ORRINWATCH
Re: Paul Weyrich’s Down the Hatch:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Someone has finally written what I have always said about Senator Hatch. His actions on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been despicable. When the criminal actions of the Democrats were exposed, Gabby Hatch moved quickly to make sure that everyone made nice and nothing untoward happened to his fine colleagues from the other side of the aisle. One can only hope he retires soon. Utah should be ashamed of his nicey nice hypocrisy.
— Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky
Paul Weyrich’s scathing commentary confirmed the reservations that I have always had about Senator Hatch. I’m surprised mention wasn’t made of Hatch’s behavior in the current Memogate scandal. You can’t help but wonder what is being covered up in that matter.
— Dick Melville
Ozone Park, New York
Paul Weyrich’s delayed discovery of the vagaries of Senator Orrin Hatch’s political philosophy tells us something about the two men. For openers, it demonstrates that Hatch can convince people who should know better that his commitment to conservative principles is steadfast and not subject to revision. As for Weyrich, he is not alone in being beguiled into believing Hatch was, “…not what you think he is.” A former Foreign Service colleague, also a Mormon and resident of Utah, wrote bitterly how Hatch, despite his actions on a wide range of issues, faces no real opposition in the primaries because the Republican Party will not allow it. Hatch may not have, as he once boasted, “the Right sown up,” but, to date at least, no one appears willing to take him on in Utah in the same way that Senator Specter, who votes more often as an independent liberal and disregards party ukase, is being challenged, albeit without White House support.
For observers of the national scene, one of life’s unsolved mysteries is why there appears to be a tendency for legislators and jurists who reside in Washington too long to move Left and renounce the principles and people who sent them to the capital in the first place. Former Senator Alan Simpson was “going back to Cody” (Wyoming), but when last heard from, appears to have become a fixture at The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. And I’ve always wondered if President Reagan would not feel terribly disappointed by the judicial journey of Sandra Day O’Connor.…
Sorry, Mr. Weyrich, I cannot love Senator Hatch, even during this paschal season. His efforts, among others, in proposing the Development Relief & Education for Alien Minors — aka “The Dream Act” – which would mandate additional educational funding for the children of illegal aliens, demonstrates a fundamental disdain for the immigration laws of the land that, given his legislative responsibility, is profoundly unsettling. But, Mr. Weyrich, I, too, shall pray for him: my supplication will be directed to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.
— Vincent Chiarello
Reston, Virginia
CODE OLD
Re: David Hogberg’s Outsourcing Bigotries:
That the left avoids press attention when they use racial code words is an old story and does not just apply to jobs and trade. In the last Louisiana Governor election, during the last week the Democrat candidate began running ads about her longstanding American heritage. The Republican’s parents came from India. If a Republican had run ads like that it would have been a national controversy. After the Democrat won, the media pretended that it was some sort of referendum on Bush. Wrong as usual.
— Michael Bergsma
KERRY CHRISTIANITY
Re: George Neumayr’s Blame the Bishops:
Mr. Neumayr is right on, as usual. He justly castigates the chattering class of the American Catholic Church. Would that the bishops invoke their zero tolerance policy with respect to Catholic In Name Only politicians. It’s also instructive that the likes of Georgetown, BC, et al. are cited by the Kerry crowd.
— P.A. Melita
Charlottesville, Virginia
John Kerry’s attending and the taking of Communion at the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church last Palm Sunday violates Catholic dogma.
1) A Catholic may not take Communion at a Protestant Church.
2) Attending a Protestant Service does not satisfy a Catholic’s obligation to attend Church on a Sunday, especially such a high holy day as Palm Sunday. Did he also attend a Catholic Service? If not, he needs to go to Confession in order to get back into a “state of grace” and be able again to take Communion.
— Jean M. H. Fergus
New York, New York
Great piece on the U.S Bishops today. I thought of it when I read this quote by John Kerry in today’s New York Times:
“Mr. Kerry became combative when told that some conservatives were criticizing him for being a Roman Catholic who supported policies, like abortion rights and same-sex unions, that are at odds with Catholic teaching.
“‘Who are they?’ he demanded of his questioner. ‘Name them. Are they the same legislators who vote for the death penalty, which is in contravention of Catholic teaching?’
