Correspondence: Jim Hall's TWA 800, Cavilliana & c.
CORRESPONDENCE For Ben Just two words about Ben Stein's Diary entitled "My Mom" (TAS, July 1997): profoundly moving. Thanks Ben, and God Bless You. -RICHARD P. O'BRIEN, M.D. Scranton,...
...Dylan's recent bout with histoplasmosis to level a mean-spirited attack upon the man's work, legacy, peers, and supporters...
...This is an entry-level position, in which you will be responsible for assisting the editors in evaluating manuscripts, handling correspondence, checking facts and figures, proofreading copy from our reporters, and other fascinating tasks too numerous to mention here...
...cc: The American Spectator the world The American Spectator • September 1997 11 ble dog-test...
...Second, Mr...
...Rather I submit that he went willingly in support of a dictator who outdistanced Hitler in sheer inhumanity to man...
...Anxious to see what the article had to say, I went to a local bookstore to pick up a copy...
...BAKER via the Internet Re Joe Queenan: it's a bit unfair comparing John Elway to Marcia Clark...
...ROBERT E. BRENNAN Van Nuys, California Carpenter's Weight Regarding David Moshinsky's comments about Karen Carpenter and Michael Fumento's reply (Correspondence, TAS, April, July, August 1997): While it is generally assumed that Carpenter died from complications of anorexia, her death was in fact iatrogenic, stemming from the method used to treat her anorexia...
...CHUCK SYLVESTER via the Internet Dreams and Nightmares I am a relatively new subscriber who thoroughly enjoys the articles and topics in your publication...
...When it has been a terrorist act, there has always been confirming physical and, eventually, intelligence evidence...
...If I may: During WWII I can tell you the poor guys in the 8 imm mortar platoon kept a very accurate record of whose turn it was to carry the artillery base-plate on the next move...
...JOHN R. SCHMIDT Park Ridge, Illinois St...
...Do the EGIS findings mean there once was much more explosive residue (much of which itself was lost because the early recovery effort focused on bodies instead of debris...
...It is mind boggling in its honesty...
...Steyn might think about Mr...
...For further information, call publicist Amy Sommer Gifford at (310)289-390o, or check web site www.waco93.com...
...I leave it to the reader and Mr...
...z. Contrary to the pro-FDR propaganda, we did not ally with Stalin (admittedly evil) out of necessity...
...The FDR of Our Country After reading the piece entitled "Monumental Ignorance" (by Philip Terzian, TAS, July1997), I went back to check the name of the author...
...TWA 800's debris was subject to weeks and months of such underwater sand-blasting...
...My father, a "cradle" Catholic with unshakable Faith in Roman Pontiffs and the Trinity, was renewed by the news about John Wayne...
...The American Spectator is seeking a smart, well-read, conscientious person to become our newest editorial assistant...
...Roberts seems to put great faith in the FBI's Jim Kallstrom...
...And I will always remember the night I came home from work after hearing the news John Wayne had died...
...The bad news is you did publish this trash, but the good news is that you, too, believe that both sides need to be exposed in your magazine...
...PATRICIA K. LARKINS Homewood, Illinois Viking Marcia I haven't read Marcia Clark and Teresa Carpenter's Without a Doubt, so I can't properly comment on Joe Queenan's review of the book (TAS, July 1997...
...Far from being representative of the rock and roll genre that Steyn despises, this song is an introspective lyric masterpiece that deserves serious attention from anyone who claims to be an authority on music and its relationship to our culture...
...In this respect, Mr...
...Hall is prepared to go to any length to avoid confronting evidence of terrorism in the crash of TWA 800...
...The successful candidate will have at least passing familiarity with the "issues of the day," and be able to craft a persuasive sentence or two...
...Sinatra had himself requested...
...Steyn's small world...
...You see, for too long your right-wing media apparatus has bullied and intimidated Democrats...
...I won't quibble with Hall about whether the FBI or FAA deserves credit for the claim that the TWA 800 747 might have been the "wide-bodied jet" in question...
...Minute traces from a dog test would not have survived weeks of saltwater immersion...
...The behavior, itself, however, is hideous, and in no way can be seen as humorous...
...It is refreshing to see that there are still those who will properly investigate an issue and then divulge the information to the public...
...He was hanging on just as the Duke was hanging on...
