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Thank you for your kind (and unkind) letters from Canada, America, Britain, Switzerland, Qatar 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 more letters on the forthcoming "Healthcare Hell" please see Mailbox Extra.
Letter of the Week
APOLOGIZE TO SASKATCHEWAN
Mark, I am a big fan and reader of your political commentaries. Why are you disrespecting the Province of Saskatchewan and the City of Saskatoon? For your information Saskatchewan is a Province of Canada and one of the only to escape the recent recession laying waste to Canada and the USA. Your comments with HH (Hugh Hewitt)and your column on NRO ( National Review On Line) are disrespectful. I consider you a great political commentator, if not the best I have ever read, but your comments about Saskatchewan shows me a side of you I wouldn't have expected.
Saskatchewan is first and foremost in numerous things......
Potash capital of the world
Uranium capital of the world
Canola/Mustard seed capital of the world
Major exporter of oil and natural gas to USA
Leader of the world in carbon capture technology
World leader in GMO
Vast Coal Reserves
100,000 fresh water lakes - Largest trout ever caught....Largest White Tail Deer ever bagged
Best fishing and hunting in the world
Major Cattle Producer...best steak in all the world...grain fed you know
Endless Forest
One of the largest grain producers in the world
Home to the only Synchrotron in Canada
Numerous Hollywood Stars - John Vernon - Leslie Nielsen - Art Linkletter
- Keith Morrison, etc. etc.
We have the most educated work force in the world.
A world renowned university noted for it's research in the agricultural
field, medicine, etc.
Last but not least - Home of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - the most respected police force in the world....that's a Mountie Mark
Mark: You are a Canadian boy so don't be dissing us poor boys here in Saskatchewan. One day you may be hungry without wheat, cold without natural gas, stranded on the highway without gas, longing for some canola oil for your stir fry, mustard for your hot dog, steak for your supper, clean clear water to drink, or just good old fresh non-polluted air to breathe and as you sit their in your misery freezing your butt off someone will say to you......it's as cold here as in Saskatchewan... and then somewhere in the back of your brain you will say to yourself Saskatchewan, I know that name, and after several agonizing minutes if will all come back to you and then you will know everything really does go full circle.
Please restore my faith in you by apologizing to the good people of
Saskatoon and the Province of Saskatchewan which is a Province in Canada.
Mike Morrissey
Saskatonian
Re: Enough
NO ONE FITS THE BILL
Couldn't help but laugh out loud at your comment about Obamacare leading to a 43-state ebolafest, and the GOP still screwing it up. But it's not just 2010. Who, in your estimation, can unite the anger that the current crop of politicians has unleashed, but still win? Huckabee? Sorry, one compassionate conservative was quite enough. Mitt? No chance. Newt? Too much baggage, and I don't think people want another smartest kid in school running the show. And Palin, I don't think, can win. Any ideas? I want nothing worse than to be able to back someone who is going to storm Washington, and shake things up so completely that the perma-bureaucracy there gets a collective concussion. But there is no-one in the GOP that fits the bill. Please tell me I'm wrong.
Patrick Butler
GET WITH THE PROGRAM
Is the very strange lesson learned that Newt is a Republican first and Conservative second? I listened to him on Laura's show this morning and he sounds like he's no longer with the Program.
Ed Buzzi
Wequetequock, Connecticut
A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS
Isn't the problem with NY-23 not the poor candidate but the party bosses? While I support any effort to defeat her, the real issue is whether conservatives can actually bother to do anything about the Republican party leadership. I consider myself a conservative and personally would rather get run over by a bus than be a "GOP party boss" anywhere. Being a politician isn't conservative. We respect soldiers and entrepreneurs, so how can we ever expect to have any marginally decent people fill positions that we consider entirely loathsome?
Matt Barnes
VOTE ANTI-DEM
The nomination of Dede Scozzafava by the GOP backroom boys is a textbook example of how deeply corrupt parts of the party are. Is it any wonder why most Americans aren't rushing to vote FOR the Republicans but instead are just forced to vote AGAINST the Democrats?
Sarah Palin should be commended for staying true to her principles.
Robert Werner
Vancouver, British Columbia
JUST THE TICKET
WFB Jr. ran on the Conservative Party ticket against John Lindsey for NYC mayor. WFB's brother, James, ran on the Conservative Party ticket and was elected to one of NY's US Senate seats. When he ran for re-election, he was on both the Conservative and Republican tickets. The poor old Republican Party hasn't been the same since it adopted Nelson Rockefeller, and I think that's what gave rise to the Conservative Party.
Pat Birmingham
IT CAN BE DONE
Mark, these RINOs complaining about Hoffman don't understand that it's been done before. Look up Congressman Ron Packard. Back in the late 70s, I was involved with the local medical association PAC. Ron contacted me and I learned he was a dentist in Oceanside (and had been Mayor) and very conservative while the dope who had won a crowded primary was a car dealer with lots of money and no ideas. I actually used to play golf with Johnny Crean so I knew him better than most voters. Anyway, we got the AMA to withhold money from Crean and Ron ran a write-in campaign for Congress. I believe he was the first Congressman elected by write-in since the Civil War. He served many years and retired well regarded by everyone.
It can be done.
Michael Kennedy
Mission Viejo, California
DONATE TO CONSERVATIVES
You're so right. Reading about New Jersey and Christie's drop, one will see this screw as well in what was once a decisive lead for the Republican. This whole business of inept Republican operatives, et. al. should lead to the promotion of a public strategy for contributors. We (I'm a contributor, but very small donations) should target individual races in which the candidates' resumes are reliably conservative. Efforts should be made to encourage people not to give to the major Republican committees: Congressional, Senatorial and National Committee.
Enjoy your work and keep up the good fight (for your experiences in Canada, regrettably literally).
Paul Zisserson
Cranston, Rhode Island
CARDBOARD CANDIDATES
So here's something I've always wondered, Manchurian Candidate style:
Assume the conventional wisdom is right, and third party candidates never do anything except suck votes from the primary party candidates. It would seem then that a good use of campaign money would be to stand up undercover campaigns that target your opponents’ extreme flank and suck votes off them without having any chance of success. I mean really, can you discern a test that would be able to tell the difference between a cardboard candidate meant to suck down liberal voters and Ralph Nader?
