Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE The Kinsley Crack-Up If we offered to meet Soviet concerns (4) I fail to see why Pakistan's efforts what can you do? . . . My name was Of course I ought to resist replying to about...
...Bethell's writing, although knowing he reported falsehoods in this instance lessens that opinion...
...My name was Of course I ought to resist replying to about their Afghan border, they would to build an atomic—not hydrogen— put on the fundraising thing by staff your editor-in-chief's almost clinically be more inclined to meet our concerns bomb should be noted in an article and when I found out about it, I wrote self-revealing review of my book, Curse about Iran...
...Schroeder did not know that the way, illustrates the general honesty asked Rep...
...Even if abortion is regarded as a constitutional right, that imposes no obligation on the government to fund it...
...Frankly, it didn't have the time...
...Those who resigned suffered financial hardship, in some cases severe...
...When we were finished we ran back to the companyarea, loaded down with gear and weapons...
...I pitched forward, but refused to fall in the ditch...
...Then it scared me and I jumped to a ditch by the side of the road we were running on, crying out the Lord's Prayer...
...A raising letter...
...Archibald altered her As one of the editorial writers who friend "—all to disprove my as- supply caravan near the Afghan-Ira- answer: " 'I never knew I was on that resigned from the Washington Times sertion that he is "an embarrassingly nian border and confiscated a few of [the letter and the Nicaragua Network with Bill Cheshire, I would, like to corinsecure self-promoter...
...Brock's giv- which left no doubt that the UnificaMarin Strmecki's article, "The Stinger the Persian Gulf are not at risk as a ing the doctored quote further circula- tion Church was influencing the newsFinds a Home: Bill Casey's Bequest to result of Iran's acquisition of the tion...
...Not to insult my friends, but it's or Libya...
...He trotted up, cursing me, mother, and all my ancestors, and kicked me violently in the rear...
...I knew they had me on a fund- Advisory Board...
...This strikes me as a reasonable insering based on this list...
...It's Crying Time Again Rep...
...In my stocking feet I slogged through the sleet and the ice-slicked puddles, my lungs and throat burning and my heart pounding so loud it sounded as if it was inside my brain...
...The company area was made up of five barracks and a mess hall, perhaps a distance of three or four hundred yards...
...Pro-Life Futures Regarding Charlotte Low's interesting article "The Pro-Life Movement in Disarray" in your October issue, no one can deny a tension between anti-abortion advocates primarily interested in philosophical rectitude and those primarily concerned about reducing the number of abortions in the immediate future...
...Stephen L. Harris Westport, Connecticut Bruce Bawer replies: Forgive me, Mr...
...If we refuse to deal with about the Stinger missile in Afghan- and told them to take it off...
...raising letter...
...But my moment of fear and hate was in another century, so far removed from today that a man like Bawer, although able to criticize the "artness" of such a powerful movie, lacks the real-life experience, it appears to me, to believe in the integrity of that movie...
...But think about it...
...It was not a cheap decision...
...As for the Unification Church being the linchpin in the fight against Communism, I can only agree with Einstein that God does not play dice with the universe...
...Two were forced to take jobs on the other side of the continent...
...Other recruits fell by my side and went off to the hospital for a few days and then returned refreshed and ready to go again...
...appeared utterly inhuman to you...
...Bethell has to swallow a great deal to keep up his end of the bargain: a Catholic, he must defend a religious organization which teaches that his Lord was a failure...
...It ran down on my uniform and splashed to the ground with the rain...
...conrad direct, inc...
...Every Stinger is —Daniel Buck contrary to our agreed-upon arrangemight just as accurately have been sub- equipped with an electronic IFF—or Administrative Assistant ment, we resigned...
...I was listed as an able-bodied man and sent on my way without further ado...
...These funds will not go in the future to any program that performs, promotes, or advocates abortion...
...I wrote and told them to take because of my alleged "habit of repeat- One should also note the extreme the reliability of American support...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 1987 101...
...De Borchgrave is the only one in a position to complain of church-related interference...
...Our tough D.I.'s, some of them combat veterans, but mostly veterans of barroom brawls, sneered at the sickly soldier, ridiculed his illness, and bullied him into not going on sick call...
...We recognize no sacred cows, hold no values above challenge...
...R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr...
...As a child I had suffered through a severe bout of pneumonia...
...It will never take hold in any people outside of wine sipping debating cliques when your response to our sense of humor is much more infuriatingly offensive than our humor is to you...