...As it happens, a larger caseload over the years has left the military much more experienced than the NTSB in investigating crashes involving munitions, bombs, and missiles...
...Louis Police Department test record says only that a "wide-bodied jet" was used in the test, and provides no serial number for the aircraft...
...As an example, I have never understood why the Wall Street Journal foists on its readers of the editorial page the likes of Al Hunt, or Arthur Schlesinger...
...Steyn might be surprised to learn that the song that Dylan sang at the Frank Sinatra Tribute was one that Mr...
...Can such a thing be...
...HALL Palm Bay, Florida I am highly offended by the article written by Tom Bethell in the July American Spectator issue in which he states more women 78 September 1997 • The American Spectatorin the military will cause it to be dominated by lightly armed meter maids and panty-waist generals...
...It was uncanny how the final cancer battle John Wayne waged mirrored my own father's disease...
...See...
...The fact that he didn't—and that his agency steered the media away from a terrorist cause shortly after political contributions began to come in from the airlines—calls into question Hall's impartiality...
...lacks intelligence leads, but at least one terrorist has claimed credit for the TWA 800 bombing...
...Apparently Mr...
...This was an inspired request because this relatively unknown song from the early sixties bears a remarkable similarity to Sinatra's signature song "My Way...
...however, I find the comments from RET in the August Continuing Crisis with reference to animal mutilation to be beyond normal...
...I was wondering if I could bring some watermelons with me when I testify, because when it comes to watermelons I like to eat 'em up, not shoot 'em up...
...ROBERT P. YATTO via the Internet Yikes James Bowman, along with Terrence Rafferty in the New Yorker, is the most trenchant, concise, inventive and principled reviewer around...
...They might as well put a rule in the manual that prohibits getting wounded if you are 140 lbs...
...I do know, however, that Doubleday is not the publisher of the book...
...And I will always be grateful for the comfort his death bed act had given my father's remaining time on earth...
...TWA 800 is no exception...
...He was down right dark...
...Early in his first term FDR was moving to embrace the Communist regime despite the knowledge that it was engaged in such horrible programs as the forced starvation of the Ukraine...
...As a fair-minded, iconoclastic individual, I once found your rag at least occasionally provocative...
...But he should understand the political reality: the status quo, from the average voter's perspective, isn't all that bad...
...Funny at times...
...Impact damage after a falling plane hits the ground or ocean surface can also mask evidence of a bomb...
...Now I understand some very serious questions have been raised about the way you've been conducting this investigation...
...James Kalb strom's letter reflects the threshold of evidence imposed on his probe by Justice Department prosecutors who will have to present it in court...
...Let me quote the entire series of statements by Terzian to avoid any misunderstanding: As president, FDR was one of the few Americans who clearly recognized the menace of Hitler in the years leading up to World War II, and was frustrated by the nation's resolute neutrality, reflected in the laws Congress readily adopted...
...LINDA HARMON ROBINSON Gladstone, Missouri Larry Bird Can Read I loved Marc Carnegie's "Read This" in the July issue...
...I asked my mother why the change...
...It is clear that Mr...
...Steyn is himself a case study...
...maddeningly outrageous at others...
...In fact it's the most comprehensive investigation in NTSB's 30-year history...
...Dylan's ability as a lyricist or singer, it behooves him as a fellow human being to respect the serious nature of the man's illness and to wish him a speedy recovery...
...Now, though, you—along with the rest of the conservative/fascistic ideologues —have become kind of pathetic...
...Poppycock...
...I don't think he was duped...
...The Depression rolled on unabated until war pulled our economy together...
...BETTY C. BROWN Oak Harbor, Washington Jim Hall on TWA 800 Your recent article by John Roberts on the TWA flight 800 investigation contains numerous inaccuracies and many ill-informed conclusions ("The Dissent of TWA 800," by John B. Roberts II, TAS, July 1997...
...This, of course, is without the standard media whitewashing and what I call "protective journalism...
...The FBI laboratory—whose work, even before it was subsequently criticized by the Justice Department's inspector general, was questioned by FBI agents working on EGIS—confirmed only two findings...
...The FAA discovered this, not the FBI, and it has been confirmed...
...To which Sir Walter replied: "I wonder which one of you fellows will be second this year...
...History shows, stronger ones than ours have succumbed...
...But if Mr...