Christopher Weiss
IT’S A TWO-TEAM GAME
As much as I agree with you and totally disagree with Newt, the real problem is that we have a two-party system. Most of the time, a third party candidate only takes votes away from one of the "real" candidates. That's just how it is. Remember, many voters just vote R or D when it's time to mark the ballot.
Said another way using the sports analogy --- Let's say we're at a basketball game. Two teams. Two baskets. Pretty much two everything. Now what if a third team were allowed to join in. Think about it. Until the courts are changed from rectangles with two baskets to triangles with three baskets, it really doesn't work.
Back to NY-23, voters tend to be loyal only to one thing -- the two-party system.
Ed Buzzi
Wequetequock, Connecticut
WHERE’S THE DOWN SIDE?
Where's the down side for the teaparty vote? If Hoffman wins, great. If Owens wins because of a split vote, it's a relatively cheap lesson to show the GOP leadership - don't offer us any more RINOs. Bad Newt!
Love your stuff- keep it up!
Bruce Hoffman
REAGAN WON, RINOS LOST
For any Republican to endorse Scozzafava based, in all reality, on the (R) behind her name the simple question is, "How far are they willing to go?" I find Newt's explanation puerile and ineffectual - oh no, he brought up Reagan he wins the argument. You cannot "expand the tent" to the extent you destroy the principles of basic conservatism. If you do what's the point?
As for Reagan, he clearly tried to move people in his direction rather than blindly accept them because they claimed to be Republicans. Reagan's early political career was a battle between RINO's and principled conservatism; he won they lost, that is the lesson of NY-23.
Name withheld
WHAT HE REALLY SAID
“If you seek to be a perfect minority, you’ll remain a minority,” says Gingrich. “That’s not how Reagan built his revolution or how we won back the House in 1994.”
Hey neeeewwwwwttttttyyyyyy, here's what Ronnie really said.........don't let the door hit you on the way out......:
"Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people. Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.
“Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine. Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.
“And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of 'peace at any price.' We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life. A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.
I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way."
Wayne Meehleib
CHAFFEE ANYONE?
Totally agree. This is the RI GOP Senate primary all over again. Chaffee? How did that turn out?
L Perkins
New Boston, New Hampshire
CONSERVATIVE ALONE
The GOP doesn't get it. This is a very frustrating time to be a conservative or Libertarian. I sit here in Middle America feeling absolutely helpless against the brainiacs at the GOP.
Your book "America Alone" sits on a little table I have next to my bed.
Next book title..."Conservative Alone", please.
Scott Van Meter
UNABASHED UNAFFILIATE
Do you think that the Republican party is ever going to grasp that conservatives like me, who believe in small government, Constitutional principles, traditional moral values, and free market capitalism, are registering unaffiliated for a reason? That we are not only emphatically NOT Republicans but we consider it absolutely laughable to equate the Republican party with conservatism?
Mary Beth Voelker
Pinebluff, North Carolina
NEW PARTY, PLEASE
I'm surprised at your naiveté on display. The Republican party's "leadership" is everything conservatives have ever said of it and its acolytes. It is impossible to deal with them and, though it's a long slog, a new party is the sole way out of the thickets.
Jim Sweeney
REAL CONSERVATIVES
You write:
"Don't expect too much from 2010. On present form, even if Obamacare leads to ebola outbreaks in 43 states, the GOP will still manage to screw it up."
Totally, completely right. I despair that this could possibly considered a good idea. Why don't we just run real conservative candidates? If we run good, solid, fact-based principled campaigns, and get beaten into something resembling a wet prune at the ballot box, at least we know our ideas are not popular and out of the mainstream. If we simply refuse to ever run on what we believe, well, we're Obama, aren't we?
Douglas
Minneapolis, Minnesota
THE MAIN EVENT
I've enjoyed your comments on this race. I'm in Florida and the NY23 race is looking like the undercard to our Crist v Rubio main event.
Gotta wonder at the staggering incompetence of the Scazzafritzit (sorry can't be bothered to learn to spell or pronounce it) campaign. Calling the cops on any reporter, never mind one that could be friendly. And now she holds a presser in front of the opponent's headquarters? Of course she was surrounded by Hoffman signs and supporters. What did she expect? Even a 12-year-old of ordinary intelligence knows the meaning of home field advantage.
If the Republicans can't find a smarter candidate than this, they deserve to lose.
Ron
Re: Breaking: Canada almost as bad as America
COMING SOON
You wrote re Obama that "...he's bringing in Canuck-style ‘hate speech laws and a new ‘fairness’ doctrine and ‘regulation of the Internet’."
Can you point me to the Senate and/or House bills and their bill number(s) and which committees are holding hearings on these 3 items? Or which regulatory agencies are being instructed to implement these items?
Fred Rossi
MARK REPLIES: Oh, dear. The game is lost long before you get to a Senate bill number. But let's take the three items in order:
1) "Canuck-style 'hate speech' laws": See last week's National Defense Authorization Act
As Byron York writes :
"First, the committee - controlled by majority Democrats, of course - inserted the hate crimes measure into the House bill, where it had not been before. Then lawmakers made some crucial changes to Brownback's amendment. Where Brownback had insisted, and the full Senate had agreed, that the bill could not burden the exercise of First Amendment rights, the conference changed the wording to read that the bill could not burden the exercise of First Amendment rights 'unless the government demonstrates ... a compelling governmental interest' to do otherwise."
That means your First Amendment rights are protected – unless they're not.
The "governmental interest" in abridging your constitutional right to freedom of speech is exactly the same argument made in Canada. Whether this gets tossed out by the Supreme Court remains to be seen.
2) A new "fairness" doctrine:
Here we're going the regulatory-agency route via Mark Lloyd, the FCC's new "Diversity Czar" directly appointed by the President. Czar Lloyd believes you can impose a new "fairness" doctrine piecemeal. Lloyd would impose the Fairness Doctrine by stealth, using concepts such as "ownership diversity" and "localism" to destroy talk radio and cable news
3) Regulation of the Internet:
Well, that's coming at the FCC macro and - and FTC micro - level. Interesting formulation:
"We are not going to be patrolling the blogosphere," she said. "We are not planning on investigating individual bloggers."
Again, all very Canadian. When Section 13 was introduced, no-one was "planning" on investigating individual writers and their publishers. But it happened. Once the nose is under the tent, it usually does.
So that's a (unconstitutional?) law, the Diversity Czar's blueprint, and various FCC/FTC proposals. And, whatever one thinks of them individually, in terms of a regulated opinion environment they all trend in a very Canadian direction.
