrated for the theory that man today can no longer distinguish reality. He exists instead in a hyper-reality of “simulacra” created by the media. The apotheosis of this theory was a book he wrote called The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. Instead, he claimed, a simulacrum of a war had been staged on CNN. The “allies” were not waging war but merely dropping 10,000 tonnes of ordnance a day as a simulacrum. And Saddam was also engaged in a simulacrum: inverting the American model, he offered up large numbers of his own eminently disposable citizenry in sacrifice to the non-war, but kept all the stuff he would have used in a real war – his air force, for example – safely out of sight and hidden away. The two sides rarely engaged and, as Baudrillard saw it, in the end the winners had not in fact won because the defeated party had not in fact been defeated. On the latter point he was more correct than most military analysts.
Re: Ahmedinajad sees the sights
LOOSE CANNON
Much talk today about Lee Bollinger - hero for excoriating Ahmadinejad? Or goat for
inviting him in the first place?
The right perspective is the tale from the Napoleonic wars. A young naval officer failed to secure a gun properly. The loose cannon killed several and injured many others, until the young officer--with great bravery - got control. He was awarded a medal for his courage, and then hung for the dereliction.
Robert Arvanitis
Westport, Connecticut
HOSTAGE TAKER
Wouldn't it be a fun (and ironic) idea to take the president of Iran hostage? After all, he is one of the Alumni, I believe, of the Shah's hostage takers. It would be amusing. It would also kind of be an act of war, or close enough. One wonders just WHAT sort of reaction there would be from the other thug-states that are friendly to this man & what he says. Would they have the nerve to declare war? I think not.
Maybe they would take their case to the U.N. That would be another comedy in itself. Anyway..... ain't it a lucky thing that my momentary amusing fantasies are not translated into realities? Or is it?
Glen Hoban
Winnipeg, Manitoba
PRESIDENT IMPERFECT
I have to admit I'm shocked by the amount of anti-Ahmadinejad fury that has struck Left Wing New York during his visit the past few days. I would have expected him to be joyfully embraced, especially by Columbia U's academics. Even the media is creating him into a caricature in the same vein they do with George Bush. What's happening? Has the world gone mad?? Just when I was getting used to the idea that anyone who is anti-American is a hero, they are going ahead and changing the game plan - again! I wish the Left would stay consistent.
Mario
Chicago
A JEWISH MOMENT
Scott Adams was my favorite cartoonist. In a class by himself. He's the only guy in the strips I ever bother to look at. Funny, funny, funny. Sometimes it's a cliché to say that such people only hurt themselves when they engage in behavior like sneering about Holocaust denial or Israel, because often in fact they do succeed in hurting others, but in this case, Scott added nothing to the debate, committed no offense that hasn't been committed a million times before, insulted no one in any way that they hadn't already been insulted before, and just demonstrated that he's as
lamentably bad as a writer as he is skilled as a cartoonist. I hope he derives some satisfaction out of alienating millions of his fans, because the loss of all that revenue to go to the ramparts for...Achmadinajad? is an act of stupidity worthy of the Pointy Haired Boss. I can't imagine in the future I'll ever feel I'm laughing along with Scott Adams.
ah, the internet...the internet
Ezra Marsh
Baltimore
GOODBYE SUMMERS, HELLO MIDGET HITLER
The University of California Board of Regents rescinded an invitation for former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers to speak at a private dinner after faculty members protested. Summers had offended female academics with his 2005 comments on the dearth of women in math and science careers.
Columbia University invites the midget Hitler from Iran to speak.
Am I missing something here ?
Errol Phillips
An Independent Jewish Conservative
BEYOND THE PALE
At Columbia University free speech seems to mean the obligation to provide a venue and megaphone. Consequently, Columbia had no option but to provide a propaganda event for Ahmadinejad. How odd then that, following the protests of professors, Larry Summers was disinvited from addressing the University of California Board of Regent's meeting. Apparently Mr. Summer's expressed query about the possibility of some male/female differences being genetic is too dangerous for free speech while Mr. Ahmadinejad's support of terror, genocide, killing of homosexuals, etc. is not beyond the pale.
Frank Howard (proud parent of a recent Columbia College graduate)
START EMBOSSING THE INVITE
Pol Pot's number two has been arrested in Cambodia, do you think they could let him out on bail long enough for him to speak at Columbia University?
Also thanks for your response to the show of ignorance about the Commonwealth and Irish soldiers.
Ernest Wood
A BIG REACTION
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to speak at Columbia University. Maybe I missed it, but I have not seen anyone mention that Columbia University, located in New York City, has a nuclear reactor. Apparently, it was built in the '60s but community opposition blocked it from fueled and operated.
From Columbia's website:
"In New York City there remains a nuclear reactor facility. It is still standing; its metal parts are aging and collecting rust. It serves as a reminder of another era when scientific dreams were placed on hold because of the social and financial realities of the time."
Is Ahmadinejad planning to use Columbia University to argue that Americans are holding back progress in nuclear technology?
Thanks. Big fan of NRO.
Joshua Perry
Houston, Texas
DE-CLAWED
How supremely ironic is it, in light of Columbia's disgusting behavior on this, that the University nickname is the Lions?....that has to be the ultimate political oxymoron
Robbins Mitchell
Houston,Texas
GREAT DICTATORS
The university has a long and disgraceful history of this sort of thing. When I was an undergraduate there, the invited and lionized Fidel Castro.
Bruce Goldman
Richmond, Virginia
WITH APOLOGIES TO STING
I greatly appreciated your rendition of Copacabana.
In case you're thinking of putting together an album, here's another song you might want to consider.
