Correspondence: Connerly and sex, Florence's war, &c.
CORRESPONDENCE Unforgettable Mr. York's piece on corruption in the White House and likening it to the movie, Chinatown ("Forget It, Jake," TAS, July 1999), also reminded me of the movie version of...
...As is usual with writers of your ilk, one or two points had a little merit and it's sort of fun to get roiled by a contrarian viewpoint...
...George W. Bush may find that his unwillingness to confront federal discrimination in the form of racial preference programs, and his running away from race issues, will create opportunities for a real conservative to make it to the White House in 2000 —much as the senior Bush's failure to address conservative concerns in 1980 made Ronald Reagan our 4oth president...
...CARL DE VILLAR Destin, Florida Big Ms.take I can understand a mistaken gender identification with the name "Lee" (Correspondence, TAS, August 1999), but Ms...
...James...
...If the Trepca mines have even a third of the mineral wealth they are supposed to have, then this nation has just been party to the biggest act of wholesale brigandage since Quintus Servilius Caepio, Roman consul (1o6 B.C...
...Brokaw...
...I don't think so...
...The book may be fatuous, badly done or overly sentimental, I don't know, but its message is clear enough—even to those who haven't read it...
...The Greeks and the Romans knew about those deposits, which are as rich as ever...
...209 President, Americans Against Discrimination and Preferences San Francisco, California It's no wonder the Republican leadership doesn't like to see Ward Connerly coming around, since Mr...
...It amazes me that conservative commentary (what passes for thinking in your world) always ends up not with new, maybe even hopeful insight, but just a sour, gritty residue...
...It was based on the erroneous premise that the fuel shortage was anything other than the inevitable consequence of interference, by government, in market pricing...
...My property—you stole my property...
...Although George Bush, Ted Kennedy, and the other liberal Democrats all insisted that it was not a "quota bill," it was...
...There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from this: that the proponents of the Florida Civil Rights Initiative are prepared, if necessary, to leave intact preferences for white women, thereby conferring advantages on them over white, black, or Hispanic males...
...JAMES DAY via the Internet Gold in Them There Hills Tom Bethell quotes the liberals as being oh, so proud that "there [was] nothing in it for us" in this Kosovo affair ("Liberals Go to War," TAS, July 1999...
...So who falls heir to all that mineral wealth...
...Eastampton, New Jersey like that, right...
...Now you're telling us that our chief diplomat shares General Slime's views...
...It is not what California's Proposition 209 and Washington State's I-zoo sought to achieve, and it is not what the people of Florida or the rest of the nation want, nor is it something they should support...
...209) is to get around the single subject restriction in the Florida initiative process...
...I asked Mr...
...Regrettably, a mob of Marxist students embarrassed themselves and the University of Texas later at a scheduled speaking event...
...I suggest the authors do a follow-up study on those who were denied admission in favor of those whose academic qualifications were inferior...
...I expected better from someone who usually defends honor, commitment, and virtue in light of today's assaults on such things...
...The essence of her presentation was that the federal government has an obligation to protect the great mass of the unwashed and unlettered from their own untutored folly...
...It is "conventional wisdom" that George Bush (senior) lost his presidency over the 1990 tax deal...
...Discrimination based on race and sex have been indissolubly linked in thiscountry since that landmark legislation...
...As if to drive nails into hispresidential coffin, in 1992 Bush again caved in to liberal political and media pressure after the L.A...
...BRADLEY R. PURKHISER El Paso, Texas Font of Wisdom I'm extremely happy that I was able to amuse ya'll (Current Wisdom, TAS, July 1999...
...Best to you, John...
...But (again, as usual) what was shocking was the bitter, mean, small-minded tone of the thing...
...Connerly has removed "sex" from these three initiatives, leaving only one of the proposed measures intact with the original language of 209...
...King's mean-spirited and arrogant response to letters critical of her review (Correspondence, TAS, June 1999...
...JAMES BAKER Canandaigua, New York Recently, Ward Connerly came to Austin, Texas...
...BRIAN LYNCH Austin, Texas King of Mean Florence King's review of the Tom Brokaw book reflects her values, and while I find her views superficial and disagreeable, they are not particularly troublesome...