THE RIGHT TO BE GENDER CONFUSED …
This should be interesting.
Any doubt as to how ithe HRC will determine this? None.
Roger Hutflesz
…BUT NOT TO BE PRO-LIFE
This is Daniel Paolini, a second year student at the University of Western Ontario. Recently pro life groups across Canada did an activity where you spend the day with a sign over your mouth saying "life" or "silent" as a statement about the loss of opportunity in abortion, and instead of talking, they hand over a small paper with details on abortion in Canada.
In Wiarton, Ontario a 16 year old high school student was forced to spend the day in isolation because the principal would not let her carry out the activity, and no one was allowed to even speak to her. The goon said something about "one sided info can't be encouraged" - assuming people are too stupid to read differing arguments - and said no right to expression was being infringed. However this same school every year has a pride day where everyone is encouraged to wear pink pride shirts, and nude photography with pro gay interest group statements is plastered all over the school's walls.
This is absolutely disgusting and is right now only accessible on a few news feeds and Lifesitenews.com in particular (however it was uncovered by a sunnews media person so its legitimacy can't be questioned). To pick and choose what groups get respect in an academic institution enrages me, and I feel this is right up your alley with the CHRT nonsense you've dealt with since 2007.
Daniel Paolini
Re: Song of the Week
BEST OF THE BUNCH
I've loved all of your song essays, but Edelweiss was the best yet. It brought tears to my eyes.
David Skurnick
THE LAST LYRIC
It may have been Hammerstein's last song, but I always understood that his last lyric, also for that show, was:
A bell is no bell till you ring it
A song is no song till you sing it
And love in your heart wasn't put there to stay--
Love isn't love till you give it away.
Either way, a great Hammerstein piece and a great Mark Steyn piece.
Robert N. Going
Amsterdam, New York
SIMPLE AND UNDERSTATED
Your piece on R&H today was absolutely brilliant. It told a beautiful story in the most thoughtful and touching way. As with R&H -- it was simple and understated. Thank you.
Curt
STRANGERS IN THE CREDITS
I think Strangers in the Night is credited to Avo Uvezian.
Thank you for your touching piece on the provenance of the Rodgers & Hammerstein song "Edleweiss". An engaging story behind a lovely song. When I was a youngster, my family performed the Sound of Music in community theaters on several occasions, with my mother playing Maria and my father as Captain Von Trapp. Your piece brought back fond and vivid memories, and nicely captured the beautiful simplicity of the piece.
David C. Tobin, P.C.
Washington, DCMARK REPLIES: I think not. "Strangers In The Night" is "credited" by its publisher Screen Gems-EMI and Songs of Universal, by BMI, by the HarryFox mechanical licensing agency and by every other official source to Bert Kaempfert, Charlie Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Go to bmi.com or harryfox.com and check. Avo Uvezian is a Beirut-born Armenian-Americanpianist cum cigar manufacturer who for some reason has let it be put about that he is the composer of "Strangers In The Night". There are many strange tales behind the names on the sheet music of big songs, but in this case there seems to be no evidence to support such a claim.
FLIP SIDE OF 'PAPER DOLL'
I was looking for information on the tune "I'll Be Around" and it brought your name up and mentioned this site. I was so happy to know that you were the same Mark Steyn who fills in for Rush. (My Hero)
I'm singing that song tonight with the Great Mike Renzi at a gig in Rhode Island. George Masso (trombone ) will also be on the gig. For now, I'm just thrilled to know you are a lover of great music. I remember this song by the Mills Brothers. It was on a Decca record and the flip side to Paper
Doll. Holiday does a great job on this tune also.
I look forward to hearing you again on the Rush show. Fox needs you more on TV.
Pat Mitchell
TINY TIM FOOTAGE
Waaaay back, “There’ll always be an England” was your song of the week. And it reminded me that, according to most people who'd attended the 1970 Isle of Wight Music festival, the high point of
the festival wasn't the Doors, or Jimi Hendrix, the newly formed ELP, the Moody Blues or the Who.
Everyone there seemed to think the high point the weekend belonged to Tiny Tim, who closed his set by singing "There'll Always Be an England" through a megaphone.
I finally found some footage.
I never met TIny Tim, but I've often heard that Herbert Khaury was even weirder in person than on stage. (I mean, normal people don't record songs like "Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year"). Still, for all his strangeness, he was a guy with an encyclopedic knowledge of Tin Pan Alley, and an appreciation for all kinds of vintage tunes.
John Leavy
Re: Acting all the way to the bank
FAKING IT?
That Frum column is amazing. I don't know whether to thank or damn you for bringing it up, it hurt my head. Limbaugh, the champion of personal liberty, self-reliance, self-determination a fraud? How the heck did he get to where he was except through tremendous perseverance and effort, a/k/a self-reliance and self-determination?
Beck is a conservative / libertarian hybrid, but he's the real thing. Sure he's a bit odd and does act a lot crazy at times, but what's truly scary is that he may be right! Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds says that Reason's Nick Gillespie cries that he wants his reality back because Glenn Beck is starting to look sane (here).
O'Reilly is quite full of himself and not as far to the right as the rest, but his shtick has found its niche and he features conservatives and even has NPR / WaPo alum Juan Williams talking sense.
I suppose Mark Levin is faking it too. Which reminds me, does Frum have any idea how generous Rush is in his private life? What he did for Mark years ago when the president of the Landmark Legal foundation needed a medical procedure but couldn't afford it? Is he even the slightest bit aware of how Rush turned an unprecedented attack by the Senate Majority Leader and 40 colleagues into a $4M contribution to a charitable organization? See here.
Well, I guess I should thank you for pointing this out -- it's better that you read and report than for all of us to risk our sanity with Frum's droppings. The man (?) needs to put down the Chianti before he writes.
Mike Cakora
Columbia, South Carolina
JUST SUPPOSE…
Let's say there's a somewhat obscure think-tank writer who publishes wonky books on conservative policy. He doesn't have a broad audience, but has the opportunity for greater notoriety after a stint as a Whitehouse speechwriter and identification with the Neocon cabal.
Suppose an agent arrives and says the following: "I can guarantee you a deal that would pay you twice as much - bring you twice as much fame - and extend your career twice as long - if you criticize fellow conservatives while still calling yourself a conservative. Although you have no experience creating a popular political agenda, you will instruct them that abandoning their most principled positions and popular figures is the true path to victory. Within a year, Time will feature you on its cover and Chris Matthews will fawn over your courage."