Scott Smith
"Ahmedinejad In New York"
I don't drink coffee I take chai my dear
I am the toast of the West Side
And you can hear it in my accent when I talk
Ahmedinejad in New York
I was invited to Columbia
Where they gave me a chance to spew
The usual rants I have been famous for
About my plans to kill the jews
I'm Iranian, I want a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
I'm an alien, I wan’t a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said
In Iran at least the men aren’t gay
It takes a man to hang the lot and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
I'm Iranian, I want a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
I'm an alien, I want a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
Modesty, propriety should lead to strict piety
Don’t try to show an ankle bone
Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society
Not like Iran where you would get stoned
Takes more than combat gear to make a man
Takes more than a license for a gun
To destroy the jews, it takes a nuclear bomb
That’s why I’m looking for uranium
If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said
In Iran at least the men aren’t gay
It takes a man to hang the lot and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
I'm Iranian, I want a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
I'm an alien, I wan’t a bit of uranium
Ahmedinejad in New York
TISSUE TIGER
Yes! F-I-N-A-L-L-Y. Should have already happened (~2003)!
Better that Iran's nuke sites are craters instead so that no Iranian government/quasi-government can utilize them - ever.
No point in being a “hyperpower” (a super-duper-power) unless one uses it while one can. The U.S. gathers and itemizes its weapons nicely, but has an over-abundance of timidity/ caution/ inertia/indifference.
Sadly, the U.S. is not even a paper tiger.
Pat T Re: Nurse Hillary’s spoonful of sugar
HANDS-ON HEALTH CARE
Fear of socialized medicine should go well beyond waiting in line for mediocre care: the larger the government’s role in providing hands-on health care, the larger its role in telling us how to live our lives. The Hillary Clinton Health Institute in DC won’t house research scientists or pharmacologists; it will be full of ivy-league econometrists and lawyers crafting regulations needed to keep the health care fund in the black. No more 50+ mph hour cars, shoe heels no higher than 1.875 inches (unless the ratio of height to base area is greater than 13), all public floors to be rubber matted, mandatory (fill in the blank), etc, etc, with large, centralized
locations to keep costs down. And you can bet that no senator’s family member (or campaign contributor?) will be subjected to the inconvenience of traveling to the Robert Byrd MRI Facility in Martinsburg, WV or the Arlen Specter Cancer Center in Lancaster, PA….the Very Special People will always get Very Special Treatment.
Kevin
Virginia
SUVS ARE NEXT
Enjoyed your take on America's medically uninsured in your column entitled "Bend over for Nurse Hillary". I especially liked the line: "Unlike her old health care plan, which took longer to read than most cancers take to kill you, this one's instant and painless - just a spoonful of government sugar to help the medicine go down."
However, it is on the following close of your column that I would like to take up the banner: "Oh, don't worry, you're still fully competent to make decisions on what car you drive and what movie you want to rent at Blockbuster. For the moment."
Because of pseudo-anthromorphic global warming the lefties have already started to work on what kind of car is socially acceptable. In a Toronto Globe & Mail commentary an aspiring progressive activist proudly proclaimed "We got you on tobacco and your SUV's are next." She is not wrong. There are strong parallels to tobacco in the global warming debate.
With tobacco there is no link with cancer just a correlation between smoking and a greater likelihood of cancer. Because of this tenuous link the tobacco companies got sued for billions of dollars. In Canada because of socialized medicine it was argued that the social cost of smoking was too high for society to bear. Therefore tobacco smokers were demonized, ostracized and
taxed to the nines with the consent of the socially engineered public opinion. Funny how all this societal pressure did not lower the cost of our Canadian socialized medicine one dime nor increase its effectiveness one iota. In the hands of the State socialized medicine becomes just another excuse for telling us how we should live our lives.
The link between global warming and carbon dioxide is even more tenuous than tobacco. Higher carbon dioxide levels do not equate to warmer temperatures in Earth's past, present and most likely the future except in some computer programs if you fund the right research and plug in the right algorithms. Yet like the tobacco issue the lack of scientific proof has not stopped Attorney General Jerry Brown of California from successfully suing various counties for not sufficiently kowtowing to Mother Gaia (Al Gore or Arnie?) and global warming.
It appears our governments, our justice system and our litigation lawyers are just starting to warm up to the new cause celebre of global warming. What kind of cars we drive, how we heat our homes, and what we eat are next on the menu of the social engineers.
Grayme
Smokeless in Sudbury in the Dominatrix of Canada
SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR BITS
We in the UK have a National Health Service - now there is a suggestion from the Government that we have a National Body Service - they intend nationalising every body so that when you die they can help themselves to any bits of you they fancy. At present you can opt in to an Organ Donor Scheme - soon you will have to opt out! Don't tell Hillary!
Great reporting on the Black mistrial
John Griffin
Hereford, England
FREEDOM VS SECURITY
In your 9/27/07 column, you said:
"A year ago, I wrote that "the story of the western world since 1945 is that, invited to choose between freedom and government 'security,' large numbers of people vote to dump freedom - the freedom to make your own decisions about health care, education, property rights, seat belts and a ton of other stuff."
That rang true at first, but then it occurred to me that those decisions were made not by the people, but rather by their elected representatives -- i.e., the government itself. In America, there is a great deal of direct democracy in the form of referenda and initiatives and the like, so there's an interesting research paper waiting to be written about how the people themselves come down
on freedom-vs-security when they are given the choice.
D j Quigley
JUST WAIT
Mark, great column. What's coming is the ultimate vehicle for big government control. If you control people's health, to a great degree you control their behavior--because any behavior that is detrimental to the health of the citizen is detrimental to the greater social good. Socialism anyone?
But the real big kahuna is mental health care. Close your eyes and imagine the hate speech codes that are now becoming law with the big government definition and management of mental health and what do you get? Lots of politically correct retraining, loads of "tolerance" education, and boatloads of psychiatric drugs to handle those who just can't get with the politically correct, multicultural program. Think it can't happen? Just wait.
