Fairly Unbalanced - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Fairly Unbalanced
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THE LAST LAUGH
Re: Quin Hillyer’s Conservatives Laugh at Media Bias:

If Mr. Hillyer were truly concerned about media bias, he would be compelled to point out that Fox News is part of the mainstream media. In spite of its claim, it is hardly fair and balanced.

Should entertainers like Bill Maher, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Michelle Malkin be “responsible” in their opinion making? They are laughing all the way to the bank as a result of meeting their respective constituencies demand for “red meat.” The market has spoken.

My real complaint with the “mainstream media” is how long it took them to uncover and report about the fabrications of the Bush administration about our entry into the war in Iraq, the Jeff Gannons and Armstrong Williams of the world and how they covered Mr. Bush’s “town meetings” as if they were in any way newsworthy as opposed to being well orchestrated propaganda. The problem is not so much liberal bias as incompetence.

Sorry, Mr. Hillyer. The conservatives as victims of the liberal, biased mainstream media routine just doesn’t fly.
Mike Roush
North Carolina

I avoid the MSM as much as possible because I don’t find it funny at all. I get angry and frustrated listening to the delusional, fascist, hate speech that is subtly directed toward everything that is pure, good, and descent. Organizations and institutions that contribute to the traditional family structure, which is the “glue” that maintain a moralistic society, are all targets for these liberal elites like “Communist Katie.” They are purveyors of perverseness. They live in a bubble and rarely if ever come in contact with the harsh and unfortunate realities resulting from the decay that they help cause.
John Nelson
Hebron, Connecticut

Great article. I don’t watch any of the liberal channels because I want truth and fairness. I have never watched Katie’s show so won’t comment on her. I cannot stomach Chris Matthews and his blabbering. I don’t find anything entertaining about Bill Maher and never did. He’s pathetic! One evening I hit the wrong button on my remote and there was Keith Olbermann spewing his garbage. I decided then that he is the most ignorant, pathetic excuse for whatever he is supposed to be and a very good example of “the pot calling the kettle black.” What an absolute disgrace he is and MSNBC is just garbage as far as a cable network is concerned. It should be called an entertainment channel for those that love to hate.
Jane
Connecticut

Thanks, Quin! Helps us remember what these people are really like, in case anyone has forgotten what this next election is about. Reminded me of a joke, about a guy who jumps off the Empire State Building.
Halfway down, someone yells out from a window, “So, how’s it going? ” to which he replies, “OK, so far!” They’ve all jumped off the deep end, and they expect the rest of us to follow. Poor Katie Couric. She
completely redefines the term “airhead,” which, by the way, would make a perfect title for her biography, or epitaph.
Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

I read Mr Hillyer’s and RET’s columns in tandem. I hesitated to read any further on today’s scroll because my heart and mood couldn’t handle any more. I am left with one question: how DOES one ever hope to REASONABLY coexist with these people? American liberals are toxic, mendacious, thuggish…oh what in Heaven’s name is the use? In a word they’re invincibly ignorant. And that on their best day. Would they all be happier if more of our cities were attacked? They can enthuse over the systematic taking of millions of unborn American children but quail at the thought of an arch-enemy doing a few laps on a waterboard, and crab about it now when ostensibly they had been alerted to the device years ago? Time to stop this bewildered screed while at least one main artery continues to function.
J.C. Eaton Chetek
Wisconsin

I am glad Mr. Hillyer is on the MRC panel for this year’s DisHonor Awards; it definitely burnishes his street cred.

But seriously, is this really “new” news to those of us who slog daily behind the scenes to get out the conservative/libertarian word? I think not, especially since the template in use by the drive-bys won’t expire until Jan 09.

My goal this cycle is to ensure the libs continue to have a reason, for the next four years at least, to be more vengeful, boisterous, and over-the-top in their daily commentaries and writings.

That will be the only way to know for sure that we’re hitting the right buttons and are advancing the cause with success.
Owen H. Carneal
Yorktown, Virginia

I think the one burning question out there that needs to be asked is; who, in God’s name watches, listens or reads any mainstream media propaganda? I mean to say, anyone with a second grade or higher education turns it off, don’t they?