I wonder how long it took David Frum to say "yes?"
Robert Hegblom
IF HE WAS FAKING, I WOULD KNOW
As I ponder your column, and Frum's, I think that David Frum is the one who changes his views in the reach for additional success.
I grew up in southern Missouri and southern Illinois (my dad, a naval aviator from 1936-1945, later managed a small airport in Lebanon, in the Ozark's, then worked for what is now the Defense Mapping Agency in St, Louis), and I can tell you that there is no more sincere man on the planet than Rush Limbaugh. He strikes a chord that is exactly right for conservatives in that heartland region. If he was faking it, I would know.
Poor National Review. They put their trust in people like Andrew Sullivan, David Frum, Christopher Buckley, and a host of others who have let them down badly. Thank God for those of you like Goldberg, Lopez, Derbyshire, Levine, Krikorian and others who have 'been more true than those who have the cunning to be strange.'.
My advice to N.R. - Get out into the provinces and hire some bright but relatively unpolished real conservatives who have attended schools like Texas A. and M or Sarah Palin's old alma mater(s). I worked on Capitol Hill for a short time, and can spot the real conservatives from the self-promoters about a mile away. There are far too many of the latter, but the Tea Party crowd (and others) are wise to them. I hope folks are keeping notes, for come the inevitable reaction to left-wing excesses, Frum, Buckley and the rest will be back, knocking on conservativsm's door.
Richard Reed
TOO GOOD FOR THE LIKES OF US
David Frum has never really liked us. He liked us an itty bitty bit when the Bush Administration was paying him to write speeches, but I guess it was okay for him to be bought, to craft words he would later disagree with. He liked us an itty bitty bit right after 9-11 when he was afraid of being killed by the Moslem extremists, but now he feels safe. Like Chris Matthews, Frum was on board when the world was scary, but now he's found his loving side. I am a great admirer of W, but what a lousy judge of character he was, eh? Huckabee I think suffers from that same warm trust that wants to reach out and hold hands with Kennedy's and Clintons. Frum went to Yale and Harvard so one has to assume he's too good for the likes of us.
Patrick Gigliotti
DEMONIZING RUSH LISTENERS
How many times have I said something to my husband on Sunday about the state of affairs in the White House that Rush hasn't repeated, almost work for word, on Monday. For heaven's sake, Rush doesn't brain wash me! He speaks to my concerns for this country. Someone out there actually feels the same way about things that they do. Hooray. I thought I was alone. No. Twenty million others feel the same. I deeply resent that those on the left have demonized all of us through their castigation of Rush, especially when they call themselves Conservatives. But they aren't really. They're elitist snobs who haven't the least idea how the real people of this country think about what is happening to this country. Thanks for FOX, Rush, Glen, Sean and the wonderful Tea Bag protesters.
Janne Davis
Eugene, Oregon
COVERED IN MAPLE LEAFS
I hate to say it, but David Frum is more likely the kind of Canadian (kind of like Peter Jennings) you encounter south of the border (in Europe they are completely covered in Maple Leafs and I love to chide them by asking them "what state are you from"; it completely freaks them out).
By-the-way, are always invited to a free dinner at a steakhouse in Zurich, the next time you are in Switzerland (with our National Review Club of Switzerland; all four of us).
Eric
Zurich, Switzerland
PROJECTION
Of course, one might reasonably conclude that Frum was offered just such a contract given his astonishing 180 degree turn on so many positions. The shrinks call his musings projection, I believe.
Dale Mader
Re: The nationalization of your children
PEDOPHILE POLICE
Re: the playground police in Britain, Just try it with me and see how far you get! I may not be a potential pedophile, but I am a potential danger to overly officious petty government workers.
Keep up the good writing, mate.
Andrew Burton
Newport, Rhode Island
PUSILLANIMOUS POPULACES
Totalitarian regimes happen because the populace allows it. It's not due to a fault in the dictator.
Gary
CAR-POOLERS BEWARE
Thank you for your post on "The Corner" today. I found a few more links concerning 'potential" pedophiles' issue in UK (I lifted additional info from some of the Russian 'independent' sources). And yes, there are some out there, indeed.... And the opinion by Philip Johnston (telegraph.co.uk)
Thank you for defending our freedoms.
Marina S. Plusnina Gray
GO WATFORD!
I wanted to believe this post, but apparently it's not quite what it seems to be. These adventure playgrounds are for kids 5-15 and have boy-scout-like activities like crafts and carpentry, so requiring special "rangers" makes sense.
You can see an example playground site here. and the city of Watford's statement about it here.
Out here in Oakland, CA we have too many "helicopter parents" who follow their kids around the playground in lockstep. Good for Watford for telling parents to butt-out.
Jason Swartz
Oakland, California
TEA PARTIES ARE THE TIPPING POINT
From your NRO post: "I keep getting e-mails saying, "People will reach a tipping point and they'll no longer put up with this stuff." I doubt it. Right now the way to bet is that once free societies will retreat incrementally, one trivial step after another, into a totalitarian hell."
Do you think that the tea party protests here in the US are evidence of the kind of tipping-point protest that the people who wrote you those e-mails thought might happen (in England, presumably)? The common thread of the tea parties, if there was one, seemed to be disgust at too much government, admittedly mainly in the area of simply spending money willy nilly, but frustration with nanny-statism also seemed to play a role.
And could swelling support for the BNP in England be an inchoate protest against New Labor, Statism, The Guardian (and "its paramilitary arm"!)?
Peter Carroll
RESISTING DESPOTISM
You wrote: "I keep getting e-mails saying, "People will reach a tipping point and they'll no longer put up with this stuff." I doubt it. Right now the way to bet is that once free societies will retreat incrementally, one trivial step after another, into a totalitarian hell."
I'm with you and so were the founders of this country. They knew their history. They also knew resisting such despotism was considered illegal in the civilized world and thus went to great effort to explain their actions. Here's the relevant bit from the Declaration of Independence:
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."
You'll not that they did not say it was inevitable that the people would throw off despotism, just that is was their right.
Chris Zander
INCREMENTALIZING
I think people will eventually reach a tipping point...in about 200 years. You are right as can be that these things move incrementally and all we can do is try to influence the direction of the increments.