...They are a rehash of debunked speculations of conspiracy buffs with false, political intrigue added...
...Far from this, Mr...
...The article by Mark Steyn ("Like a Complete Unknown") in your "Culture Vultures" column was disappointing on three levels: the political...
...These are only two examples of physical strength problems, whereas hundreds could be provided...
...Investigators work day in and day out no matter who's in the White House or what party controls Congress...
...It was the only reason my dad was watching the show...
...or heavier...
...But for argument's sake let's accept only the two findings confirmed by the FBI lab...
...the question is whether the evidence is irrefutable...
...All of this leads me to one conclusion: the purpose of your committee is not to get the truth, but to get the President...
...Terzian with respect to Mr...
...He never worried about the impact of what he was doing...
...Minute traces would disappear even more rapidly...
...The NTSB has a justly deserved reputation for honesty, integrity, and thoroughness that has made it the global model of how to do investigations and do them right...
...I told Chairman Henry Hyde the same thing when I offered to testify before his committee about wing-nut Rep...
...Not all the students admitted graduate, as many wash out because of the stringent discipline and academic requirements...
...But I will not be cowed by any right-wing attempts to silence me...
...Much as Hall may deny it, he does have a close political association with Al Gore and is thus in a unique position to tell us whether, after the airlines contributed $5oo,000 to the Democratic Party, he and Gore used their influence as members of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security in getting it to back away from counter-terrorism measures opposed by airline lobbyists...
...The American Spectator September 1997 79 Several months later my father died from his cancer but to this day I will always remember the special connection that John Wayne, who had no way of knowing, had made with my father...
...Regardless of what Mr...
...But in modern times one does not need an army to cross the Rubicon...
...Hall's willingness to mislead unless challenged repeatedly...
...I knew my dad would be upset It was an understatement...
...Keep up the good work and keep publishing those ridiculous letters...
...He was a politician who, much like Clinton, created his own reality and the truth was a constantly moving compass point...
...JOEL MAHARRY via the Internet Waco: The Video James Bowman's review of the movie Waco: The Rules of Engagement (TAS, August 1997) is excellent and very informative...
...I was living at home at the time...
...Evidently, Mr...
...With this mindset, I am sure that Terzian supported the attacks upon Richard Nixon, and probably believes Clinton's behavior is wonderful...
...I am disappointed that you wasted the space in the Spectator and your readers' time with such twaddle...
...Let's see, there's the president and his wife, the vice president, illegal aliens, legal aliens, gasoline additives, television producers, anybody who works in the government, anybody who works at a college or university, anybody who works as a lawyer, the EPA, NEA & NEH, the Chinese, the Russians — I gotta stop now before I get worn out...
...Let me remind your readers that NTSB investigations are carried out by career technical experts, not political appointees...
...Maybe he fooled the senators, but he won't fool an unforgiving enemy in the real world...
...Perhaps not, but I keep on feasting on the opinions of those more sure of their ideas than I, giggling and whispering "amen" as I go...
...I can assure you that the facts of our investigation have not been influenced by politicians or the aviation industry...
...As FBI and independent tests have shown, large amounts of explosive residue wash off in saltwater within weeks...
...KEN BANK Beach Haven, New Jersey Beyond Normal I do enjoy the generally straightforward conservative approach from TAS, and understand the frequent tongue-in-cheek comments from many contributors...
...And to the extent that government spending and borrowing represents a hidden tax on the economy in the form of higher inflation and interest rates, the burden is lower than at any time during the Reagan administration...
...All that is needed is a compliant media, another Oklahoma City, or a Market crash...
...It was the FBI that traced the plane's pre-explosion whereabouts and discovered the possiThe Carville Crack-Up Last month we published Byron York's "Carville's Cast of Characters," a look at former Clinton campaign manager James Carville's work Us head of the so-called Education and Information Project, a tax-exempt non-profit corporation devoted to undermining independent counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigations...
...In preparing this response, I faxed the NTSB a new set of questions...
...He vowed that no American boys would die on foreign shores (194o campaign) even as he was feverishly maneuvering us into the war...
...3. FDR had no impact on the Depression...
...World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef told authorities his group is responsible...
...BRYCE MACDONALD Schenectady, New York I have never accepted the liberal argument, used only when it supports their position, that any publication "owes" its readers the arguments "on both sides...
...My dad was a huge John Wayne fan...