...and she did not know she had Washington, D.C...
...Our writers inhabit all areas of the political spectrum, from liberal-bashing conservatives to the ever-popular secular humanists...
...You didn't kill your D.I., after all, Mr...
...I wrote them and told them to derness, his staff naturally followed...
...Forsample issue send $2.50 to: 405 W. Washington, #418 San Diego, CA 92103 (subscriptions and unsolicited submissions are also welcomed...
...I stand accused of being "an supplied until Congress forces an Islamabad's nuclear program, to the that...
...TOLL FREE OUTSIDE PA.] 1-B00-422-6067 in PA 215-776-5033 ,~ ANOTHER SATISFIED CUSTOMER: "The oppressed workers in your capitalist sweat shop print some very g fine T-shirts...
...Shiflett thinks that his words are so important that they can't be touched by anyone, then he should go to work for himself...
...I feel very Bill Cheshire is a fine man, but the Pied national...
...Was any D.I., moreover, ever as thoroughly inhuman as this one...
...And so Mr...
...southwest Asia...
...It is true that I did not speak to Cheshire, but even if de Borchgrave did tell Cheshire how to write the editorial, so what...
...Now that's reality...
...That all happened in because he walked into the jobless wilGulf oil revenue each year becoming victory in Afghanistan would simply '85...
...In any case, I would observe that was on the advisory board, I was never 1987), but on one small matter you got resistible provocation to keep Khomeini the U.S...
...In a way, the turning of my body, the spray of blood across a taunting face, was much like Private Lawrence firing a round from his full metal jacket into Kubrick's celluloid D.I...
...While we continue to debate the thorny questions where there is no unanimity within the pro-life movement, much less society in general, we should unite on anti-abortion measures based on the existing social consensus that abortions are a bad thing...
...In that one fleeting moment, when our eyes locked, I knew I had exacted, in a macabre way, a pound of flesh from a man who even today haunts my dreams...
...Archibald doctored the radio talk knew I was on the letter and the lantic...
...I never knew I was on my goat...
...This may be a harsh appraisal...
...to American security—Soviet interven- over Afghanistan...
...And do we really want to set the April 17, 1987 Washington Times...
...If this is the deal, Mr...
...paper's editorial policy...
...I found it an extremely funny collection of essays and many times it carried a lot more punch than I'm sure Jack Shafer could ever deliver and more than most of your associates regularly do...
...But they also constitute a set of disincentives within the framework of legal abortion, which should help recruit support from a broad spectrum of Americans...
...HIGH QUALITY • LOW PRICES FAST SERVICE Whether you need a simple one color or a complex multicolor .custom printed garment, we have the experience to meet your needs...
...Dolts and Dashers Why does your magazine continue to print such offensive, snobbish, thickheaded reviews as was Jack Shafer's [of P. J. O'Rourke's Republican Party Reptile] in your September issue...
...Cheshire, holding that stan, or hundreds of billions in Persian ating not one or the other but both...
...Nevertheless, I believe that disagreement over ultimate goals need not and should not undermine support for short-term measures that have the potential for reducing abortions without sacrificing moral or philosophical premises...
...I like Mr...
...When his cruel mind was satisfied he dismissed all the platoon, but me...
...Bethell failed to call we have learned that Iran indeed has Western, aircraft and others...
...I was one of those sickly soldiers...
...CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 9) Piper he is not...
...D.I...
...Gary L. Bauer Assistant to the President for Policy Development The White House Washington, D.C...
...In the winter months in South Carolina, when it would snow one day and be sunny and sixty degrees the next or pour rain the third, Fort Jackson's hospital overflowed with soldiers...
...I knew they had me on a fundraisembarrassingly insecure self-promoter" American surrender of the Gulf...
...acquired Stingers from the Afghan suit, it will not fire at American aircraft Instead, he confined himself to preguerrillas and is using them against in the Gulf...
...Tames Hackett Edwardsville, Illinois 1^1 A Critique ofAmerica — Hard-nosed journalism for those who dare to challenge their own beliefs...
...10001 TO A GREAT OPINION MAGAZINE...
...But in a film that seeks to be taken seriously as art, no major character, not, even Adolf Hitler himself, for heaven's sake, can be represented as purely, uncomplicatedly evil...
...At first the blood startled me...
...I feel very angry that they're using my (a reporter at the New York Times), a precedent for Soviet sponsorship of In the article, among other calumnies, name but what can you do...