Noel Pixley
THIS IS A CHECK-UP!
Watford Borough Council claims it is just following Government guidelines and cannot allow adults to walk around playgrounds “unchecked”.
I am worried. This would seem to imply that Watford Borough Council is still allowing “adults to walk around” other places “unchecked”. Especially ominous is that parents are even now, I gather, allowed to walk around their own homes with their children present before they have been “checked” and without any “play rangers” present. And what about public areas which are not playgrounds, e.g. streets, malls, cinema, etc.. Are they really allowing “unchecked” parents to be with children in these “play ranger” free environments?
Cinemas are particularly ominous given that they are of course dark for the most part.
One shouldn't be fooled by the half measures of the Watford Borough Council. They remain obvious pedophile enablers.
PMP
COULDN’T HAPPEN IN ARIZONA
Regarding the playground in Britain. I dunno Mark. I'd like to see the same thing tried here in Arizona either Phoenix (center-right) or Tucson (very left). My feeling is that it would last exactly as long as it would take to punch some dithering idiot who stood in the way of some momma-bear. I'm thinking specifically of my wife who, if confronted with such lunacy would not have the slightest hesitation from 1) declaring the policy idiocy and the person an idiot, 2) walking right past whoever was trying to stop her and 3) if said idiot tried to stop her, well, I hope there's adequate health-care coverage.
Michael Roberson
Phoenix, Arizona
LAST OF THE PLAY RANGERS
You miss the point ... if parents supervised their own children, then the "play rangers" would be out of a gov't job, and have to go out and get real jobs.
Can't have that, can we?
Leon
Re: Wards of the State
IT'S THE BUREAUCRATS
Keep in mind, Mark, that the state doesn't disapprove of anything. The state has no opinion, it’s only the bureaucrats and the "let's not bother with details like reading legislation" elected officials who will decide whether your child is in grave danger from big macs and "hateful" opinions.
Mike Molloy
YOU NEXT
Holy Crap! I'm a fat guy that likes vodka and owns guns. Will the state come seize my skinny kids??? What's next: couch potato police???
Loved your book "America Alone."
Mark Hagans
UNAPPROVED ACTIVITIES
"become smokers" or "become homophobes" or "become gun-owners"
Or (horror of horrors) "become conservatives"
With this gang in charge I don't think that is far-fetched at all.
Ben Grasmuck
'HOME’ AWAY FROM HOME
This concept terrifies my wife and I. We live in South Carolina and home-school our children (well, 3 of the 4-oldest went to public HS this year to join Marine Corp. JROTC). My kids are better educated than average. My 5 year old reads better than most third graders. But they are not being taught the “right” stuff acording to some. Europe has several documented cases of the state taking custody of home-schooled kids for their own sake. Where does it stop?
Tom Donnelly
PERTINENT PINK FLOYD
I just can't help but remember the Pink Floyd song "Mother" in reading of the newborn "confiscated" from her mother's arms, paraphrased ..."Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry. Government's going to make sure your healthy inside. Government won't let anyone dirty get through ...Government's going to keep baby healthy and clean ... You'll always be baby to me."
Really, it's too spooky and horrific to watch the implosion of the UK and wonder whether we're not too far behind.
Anthony J. Biller
Cary, North Carolina
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
For a sample of what becomes of children who are made wards of the state I direct you to the Winston Smith blog, particularly his latest entry.
John Hudock
KID-NAPPING IN CUBA
What do you get when the state gets comfortable with taking kids? Castro's Cuba, at the height of his gulag.
During that time, Cuban boys were taken from parents at the age of 12 and sent to military high schools to be trained to fight as mercenaries for Russia. The cool thing for parents, however, was that they got to see their kids one weekend a month. Who says Big Brother doesn't have a heart! If I am not mistaken, the charismatic Fidel - loved by congresspersons who share wise conversation with him - had the highest percentage of male population fighting in the military of any Western government in modern times. This, due to the state "adopting" kids wholesale out of its benevolence.
Bob Strauss, Jr.
Greenwood, South Carolina
SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
After all, if you can remove children over "fears" they might "become obese" at some point in the future, why can't you also remove them from other homes in case they "become smokers" or "become homophobes" or "become gun-owners" or almost anything of which the state disapproves?
Widespread gun ownership results in better treatment at the extreme. They can take your dog, your money, even one kid, but they can't take everything you care about without the very real danger of consequences
Rob Fink II
Re: Fatima’s secret
UGLY WORD FOR A BEAUTIFUL THING
I'm not the wordsmith you are, but I have to wonder how such an ugly word as pulchritude came to describe something of beauty. Strange.
You're an amazing gift, btw. I love hearing you sub for El Rushbo, and enjoy Thursdays with you in the (ugh) "Hughniverse."
Todd Caudle
Pueblo, Colorado
PRETTY PRICEY
In Saudi Arabia there is no such thing as low-cost lingerie. They have displayed everywhere the top European brands, so the ad speaks somewhat the truth
Peterk
Richmond, Virginia
Re: Nobody expects the British inquisition
BUTTING IN
It's impossible to make this stuff up.
Did you see the name of the British town council deputy chief executive who told the lady
her complaint was potentially hate related?
Bridget Buttinger.
I guess if you're going to butt into people thoughts that's an appropriate name. Or have I just committed a hate crime by pointing that out?
Mike Brown
Rockdale, Texas
SELECTIVE ANTI-HATE ENFORCEMENT
If it is an act of hate to complain about the Gay Right's Parade (an event designed to publicly express one's support for sodomy) , isn't it equally an "act of hate" to complain about another's public expression of disgust at such acts?
George Avery
CONFORMITY ORGANIZERS
Can we call them community enforcers or conformity organizers?
Mike
A CHURCH OF ENGLAND TORQUEMADA
Regarding your Corner entry on the British Inquisition, have you ever seen or heard Eddie Izzard's sketch Cake or Death?
Jesse Robertson
NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS
When Mussolini coined that motto of fascism he could only have dreamed that someday Brit cops would be investigating old Baptist broads for criticizing someone's lifestyle. This is why elected governments have no business promoting or discouraging the personal behavior or opinions of adults. Anyone who can't handle it isn't grown-up enough to live in a republic anyway. Then again, twenty years from now, it'll be a hoot to see the mental contortions of the ethnic chic set when the UK's sharia courts start publicly beheading gays ...