...I mean, first you lose your only credible investigator, John Rowley, who left complaining that he couldn't "implement the standards of professional conduct" to which he was accustomed...
...DAVID F. CRAIGMILE Lake Forest, Illinois Fighting Like a Man Tom Bethell's excellent article, "Our Meter Maid Military" (TAS, July 1997), contains two examples where the inequality of physical strength between male and female personnel causes serious problems that have not been answered in a forthright manner by the Army...
...Let me make a few observations about FDR which somehow managed to escape the grasp of Mr...
...In a 1990 accident in the Philippines, a fuel tank float switch or wiring were possible ignition sources...
...See how swiftly they cave in at every charge...
...The worst leaders are those with no vision and no sense of the fact that their actions have consequences...
...As TWA 800's debris was being hauled ashore, it was tested by the EGIS high-tech explosives detection system operated by FBI technicians and BATF bomb experts...
...BRUCE F. HIRDLER Pompano Beach, Florida I am disturbed by your continued characterization of Clinton as a "big lug" and a "Boy President...
...Instead of "wash" I probably should have used a more descriptive word like "scour" to describe the effect of tides, sand, saltwater, and hurricane-strength storms...
...Or for that matter, it might be interesting to find out how many reporters Mr...
...Each month you seem to lose another self-professed conservative subscriber because of an offensive article, paragraph or sentence, depending on the epidermal thickness of the offended party...
...The teams he took to the Super Bowl weren't that good...
...On the political level, I admit that I expected something from the conservative viewpoint...
...Emphasis added.] Never have I read a more forthright admission of the true facts, by any devotee of Roosevelt, than this one...
...and the factual...
...It was called cancer...
...I look forward to reading the letters pages, where all of these people who have allegedly been reading your magazine for years say they are sick and tired of the direction the Spectator has taken, and by golly they aren't going to take it any longer so they cancel their subscription...
...This anecdote speaks volumes about Mr...
...The reader is left wondering where this vital documentary is being shown, or where one can find any information on where to see this movie...
...Yousef's claim has not been made public, but it is in the FBI file...
...The ignition can come from a variety of sources...
...He stands far, far above the rest of the laughably muddle-headed, mean-spirited conspiratorialists you have working at TAS...
...Within five days of the crash, EGIS registered the first of more than a dozen "hits" for PETN on the aircraft...
...Then the New York Times chimed in and called for closing down your investigation, characterizing it as "useless and unprofessional" and saying you were a "fierce partisan not known for balanced judgment...
...Thanks for the great job...
...Her case was...
...While I'm at it, maybe we could get into my knowledge of your attempts to shake down a lobbyist for Pakistan or the various examples of you putting America's foreign policy regarding countries like Zaire and Turkey up for sale to the highest contributors...
...Our current administration is a classic example of rudderless governance, lurching from one emotional reaction to the next...
...We have shared many a family songfest dominated by Dylan compositions and have even attended a recent Dylan concert together at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia...
...Maybe, it's good news and bad news...
...Carpenter was given hyperalimentation via cardiac catheter...
...He ran in 1944 even though he knew he had less than a year to live...
...Incidentally, Hall states that the U.S...
...To my knowledge a "female" base-plate was never developed...
...Or it can be the result of a terrorist act as it was in the 1989 Avian-ca tragedy...
...But something was missing...
...I know it has that effect on me...
...He uses the pretense of Mr...
...Bob Barr's (R-GA) attempts to get me thrown in jail for obstruction of justice...
...It so happens that my lifelong friend, while politically more conservative than me, appreciates the work (past and present) of Bob Dylan...
...Steyn needs to check his tongue, his heart, his facts, and the political affiliation of those who understand and appreciate Bob Dylan's positive and ongoing contributions...
...According to militaryinvestigators, the corrosive effects that ocean water has on aircraft aluminum will destroy evidence of high-explosives...
...York called him to ask about a possible Republican fundraising scam...
...An Air Force Academy education is the equivalent to a $15o,000 scholarship and obligates the graduates to serve a minimum of six years in the Air Force...
...If they would have been denied entrance to the Air Force because of their X chromosomes, the military would have missed two very talented people who proved they were made "of the right stuff...
...Also, please thank him for sharing it with us...
...Dylan had intended to contribute the Sinatra chestnut "That's Life," but sang his own "Restless Farewell" at the behest of Sinatra himself...