John Hursh
Weston Connecticut
NURSE HILLARY RATCHED
Some weeks back I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time in many years. I was struck by the eerie resemblance between Louise Fletcher's Mildred Ratched and Hillary R. Clinton. They both sport those reprimanding eyes, authoritarian and shall we say 'wide' faces, cheeks and pursed lips that look as though they are holding back a mouthful of trained piranha ready to spew on anyone who displeases them. Personality wise the similarities are even more striking; a need for control, a revenge reflex for even the smallest of slights, backhanded
dismissal of dissenting views, yikes! Now that Ms. Clinton has rolled out her "Son Of Harry and Louise" sequel the parallels are downright frightening.
You might want to check the movie out for Halloween if you dare. Surely I'm not the first one to notice this. Where oh where is Chief Bromden when we need him?
Kevin Brannon
Austin, Texas
Re: Gun Smoke
VIRTUAL POLICING
We English are the first to acknowledge the honourable tradition of the gifted amateur. But when it comes to crime prevention, it is best to leave these matters to the professionals.
Only last week, the annual conference of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales debated the matter of the "New Normality". That is the professional approach.
The conference was attended by our new Home Secretary, Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, who
promised that: "For the future, exciting ideas for the use of ... virtual courts show how we can push the boundaries of 21st century crime fighting even further" ].
Virtual justice. That is the "new normality". It's all part of what our new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, calls the "new politics", following our previous Prime Minister's identification of the "new world" we live in.
Mellifluous prose, Mr Steyn, but there is no substitute for the experience of the virtual policeman, browsing the mean streets of the new world, pushing the boundaries of the 21st century world.
David Moss
London, United Kingdom
Re: I gave at the office
WHITER THAN WHITE LAUNDERING
Hillary's good at money-laundering, and she's been doing it for a long time. The latest example is, "But the 37-year-old Mrs. Layton says she and her husband were reimbursed by her husband's boss for the donations." That reminds me of her earliest-reported money-laundering scheme, which worked like this:
“For example, it is absolutely legal for a dealer in the financial futures market to hold two contracts for subsequent offset. By assigning trading gains and losses to two different accounts, one 'regular' and the other to receive the laundered funds, the dealer can put through a laundering operation on the loss account without breaking the law.”
(I'm not sure that would be legal in this country -- only untraceable.) That quote comes from the "Observer," a publication of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. They have an article on the problem of money-laundering world-wide, which points out,
“It was not until the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was set up by the G7 in 1989 that co-ordinated action really began to be developed. One of the first tasks of this body . . . was to spell out a number of measures that national governments should take to combat money laundering.”
Maybe we should report Hillary to the FATF, since we can't seem to get Democrats or the major media to take any interest in her depradations. No matter what criminalities and treasons the Clintons have committed, including selling missile-guidance technology to China, their acolytes continue to defend them. They put their party above their country, not to mention elemental justice.
Larry Eubank
ELECTION LAW, WHAT A BORE
If true, having someone donate money given by another is illegal! It violates election laws in the USA, and EVERYONE can be prosecuted.
Ken Price
Greenville, South Carolina
IF THE HSU FITS
Is it unfair to question Ms. Clinton on her (and her husband's) history of shady campaign practices dating all the way back to the Charlie Trie episode? Of course not! As they say, if the Hsu fits . . .
Hillary campaign staffers hope to make through this week without the other Hsu dropping.
Observers wonder whether the HRC campaign had anything to do with Hsu's initial isappearance once news stories broke concerning his donations to the Hillary 08 campaign and a pending warrant for his arrest. In other words, did the campaign tell him "Hsu, fly!. . . Hsu, fly!" or words to that effect.
There was an old woman . . . (as in "who lived in a shoe")
There was an old woman,
Who took bundled money from Hsu;
She had so many such donations,
She didn't know what to do.
She gave it all back,
With this caveat:
“Return it unbundled,
And, we'll never get caught”
Bart Harmon
Montgomery, Alabama
P.S. All original, all the time
EYE-POPPING
The Clinton fundraising is more than eye-popping is it not?? Isn't that type of thing illegal??
Michael Danowski
Cary, North Carolina
AWKWARD JUXTAPOSITION
I never like seeing the words "intimate" and "Clinton" used in the same sentence.
Jim Rudolph
Boise, Idaho
Re: Looking for love in all the wrong places
LET BOYS BE MALE
The politically purposeful emasculation of boys
I live in Colorado and so I was acutely aware of the… massacre at Columbine High School. Shortly after that event I received a letter from an old friend in Massachusetts who in reaction to Columbine… said she was going to get involved with gun control efforts… .
I wrote her a long letter but the point that I made after thinking hard about my own young adulthood in Oregon which was and is leftist in all assumptions… was that the problem was not about misunderstood and “bullied” children…and in fact the two young men who committed the Columbine murders were anything but small or bullied, but the attacks were psychically about the RAGE THAT COMES WHEN B OYS and Young Men ARE EMASCULATED.
Of course this dose not fit the political and bureaucratic template that boys and girls are just units that happen to have differing genitalia! Nor did it help in the relentless efforts to suppress the American male’s instinct towards personal responsibility without government help and his willingness to fight and die for one’s own and societal liberty.
And... it did not assist Bully Inc. in its funding efforts that end in the shaming of boys for any aggressive, that is male like... thoughts or deeds.
Your comment “in such a world a certain percentage of its youth will have a great gaping hole where their sense of identity should be. And into that hole you can pour something fierce and primal and implacable,” brought this to mind.
Thank you for America Alone.
Kelly Fravel
Aspen, Colorado
RAISED IN RELATIVISM
I was chilled to the bone by your conclusion concerning youth raised in relativism - that their moral emptiness can be filled with "something fierce and primal and implacable."