Lets see now, we have the crappy news network, the make sure no Bush credit news (actually, non news) adoring Bill Clinton (non news), the nobody but Clinton (non news) and of course the Clinton broacdcasting station. Some choice, huh! Is there really anyone out there that can watch these bunch of DNC hacks and actually keep their food down?
James Lawrence
Sandwich, Massachusetts

TORTURED DEMOCRAT ARGUMENTS
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Mendacious Indignados:

So we’re seeing another instance of Democrats being for something before they were against the same thing. Kerry, Clinton, Reid, Pelosi; like the energizer bunny, they keep going and going and going. These folks really are like sheets to the wind, though the bedwetting stains should be embarrassing.
Karl F. Auerbach
Eden, Utah

Tyrrell lauds Clarence Thomas for writing the book of the year, even conceding its superiority over his own work.

If Justice Thomas has written something better than The Clinton Crack-Up, it must be attributable to subject matter.

Could Justice Thomas’s skill-level give us “mendacious indignados” as a description of his tormentors?

Recall that one of those present-day indignados has called Justice Thomas an “embarrassment” whose opinions are “poorly written,” like an “eighth-grade dissertation.” (Thank God for Catholic schools.) Could such an ignoramus write the book of the year? To find out, we’ll have to wait for Harry Reid’s memoirs.

Perhaps his publisher will title it “The Congressional Indignado,” but that misses something. The diminutive, indignito, would be more fitting. The feminine, indignita, better still. But language fails us, as I don’t think these are in our lexicon.

Regardless, I look forward to My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir, and I thank you for The Clinton Crack-Up.

Merry Christmas, RET, Justice Thomas, and all!
Dan Martin
Pittsburgh

Y’know, I found one aspect of the Democrat reaction to the accounts of destroyed tapes amusing. It was stated that the tapes were destroyed to protect clandestine agents. Democrats were more enamored of protecting these kind of agents when they were Valerie Plame…I guess the agents in these tapes aren’t capable of doing harm to the Republicans.
Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

It is truly sad that national security issues regarding terrorists are public fodder, but the national security issues surrounding Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of classified documents are no more than a page 6 afterthought. Where ARE we going as a country?
Greg Mercurio
Vacaville California

I agree that the 9/11 plotters should not have been “waterboarded.” The CIA should have used blowtorches. And fed the remains to hogs.

The interrogation tapes should not have been destroyed. We should have shown the world how Mr. Big Bad Terrorist lasted all of thirty seconds when somebody got tough with him. Let’s see ’em pose as fearless warriors for Allah after that makes the rounds.

As to the high dudgeon of the usual Congressional suspects: so what? They have spent the last eight years screaming their empty heads off at everything the President said or didn’t say, did or didn’t do. If Dubya walked on water, they’d swear he only did it to hurt the fish, and by now his Administration is getting a de facto free pass (even when it isn’t deserved) from the public’s sheer fatigue at a Democratic shtick that is nothing more than one long tantrum. Outrage on demand has become, quite simply, a bore.
Martin Owens
Sacramento, California

The CIA needs to have their PR man issue a statement saying that they practice only 100% organic andsustainable torture. More than that, they even they buy carbon credits to offset any footprints left on the foreheads of their victims. If the CIA did this, then Congress (and by extension Hollywood and the Episcopal Church) would have nothing to complain about, now would they?

Plus, we would all get a great laugh.
Mrs. Jackson

I say we clean out all of Congress and replace it with some reasonable people. Who’s with me? I know there are some good reps up there, but they don’t stand up and take action nearly often enough. We need to teach the whole of them a serious lesson.

This is just another example of how childish too many of our congressmen and women have become. There’s a simple way to tell a mature adult from an immature adult. The mature adult stands up and takes responsibility for their actions, good or bad. If it is true that the Congressional oversight committees were fully informed on the interrogations and the methods used, than we don’t need to be hearing about their so called “indignation” at this point.