...However, I must assume that the American Spectator does not print articles with themes that are not consistent with the overall philosophy of the management...
...But in their later years they shared something profound...
...He and "The Duke" were back together again somehow...
...As I wrote in my article, there is no question that bomb evidence exists...
...You soften venality with a buffoon veneer...
...Tyrrell bemoans the budget deal as designed to perpetuate the "statist quo" as well as the re-election chances of Congress...
...Dan Burton, the Clinton-investigating chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee...
...The right, torn apart by pointless internecine cat-fights (hey, don't take my word for it—just look over your tables of contents from the past year), is intent on seizing any rumor or anecdotal example with which to flay opponents and inflame the masses...
...I'm also sending a clipping of the first woman Air Force fighter pilot to be killed in a crash...
...body...
...If you are not too busy shooting up watermelons in your back yard, I am ready, willing and able to testify before your Committee on any day and at any time...
...The Duke was frail and his body obviously had been ravaged by his cancer...
...What was the cost of his enthusiasm for the knee-jerk statism that had no positive impact...
...Steyn goes beyond his primary target to make light of Frank Sinatra's age, and even ridicules Jerry Garcia, apparently unaware of or insensitive to the fact that the man passed away almost two years ago...
...I'm still waiting for answers to my questions...
...In the long years since the dismissal of MacArthur and the Army-McCarthy hearings, the military element has been completely neutered in our society...
...I hope, unlike Mr...
...And besides, doesn't all the odium, the venom, the sarcasm, make you feel a little sick inside...
...I feel that an appearance by me would conclusively demonstrate that to the American people...
...To hear Mr...
...I looked across our living room at my father in the same condition...
...Steyn, the song is an anti-hubris song, intended to chastise those who experience a reversalin fortune due to their own conceits and blindness...
...They were close to the same age even though they lived in separate universes...
...Is it available on video cassette...
...Sinatra's face had more to do with his appreciation of the poignancy of the lyrics, Dylan's measured delivery, and the inspired country string band arrangement than with any imagined generational or political gap that exists in Mr...
...Obviously, Larry Bird has read The Walter Hagen Story, where the incident is related on page 178...
...MAREING via the Internet Amen Corner I subscribe to The American Scholar, The New Criterion, and your wonderful magazine...
...It is to Roosevelt's great credit that he ultimately defied Congress and misled the American people, by engaging in an "undeclared war" in the North Atlantic, secretly bolstering the British and pro-yoking the Germans—actions which would lead to impeachment nowadays...
...When Carpenter began to regain weight, her weakened heart could not withstand the additional demands made upon it...
...Approximately 12,000 students apply to the academy each year, and of these only 25 percent actually meet the academy entrance requirements...
...The virtual destruction of the Commerce clause and the beginning of the movement of all power to Washington...
...I hated coming home from work those next couple of nights because of the depressing pall that hung over my father...
...I can't call myself a conservative, although my views are traditional...
...Early this summer Hall testified before Congress that a meteorite may have blown up TWA 800, an event about as likely as an attack by a UFO...
...Army's non-solution: "The task has therefore been redefined as one that requires four people...
...And maybe in return we could find out how many times your chief investigator David Bossie (while being paid with taxpayers' money, mind you) has contacted reporters for The American Spectator...
...Then maybe I could talk about the meeting you had back in 1995 with that Aruban banker who turned out to be the brother of an indicted drug money launderer, or the contributions you have taken from Sikh temples...
...As a long time conservative, I have always believed that the liberal view gets more than its rightful share of the main stream media, without requiring the additional support from conservative publications...
...Based on the tint and tone of the article I had concluded that it would be Lewis Carroll or Jonathan Swift or perhaps it was a spoof put together by your editorial staff...
...JIM HALL Chairman National Transportation Safety Board Washington, D .C...
...Steyn to look up the lyrics of this lyric gem...
...Now to correct just some of the blatant falsehoods: • It was not speculation that the TWA 747 aircraft that blew up had previously been used for canine bomb-sniffing tests...
...As for David Bossie, our reporters haven't spoken to him in years, save for the time last year when Mr...
...What "monumental" hypocrisy...
...In comforting their friends and families, he said that Vice President Gore's action to persuade airlines to voluntarily install smoke detectors would prevent similar tragedies...