I have long known that relativism in education produces a void usually filled by shallow, completely unwarranted self-love. This is a danger in itself. But that society could fail the energetic, fresh-faced boys and girls I see everyday on the playground to the extent that they have nowhere to go for fulfillment but into the arms of terrorists - that's more than scary. It's intolerable.
Sylvia Alloway
Granada Hills, California
THE REVOLT AGAINST SANITY
Mark, could you please expound on this mess in US? How can we not end up socialized with the liberal pablum that kids are so deftly spoon fed. Then in institutions of higher liberal ranting, they become emboldened as their fangs fill with venom against the neo-cons and what they represent...sanity. HELP!!!
Ted Barba
Fresno, California
Re: How George Bush became the new Saddam
CHILDISH BUT PROFITABLE
I don't know if I should be disgusted or laugh at this month's MacLeans cover (How George Bush became the new Saddam, with a Bush-dressed-as-Saddam photo-montage). A bit of both I'm afraid. I didn't have a high opinion of the magazine before, but I thought it was a serious publication. Not any more. Well, at least they run your columns. And pay you in hard canuck currency.
Mathieu Lalonde
Montréal
INFANTILE BEHAVIOR
How can you continue to write for Macleans? This week's cover of President Bush as Saddam was a new low in unprincipled infantile behaviour. No self respecting high school student newspaper would have done that. I was once happy and proud to be a Canadian. I now find living in a country of sanctimonious, corrupt imbeciles close to intolerable.
r martin
TIME TO QUIT?
I just saw Maclean's recent cover depicting Bush as Saddam. What say you? Are you sure you want to continue your association with these people?
Ed Wayne Austin
Marietta, Georgia
MARK REPLIES: Well, I suppose I could resign. But in the last year or so I’ve resigned from The Chicago Sun-Times, The Atlantic, the Telegraph, the Speccie… To be honest, I’m running out of stuff to flounce off in a big queeny huff from.
JUDGING A MAG BY ITS COVER
So if what you say is true about McLean’s and Ken Whyte, then explain the Bushein cover. After all, are you not defined by your actions? Larry Craig was. How can they run that cover and you still claim "Its ok, the editor is considered a right winger". Maybe right winger in Canada does not means what it means here.
Rey Arbolay
JUVENILE STUFF
Caught your 'Corner' comment re. Maclean's cover. Maclean's seems to be continuing its practice of putting up idiotic covers. While I agree that the mag has improved with Ken Whyte's editorship, I do have to ask why, if he's such a fine editor, you think he persists in publishing such juvenile/asinine stuff?
Jack Riley
Victoria, British Columbia
AND ‘TIME’ ISN’T LEFT-WING?
In your blurb for NRO, you wrote "But the idea that Maclean's is some kind of ‘left-wing magazine’ is ridiculous. Maclean's is the Canadian equivalent of Time and Newsweek."
Have you read Time or Newsweek lately? Both are essentially "The Nation" with a better style guide and slightly more polished editors. But I'd be hard pressed to slide a piece of paper between their respective editorial policies.
Stuart Koehl
Falls Church, Virginia
READ CITY JOURNAL INSTEAD
I cancelled my subscription to Maclean's today because of their anti-Bush, anti-American issue just out. You should too. Try City Journal instead.
Frank Hilliard
Grand Forks, British Columbia
BUSH AS SADDAM CRAP
Won't be buying that issue, and maybe a dozen future issues, just for running that POS cover.
jim
RIGHT BUT WRONG
What's your opinion on the new MacLean's cover, with Bush as Saddam? I know you write for the magazine (and you're one of my favourite parts of it), and the magazine has always seemed behind the Canadian presence in Afghanistan.
In fact, it's always struck me as a fairly right-wing (not excessively so, but somewhat) magazine. What would prompt them to do this?
As always, I enjoy your work and I would really love your opinion (either in response to this email or on the Corner).
Dave Roy
Vancouver
COURTING CONTROVERSY
Thank you for addressing the MacLean's cover on the Corner. I have to say that I'm completely with you on the quality of the magazine. I've always felt comfortable reading it, as I knew that there would always be something in it for a Conservative like me, even if the entire magazine wasn't that way. They have the intelligence to carry your column, anyway. The idea that it's a left-wing rag is outlandish.
Do you think this cover may be, like their cover touting the story about how many lawyers are crooks (I can't remember the headline, but it included lawyers sleeping with their clients, overcharging them excessively, and the like), intended to provoke controversy? They received a lot of mail on that one.
I'm just now reading their latest double-issue (the September 10), and they congratulate themselves on recently reaching their 100th year of publishing two years ago, as well as talking about how they've recently made the magazine more relevant and timely.
What do you think?
Dave Roy
Re: Gunga done
GETTING THEIR FACTS RIGHT
FWIW and FYI, my wife's cousin is in charge of fact-checking at the Natl. Enquirer. A few years back she was talking to my wife on the phone really late at night , and suddenly ended the conversation with "Gotta go. You won't believe this crap...I gotta check out this rumor that Michael Jackson just married Lisa Marie Presley in Santo Domingo..." Later that week (she and) NE confirmed and broke the story. Since then, I ALWAYS believe what I see in the NE. It's not like the New York Times, y' know.
JR
ON A ROLL
"until Karl Rove's enforcers in the CBS corner office leaned on Dan to read out his apology and Danger Man rolled over like a cheap typewriter ribbon falling off the desk in the Texas National Guard typing pool".
That's the funniest thing I have ever read! You don't even have to be right to be a pleasure to read.
Darryl Boyd
Elko, Nevada
DANGER MAN
Re: your mention in The Corner that Dan Rather once said, "Danger is my business"
You've probably seen the archetypical 80's movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (if you haven't, don't tell Jonah). Sean Penn's stoner character Jeff Spicoli says the exact same "Danger is my business" line. You can see a clip of him saying it here:
Keep up the incredible writing,
Doss
CONSERVATIVES ARE A JOKE
Yeah, you're right Steyn, the Soviets never did anything benign in their entire history.
