GETTING IT
Re: Leonard Albin’s Touring the Al Gore Presidential Library and Museum:

This is a joke right? There can’t be a place like this in reality. Please tell me he made this up.
— Cameron Davis
Athens, Michigan

This is a joke, right?
— Chef Tim
Indianapolis, Indiana

Cute, very cute. 🙂
— David Shoup
Dublin, Georgia

Where was the Internet exhibit?
— Diamon Sforza
San Diego, California

Hilarious!
— unsigned

DIRTY HARRY
Re: Tim Carney’s Brutal Dictator Kitsch:

A few years ago, there was a holiday book review in another magazine of conservative opinion, and it made the point of cross reviewing Eugen Kogon’s “Theory and Practice of Hell” against Robert Conquest’s “Harvest of Sorrow”. The reviewer’s thesis was that although Kogon’s book was the foundation of all Holocaust history, almost inevitably referenced in every book that followed, Conquest’s history of the Soviet terror famine was more horrific, more demonstrative of evil incarnate. It wasn’t easy to get a copy of Kogon’s book, but I did, read Kogon and Conquest, and found myself concurring with the reviewer.

The “moral” of the story appears to be that it isn’t mass murder per se that is unacceptable, it is who you do it to and to what end that “matters.”
— Frank Natoli
Newton, New Jersey

Or, Mr. Carney, Barmy Prince Harry could’ve worn a Che or Castro shirt, and would have been celebrated by the same crowd who castigated him. It just proves once again that to please the left, you have to be careful which murderous thug you associate yourself with.
— Tim Jones
Cordova Tennessee

Clearly tin-eared Harry is never going to win top prize on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” — except when he inherits half of London.

(And personally, I think we should have done to the Royals what you guys did in 1776. Then sent them back to their original fatherland: Germany!)

However — as Timothy Carney points out — “Don’t be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party.”

That’s from the current West End smash hit show “The Producers”. Now if only the amusing Mr. Brooks had been at this fancy Nazi party, Harry could have claimed he was auditioning for the role previously played by Nathan Lane.

And let’s not forget who’s leading the self-righteous lynch mob. All the suspects usual who infest the Institutionally Leftist UK media: the BBC, the Daily Mirror, the Independent, the Guardian, et al.

To a man (and woman), they are viciously and relentlessly anti-Jewish. In fact, under normal circumstances they have lots of time for some of today’s actual Nazis: the islamofascists, the neocomms, Arafat, Saddam, et al.

So it sticks in the craw, ever so slightly, to be lectured about Nazis by these unpleasant creeps.

However, I think we can all agree to get along and blame the father. It’s well known in British “diplomatic” circles that Good Time Charlie is to be kept away from Israel (or even the subject of Israel) at all costs, being that he has this little problem with “The Jews”.

And you know what they say: like fatherland, like son.
— David Smith
London, England

KOS DAILY
Re: Patrick Hynes’ Howard Dean’s Shrill Shill:

Excellent work! Thanks for the insight.
— Fred Baumann
Iola, Wisconsin

I get a kick out of the Republicans using this as “vindication” re the Armstrong Williams scandal. Let’s see: Did Kos receive any money from the government, and subsequently taxes paid by you and me? No! So much for your moral equivalency test. Hypocrite. And Hynes sure does reveal his partisan leanings at the bottom of this article — somebody who runs a web site titled “CrushKerry.com” does not strike me as a source of credible information. Now that your boy won, Patrick, maybe you should think about taking the site down and refocusing your energy. Who can you bash next? Oh yeah, Howard Dean! I guess you’ll have to launch a new site.

Oh, and by the way, Kos did disclose his working relationship with Dean in 2003. For the record, I found his comments regarding the Blackwater employees in Fallujah to be in very poor taste. I could also go onto any right-wing blog (LGF, Powerline, Free Republic) and find something in equally poor taste every day. Like those of us who voted for Kerry being called communists, traitors, America-haters, you name it. So give me a break, and quit being such a sore winner.
— Paul S. Fick

Patrick Hynes replies: The writer is deeply confused about my piece. At no point did I attempt to vindicate Armstrong Williams by pointing the finger at the Kos scandal. Rather, I merely pointed out their likenesses. Further, if the writer had bothered to read my piece he would have seen that I acknowledged Kos’s disclosure. Of course the fact that Dean would even establish a professional relationship with such a bilious creature as Kos, who wishes ill toward Americans abroad and ascribes horrific conspiracies on our nation’s leaders bodes ill for the Democrat Party. Now that was the very purpose of the piece.