Steve
Seattle
DEATH CAMP OF TOLERANCE
Your post to the Corner "Nobody Expects the British Inquisition" reminded me of a South Park episode on Comedy Central. No doubt you have seen the South Park episode, from Season 6: Death Camp of Tolerance.
Here is the link to one of my favorite lines from the entire series: "here intolerance will not be tolerated."
Ed Penta
Middleton, Massachusetts
COME ON, GET HAPPY
You write, "The conformity enforcers of "tolerance" and "diversity" are growing ever more explicitly totalitarian."
That's because it was never about tolerance or diversity, as traditionally understood. It's about conflating tolerance with acceptance, understanding, approval, encouragement and celebration of politically-fashionable lifestyles and identity groups. It's about collapsing the entire spectrum of civilized reaction to selected lifestyle choices and certain “others” into an officially-sanctioned and enforced happy-face endorsement.
Unless the fraudulent 'diversity' movement is discredited and dismantled, don't expect its crusaders to stop with those who tolerate-yet-disapprove, like the Baptist minister's wife. Ambivalence and unsufficient zeal are incompatible with real totalitarianism. In the end, I expect conformity enforcement to be no different, perhaps becoming a growth industry, a success story in our otherwise bleak, state-managed future.
Joseph Fulvio
Re: Limbaugh bad, Mao good
TWITS IN T-SHIRTS
Love the Mao/Limbaugh column.
I went to Harvard (horrible dictu), and almost nothing drove me as insane as my cohorts and countrymen wandering campus in Mao and Che t-shirts.
The only people who seemed to really, truly get how insane and deeply disturbing this was were me (child of a German mother born a few years after the War who always never missed a chance to warn against charismatic leaders), the kids from Miami whose parents had escaped Castro, and the kids whose parents were Taiwanese and/or Chinese.
The rest of everyone just kind of thought it was fine or overlooked it.
What a shame.
Jacob Lentz
MAO KILLED 77 MILLION
According R.J. Rummel's work published here and here, Mao murdered just under 77 million people.
Rummel, a professor emeritus at University of Hawaii, has studied democide and megamurderers for many decades. His website summarizes much of his work.
I first encountered Rummel's writing in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal back on July 7, 1986.
Thank you very much for your perseverance and clarity in defending liberty.
Jonathan Seder
Palo Alto, California
CATCHY!
Anita Dunn says she was dazzled by the brilliance of Mao's retort, "You fight your war and I'll fight mine."
So that, by Anita Dunn, show a brilliant philosopher? She should have met Arnold Smerdlap, a guy I used to know in the neighborhood. He once said, "Nice day, if it doesn't rain." Now THERE'S brilliance!
Larry Eubank
Re: The complacency of hope
WHEN LEFT IS RIGHT
I grew up in Portland. We had two daily papers the Oregonian and the Journal. The Oregonian was slightly left leaning the Journal a lot left leaning. The Journal lost money. I believe there is a federal law that can force a merger of papers. Once the two papers were merged the Oregonian adopted the editorial policy of the Journal. Long after I quit reading the paper Mike Royko who once represented the left in the opinion columns was used to represent the right side of debates.
Michael Renner
Re: Tough guy in a foxhole
SASKATONIANS RESPOND
Jeez, Mark, I just read the burn you did on my home town Saskatoon (in your recent chat with Hugh Hewitt)--namely, "George W. Bush was Saskatoon this last week giving a speech in Saskatoon. That’s what he’s reduced to, now. He’s playing the Saskatoon circuit up in Saskatchewan."
The name Saskatoon may connote hay-seediness to you, Mark, but we don't really walk around with too many straws in our teeth and I suspect we're generally as current and informed as any other populace.
I might mention that George Bush sold out here and he got a number of standing ovations...as he did in Montreal the next day.
BTW, check out my 5-star review of /America Alone/ on Amazon.ca
Wayne Eyre
Saskatoon
MARK REPLIES: No, no, no. It's parodic sophisticated condescension:
Here's Obama in Oslo getting his Nobel from the cool Euro-lefties, and here's the reviled Bush playing Saskatoon. I do a bit more of it in my weekend column.
Haven't been there in a while, but I love Saskatoon (in fact, my good health has been attributed to it). Love Swift Current (up to a point). And Saskatchewan is the home province of the great Kate McMillan, for whom my admiration is boundless. What's not to like?
UNWORTHY
Hey Mark, What’s with the cheap crack about Saskatchewan?
“And in the course of his glittering night playing the Saskatoon circuit, he (Bush) was asked about media criticism of him, and he told the …Saskatoonistanies? Saskatchewannabees? Whatever.”
It’s true that Bush has not yet fleeced the punters in the bright lights of Abu Dhabi, Guayaquil, Ecuador or Castries, St. Lucia like Bill Clinton has. But to paraphrase a great writer “It is unworthy of you to become some kind of David Frumskian bouncer at the entrance to the Conservative tent.”
If you ever had a chance to visit the fly over country between New Hampshire and your kangaroo court appearances in British Columbia you’d know that people in Saskatchewan are named after the native Saskatoon bush; Saskabushers.
James Honey
Al Rayyan, Qatar
SO YOU'RE A NEW HAMPSHIITE?
After George Bush left Saskatoon for Montreal, this Saskatonian (Saskabushian) wants to know how he'll address the locals in your home state after he slinks back across the international border on a pumpkin wagon - New Hampshiranians, New Hampsharians, New Hampshiites, New Hampshiraqis, New Hampshitstanis?
Nick
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
A CHARMING, DECENT, INTELLIGENT GUY
I enjoyed your commentary on George W. Bush’s recent speaking engagements, particularly from his brief visit to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As per your comments on Hugh Hewitt’s show, he didn’t watch the evening news because he was the evening news, and he was certainly the evening news around here last week.
I differ from your view of Bush’s stopover here as diminishing of his stature (From Hugh Hewitt Show transcript, October 22): “George W. Bush was Saskatoon this last week giving a speech in Saskatoon. That’s what he’s reduced to, now. He’s playing the Saskatoon circuit up in Saskatchewan“. George W. Bush was a skilled political campaigner because he connected to average voters in ways Democratic governing-class elites (ie: John Kerry) couldn’t understand. Consequently, Mr. Bush’s conversation with his Saskatoon audience convinced even some rather critical listeners that, stripped away from the media tint, he actually a charming, decent, intelligent guy.