Suffering four times as many casualties as the Allies had men under arms counts for nothing.
No wonder conservatives are such jokes these days.
John Witek
SCURRILOUS ATTACKS
Your reader writes:
"unfounded "National Enquirer" scurrilous attacks that allegedly pass for journalism."
Doesn't that pretty neatly sum up Rather's forged document fiasco? Something he STILL defends.
This proves the theory, if you want to know your enemies tactics, listen to the allegations he makes against you.
Love you on Hugh’s show, in NRO's Corner, your www site, various print, and your books (which I am sure I'll love when I get around to reading them)
Greg Saltis
LYING SINCE LBJ
This guy done investigative journalism for over 40 years! Doesn't this scandal expose his MO. The fact is the guy is a liar and been for over 40 years. Isn't It time that someone go through Dan's past investigations and find out how much they were based on "cooked" evidence like this. The more that comes out, the more it becomes obvious it becoming that the mainstream media has been lying to us at least since LBJ, if not FDR.
Stephen A. Elliott
CLAMBERING INTO THE ANCHOIR CHAIR
Dan Rather hasn’t done any investigative reporting since he came up from the minors 30 years ago. All those years Dan relied on the producers/reporters of CBS (and stringers and
organisations) to feed material into his teleprompter.
He reportedly bumped "Uncle Walter" Cronkite by threatening to jump ship from CBS if he didn't get the anchor chair to which he subsequently sought to weld his posterior.
I'm not even sure that the questions he asked at Nixon's news conferences were of his own invention rather than being slipped to him by some intelligent CBS staffer.
Mike Wallace established his reputation at CBS by doing one-on-one interviews (chain smoking away a la ER Murrow). The ambush reporting perfected at "60 Minutes" was reportedly Don Hewitt's creation.
Roger Mudd was passed over to give the chair to Dan.
Harry Reasoner had wanted it too.
John Williamson
SCRAMBLED DREGS
Hilarious! How about making it a weekly item? You jumble them up, we try to unscramble them. (ok, ok, yes I am a NYT crossword junkie)
Eric Beeby
POP ICON
Firstly, I am a big fan of your writing, and have been since it helped me migrate from the political left to the political center-right a few years back. Secondly, regarding your post about the news headlines, and Dan Rather being good on every headline, it reminded me of the Chuck Norris fad
that struck while I was in my military language training (not training to learn military acronyms and abbreviations so much as training in the military to learn a foreign language). I suspect that with a bit of a nudge, Dan Rather could become some sort of evil Chuck Norris; whereas Norris' tears cure cancer, Dan Rather found to be a leading cause of breast cancer for Ukrainian women, etc. Who knows, Dan Rather could yet become a pop culture icon.
Zach Branson
HERE’S ONE I PREPARED EARLIER
Perhaps somebody could develop a "Random Headline Generator," much like this one for generating names for bands.
Loved your book "America Alone," by the way.
All our best from flyover country.
Mark Hagans
Archbold, Ohio
WHAT’S ON THE NEWS
Iranian General Allegedly Set on Fire by Mom
Court Revokes Plans to Bomb Israel If They Attack Us
Meteor Crash Impregnates Halle Berry
Judy Stein
CAPTAIN QUEEG
Good one! Did these people miss The Caine Mutiny? Rather is playing the role of Captain Queeg to a fare-thee-well.
Clyde
St Louis
HOMICIDE AT CBS
As funny as the Dan Rather story is (CBS canned him to pacify the White House), that's exactly what Vladimir Putin believed (& I'm sure he's not the only one) when he criticized Bush for having Rather fired.
Anyway, I'm glad Dan Rather finally solved the case: CBS murdered his credibility with a fake memo in the newsroom. Brilliant! They would've gotten away with it, too, had Rather not been such a news hound.
Jeffrey Hill
Oklahoma City
DANGER DAN
For God's sake, give the poor man some credit! At least he didn't say "Danger is my middle name."
Jim Rudolph
Boise, Idaho
Re: Song of the week - The Java jive
THE BUZZ ON THE JIVE
I've been intending to request that you write a column on '”Java Jive” for quite a while. There's a vocal duo in Houston named “Mood Indigo” and “Java Jive” is one of their best songs. Imagine my surprise this morning. However, two questions remain:
1. To what does “Drop a nickel in the pot” refer?
2. What does “A slice of onion and a raw one” mean?
John Weitekamp
Houston, Texas
CAFFEINE FIX
My College Cram-night Tune
This 45-year old Texas Mom remembers fondly my midnight study sessions, c. 1983.
When I got sleepy, I would put Manhattan Transfer on the Sony and Maxwell House in
the Mr. Coffee.
What a fun song that was. Thanks, Mark, for putting it back in my brain's playlist...a cup a cup a cup a cup a cup!
Holly Schellhase
Austin, Texas
SU DOUBLE LL I VAN
Several or more generations ago I was a kid growing up in the tough Irish North End of Halifax Nova Scotia -my mother's family like many came to Nova Scotia from Ireland (Ulster) in 1819 and were among the founders of the NS Liberal Party - we all worked the elections as kids -working for our local Alderman Plumber and wit Ralph Sullivan, we sang to the George M. Cohan "Harrigan" for SU double LL I Van spells "Sullivan", proud of all the Irish blood that's in me -etc. Ralph won many times. In 1945, the dear old Liberal Party ain't what it has become today -Citoyen Dion would have been laughed out of the hiring halls. The Lebanese kids all Maronite Catholics went to school with us, and all were dedicated Liberals -one such was Tenor John Arab, later Director of Music St. Michaels College Toronto who taught "The Four Lads" to sing A Capella - those were great days in the real world.