...The worst disease was the fatal spinal meningitis, and it struck down several recruits and led to the quarantining of many forts, Jackson among them...
...Right...
...Bethell to exotic places, and he covers for them when critics turn up the heat...
...This is I can testify, is untrue...
...which, if true, would indicate the ex- The Washington Times declined to On April 14, the senior members of istence of another source...
...K. Marx 61,3 ,at.tx-racr,rceam,-,A=t=33:1t=emaaaa=mmvAlavr.1...
...My lungs were never strong, but that didn't matter during my pre-induction physical...
...Schroeder as saying: "My name people identified as friends over 286 Pakistan's President Zia ul-Haq is cur- David Brock's reply (Correspondence, was put on the fundraising thing by pages: Marty Peretz (my boss, in the rently our friend (just as the Shah of TAS, October 1987) to my letter relied staff and when I found out about it, acknowledgements), Mickey Kaus (a Iran was), but how about his suc- on an article by George Archibald in I wrote and told them to take it off...
...The first involves the revision of Title X guidelines affecting about $150 million in federal funds...
...If you don't appreciate O'Rourke's humor, then say so briefly and be done with it...
...To the reader of the Washington Times, at least, there is no evidence of church interference in the paper...
...angry that they're using my name but (continued on page 100) THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 1987 9 AUTHORS WANTED BY NEW YORK PUBLISHER Leading subsidy book publisher seeks manuscripts of all types: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scholarly and juvenile works, etc...
...Harris, for being too young to have gone through hell with you at Fort Jackson...
...forces...
...Why doesn't he describe these events, "witnessed" by "senior members of the editorial page...
...points to which I would like to respond: replied: "No, I mean I never knew I was been put on the Nicaragua Network (1) It is not clear how Iran apparently on that...
...Not only was I bleeding 'to death, I was choking to death...
...In the wind and the rain and snow and the slop I tried to keep up...
...I was in uniform at the time, too—Cub Scouts...
...ordered us outside the barracks in our stocking feet and ponchos, because it was raining sheets of ice, and forced us to stand at attention, our weapons at port arms...
...The D.I., who was running behind the platoon, saw me bent over by the side of the road...
...I was feverish and coughed as quietly as I could in my pillow so that I wouldn't awaken the other soldiers...
...available to Khomeini's Terrorist Inter- facilitate a Soviet victory over all of take the name off, you know...
...Who but a few abortionists and fanatics considers abortion a positive good...
...A Critique of America — Reviews of the latest music releases, theater, books and film...
...I didn't sleep that night...
...the principals in this particular story...
...a bit hard to be accused of social climb- —Hugo S. Cunningham from in his reply...
...There was some disagreement between the editor-in-chief, Arnaud de Borchgrave, and the editorial page editor, Bill Cheshire, over an editorial on Korea...
...On a night I'll never forget, the D.I...
...Kinsley went back and According to Afghan resistance lead- With the creative use of a bracketed Come On, Tom counted how many times he used "my ers, Iranian forces captured an Afghan clause, Mr...
...If I of the Giant Muffins (TAS, November them, however, they will have an ir- istan...
...And for what...
...And naturally your own D.I...
...military aircraft operating in article, thus leading to Mr...
...3) Gorbachev and Company are un- Okay, let's let readers decide...
...TWENTY MORE PLEASE...
...It's so childish, ungrateful, and ungracious...
...Cheshire ended up in Phoenix (1,000 miles west of Houston...
...I know nothing about Bawer, his age, his grasp of the 1960s, or if he knew what it was like to be a soldier in those uncertain, troubling times...
...There are many of us who share the ironies, jarring observations, and deeply held principles covered in O'Rourke's black humor...
...The second is an educational campaign spearheaded by the Surgeon General aimed at alerting women to the medical hazards of abortion, both physiological and psychological...
...My lungs were hemorrhaging...
...Shiflett's suggestion that by going on two World Media Association trips I entered into a "deal" with the Unification Church is completely unfounded, but perhaps indicative of his general reliability...
...Virtually everyone agrees that abortion is morally undesirable...
...Finally, although I'm quite aware that all sorts of human flotsam have served among the Few and the Proud, it still seems unlikely to me that an individual as obviously unsuitable as Lawrence could've gotten past even the most cursory draft-board inspection...
...As a re- Washington, D.C...
...The problem with these types of essays or reviews is that it takes more space than the original review to adequately criticize the asinine and offensive nature of it...