I was interested in attending the event myself, but my duties with the local constabulary had me playing a role in ensuring Mr. Bush’s motorcade safely made its route between the venue and the airport. Considering Saskatchewan is Canada’s historical bastion for socialist activism, the President was rather well received, save for the expected protest group yelling the usual condemnations. I might point out that besides the noise, the protestors were delightfully well-behaved, unlike the shoe-hurling, effigy-burning rabble of your native Montreal.
From your recent post in the Orange County Register, “he [President Bush] was asked about media criticism of him, and he told the … Saskatoonistanies? Saskatchewannabees? Whatever.” The proper term is “Saskatonians”, in case you’d care to make future reference to us, perhaps in person on a book promotion?
Nolan Berg
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Re: Obviously we’re here to warn Geert Wilders
DELUSIONS OF MULTICULTURALISM
You wrote:
“The delusions of multiculturalism have brought about the death of England - in nothing flat.”
Do you know any non-multi-culti country where Muslims are a sizeable minority and there is no trouble, Mr Steyn?
It seems that when Muslims are 10-20% of populace you have something like Chechnya.
And if you have multi-culti galore but no MusIims, well, you have Portland, OR.
If UK had kept Muslim immigration at zero or close to it, multi-culti would still be bad, but UK would be like, say, Seattle, liberally correct, but quite liveable.
After all these years, isn't it the time to build up some spine, Mr. Steyn?
Such a waste of talent. Sad.
MG
MARK REPLIES: As you say, Islam is a problem for non-Islam all over the map, from Nigeria to Thailand. But it only threatens the west because of multiculturalism. "Sizable" Islam is present in Britain entirely because of the multicultural delusion - which is that anybody anywhere can come to the developed world and will magically transform himself into a functioning citizen of a pluralist democracy. Until the Sixties, it was taken for granted that sovereign nations had the right to discriminate in their immigration policies - and all did so. From the supposedly "White Australia First" policy Down Under to US immigration before the 1965 act, governments took the then entirely unremarkable view that immigrants from some cultures were more assimilable than others. Now, even to suggest that, say, immigrants from Poland are more assimilable than, say, uneducated young men from Somalia or child brides from Mirpur is to be damned as racist.
So your solution - "if UK had kept Muslim immigration at zero" - is pure fantasy - because multiculturalism insists there is no difference between a New Zealander and a Yemeni. Multiculturalism says that whoever makes it to Heathrow has as much right to be there as anybody else, and, once you're there, it delegitimizes traditional assimilation pressures. In Europe and Canada the people who make it to the arrivals hall are Muslim. In the US, for the moment, they're Hispanic - which also has consequences: I am not half so sanguine about the future of, say, Californian "livability" as you are.
As I say in America Alone, radical Islam is an opportunist infection, able to advance only because of the wounds the west has inflicted on its own immune system. That applies, to a lesser degree, in the US, too. Which is to say that Seattle will be livable longer than London, but that eventually there will be consequences there, too. This civilization would be in deep trouble even without Islam: Ultimately, it's about us, not them..
Re: Nuclear fallout
HE SLIPPED
My cousin Jason Brueschke worked at the US Iran Claims Tribunal in Den Haag in the early 90s, I read the first volume of the official history of the Tribunal when visiting him, there was a case in the late 80s where when the Iranians knew they'd lose the decision, they threw a judge from a balcony to delay the decision.
I asked my cousin about this, he saw it happen, and said that the Iranians did it and had a reputation for doing destructive things to avoid a potentially damaging decision.
I'd look at the Iranians for this one.
Mark Brueschke
Re: Think globally, cull locally
CONSERVATIVE BABY BOOM
I think Alex Renton is on to something.
If all liberals were to stop reproducing, maybe conservatives would have a chance to restore sanity to the country -- and the world.
I think we should encourage all of the liberals out there to give it a shot, to stop reproducing -- voluntarily, of course -- and "save the planet". Meanwhile, conservatives should get busy reproducing MORE.
It will take a while for the libs to freak out and try to pass legislation restricting the number of births each family can have. Maybe by then, conservatives will be running the show. Then we can guilt-trip them into giving up children altogether, while we crank up our own birthrate.
Debbie S.
San Francisco
P.S. By the way, it's not hopeless. A dear Jewish friend told me her father, a rabbi, was upset at the low birthrate that Jews have. Today, she has 5 children, and many of her Jewish friends are following suit. I hope it's not too late.
DIY SOCIAL SECURITY
Perhaps Alex's strategy is sound but misdirected. He is assuming environmental savings due to reducing the number of children, but what about adults?. I propose a Chinese-style, childless-adult limitation policy. My 4 children may emit as much carbon as 4 guilt-ridden adult liberals, but they also are my Social Security policy, saving the State taxpayer money by supporting me in my old age. So, liberals, lead by example! For every guilt-ridden environmentalist that voluntarily kicks the bucket, I will gladly produce another taxpayer.
Have fun tweaking these elites!
John
CULLING BY CAPITALISM
You are absolutely correct about the immigration angle that could be applied to Alex Renton's arguments. But let's take it a step further.
In addition to liberal squeamishness about "xenophobia," the other reason for watermelon Marxists like Renton to support mass immigration is that the influx of workers provides the financial means to undergird the left's beloved welfare state. But wait -- isn't the very purpose of the welfare state to supposedly improve people's lives and allow them to live longer?
So to further his goals of culling emission-belching Westerners, Renton and his fellow travelers should logically come out against the nanny state and demand a system based purely on cruel, Darwinian capitalism. Save the Planet -- Kill the NHS!!
Right?
Ben Gibbons
THE POOR POLLUTE
Also Bjorn Lomberg has argued that it is getting rich which is the ticket to reducing pollution. Poor countries pollute, rich ones clean up the environment. Economics is lost of the eco-friendly.
Barry Dauphin
CHINA’S ENVIRONMENT
How’s China’s environment doing after 20 or 30 (?) years of their enforced one child policy?
Feast your eyes.
Virginia Pierce
DO THE RIGHT THING
Mr. Renton and those of his ilk are essentially not serious. I have always wondered why he and his pals don't immediately do the RIGHT THING, and just off themselves? After all, "Poor Gaia" (may her dirt be praised) will have to deal with their miserable entrails some time, so why not stop polluting NOW and make it a little easier on her? Why do they always argue that it's someone else's problem, when the BEST solution is right before their eyes? I mean, what could be WORSE than their procreating?