Jack MacLeod
Moncton, New Brunswick
HARRINGTON’S HARRIGAN
When I was in first grade, in the local Catholic school, our pastor was a benevolent Irish gentlemen, probably fifty-ish, (although my six-year-old self thought he was ancient) named Father Harrington. We sang our own version of "Harrigan" for him frequently, rushing the last
"T-O-N" to make it fit. Thus I learned the song at a very early age; unfortunately, after that, it took me years to get it right.
Sandra J. Damron
Colorado Springs, Colorado
SHADES OF GREEN
Your column on Harrigan made me quite nostalgic for what could be considered a fairly bizarre childhood.
I was a Puerto Rican kid in the South Bronx in the early to mid-60s, attending St. John Chrysostom elementary school. The nuns (only two of whom were psychotic!) and priests (not a pedophile among them!) were all Irish; the students either black or PR. Every St. Paddy's day, we had to put on a show, and I remember dressing up in various shades of green, dancing Irish jigs, and belting out George M. Cohan songs every year.
It must have been quite a sight! Can't imagine anything like that ever happening now -- I just wish I had pictures!!!! I think that's where my love of American popular music from the 30s and 40s started.
I enjoy your columns immensely -- thank you for some great reads!
Alexis Alvarez-Suzuki
Who reads you on the web in Tokyo
YOU WON’T NEED NO CAMEL
There was Maria Muldaur's 1974 hit 'Midnight at the Oasis'. . .
But you won't need no harem, honey
When I'm by your side
And you won't need no camel, no no
When I take you for a ride
And who could forget the immortal Ray Stevens, from 1962?. . .
Let me tell you 'bout Ahab The Arab
The Sheik of the burning sand
He had emeralds and rubies just dripping off 'a him
And a ring on every finger of his hands
He wore a big ol' turban wrapped around his head
And a scimitar by his side
And every evening about midnight
He'd jump on his camel named Clyde...and ride
John West
Conway, South Carolina
Re: Dreams of Field
HAVEN’T WE GROWN UP?
I take great offense at Sally Field's proclamation that if mothers were in charge there would be no g.d. wars - how dare she make such a generalization, and how dare she offend the thousands of mothers whose children have served willingly and honorably for a cause they not only believed in but considered worth giving their lives for. She arrogantly insults everyone of them. Hers and Stephanie Davis' outrageous feminist meme is nothing but a tired old woman with sagging skin, clouded vision that still promotes a sickeningly sexist view of the world. Haven't we as women grown up and out of the blame game? Are we still that infantile?
There are mothers of sons and daughters, like me, who clearly see the necessity of war and the need to battle in order to protect the very freedoms that allow Ms. Field to stand in front of massive audiences and make such shameful decrees and still be able to live and tell about it
in the morning. That is freedom. And it doesn't come without an enormous cost.
Dana Strunk
NOT NOTICEABLY NURTURING
Woman rulers are more humanizing and peaceful? Umm, like Lucretia Borgia, Catherine the Great and so on?
Dave Nabers
TELL THAT TO ARGENTINA
How does she account for Thatcher, Imira Ghandi or Golda Meir? I yield to no one in my admiration for Mrs T, but a peace maker she wasn't.
K. William Young
GIRLY GRIEF
If moms ruled the world we would have wars over bad calls at sporting events, shoes and almost any other issue besides land.
Steve
MAYBE THEY’RE ONTO SOMETHING
I think Sally Field and Stephanie Davis might be on to something; perhaps if more women were in power, the twin towers would still be standing. For example, if the likes of Al Qaeda and the Taliban had different philosophies and priorities such that women were respected as leaders and shared in decision making, well, then they probably would also have different agendas than killing as many Westerners as possible. Just a thought.
Diane Borgard
OH SURE
Dear Ms. Fields (whose skill and artistry I genuinely enjoy),
You mean like the moms in Taiwan's assembly? Oh, sure, no wars. Just a global catfight.
Mike Tierney
Grove City, Ohio
MOMS FOR JIHAD
Sally Field believes there would be no wars if mothers ruled the world. Given her expertise in world politics and foreign affairs, maybe she could explain to us unenlightened folks how she plans to deal with mothers who send their children to preschools where they're trained to
be good little jihadists and those who use their children as human shields in terror plots. Just how do those "mothers for peace" fit into the world Ms. Field envisions?
Sally Field's anti-war rant demonstrates the lack of respect and concern the entertainment industry has for those mothers whose children risk their lives so Sally and her friends can cram their political views down our throats. It also explains why many Americans have lost their
interest in award shows. Why is it so difficult for people to understand that the bad guys aren't interested in peaceful alternatives to war? The only thing they want - and the thing they are determined to have - is to live in a world of their design.
Marianne Gaio
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN
So what is the premise here? That women are more peaceful than men?
Nonsense.
I have seven daughters. Anyone who thinks females are somehow biologically disinclined to conflict only need spend a few minutes at my house to learn better.
Good grief.
Jeff Miller
Nebraska
PARKING LOT PUNCH-UPS
Sally Field states: "... if the mothers ruled the world there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."
Sally needs to get out more. She has apparently never seen mothers fighting it out for parking spaces in a crowded school parking lot at pickup time.
Karen Spaeth
Kenosha, Wisconsin
THE ONCE-A-MONTH MILITARY?
All that reminded me of the old Robin Williams joke, "If women ran the world there would be no more wars. Just very intense negotiations every 28 days."
James Heard
HUMANE HIJACKERS?
"The feminism I think of is the one that embodies inclusivity, multiculturalism and the ability to change the world through the humanity that women do bring. If there were women in power in
representative numbers — 52 per cent — I think that the World Trade Center would still be standing."
Probably not. But 52% of the 19 hijackers (10 if you round up) would have been women!