“He added: ‘I’m not a church spokesman. I’m a legislator running for president. My oath is to uphold the Constitution of the United States in my public life. My oath privately between me and God was defined in the Catholic church by Pius XXIII and Pope Paul VI in the Vatican II, which allows for freedom of conscience for Catholics with respect to these choices, and that is exactly where I am. And it is separate. Our constitution separates church and state, and they should be reminded of that.’
“Mr. Kerry apparently meant John XXIII, as there is no Pius XXIII.”
I have two thoughts about this. First, his claim that the Church is against the death penalty is yet another way the Pope and the Bishops have confused the laity. Number two, doesn’t Kerry in some circumstances support capital punishment?
— David Hickey
My DEAR Mr. George Neumayr,
What hideous virus got into your machine that your writings would include the following?
“There are two Protestants in the race, an official one and an unofficial one. Kerry is the anti-Papal one, protesting the teachings of the Catholic Church in a manner befitting Martin Luther. Kerry’s reception of communion at an African Methodist Episcopal Church is appropriate: he is more in communion with the teachings of that church than his own.”
Now just a minute! Kerry is, to put it in plain language, the devil’s advocate … and a snotty power-grabbing inferior to the Clintons to boot. I’m no Lutheran but, the truth be known, my bet is that Martin Luther was a fundamentally decent, scholarly, and spiritual man to start; a major refining asset to Western civilization in the end.
— Carl Gordon Pyper
Monett, Missouri
TAKING THE LONG VIEW
Re: Jacob Laksin’s Terror’s Broken Promises:
Cultures with unbroken histories have long memories. If the Moslems remember that French Crusaders slaughtered the Moslem men, women, and children who had sought refuge in the Mosque of Omar during the fall of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, then they assuredly remember that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain expelled the Moors in 1492. As Jacob Laksin advises, Spain must realize that they are in this fight whether they want to be or not.
— David Shoup
Dublin, Georgia
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
Re: Harold Johnson & Mark Pulliam’s Scoutophobic San Diego:
I just read the article regarding Scoutophobia and I have to tell you how frustrated I am about this whole attack on these young boys. I have three boys of my own and although none of them are scouts I support the Boy Scouts 100%. Please tell me what if anything I can do to help with this incredibly wrong situation. Thank you.
— Leah St. John
Grand Junction, CO
CROSSING THE LINE
Re: A.A. Reynolds’s letter (under “Prolife Period”) in Reader Mail’s Scouting the Terrain:
I am as stridently prolife as Mr. Reynolds, but I believe he has crossed the line when he places full blame on the “wicked women” who procure abortions. Yes, these women sin horribly and bear tremendous guilt; but I think it is important to point out the bitterest irony of the supposedly liberating right to abortion. Namely, that most of the women who abort are pushed into the decision. These are typically very pathetic creatures who give in to a quick fix solution when they are in a particularly vulnerable situation. They are easy prey for the local clinic counselors. I do not in any way wish to excuse their choice but merely to emphasize that for every pushy, feminist who demands a convenient abortion I can assure you there are scores of frightened, misguided women who have been bullied and threatened into aborting their children by the irresponsible, gutless, self-centered “men” who impregnated them. Furthermore, many abortive women experience a slow death of their own in the years which follow their unfortunate decision. I wonder if their men suffer any pangs of conscience. How many broken marriages, shattered families, psychiatric problems and cases of women who hate men can be traced directly to the insidious evil of “safe and legal” abortion?
So much rotten fruit. Let us not fall into the trap of simply blaming women for the miserable state of today’s society. There is plenty of guilt to go around.
As for the sadistic doctors who profit from this bloody business, Mr. Reynolds could propose any punishment he wishes without argument from me.
— Nora Peralta
Lakewood, Ohio
The somewhat supercilious and sanctimonious A. A. Reynolds commits “unspeakable brutality” against simple logic. A pro-choice woman can choose to have the child; a pro-choice wife of mine had three, thank you. But again, I totally resent any self-appointed arbiter of public taste (or whatever) trying to tell my daughters what they can or cannot do with their bodies.
— slg