Personally, I say that if waterboarding is as effective as it would appear, let’s keep doing it when necessary. No lasting harm, no ill effects, and apparently very effective, even on the most hardened of terrorists. What’s the problem?

Then again, I often say it. Like our government can do anything right.
Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

Bob, if ONLY this behavior on the part of Congressional Democrats was just merely mendacious, it wouldn’t be so serious a matter. However, this decades old reprehensible behavior, particularly virulent since 2000, supported and sustained by the MSM, as noted by Quin Hillyer in his article, makes this a truly frightening proposition for the very survival of America.

Congressional Democrats are free to act irresponsibly as long as fools like Maher, Matthews, and Olbermann are there to sustain the alternative reality these folks dwell in. As in the case of the New Republic, one simply creates myth out of whole cloth, in order to sustain the ideological bias ; Mr. Beauchamp, meet Dan Rather. Yep, these folks have managed to transform Orwell’s fiction into reality.

But Squeaker Pelosi’s poor imitation of Claude Raines’s Capt. Renault notwithstanding, what’s truly disgusting about this entire interrogation tapes episode is the transparent disappointment Congress & the MSM are demonstrating. Practically foaming at the mouth at their lost opportunity to exploit the tapes for all they’re worth, one imagines Matthews & Olbermann obsessing over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s visage, as he squirms and begs to reveal all he knows. Throw in Henry Waxman and the ACLU for 24/7 hearings, and it’s no wonder these folks are apoplectic. Frankly, I’d have loved to see these “warriors” shown for the cowards they truly are. But somehow, our friends on the left would have managed to make the Sheikh out to be a tragic figure. Is that depressing or what?
A. DiPentima

I sure wish the terrorist would waterboard our troops instead of cutting off their heads or shooting them. Come on McCain do you see them “playing” fair? Where is Jack Bauer when we need him?

Do we really need the Democrats in office? They hate America and all she stands for, freedom and capitalism.
Elaine Kyle

GOVERNMENT DONE RIGHT
Re: Patrick J. Michaels’s Inventing the Whirlwind:

I think Patrick Michaels is being too diplomatic in his assessment that the NHC is hyping storms/hurricanes to save more lives and property. The NHC (and TWC) have a vested interest in ensuring their predictions come true. One reason is probably funding. But I believe the real reason is ideology: these folks have all bought into the man-caused global warming line, and it sure must feel better to “know” your predictions and ideological leanings are correct, even if one must fudge a bit to make it so. Remember the hockey stick curve.
Karl F. Auerbach

MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
Re: Eric Peters’ Turning Left on Red:

We will never have a tiered traffic licensing system, but we should. The one-size-fits-all system does not promote safety, but it does breed hostility towards law enforcement agencies. I have been driving since age 16. I am 67 now, have driven several hundred thousand miles since then, and have never had a major accident, at-fault or otherwise. I ignore whatever traffic laws I can get away with. Almost every time I drive at high speeds I must make a decision between doing the safe thing and the legal thing. Naturally I prefer the safe course, but there are far too many instances wherein I must eschew safety because I am in a well-patrolled area.
Ken Cory
China, Michigan

Wow! I would never have thought about using such a system, but I have to agree, it would be great!

The only caveat that would irritate my Libertarian sensibilities is that the Federal government would have to enact and enforce minimum standards for the tiers. Of course, if that could be determined by the States and simply enforced by the Fed, it could be acceptable. And again, it would only be minimums, each State could enact greater minimums.

What about the right to simply pass through a red light? As a bit of a night owl, I often find myself waiting for what seems an unendurable long time (I know rationally it’s only a couple of minutes) at red lights that prevent me from going while the road I was to cross or turn onto remains empty of cross traffic. I’ve been known to ‘run’ these lights anyways, but I generally don’t for fear of a cop pulling me over.

As for the ‘enforcement’ half of the equation, that is amazingly simple. All it takes is an RFID driver license and the placement of sensors on the roads. And the agreement when you get a license that you can and will have tickets and warrants for breaking these new arrangements. New cars could even be allowed to send warnings to the driver through the onboard computers.