...12 September 1999 The American Spectator I also am part of that generation...
...D.A...
...Dole has since repented of this earlier error, she should tell us...
...After all, the movie is a comedy, and people don't really think The American Spectator • September r999 13...
...In May 1998 the Greek mineral commodities firm Mytilinaios SA signed a $519 billion contract with Serb-owned RMHK Trepca, owners of the vast Start Trg mine in Kosovo with deposits of lead, cadmium, zinc, gold, and silver collectively worth $1.56 trillion wholesale...
...And to Mr...
...He's complaining about the New Yorker's $1.40 rate...
...Corry has always demonstrated keen intelligence and sound instincts in his ongoing critique of the increasingly decadent "profession" of journalism...
...LCDR NICK HODGES United States Navy APO AP 96204 Florence King replies: People who are presently engaged in canonizing the WWII generation should reflect that it was this same generation who spoiled their children rotten and gave us the Boomers...
...Check it out, Editors...
...As a long-time reader of The American Spectator, I am particularly angry that she calls the war veterans who wrote to you "good little conformists...
...hijacked the Gold of Toulouse...
...Too bad it was for the wrong reason...
...Dole's role in the fight against the national 55 mph speed limit...
...When the questions were finished, the vice chairman of the council, Attorney General Ed Meese, announced that the president favored abolishing the national speed limit altogether, but would compromise by accepting the congressional move to raise the limit to 65...
...Civil Rights Act of 1964, and to the civil rights movement, which led to its enactment...
...By introducing a package of petitions, three of which treat race differently from the way sex is treated, the Florida Civil Rights Initiative has already tainted by association the measure that contains the original language of 209, and thereby inflicted The American Spectator • September 1999 11 considerable damage on the national movement to abolish racial and gender preferences that was set in motion by 209...
...They did not see fit to include the fact that it was then passed over his veto...
...I have no knowledge of any delays in consideration of the congressional initiative which may be attributed to Mrs...
...If Mrs...
...However, they are incorrect in their assertions about Mrs...
...Possibly the KLA, who have been casting a jealous eye on those mines for over a year...
...Contemplate "the heartbreaking insensitivity of age and species discrimination" as it might relate to describing girls (and women) simply as "females...
...Herb Rhodes, who responded to Miss King's review, please allow me to say this: Thank you...
...No doubt he took a lesson from the disgraceful state of affairs in Congress...
...THOMAS E. WOOD co-author, Prop...
...What is troublesome is Ms...
...If not, then primary voters need to know that, also...
...RONALD SMITH Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania Dimes Square As a poverty-stricken freelancer who loves Lobster Newburg and French champagne from the province of the same name, I find it hard to empathize with Ben Stein ("Public Enemy No...
...JAMES A. CARR South Bend, Indiana Tom Bethell's statement in the July TAS, "The war-hungry Albright had complained bitterly to the Joint Chiefs that military hardware is pointless if we don't use it," reminded me of a line from the movie Spies Like Us...
...Dole made a dramatic presentation in which she explicitly and unequivocally urged against permitting states to raise the speed limit from 55 mph to 65 mph...
...Dole had made a speech, subsequent to being apprised of the president's policy, in which, according to the account—I was not present—she again spoke against any increase in the speed limit...
...Keep doing this until you actually get it...
...I served as a domestic policy adviser in the Reagan White House, and the campaign to abolish the speed limit, within the Executive Branch, was my initiative...
...York's piece on corruption in the White House and likening it to the movie, Chinatown ("Forget It, Jake," TAS, July 1999), also reminded me of the movie version of Guys and Dolls, in which a character, Big Jule, a small-time hood from Chicago, stands to reluctantly deliver testimony at a Save a Soul mission under threat from Marlon Brando and says: "33 arrests and no convictions...
...Happy Anniversary I happened upon a piece you did on Bob Dylan a year or so ago, and it's stayed with me like something on my shoe...
...The 1964 Civil Rights Act also reasserted the basic liberal guarantee that there should be one law for all, not different laws for different groups within the population, as had been the case under the regime of racial segregation in the Old South...