Walter DeBoer
Michigan
CONSTRUCTION CHICKS
Would it even have been built in the first place?
Michael O’Gorman
Re: America Alone
AS BUSY AS BANGLADESH
Mark, I read an excerpt in The Week from a column by Madeleine Bunting from the London Guardian in which she warns of overpopulation. I have just finished reading American Alone for the second time and am trying to reconcile the low birthrate with overpopulation. I guess it must be immigration but she does not really distinguish between the two. She warns that England will be the most densely populated country after Bangladesh. How about a column looking at her prediction from your perspective? The ethnic mix to reach that point would have to be a large percentage of Muslims and other immigrants since the natives are not having babies.
Reay H. Brown
Atlanta, Georgia
PHOTO PLEASE
I wanted to write to congratulate you on, "America Alone." I have been recommending this book to friends. More people need to read this book!
I know that you are busy, but I was wondering if you could please send me a personally autographed photo of yourself? Thanks.
Mark Hamilton
Ottawa
INCREASINGLY VISIBLE
After reading your book, I believe you have an important message. I have purchased several other copies for friends and family. It is nice to see your recent increased visibility and I am interested in supporting your efforts. Please let me know how I can help.
David Gushue
THE BIBLE SAYS THE OPPOSITE
I can't buy your new book or agree with your opinions of the future of US, EU and the world as a whole because good grief the Bible spells out the future totally opposite than you and other's do in your profession. I do understand though that many people are very intelligent on geopolitical issues and events but choose to be Biblically illiterate. I gain a lot of insight on geopolitical issues from yourself and others but thank God I am a digger also in the Old and New Testament, but y’all are wrong about God's plan for the outcome of this generation and His world.
Jeri Spence
AGEING INVESTORS
Excellent demography article, echoes some "AA" pts
Worth a read and a possible article.
Without expecting Mark to make financial market predictions, I'd be curious about his general psychological opinion on Jen's Implication 3. Will the aging investors take more risk to try to make their assets last through a longer retirement, or take less risk due to shorter time horizons, as traditional analysis suggests?
Mark could tie that in with the recent purchases of Western assets by Dubai, Qatar, etc. -- states with large, young underclasses, high unemployment yet staggeringly large sovereign wealth funds.
Shawn McFarlane
Woodbury, Minnesota
READ THIS BOOK
Book review I would want to see.
Death of the Grown-Up by Diane West
I would like to see your commentary on the above referenced book. I have read it and am on my second reading. It is I believe going to be along with your work mentioned below a must read/classic in the genre. I believe she has diagnosed perfectly the virus infecting our Western culture.
Loved America Alone.
Ted Branin
York, Pennsylvania
Re: What might have been
NOT AS FUNNY AS YOU THINK
your Barry thing was stupid, no offense, and not as funny as you think it was. I don't like or listen to Barry, or watch "The View" for that matter, but in terms of comedy, eh . . .
Victor Lamas
HIS NAME WAS BARRY
Not as good as yours, but this is fun
His name was Barry
He was a no-show.
No he can’t sit and talk with Liz,
With her heart so close to his.
For he does love her
But must deny it.
All those donations to the libs
Are just beards to cover fibs
He needs her more and more
To whisper “Gore’s a bore”
But if she says
This on the TV to him
He’ll hit the floor
Of the Barbara
Barbara talk den
The hottest show since
All My Children
Christopher Phelan
Maple Grove, Minnesota
Re: Arms are for hugging and heads are for chopping
PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH
The governor of Massachusetts would fit right in with the "twinkle toes" of Minnesota. Here, they drive around displaying bumper stickers that say "Wage Peace"; or "Give Peace A Chance." I assume that these folks deny that we were attacked on Sept 11, 2001. Or that, if we would just wait it out, (and while waiting, convene focus groups to discuss "why 'they' hate us so" and formulate "recommendations" to reach out to the Islamic world; or that, Bin Laden has been offering us a peace settlement. These are adults who still believe in the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus. That if you wish hard enough, your wish will come true. I believe in the Christian message and I believe in being a peacemaker. But Christ himself interacted with a Roman Centurian, and I don't recall him lecturing said Centurian to the effect that he should find another line of work. I think self defense, and the national defense are matters that are rightfully the concern of peace-loving Christians who believe in peace through strength. Honestly, I think the "Wage Peace" folks are just trying to wrap their fear and cowardice in a slick sounding, philosophical slogan, and to justify their avoidance of facing down the terrorists.
Robert Faust
Woodbury, Minnesota
Re: Let’s be realistic about reality
NEW MEN ARE SELFISH
I came across an article of yours about the Virginia Tech shooting in which you mentioned the Montreal massacre. You found it hard to believe that men would turn their backs on women and allow their slaughter. Obviously you don't date men today because if you did you wouldn't be surprised. I've tried the internet dating thing on several different sites. The one thing so many male profiles have in common is that they essentially say this - I want a woman who is independent. I want her to have no expectations of me. I do not want to feel obligated towards her in any way. I'm sure if you asked these men why they have this attitude they would blame feminism - hey, you girls want to be equal don't you? I feel a lot of men today use feminism as an excuse for their selfishness and passivity. It lets them off the hook so to speak. Like you said, this attitude would have been unthinkable a generation ago. It has been unthinkable since the beginning of history. Now it appears to be the norm. I don't think that our culture of passivity is entirely to blame for this kind of attitude, but I don't think feminism is entirely to blame either. What do you think is the single most underlying cause?
I'd appreciate any insights you may have.
Lesley
WAR SNORE
H&C Appearance. Are you for real?
So you think this war in Iraq for is a good thing. Respond! I'll debate you.
Daniel Beardsley
San Francisco
MARK REPLIES: Of course I'm not for real. I'm a thought-form planted in your brain by Karl Rove.