And I love the idea of a special lane (better yet, two) on highways for better skilled drivers with much higher speed limits. I often drive back and force across the country, and being able to push 90 or so would greatly cut back on my time compared to my current 75 or 80. (Yes, on highways, I speed, but not badly).
Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

Once upon a time folks rode horses and wagons and coaches. Driver licenses were not required.

Modernity has imposed such restrictions as drivers and pilots licenses to operate vehicles and planes. This has changed travel from an inherent right to a privilege and such governance is the price we pay for modernity. I do not wish to be subjected to more restriction of travel and more governance as your suggestion would require.

For security reasons I could accept temporary driver licenses for legal aliens and felons.
Howard Lohmuller
Seabrook, Texas

Read with interest this article. Might I suggest a category for recent retirees possessed of a motor home? These adventurers are as a group the most dangerous among us.
David Singleton
Vernon, Texas

The other day I was ticketed for speeding on a road that I have used for almost thirty years. I was not driving any differently that day than any other day in all those years. Amazingly enough, I have never been involved in any type of accident irregardless of the fact I have been driving at speed which has been deemed unsafe by the NJDOT. The ticketing officer immediately told me that I could call the municipal office, plead not guilty, and speak with the prosecutor on the court date to have the severity of the charge reduced — what a farce!

I could not agree more with Mr. Peters’s assessment of the absurd traffic laws that exist, and the false sense of security that automobile technology has brought us. I do think it would be a nightmare to expect our State Governments to administrate the multiple tiered licensing that he suggests. I have a much simpler solution, which of course would undermine the revenue producing affects that are intended under the current system.

There should be one and only one ticket issued by law enforcement, one violation and one violation only –you cause an accident, you get ticketed. Is that not the bottom line? All of these rules and penalties are officially designed for safety — why don’t we just go straight to the heart of the matter and fine the people that cause the accidents? Which would include people driving too slow in the fast lane and people stopping on the exit ramps and so on.

First offense $1,000.00 fine. Second offense $5,000.00 fine and loss of license for thirty days. People will have an incentive to improve their driving skills rather than driving at a crawl to avoid a nuisance ticket.
Anthony Mastroserio
Skillman, New Jersey

“Which is like putting the bright kid in with the Specials. He’s frustrated — and the Specials get no benefit from dragging him to their level — other than perhaps indulging their envy. Which is vicious anyhow and ought not to be the basis for policy of any kind.”

This is what is happening in our school system, which is why kids are not learning. Every thing taught is on a level for the dumbest in the class.
Elaine Kyle

While I applaud and agree in principle with your prescriptions here – the idiocy of many drivers I encounter on the roads of northern Virginia is simply breathtaking and just plain dangerous — what REALLY is lacking is enforcement of existing driving laws. How do you propose to enforce the suggested tiered system, when county sheriff departments, city police and state troopers cannot even enforce existing laws?

If I were a trooper, I would have a field day handing out citations, even if I had to spend half of my time in traffic court to ensure convictions. None of that happens here in Virginia, except for the occasional anti-abusive driver campaign, when they all crack down on bad driving and speeding for a few days, congratulate themselves, then everything goes back to the status quo. My suggestion would be a wholesale revamping of the licensing process to bring it in line with Germany, where a driver must demonstrate a high level of competence behind the wheel in order to obtain a driver license, AND while driving, eating, drinking, shaving, reading a book, paper or map, putting on make-up or eyeliner, etc. and TALKING ON CELL PHONES is forbidden. I am sure there would be a tremendous amount of howling, but my answer to that is tough s–t. Learn to drive, leave the eating, drinking, reading, shaving, makeup and eyeliner and chatting on the phone to the home or office, AND/OR, wake up 15-20 minutes earlier in the morning to accomplish same!
D. Moroco
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Res. (Ret.)
Quantico, Virginia

