THE DAILY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor. Letters will be edited for length and clarity and must include the writer’s name, city, and state.
*1*
Matt Labash should stop holding back and tell us what he really thinks! (Enjoying the Rapture) I like to read his work, however, wouldn’t Virgil, or is it Vergil, Lucretius, and the Epicureans would take issue with him?
Pleasant it is, when over the great sea Isabel shakes the waters,
To gaze down from shore on the trials of Bennifer;
Not because seeing Jen & Ben struggle is sweet to us,
But because the fact that we ourselves are free from such ills strikes us as pleasant.
Pleasant it is also to behold paparrazi battling on Miami beach,
When we ourselves have no part in their peril.
But nothing is sweeter than to occupy a lofty Gucci filled mansion, and sit on a diamond, ruby, sapphire, and pearl throne,
Well fortified with the lyrics of Jenny from the Block and This is me Then,
Where we may look down on others as they gobble along,
Vainly searching for the true path of life, and the manifestation of their dreams. (De Rerum Bennifa)
–Janet Young
*2*
As overused as the expression is, Larry Miller really hit the hammer on the head (John Ritter, 1948-2003). John Ritter was one of a kind. While I cringe at thinking he will only be remembered by many as Jack Tripper, I possess a VHS of one of the funniest movies ever, a film that virtually no one went to see, a timely piece of celluloid called “Americathon.” Filmed in 1979 and written by ex-members of both the Firesign Theater and Neal Israel, the “Police Academy” genius, this film was way ahead of it’s time. It took place in 1998, when the United States had a serious deficit after borrowing billions from an American Indian played by Chief Dan George. He owned the largest shoe company called National Indian Knitting Enterprises (NIKE) and just wanted his money back. John played the great-grandson of the Franklin Roosevelt, a swinging bachelor named Chet who after becoming president, moved the White House from Washington to a condo in Marina Del Rey. The gags are hysterical and John made the film. I will miss him alot.
–Bob Davidson
*3*
While Victorino Matus is correct that North Korea committed terrorist acts in kidnapping Japanese citizens, he fails to mention a notable hypocrisy: Japan is outraged at North Korean kidnappings, but has not offered reparations, apologized, or even admitted its own war crimes during World War II. (Brothers of the Disappeared) During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1940s, thousands of South Korean women were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery as “comfort women” for Japanese soldiers. The Japanese government has ignored all claims of reparations for the comfort women who are still alive, and is presumably waiting for them to die out. Not only this, but Prime Minister Koizumi recently visited shrines that pay homage to these war criminals and the government censors school text books so that they gloss over Japanese war crimes. It appears that the Japanese (and Asian) cultural value of “honor” and “shame” have covered up the truth.
–Walter Lee
*4*
I have just completed Jonathan V. Last’s article on the Dixie Chicks, Trading Places, and one line, found in almost any article concerning the left and their anti-American, anti-Bush attitudes, continues to puzzle me: “And while no right-thinking person would question their patriotism . . .”
I am a right-thinking person and I question their patriotism. Words matter and the left’s assault on the meaning of patriotism is galling. Patriotism is love of your country and the belief that your country’s values are supreme. How does insulting the president, from Europe, no less, fit in? It doesn’t. Patriotism is a taboo subject because the left wishes to hide behind the flag’s protective folds, while holding a match to it’s fabric. And we are all supposed to look the other way.
–Charlene Pinkava
*5*
Jonathan V. Last says that Merle Haggard supports the Dixie Chicks. Strange. Isn’t he the artist who sang “The Fightin’ Side of Me”: When you’re runnin’ down my country, hoss, you’re on the fightin’ side of me . . . Let this song to you be a warnin’ . . . You can love it (America) or leave it . . .
Country and western music–the Grand Ole Opry, Eddie Arnold, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn, Lee Greenwood, et. al.–remains closer to America’s roots and traditions than any other kind of music. This despite the rock-a-billies. Elvis was worshipped and tolerated but not considered truly country. Johnny Cash, incredibly, was genuinely both rock and country, and he was beloved for that. The Dixie Chicks couldn’t shine these artists’ boots.
–Marco Gilliam
*6*
How out of touch is Bill Whalen? (R Minus 10) Whalen says that increasing a car tax from $182 to $651 is not a “crushing blow to most working class Californians?” That’s rent, man! I own a 2000 model, which still costs about $150 to register under last year’s tax. So, in April, I have to decide whether to pay my rent, my car payment, or my VLF.
–Bruce Wolfson
*7*
I never thought I’d find myself saying this, but the Dixie Chicks have actually made appreciate k.d. lang.
The lesbian vegetarian also grated on a lot of red-state folks during her C&W days, but unlike the Dixie Chicks she never seemed to whine about it like they do. When, for example, lang urged people to give up beef, she was not surprised by the fact that people in cattle country took a dim view of her request.
At some level she understood that taking a political stand meant alienating some people, including potential audience members. She accepted it and went on making made music for those who were willing to listen. When lang did leave country, it was because musically she evolved past it. By this time most of the controversies involving her had passed.
The Dixie Chicks, by contrast, seem to think that they are somehow owed an audience, airplay, and sales. Their pouting and foot-stamping when those audiences reject them only reveals their immaturity.
–Sean Higgins
*8*
The Los Angeles Times is being used–brilliantly. The Schwarzenegger campaign leaked this story to attract all those women whose support for Bill Clinton only grew as more reports surfaced of young Willie’s abuse of women.
–Joe Williams
*9*
I find it interesting that the Los Angeles Times was uninterested and scornful of the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexually harassing them. I seem to recall comments about “trailer park” women. I guess by definition only Republicans can sexually harass.
–Mike Bergsma
*10*
Is Hillary coming of age, as Fred Barnes suggests in Hillary Gets Tough, or has her Jewish constituency gotten to her, finally, and talked some sense into her?
The most probable explanation is that it is to her advantage for Bush to be reelected, leaving her with no incumbent to run against in ’08. If a Democrat were to win the next election, Hillary would have to wait eight years, instead of four, to run for the presidency.
–James Bilezikian