THE LONELY DOWD
Re: Enemy Central’s It’s Crying Time Again:

Maureen does not get it. She is no man’s dream babe. Hers is the abuse of intellect. A mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but it’s even worse when you screw it up.

She is going to have to concentrate on younger, more susceptible, boy-men. Happy hunting, Maureen, and I say “pity, the fool…”
— Cort Wrotnowski

Maureen Dowd claims the Hepburn/Tracy movies were exciting because they were about equals. I find it amusing that she cites the on-screen relationship of Hepburn and Tracy as opposed to their off-screen one. It was Katharine Hepburn herself that said that when Tracy met her on the movie lot, “He thought I was a lesbian.” She endured Spencer’s drinking bouts sitting outside his door until he called for her. She and Spencer were never able to take a vacation together unless they were on location. When Spencer died, Hepburn was unable to attend his funeral. She chose to be the other woman and she clearly believed the sun rose and set in Spencer Tracy. More importantly, Hepburn proudly (and correctly) maintained until the end of her life that a woman could not have it all : That children get in the way of a career. Yet Katharine Hepburn was an intelligent woman in love with an intelligent man. And their true life love affair was not equal. Men don’t want Mommies. Boys do. Go out and get yourself a man, Maureen.
— Mrs. John B. Jackson III

THEY ALL DO IT
Re: Shawn Macomber’s Thanks, Armstrong and Lawrence Henry’s Aspects of the Armstrong Williams Flap:

I read with interest, as usual, both Mr. Macomber’s and Mr. Henry’s pieces on Armstrong Williams accepting money from the Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind program. But I am puzzled about something. Outside of the journalistic profession, who cares?

Seriously, exactly what impact do Mr. Williams’ actions have on the average Joe? None. I have never listened to Mr. Williams and in fact never even knew he existed prior to this uproar. Therefore, I cannot really comment upon the content or format of his show. But I will ask of those who do know, were Mr. Williams’ supportive actions presented as hard news on his program or as commentary? If commentary, except for those obsessed with total transparency, does it matter if someone is paid for endorsing a product or does it for free? If it is, then none of us will ever buy deodorant again and the advertising and acting professions will fold overnight.

I understand the ethics involved in journalistic transparency and agree that a journalist should not receive any compensation from any person or organization whose product he is supposed to be unbiasedly evaluating. However, this is nothing like the recent scandals in the mainstream media, such as CBS’s Memogate and the New York Times‘ Jayson Blair scandal. So let’s give it its fifteen minutes of media fame and move on. Mr. Williams’ listeners will judge him from here on.

As to the idea that the U.S. Government should not offer money to anyone for anything other than that dealing with the constitutionally authorized areas of common defense and settlement of disputes between states, I heartily agree.
— Michael Tobias
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Lawrence Henry cites many examples of news and/or programming that are, in fact, only commercials.

This is widespread in local media. Local TV “news” programs (mostly those aimed towards women) have those segments of cooking or fashion, etc. in which they “visit” a local shop or restaurant or have the chef on the show to cook a recipe. These are nothing but commercials for those businesses and often require a fee paid to the station to be “featured” on the show. Or they are paid through a trade-out (barter) between the two involved. I’ve paid invoices for these programs.

And like women’s magazines that are turned over to PR gurus and handlers the shows are normally targeted to women at home during the day.
— Greg Barnard
Franklin, Tennessee

The “News ” story that the Administration is now paying people in the news media to support their position, especially on education tells an atrocious story. How can the American public, the American voters trust the conservative news media, any more? This story tells us that the conservative news media is no longer an objective source of information, but that it is a paid mouthpiece for the administration, paid for by the administration. How many other members of the conservative media are on the payroll of the administration, making it their duty to make sure the American public gets only what the White House wants us to know? This is what the newspapers “Pravda” and “Izvestia” were for the Kremlin and “La Gramna”: is to the Castro regime. Do we really want our news media to be the paid mouthpiece of the government? It seems your rag approves of this position.
— Jim in South Carolina

CASEY AT THE BAT
Re: The Washington Prowler’s The Casey Against Santorum:

I found the piece about Robert Casey vs. Santorum to be right on target. Former RINO Barb Hafer looked to be the challenger, but in this relatively conservative state, she would have been creamed. As a pro-lifer, Casey will attract many of the conservative Republicans who are still very, very angry about the Toomey betrayal and standing up for Arlen Specter’s Judiciary chairmanship.