SWIPES
The local NBC affiliate WDIV Detroit reported Rudy's Mackinac speech like this....
"The Mayor started his remarks by taking a swipe at 2 different women" at which point they played the clips of his criticism of how Granholm is handling the Michigan economy and Hillary¹s plans for the US economy
Kristin
BLAME BUSH ANYWAY
Recent archaelogical find on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands):
"Grizzly bears, deer and fox went extinct on the Islands over 9,000 years ago due to environmental changes such as rising sea levels and higher temperatures."
Sounds like Kyoto is a few years too late. Or maybe targets just need to be revised
to pre 7000 BC levels?
Bill Henderson
British Columbia
ONE TO WATCH
Please watch Sgt. 1st Class Stube's speech at the NRA convention at C-Span. It will move you. There is a link on Lucianne.com.
Phil Elmore
Montgomery, Texas
DOUBLE JEOPARDY
I was reminded of your recent blog re Conrad Black and legal reform) when reading the list of charges against O.J. Simpson. Now, almost literally no one deserves to spend a lot of time in the pokey more than Simpson, but among his charges are "robbery with a deadly weapon" and "burglary with a firearm." What on earth is the difference and why isn't this de facto double jeopardy? Why not go for broke and charge him with "stealing with a gun" and "pilfering with a pistol"?
Jason Brannon
SPACE FOR BLACK-BASHING
Dear Black's Apologist-in-Chief:
Douglas Bell states that your final Sun-Times column was spiked by John Cruickshank "not because it was pro-Black, but because it was about Black at all. Cruickshank had in essence banned any opinion pieces about Black, pro or con."
This theory may be all well and good but it is not supported by the fact that the Sun-Times ran several columns by Mark Brown that were anti-Black. (Actually, they were anti-Radler, but people like Brown seem to make a habit of confusing the two men).
Douglas Bell could have made his "So much for fairness" point just as easily if he had reported the fact that the Sun-Times had plenty of space for columnists willing to criticize Black but no space for those willing to defend the man.
DH
Evanston
KOKO’S SONG
Heard on the news: O.J. Simpson was "taken from the county jail."
Yesterday I suggested a parody, but Gilbert's original lyrics fit too well.
Taken from the county jail
By a set of curious chances;
Liberated then on bail,
On my own recognizances;
Wafted by a favouring gale
As one sometimes is in trances,
To a height that few can scale,
Save by long and weary dances;
Surely, never had a male
Under such like circumstances
So adventurous a tale,
Which may rank with most romances.
David Clyde Jones
St Louis
THE TRIUMPHANT BUSH ECONOMY
Why does the Republican party let the Mainstream Media (MSM) set the political agenda? Why let the MSM define the economy and the war on terror as a negative?
The Bush economy will go down in history as one of the biggest triumphs of the Bush administration. The supply side tax cuts revived the American economy and restored the growth to an inherited dot.com burst bubble and Clinton recession. The sustained GDP growth, the sustained employment growth, the low unemployment , the low inflation, and the increased tax
revenues are all success stories. The quick and decisive response to 9/11 demonstrates American global strength and leadership. Liberating Afghanistan and Iraq from terrorist sustaining regimes, as well as successes in other countries across the world, was accomplished in record
time. A key to this success was rebuilding and transforming the military to overcome cuts from previous administrations. The lack of attacks on American soil is testament to success in the Global War on Terror.
All Republican Presidential candidates should be required to demonstrate how their ideas will further reinforce and expand the success in both the economy and the Global War on Terror!
There is no reason to apologize for the Bush success..... capitalize on this success as the logical starting point for reinforcing the underlying principles and expanding the keys to success!
David Coughlin
Hawthorne, New York
BIP QUIP
As a devotee, I deserve to have BIP interpreted, puleeze.
Marcel Marceau dies . Bip RIP.
Marty Barnett
I’VE GOT THE CD
I never got to see Marceau in person, but his records were fantastic. (Just thought I would get in line before Jonah with the joke.) Of course, there a host of imitators, none of them with his talent or life force. Bip RIP indeed.
Peter T. Bepler, II
New York
TIME OUT
After 78 years the Time Report on the telephone has been silenced. "At the tone the time will be....." has been easily accessed since 1929. I used it frequently just to see if fixes to my phone service had worked.
But starting today, Sept 19 , the voice of that gal next-door has been silenced, a result of ready access of computers. Let's see, our local newspaper had a handy phone dial-up service that could give you the hourly price of stock market equity. They discontinued in 2004 after running a survey that pointed to declining usage. And how would you like to be in the publishing biz these
days?
I can't keep track of all the magazines that offer me subscriptions either for free or for less than a
Dollar an issue. To think that i recall a magazine headline from the early 90's that asked the question,"Do you really need a computer?"--& they proceeded to tell you
why you didn't really
Al
Lemon Grove
THIS DREAM IS A NIGHTMARE
Subject: re someone who writes like a dream according to you as quoted on blog
Have you read the blog??
A dream??
Have you tried self criticism??
K Bridel
MARK REPLIES: Have you tried using fewer question marks???
ELLIPTICAL AND INEXPLICABLE
I worship everything you write, but please, when posting in the Corner, don't go down the Instapundit road with elliptical sentences that are inexplicable unless the reader knows the content behind the hyper-linked words.
Just write those fabulous sentences you're so capable of, and put the links at the end of the paragraph. Otherwise readers are mystified without doing a lot of clicking and side reading, by which time they've forgotten what point you were originally making.
Thanks for everything,
Chris
KEEP TALKING
I always enjoy listening to you on "talk radio", and your appearances on TV.
I recently read your book "America Alone" - excellent.
Gary Nadeau
Lake Forest, California
LAST WORD
You are the finest columnist in America right now. Plus, you a funny guy!
Owen Johnson
Pacifica, California
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