...That landmark legislation encoded into federal statute the principle that each individual should be judged, not on the basis of his or her race, sex, or ethnicity, but rather on the individual's talents, demonstrated abilities, and promise...
...We have not discussed the price," I lamented...
...Well, Serbia doesn't own those mines anymore, does it...
...It is a grave mistake for anyone to imply that these issues can now be separated by a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court, or even by the electorate in Florida...
...While talking about America's military arsenal General Slime, the villain of the story, proclaimed, "A weapon unused is a useless weapon...
...But, full disclosure here...
...I don't know what role you played in defeating the Japanese, but I appreciated it more than a letter can express...
...Thank you for your service, your commitment, and your sacrifice...
...Watts was the one who persuaded the GOP leadership to abandon efforts to end racial preferences in federal programs...
...Clinton showed that taxes can be finessed at re-election time, and Bush could have explained his cave-in on taxes sufficiently to get re-elected in 1992...
...California's Proposition 209 and Washington's Initiative zoo put the American ideal of civil rights into one simple, compelling sentence that preserves the letter and the spirit of the U.S...
...ROGER M. PEZZELLE via the Internet Salute While I understand John Corry's desire to go back to reporting, I must say I'll miss his column on the media ("Signing Off," TAS, August 1999...
...Dole...
...Talk about cheap...
...Connerly refuses to play pattycake with the Democrats, but rather stands on his principles...
...After solving the maze of automated voices that led to a warm body, I was told, "Oh yeah, we ran it...
...Rather, you should check your circulation department for a vast feminine conspiracy to deflate the egos of your male subscribers...
...Am I "good little conformist" for believing that those who fought and won World War II are indeed America's "Greatest Generation...
...I was present in the Roosevelt Room meeting of the Domestic Policy Council when Mrs...
...Shame on her...
...Perhaps you'll take a minute to read my follow-up letter (attached) in the April 3 issue of the NW Florida Daily News...
...It did not apply, as they imply, only to a few selected highways, but to limited access highways except those in densely populated areas...
...As a member of the very end of the Baby Boom generation, I owe you and your generation a debt that I can never repay...
...RIDGELY Arlington, Virginia Connerly in Florida Bill Duryea ("Mister Connerly Comes to Florida," TAS, July, logo) mentions my concern about unintended consequences of the Florida Civil Rights Initiative that could result in its having an extremely unfortunate impact on future Supreme Court rulings on race- and sex-based preferences...
...Watts as an adviser, given that Rep...
...Teddy, the Times ran your story...
...He was personally charming, and quite cogent at a gathering of conservatives...
...It also signals a betrayal (or at least a willingness to betray) blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups who, like white men, would have to compete under unfair terms with white women...
...Too bad Florence King doesn't agree...
...riots, and allowed the Department of Justice to prosecute the police who subdued habitual criminal Rodney King...
...Connerly stated that he hoped to discuss the matter of racial preferences with Gov...
...TERRY A. HURLBUT, III, M.D...
...Given your equivocal (not to mention dopey) lead-in to my letter, I might, of course, have charitably concluded that you were laughing with me—not at me—had you not characterized me as a member of your "Assorted Jackasses" club...
...Usually I admire her strong opinions, but the arrogance of her reply, with her sitting safe and secure in her home writing in English (not German or Japanese we should note), to those opposed to her review of Tom Brokaw's book was astounding...
...If it conformed to the strict letter of the Constitution, it most certainly violated its spirit...
...That CW is wrong...
...I am encouraged that it, along with the movie Saving Private Ryan, seem to have struck a chord with the American public...
...I might add that I read a newspaper account, a few days later, that Mrs...
...Ti.:s system is diametrically opposed to the spirit and the language of the U.S...
...1," TAS, July 1999...
...Actually, there was something...
...I have no knowledge as to much of what they assert, and they may well be correct...
...TED ROBERTS Huntsville, AlabamaGo Slow Recently, Jim Burnley and Phil Haseltine wrote to correct what they referred to as James Bovard's "scathing misrepresentation" of the record of Elizabeth Dole (Correspondence, TAS, August 1999...