Just askin'.
Vanessa Prouty
Re: FPOD
TIME TO EAT THE 'EXPERTS'
Brenda and Robert Vale need to be reminded of a few things. First, that we've been engaged in a 10,000 year program to make dogs and cats into our ideal companions. A house rabbit can display some vestige of a personality but a chicken? Please.
Further, it may not suit them culturally but dogs and cats are quite edible. But then, Brenda and Robert Vale are edible, too. Which would reduce their eco-footprint to nil.
Eric Pobirs
PREDATOR PETS
Once again, the elite enviros are afraid to face up to the full implications of their thinking. Rather than recommending that people swap pets for animals they can eat, they should recommend that people swap pets for animals that can eat them. To put it in NRO - environmental terms, Cosmo's not the problem; it's Jonah.
Phil Brown
BETTER THINGS TO DO?
Funny one for you. When interviewed by NBC yesterday Obama was asked about his advisors going after Fox News... there's a clip in the link below - it's around 55 seconds into the clip where he comments
Obama says, “I think the American People are more interested in what we’re doing to create jobs or how we’re handling the situation in Afghanistan...”
That's funny, because those of us who pay attention to the news know that they're doing neither.
Jason Westman
Omaha, Nebraska
IS LORD MONCKTON A LOONY?
In this Youtube video we see some British guy saying that Obama is about to sign a treaty which will take away our freedom. Is "Lord Christopher Monckton" right?
William Chadwick
A REAL AMERICAN HERO
During the recent Taliban attack on the U.N. guest house in Kabul, an American named John Turner, armed with an AK-47, kept the terrorists at bay while 25 people escaped through the laundry room. That accounted for over half of the 40+ people in the house. The terrorists intended to kill all of them. Mister Turner is not a soldier; he's a trucking contractor from Kansas City, Missouri. He might be a Blackwater-type mercenary. I'm not sure. In any case, the aforementioned AK-47 is his personal weapon. No fool, he. The man knows which country he is in.
John Turner is a 100% certified, All-American Hero. How much attention will he get from the mainstream media? Not very much, I wager. Just a heads-up in case you wish to follow up on this angle.
David C. Parsons
Pennsylvania
POODLE POWER
I love all your work, but this day you have erred tremendously. In your column "Mr. Tough Guy," on NRO, you refer to the Norwegians awarding Obama his Nobel as " a dog biscuit and a pat on the head to the American hyperpower for agreeing to spay itself into a hyperpoodle."
I, and my standard poodle, Roman (short for Necromancer) take great umbrage!
Poodles are not docile, obedient lap dogs. If you are not aware, Poodles are German water-fowl hunting dogs, bread to be smart, energetic, and friendly. Roman is all of that, defends the house, takes care of us when we're down or ill, and listens to our commands about as well as our teenage girls -- that is, when he wants to. Except, when "Dad" uses the "low voice," that is.
He, and many other poodles, are playful, companionable, and in a word (well, two), great friends.
In no sense, then, does it make sense to equate docility with poodles. That you, a certainly insightful, intelligent writer, would make that error, is disturbing.
Perhaps there's another term that might make sense. Something that shows obedience to one's masters, while at the same time snarling at those that the master does not like.
Something like -- Keith Olbermann.
Joe Fortner
West Hartford, Connecticut
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT
It makes me sad to realize that for many years I had no idea that you even existed, because when I read your essays, it literally feels as if something is tickling my brain. If your words were edible, they would be made of chocolate.
Cynthia Cook
Akron, Ohio (yeah, it's exactly how you are imagining it)
PEACEFUL PROTEST
If we are doomed, then how do we want to go down? Do we let the government just hook us up to the IV and let them slowly (or quickly) bleed us dry, while we just lie there wondering why? I mean if we're doomed, well cripes, we might as well have some fun going down. If 20 or 30 million Americans who have never cheated on their taxes just kept, oh, say, an additional 10% of their earnings this year the IRS couldn't handle the revolt. Now this doesn't apply to people like the folks in the Obama administration who routinely cheat on their taxes, because the government keeps chugging along even if they get a pass, because those of us who pay our taxes are flipping for the bill for them. But if enough of us who play by the rules told our accountants to come up with something whereby we pocket an extra 10% this year, well, we'd have a wonderful little revolt on our hands. Sure, we'd probably get audited and have to pay the money or face jail time, but so what? Pay the money after your audit if you have to. And who cares about being audited? Remember, I'm not talking about the Geitner's of the world who have a lot to fear about an audit because they do this sort of thing year in and year out. I'm talking about normal people who always pay their bills. If I get audited I'll owe that 10% for 2009, plus interest. I can handle the interest penalty. But this kind of revolt would force a reckoning. I don't know how it
would play itself out, but it'd be a hell of a lot more fun and glorious than lying there complacently as they bleed us dry.
Doug
Chicago
SILENCE THE SIGNS
In August, you wrote an article about the road signs sprouting up that notifying motorists that certain projects were funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thought you might be interested to know that a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, Jarrod Miller, has introduced legislation that would prohibit "stimulus" funds from being used to erect such signs. Here's a link to the bill.
Enjoy your columns and posts immensely.
Matt
Columbus, Ohio
LAST WORD
Mark Levin, the other day, made an offhand remark about a Marxist wonderland, and the following song popped into my head. As a cultural commentator extraordinaire I thought you might get a kick out of it. The lyrics are also available at my blog at mjgossman.wordpress.com
Marxist Wonderland
Lyrics by Matt Gossman
To the tune of "Winter Wonderland"
composed by Felix Bernard
Hope and Change, are ya listening?
The mass's eyes, are a-glistening.
We'll remake the way
we all live today.
Walking in a Marxist Wonderland
Gone away is the spending.
Capitalism it is ending.
There will be no more greed,
no shortage or need
Walking in a Marxist Wonderland.
In the meadow we can build a commune
and pretend that we are all the same.
You'll ask are you happy,
we'll say, no man,
but if you give us all you have
we may be.
Later on, we'll conspire,
As we light another fire.
We will march in the street
and assault those we meet.
Walking in a Marxist Wonderland.
In the meadow we can build a commune
and pretend that we are all the same.
We'll have lots of fun with our pretending,
until reality knocks us down.
Maybe now it isn't working,
and in the past, its always fallen.
But we'll just march on, singing this song
Walking in a Marxist Wonderland.
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