...Carville's response to the story, which he directed to Rep...
...Example #1—"Most women can't throw [a hand grenade] outside its blast radius...
...I can remark only that the stunned look on Mr...
...John B. Roberts II replies: Last May, Chairman Hall spoke at a memorial dedication for the victims of ValuJet Flight 592...
...The strictest self-discipline is required at the academy no matter the gender of the person...
...I, too, have been horrified at the recent revelations of corruption and lack of integrity in our highest offices...
...It's also irrelevant...
...A center fuel tank blows up because flammable vapors in an enclosed area ignite...
...She told me my dad had heard on the news that John Wayne was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on his death bed...
...On August 23, 1996, Attorney General Reno, NTSB Chairman Hall, Transportation Secretary Pena, and FBI Director Freeh met to discuss the explosive residue...
...He wanted to inform me that there was an article about Bob Dylan in the July issue...
...Steyn's column is reprehensible...
...P.S...
...Whether there were two positive findings or a dozen, the dog-test explanation is almost as zany as Hall's meteorite theory...
...Steyn's opinions are less representative of conservative thought than they are of a frustrated critic whose writing ability and influence are no match for an American original...
...However, he may have weakened his case by including the quotation from Larry Bird...
...Carville is jumping the gun: nowhere does York's August piece call for a congressional investigation into the Carville operation...
...I'll leave the political, social, and psycho analyses to greater minds like Garry Wills...Instead I'll just say, "God Bless John Wayne...
...SAL MARINELLO Maplewood, New jersey 82 September 1997 • The American Spectator...
...Army's non-solution: "This means lighter, less explosive hand grenades" so in future either all grenades will be of this less-explosive type, or the quartermaster will stock both "female" and "male" hand grenades, presumably color coded for identification purposes in pink and powder blue, respectively...
...If someone cancels next month because of the Bob Dylan article, I promise to check myself in for sensitivity training or dermabrasion, whichever is more painful...
...The FDR memorials are the endless agencies of federal power that clutter the landscape in the District of Columbia...
...But, if it's the former, please send me my check back...
...Without a Doubt is published by Viking...
...Because a crucial five percent of the aircraft is still missing, including debris from the center of the blast zone, indisputable proof may never be found...
...You have been flying under false colors...
...Kallstrom's recent letter to the families of the victims of TWA 800, in which he said: ...we in law enforcement have not found any evidence to date that this tragedy was caused by a criminal act or an act of terrorism...
...Specifically, I am referring to the following comments in this article regard(Continued on page 78) 12 September 1997 • The American Spectator (Continued from page 12) ing Roosevelt's actions taken to try and get into World War II without following our Constitution...
...It is currently testing small plastic explosive charges for results compatible with the blast evidence from TWA 800...
...Coincidentally, she and Kim were good friends...
...At the 1925 PGA Tournament, defending champion Walter Hagen entered the locker-room to find a half-dozen pros playfully arguing about which one of them would "take" Hagen that year...
...Contrary to the thrust of Hall's letter, the FBI has not dismissed the bomb theory...
...I can tell you from personal observation that the people in attendance at Wolf Trap ran the generational and political gamut...
...We are already a weakened society...
...Bear in mind, too, that the FBI's standards for "evidence" are inordinately high: proof that will stand up to a defense attorney's challenge and a hardto-convince jury...
...We live today with the detritus of the FDR years, and it is not what the founding fathers intended...
...Hall is operating in a world where careers aren't made by displays of independence...
...A few liberals probably subscribe to the Spectator just so they can write these letters in an effort to make it appear as if there is a break in the ranks...
...MICHAEL LUKEHART Bakersfield, CaliforniaLike a Rolling Groan I recently received a phone message from a boyhood friend and fellow music enthusiast who reads your review...
...Mr...
...I did not, however, expect an extremist hatchet job...
...Change a sentence in the manual and the problem goes away...
...Because all three root out liars and take proofreading seriously...
...ROBERT FINLEY San Francisco, California James Bowman replies: Although the Waco film isn't being widely shown, its producers are negotiating a video cassette deal...
...Incidentally, Mr...
...But when one dogged questioner challenged him to say how many aircraft were safer, Hall had to admit the answer was none...
...The only negative from this experience is that, when I get worked up after having read about Clinton/Gore and their crimes, I seldom have anyone to blow off steam to...