...For all its excess (though what could be more excessive than the war, I don't know) and self-indulgence, I like to think there was some small movement, sometimes accompanied by the sounds of Dylan and others, toward just a little more understanding and charity...
...Then you might re-read my original letter...
...What really killed the Bush presidency was the signing of the quota bill in 1991...
...Brokaw's book, but I give him enormous credit for recognizing something that far too few baby boomers even give any thought to...
...You apparently missed out on that part...
...We call on Ward Connerly to take the only effective measure that can fully cure that damage now: withdrawing all four initiatives in the name of fairness, justice, and a more harmonious society...
...JAMES H. WARNER Rohrersville, Maryland Inadmissible One small observation regarding William G. Bowen and Derek Bok's defense of their study, The Shape of the River (Correspondence, TAS, July 1999): Polling successful applicants to selective colleges about how well the admissions system works is not far afield from asking lottery winners whether state run gambling is a good idea...
...Even Brokaw seems to understand that this is a stumbling block to his hero worship...
...Would I do it again...
...In fact these principles are so basic and so pervasive that they have been called the "American Creed," constituting the very definition of fairness and justice for the vast majority of the American people...
...Please change mine, too...
...ROGER P. WELLS Buchanan, Virginia I must say I am thoroughly disappointed in Florence King...
...Seems to me that when you lay claim to an exceptional level of intellect, and when your editorial style is based mainly on irony, mockery, and sarcasm, youshould be able to decipher a simple little seven-sentence satire, even if it was too subtle (or perhaps clumsy) for a handful of comprehension-challenged readers in the Florida Panhandle...
...The country hasn't been the same since...
...Connerly's initiatives address contracting, education, and employment separately...
...The reason for splitting up the central language of the original initiative (California's Prop...
...If I had less confidence in the ultimate wisdom of the American people, I would despair when a Republican defends such a law as this...
...I don't think Ms...
...Ward Connerly is currently spearheading a signature-gathering effort in Florida for four different petitions that are called, collectively and individually, the "Florida Civil Rights Initiative...
...King has the right to be so disrespectful to these people who served their country and who felt that their life experiences were honored by Mr...
...Readers of the Duryea article may also be interested in other objections against FCRI that John Barry (original founder of the Florida Civil Rights Initiative), Glynn Custred (co-author of California's Proposition 209), and I have set forth in an unpublished letter that was submitted to the Tampa Tribune on May 22, 1999: Since the late 1970's the United States has witnessed the emergence of a rapidly evolving system of preferences based on race, 10 September 1999 • The American Spectator sex, and ethnicity...
...I walk free in America today because you and your generation gave the "last, full measure" to defeat what was surely the greatest threat to freedom the modern world has ever known...
...This is almost certain to be confusing to voters, but the really fatal flaw is that Mr...
...Pay attention to the overwrought indignation...
...I would gather not, since NATO is in control in Kosovo Province (well, maybe...
...I hope my current Naval Service is a small payment on that debt...
...You consumed my product before we agreed on the price...
...These principles were overwhelmingly supported by the people of California and Washington State in two ballot initiatives (Proposition 209 in California and I-zoo in Washington State...
...Bush, and that he was concerned that Bush seemed to want to avoid the issue...
...You ran it...
...The gentlemen are correct that the increase in the speed limit was included in, to use their phrase, a "pork-laden highway bill" that President Reagan vetoed...
...Everybody laughed...
...Sure...
...Listen, Ben, I once sent a commentary to the Countess of Clout—the New York Times—the Grand Old Lady who hates the Grand Old Party...
...This is not what the 1964 Civil Rights Act sought to achieve...
...They sent me one hundred bucks, about ten cents a word...
...Civil Rights Act of 1964...
...This is a betrayal of the principle of individual rights and equality before the law...
...The only feedback I received was from a New York pal...
...Thus, three of Mr...
...Connerly if he was concerned that George W. Bush had selected J.C...
...When she finished, Interior Secretary Hodel asked a few questions...
...I haven't read Mr...
...Incredible...
Vol. 32 • September 1999 • No. 9