I’m not sure Santorum understands the depth of alienation in his former base.
— Dan Herchenroether

ETERNAL THANKS
Re: Geoffrey Norman’s Bye, Al:

Thank you, Mr. Norman. Sometimes we forget who the real heroes are. Al also, it appears, gave great advice while not really meaning to, “I’m an old fighter pilot. The way I look at it, the blue sky behind you is just wasted air space.” Wish I were better at that.

And thank you, sir, for spelling perq with a q. As Al might have said, it’s the small things.
— Tim Jones
Cordova, Tennessee

When I was in the USAF my wife and I were escorts for the family of a POW who had returned from North Vietnam. We were stationed at Scott AFB outside St. Louis and many returning POWs came through there and we got the chance to meet many of them. The sacrifices they made and the hardships they went through have never been adequately portrayed to the general public. The most amazing thing was their lack of bitterness and gentle ways. They are all true American warriors. This was a very poignant story about one of those guys. It seems hard to believe we’ve reached the point where we are going to be losing more and more veterans from Vietnam. Where did the years go?

P.S. When I was visiting my sister in NY last fall she asked me if I was going to vote for Kerry. When I didn’t answer she then asked, “You’re not going to vote for Bush are you?!” I then reminded her of my service time experiences with POWs and reiterated there was no way I was going to vote for a fellow like Kerry who kept faith with the enemy. She said no more. Ironically, with his (Kerry’s) statements during his latest trip overseas, it seems as if he is keeping faith with the enemy again. Old habits die hard.
— Norm Astwood
Peoria, Illinois

UNDER THE RADAR
Re: Eric Peters’ When Is Speeding Appropriate?:

I’m sorry, I would have written sooner, but I am behind on my accident reports. I am a highway patrolman, and would like to respond to Eric Peters’ article of 1/12/05. The only thing arbitrary about my speed enforcement is the amount of time I can spend on it. Wrecks, criminal activity and DUIs take up some of my time. The speed is set, frankly, on what level of fatal wrecks we can tolerate. Sure that straight stretch of 4 lane interstate could handle speeds of 90 plus, but at that speed any error is a fatal error. Cars are safer now, and more people are using seatbelts, that is the reason we do not have more death on the highway. The speed limit has to be set considering all factors, not just what the road could handle, closed track, professional driver, but other things such as commercial truck traffic, farm implements, population centers, livestock and wildlife. We also have to consider the competence of the driver — say 25% of the population is exceptional drivers, 50% are average, and 25% would drown in a rain storm by looking up with their mouths open.

I like the idea of teaching. That is our goal, to change the driving habits of motorists. Do you think we could get 8 hours of driver training a quarter? You wouldn’t mind giving up half a weekend four times a year to sleep in some DMV training room, would you? Until then the teaching tools I use are: the warning, when I can explain to a receptive motorist the dangers they were not aware of and I believe they will slow down. Citations; if the motorist thinks his speed is appropriate and I do not, I let the Judges settle the matter. Perhaps the threat of suspending driving privileges will slow them down. Last, some speeds are defined by law as criminal, misdemeanors, and when combined with other actions may be felonies. Don’t think I won’t drop that doughnut — they keep a box of Crispy Creme at the Jail.
— Erik Hansen
AZ-DPS

SEEDY
Re: Tom Bethell’s Nobel Farce:

Thirty million seedlings planted over 30 years by 10,000 women comes to 2 per week per woman with 2 weeks a year off (due to overwork?). Does anybody on the left ever check their numbers for plausibility before they spew them out?
— Geoff Bowden
Kalamazoo, Michigan

THANKS FOR ILLUMINATION
Keep it up, please. My generation — baby boomers — and our children and grandchildren NEED to know what is really going in politics and the media. Thanks.
— Jane Lee
Belleville, Wisconsin