...My niece received two military medals and was pursuing a brilliant career when she was killed at the age of 27, serving her president and her country...
...In short, I believe in history and order with diluted federal power...
...If you think you're ready for a challenging position with one of America's most talked-about magazines, send a résumé and a short writing sample to: AinericanSpeitator Attn: N. Roberts P.O...
...He attaches the label "protest song" to the Dylan composition "Like a Rolling Stone...
...The insertion of a catheter directly into the heart weakens that organ...
...Hyde, you will see fit to allow me to clear the air...
...Hall gave the clear impression that many aircraft had been modified...
...But a few days later I came home from work to find my father in an almost joyful mood...
...Terzian: 1. Roosevelt II had, at best, a passing interest in the truth...
...John Wayne had become a "cardiac" Catholic...
...But the St...
...Duke Reading John R. Dunlap's review of Garry Wills's John Wayne's America (TAS, July 1997) has compelled me to share my own Epiphany that I had regarding "The Duke...
...Interestingly, the person who was instructing me considered this a normal side effect of this procedure and not a contraindication...
...I'll gladly answer any questions you might have about the tax exempt status EIP does not have and will never apply for or the number of times I didn't talk to Tony Coelho, Ben Jones or Loretta Sanchez...
...I can't believe that the majority of the American people want this continued chaos in their everyday lives...
...During recent Senate committee hearings, a four-star general testified that the Army is "better off" with women in the ranks...
...Immersion in salt water does not wash away pitted metal or "gas washing" —the physical signatures of a high order explosion...
...On the human level, Mr...
...4. Roosevelt had no philosophical grounding...
...If the latter, I feel better about my recent contribution to your foundation, even thoughyour view of this subject of fairness is naive and foolish...
...The NTSB was a top-notch, truthful agency before I arrived, it is now, and it will be long after I leave...
...Finally, on the factual level, two points can be made...
...It was as if he and John Wayne were in this thing together...
...Tyrrell should recognize that without Republican control of Congress the economic burden of the federal government would be much greater than it is today and that the budget deal, though far from perfect, is the best assurance we have that the GOP will keep control at least until the next presidential election...
...Appointments are based upon high school grades, ACT and SAT scores, and extracurricular activities, not gender...
...Hall would have us believe they came from a bomb-sniffing dog test...
...Before I tackle some of the many factual inaccuracies, I strongly object to the way the article unfairly paints the NTSB as WE WANT YOU...
...Hall should have refrained from rushing to a conclusion...
...Then the path of Clinton and his Evita will be more easily discernible...
...R.E...
...I leave it to readers to judge whether traditionally independent 10 September 1997 • The American Spectator agencies like the NTSB can be politically compromised by their leadership...
...First, one might expect greater accuracy from one billed as "theater critic of the New Criterion and music critic of the Spectator of London...
...I'll never forget watching John Wayne's appearance at his last Academy Awards Show...
...Larry has merely rephrased Hagen in the idiom of the nineties...
...But the Duke was gone now...
...Well, I would like to save you the time, energy and taxpayer money (Lord knows you've wasted enough of that already) involved in drafting up a subpoena for me...
...Finally, only approximately 1,400 students accept appointments each year...
...Happy Days In his July editorial "Budget Summit Over Dinner," Mr...
...Roughly 12 percent of the cadets are women...
...In other words, we see no evidence of a bomb, a missile, or any other type of device causing the event which led to the breakup and tragic results...
...It seems that if such abuse can be used to barb the "feminists" or other such elitist group, it's okay...
...and even, from time to time, insightful and on the mark...
...Dear Chairman Burton: I noticed this month's American Spectator (a right-wing periodical with which I'm sure you are familiar) calls for an investigation into my Education and Information Project, an organization I set up to defend the President from partisan accusers like you and The American Spectator...
...Steyn tell it, Dylan's work represents only the "grizzled old hippies, folkies, peaceniks, and Dylanologists...
...I'm not liberal, although I probably meet the dictionary definition...
...It's amazing how much I have gotten from your team, and I appreciate your work enormously...
...HANNO REX Hollywood, Florida Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming In While reading your magazine I enjoy thinking about the letters you will receive from subscribers who are outraged and feel that you have crossed the line into that hell known as incivility and that you should stop slinging mud and get back to real journalism...