...Harris, despite his cruelty: you suffered at his hands and went on to have nightmares about him for twenty years...
...How long we stood there I don't recall, maybe an hour, maybe two...
...It is hard to understand why a journalist of Mr...
...A few pork chops and plane tickets...
...He explains that his motive is to defeat Communism...
...I'm sorry to hear what a terrible time you had...
...Iranian officials have Advisory Board],' Mrs...
...But because the Unification Church is unfashionable, disgruntled employees of the paper.can always avail themselves of the "Moonie-control" cheap shot as they take their leave...
...In fact, so many soldiers were jammed into Fort Jackson that there weren't enough of the old, wooden barracks to go around...
...As the sole breadwinner for two young sons and a wife, I can assure Mr...
...But it's also true that the church wines, dines, and flys Mr...
...replies: acquired its stock of Stinger missiles...
...it off...
...Marin Strmecki replies: knew she was on the Nicaragua Net- Network fundraising material by her —Michael Kinsley Mr...
...Send for free, illustrated 40-page brochure H-80 Vantage Press, 518 W. 34 St., New York, N.Y...
...The flow of blood refused to stop and every time I tried to catch my breath, I sucked the blood back in my lungs...
...The unfortunate slept in hastily erected tents...
...writer at Newsweek), Maureen Dowd cessor...
...It's no wonder that Republicans always end up looking like fat white guys when the supposed intellectual edge of the party is carried on the blatherful minds of Jack Shafer and the rest of you effete snobs...
...Moon himself told de Borchgrave what the editorial should say, and he in turn conveyed the.dastardly instructions to Cheshire...
...The answer to both questions is an absolute "yes," and it is because of that answer that the first half of Full Metal Jacket disturbed me more than any war movie I have seen, made me fidget uncomfortably in my seat...
...replies: Mr...
...Careers were derailed...
...point that Pakistan now wonders about ing letter...
...Bethell also attributes mystical tion along their border with Afghani- viets have shown an interest in domin- affair: "They put my name on a fund- powers to Mr...
...Bethel...
...Conservatism will never be more than a conversational tone among self-described acerbic wits at cocktail parties if it continues to be propounded by dolts like Shafer rather than dasherslike O'Rourke...
...If Mr...
...These steps reflect an overt federal policy of discouraging abortion, which should be recognized as an important advance by all elements in the pro-life movement...
...Dave Shiflett Vienna, Virginia Tom Bethel...
...titled, "Bill Casey's bequest to the "identification friend or foe' system Office of Patricia Schroeder Though he is generally conscientious Ayatollah...
...earlier diagnosis indicated...
...And what an arrogant East Coast stink he is to suggest that which he does in his third paragraph...
...Brock quoted Nicaragua Network Advisory Board...
...Historically, the So- in reference to the Nicaragua network Mr...
...How does that violate an "ironclad agreement" with the church not to interfere with editorial content...
...Your magazine goes along with great quality and then prints such trash as Shafer's review...
...In reading the review, it is obvious that most of it has little to do with O'Rourke's book, but is rather Shafer's limp joust of humor...
...and forced me to recall the worst times of a very bad situation...
...New authors welcomed...
...As I understand it, this agreement was between the editor-in-chief and the owners...
...Schroeder whether she her name had been put on Nicaragua and fairness of the review...
...He surely knows that there is indeed considerable doubt as to whether the Unification Church was "influencing the newspaper's editorial policy...
...Bawer should know that shortly after Lyndon Johnson was elected President, the United States began a massive military build-up and any branch of the service was taking whatever human fodder it was handed in the draft...
...Some never came back...
...George Archibald, in the April edly introducing persons in this book danger posed by our tacit support of 17, 1987 Washington Times, quoted as 'my friend " I count four Pakistan's hydrogen bomb project...
...House of Representatives in this regard, Mr...
...For printed T-shirts, hats, sweats, jackets, etc., call: 113Luit IGIPArunics 125 Liberty Street, Allentown, PA 18102 CALL...
...I do know that my experiences in boot camp back then are at odds with Bawer's observations, particularly this statement: " . . . would a young man who was this fat, this slow-witted, and this psychologically disturbed be admitted into the Marines in the first place...
...and that's thoroughly understandable...
...In the morning we marched a few miles to a training ground to learn the art of hand-to-hand combat...
...Wanna see some funny T—alirts...
...I'm Back," TAS, October 1987...
...To echo a highThis is a logical point to step back likely to accommodate us in the Per- what Rep...