I’ll give you one very good reason not to drive faster that 70 or 75 mph. POTHOLES. California Freeways are literally pockmarked with pot holes, especially on routes like I-5 from L.A. to the Oregon border. Why? Because the big rigs have, in conjunction with the weather eroded the concrete and turned the highway into something akin to a battlefield. So, if you want to drive your expensive performance vehicle fast, do so. I just glad I don’t have to pay for your destroyed steering systems, shock absorbers, wheels and tires.
Patrick Slamon

THE END OF HISTORY
Re: Manon McKinnon’s Don’t Know Much…:

One of the most significant features of the current culture war is the Orwellian campaign against History that the left is conducting in every Anglosphere country. In Britain, where I think it has gone furtherest, national heroes and exemplars like Alfred the Great, Nelson, Shakespeare and Churchill are no longer taught in many schools. In Australia the dispossession of the Aborigines is dwelt upon to the exclusion of other positive achievements by a number of schools and academics. The U.S. should watch out.
Hal G. P. Colebatch

Good to know I’m not the only one so worried about the loss of American history.

Though not a major student of history, I have always found our history to be uplifting and inspiring. Read 1776 by David McCullough sometime, which outlines the struggles, victories, and defeats of our very first soldiers as they started the battle for our freedom. The book gives great details on George Washington, why he was chosen to be our first commander in arms, and why he tried to turn down the position. Though it covers such a short period of our history, it does capture some of the major ideas of this great land.

It’s been better than eleven years sense I took AP History in high school, I still feel the desire to go back and look into American history in more depth from time to time. It surprises me how often the people I meet know so little about our history, and how so much of what they do know is garbled and colored with a self-hating-and-depreciating attitude and thought.

People worry more about the slaughter at Little Big Horn (a horrible act by any means) than they do the whole war of 1812. Most people couldn’t tell you who James K Polk was, despite the fact that his presidency saw a full third of our nation added. Too many people think of Jefferson as a slave-owner rather than the author of the Declaration, Ambassador, President, and proponent of abolition. Most people think that the Monroe Doctrine was an excuse for Manifest Destiny, rather than a small, newly-forged nation standing up against the empires of the world for the freedom of even smaller and newer nations.

It is said that man who does not learn his history is doomed to repeat it. A nation which does not know its history is bound to lose it. And we cannot afford to lose our history. It’s not always pretty, but it shows what a group of freedom loving individuals can do to make this world a better place. Perhaps it is because we have lost so much of our history that so many people can fall prey to the idea that we somehow cheated and stole (or bought) or way to the pinnacle of civilization. We are the shinning city upon the hill, the last great dream of all mankind. It’s our history that has lead us to this place, and if we lose that, we lose what makes us shine.

Perhaps Bismarck was right, and God looks out for drunks, fools, and the United States of America. Let’s pray to God that he was right; if we lose too much more, then only God will be able to save us.
Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

Manon McKinnon, Bill Bennett and Naomi Wolf may not understand something I have personally experienced during a period of my life when I taught high school kids: stupidity has become a virtue. That is why brainless Hollywood twits are emulated while leading expounders on such subjects as philosophy, history science, etc. are virtually unknown.

Why? Unionized education, which is both impervious to reform and currently infatuated with promoting self-esteem absent achievement. Parent groups who promote the idea that “too much” testing and homework is detrimental, competition is “unseemly” because someone has to lose, and advanced classes should be eliminated or expanded to prevent “stigmatizing” students who can’t qualify for them.

What do you get? A perfect storm of ongoing “feel-good” ineptitude.
Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

I didn’t really get the history bug until I was in college, but not from anything I studied at college. You can argue that making history “politically correct” is killing history study, but I think the proper term is making history “boring.”
Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

Manon, I think I may have identified the problem, and maybe the solution all at the same time. There’s a connection between Carol Platt Liebau’s Prude (reviewed last week by Katharine Boswell in her article, “Bad Girls”), and this “knowledge deficit” business. Take a little more from Sam Cooke, and voila!

“Now, I don’t claim to be an ‘A’ student
But I’m trying to be
‘Cause maybe by being an ‘A’ student baby
I can win your love for me”

See, boys and girls, it’s easy. The boys will do their homework, if the girls have self-respect, or something like that.

What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
Mike Showalter
Austin, Texas

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