...But the case is not closed...
...Conservatives continue to fling one baseless, crazy charge after another at an infinitely wide array of foes...
...PRICE HORN Springfield, Missouri While the arrival of TAS in this home is always met with the kind of enthusiasm a contemporary like Bill Clinton might reserve for, I dunno, Cosmo...
...Regarding the independence of political appointees at the NTSB, I didn't intend to cast aspersions on Chairman Hall individually...
...Yet despite this buffeting, minute traces of PETN and RDX were found on TWA 800...
...Example #2— It was "pointed out that two-women teams are not strong enough to carry a stretcher with a 170 lb...
...So hoss, just give me a call, stack up the bibles, and let's get it on...
...At the end of the war he gave Stalin whatever he wanted by way of real estate in Eastern Europe thereby guaranteeing a Cold War...
...Roberts's major point seems to be that the center fuel tank explosion is a sign of terrorist involvement...
...Roosevelt's activities during the days preceding Pearl Harbor...
...Box 549 Arlington, VA 22216-0549 a cloak-and-dagger agency...
...Bossie or any other members of your staff have encouraged to dig up political dirt on me and EIP...
...But, the issue is why you have the intellectual dishonesty to claim to wear Conservative colors and yet publish such gross intellectual dishonesty on a scale never seen in print before...
...It is clear that Mr...
...What follows is Mr...
...What a joke...
...GEORGE SPANOS Arlington, Virginia Mark Steyn's piece on the aging Bob Dylan was brutal, vicious, and undeniably cruel...
...It was also brilliant, dead-on accurate, and one of the funniest things I've read all year...
...My niece, Captain Kimberly Jo Harmon Wielhouwer, was the copilot of the Air Force C-13o which crashed August 17, 1996, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming...
...What concerns me is that we all feel that the younger generations have in many ways lost sight of our moral/ethical history and yet we see the TAS editor making light of such behavior...
...Alas, it appears that somebody was serious about FDR being the greatest president in the twentieth century...
...Terzian feels enough time has passed by that the American liberal can now admit the truthfulness of the conservative position that Roosevelt took America into World War II through stealth, profound dishonesty, and was truly guilty of impeachable offenses...
...JAMES CARVILLE President Education and Information Project Washington, D.C...
...Therefore, I assume that your publication supports the position taken by Mr...
...With the help of TAS and other similar publicaThe American Spectator • September 19 9 7 81 tions, maybe we can restore our nation to its position of greatness and moral standard...
...By deduction, investigators assume that TWA 800 was the jet in question...
...Hall insists that the FAA deserves the bureaucratic credit, that's fine with me...
...My article reported on two types of TWA 800 sabotage—terrorist sabotage and political sabotage...
...I don't expect they'll come voluntarily, because any policy quid pro quo in exchange for airline money would have clearly been illegal...
...As a political appointee, however, Mr...
...Neither are present in the TWA 800 explosion...
...You know, it's kind of sad...
...Scranton, Pennsylvania Please tell Benjamin Stein that his article in the July issue is a great one—honest, poignant, searching—a tribute to a special, self-giving lady...
...the human...
...Roosevelt was not the greatest president in the twentieth century but rather one of the worst...
...Most taxpayers are better off in the low inflation, low interest-rate environment that exists today than they were when effective tax rates were lower and inflation/interest rates higher...
...Unfortunately for Mr...
...RANDALL SHEPHERD via the Internet I've recently started a side business that takes up weekends, and in between helping customers, I read the Spectator from cover to cover...
...This is an excellent opportunity to break into journalism (former assistants have taken important newspaper jobs...
...I'm beginning to worry that my conservative bent 80 September 1997 The American Spectator has left me too obdurate...
...It's time you realized what the misguided McVeighs of this world sense intuitively: we are at a crossroads...
...The language that fills many of your pages—and the language that flows from many talk shows and web sites — is the language of blind hatred, paranoia, fear and distrust...
...So do I. Perhaps he should have cited Mr...
...She was an Air Force Academy graduate...
...To blame Carpenter's death on weight loss is, to put it mildly, somewhat wide of the mark...
...It is incomprehensible to me that Kelly Flinn was also an academy graduate and willfully disobeyed orders...
...The FBI presented its evidence, but was instructed to bring back more proof...
Vol. 30 • September 1997 • No. 9