...I still can't understand how grown men like Mr...
...In my terror, I turned toward the D.I., sending a brilliant red spray of blood across his face, and for the first time I saw fear in the eyes of a man whose stock and trade was in putting the fear of God in other men...
...To combat the big lie, he defends an eternal one...
...A decade and a half after Roe v. Wade, we need to address not just the issue of legality of abortion, but also the environment of complacency, acceptance, and encouragement that enables more than a million abortions a year...
...It appears that Jack Shafer is a plodding keypuncher and O'Rourke is an undeniable artist of some questionable taste...
...Schroeder staff...
...Blues Both Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and Bruce Bawer's fine review ("Kubrick Goes to War," TAS, October 1987) of that graphic but disjointed Vietnam war movie sent me hurtling back to my basic training days at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in the winter of 1966...
...Lawrence's murder of his D.I., by comparison, is only cheap wish-fulfillment fantasy which, I'm sure, gratified the tormented hearts of many a formersoldier the way that Charles Bronson's wasting of muggers in the Death Wish movies gratifies crime victims...
...As this was Afghanistan" (TAS, November 1987), Stinger missiles...
...I found it necessary to leave the business altogether...
...Kinsley's these weapons...
...Bethell's stature would drop his standards to defend the Unification Church...
...Call for a FREE CATALOG of our own designs: 1-800-422-6067 100 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 1987 still raining and as we tried to dodge the deeper puddles I coughed and a great quantity of blood gushed from my mouth and nose...
...Five times around was about a mile...
...Harris," he barked, "it's time we found out what kind of soldier you really are...
...A Critique of America — —nal fiction, poetry and photographic essays from across the globe...
...Now get going...
...This example, by Omaha, Nebraska A Denver radio talk show moderator tion: Rep...
...You can't really compare the ill and emotionally overwrought—but sane—young man that you were to the retarded psycho of Kubrick's film...
...the film should offer at least some nuance, some touch of human complexity—or, failing that, at least some hint of how this human being came to be so evil, so uncomplex...
...print my letter correcting the Archibald the editorial page witnessed events Home Away from Home (2) U.S...
...David Brock replies: senting the newspaper's version, which, U.S...
...Given your experiences, of course, you couldn't help but identify with Private Lawrence—couldn't help but cheer for him, in fact—when he blew away his D.I...
...But let us assume the worst—that Rev...
...has been actively opposing asked to be...
...And the military was not choosy on who put on a uniform...
...Recently the Administration announced two important measures aimed at reducing the incentive for women to have abortions...
...Best Wishes on your Ti/ventieth Anniversary Solitary, Nasty, Brutish & Short (Serving the Spectator for 20 years...
...At the end of it de Borchgrave claims that he told Cheshire: "Go ahead and write the editorial however you want...
...I never and James Fallows (an editor at the At- nuclear weapons development in Cuba Mr...
...On one particular night in January 1966, more than twenty thousand young men, myself included, were literally run through the inductioncenter at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then sent packing to forts all over the country—Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort Ord in California, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Fort Benning in Georgia, and Fort Jackson, to name a few...
...Cunningham's letter raises four work's advisory board...
...Schroeder said rect Tom Bethell's erroneous report insecurity is more severe than my claimed to have dozens of Stingers, March 20...
...Since the article came out, to distinguish between friendly, i.e., U.S...
...The same can scarcely be said of other church-owned newspapers in this country...
...It was CUSTO EDPRINT „.002.E14 ORDERS ‘2°1A-FRE-Et°"1‘11'3 (3...
...The review's first sentence tells us Shafer's boorishness is well balanced by his lack of wit...
...You're to run around the company five times...
...And even if such a thing were possible, it hardly makes sense to place such a nutsy specimen at the center of what is implicitly meant to be taken as a typical Vietnam-era platoon...
...Shiflett can go to work in comfortable surroundings for a nice salary, five days a week and no heavy lifting, and then work themselves up into this great lather of indignation if the owner so much as drops a hint that he would like to have a say in the final product...
...Its effect is like a thumbtack in a sandwich...
...It is, however, laughable that he would attempt to have us compare O'Rourke's bite with his soupy prancing...
...show transcript that Mr...
...Schroeder said on Denver ranking Timesman, I'd be willing to and ask what poses the greater threat sian Gulf in exchange for a free hand radio station KNUS, March 20, 1987, take a polygraph to prove the point...
...that I did not jump into the void on a whim...
Vol. 20 • December 1987 • No. 12
