Correspondence
F o c u s G r o u p s v s . I d e a s O nce again, THE WEEKLY STANDARD unapologetically points out the utter lunacy to which our political system has resorted. In “The...
...Once it is intellectually acceptable to think that [literary] idioms can be as different as apples and oranges, it becomes possible to love [“The Adventures of Superman”] and the [novels] of [Hawthorne] with equal passion...
...America, it seems, for Gingrich, really is apple pie and baseball, hard work, and amber waves of grain...
...Limited/suggestive association is the second highest category...
...14), but I was puzzled by her reference to “mythical creations of feminist ideology like ‘Primordial Goddess.’” The goddess in question, best known as Cybele, Ishtar, or the Biblical Astarte, is mythical enough, but her cult is no ideological invention...
...Mike Coffey Knoxville, TN A s a longtime admirer of Charles Krauthammer’s clear thinking on the subject of Israel, I write to thank him for his article...
...Now conservative lovers of comic books can follow the adventures of their favorite superheroes uncensured by humorless prigs who think the novels of Hemingway or Dickens more worthy of their time...
...A tax increase could theoretically bring down a government well ahead of schedule...
...So Brooks is correct when he says Gingrich uses a military mode of thinking about politics...
...They have Judge’s own words for their retort: Comic books and novels are “two different idioms” and “can be individually appreciated as such...
...For Newt Gingrich, this is a war...
...I am old enough to remember 1956, when the United States gave Israel unequivocal guarantees of free passage through the Suez Canal in exchange for withdrawal from the Sinai, but they were promptly ignored by Nasser, who barred Israeli ships from the canal with no response from the United States...
...21), David Brooks cites several examples of the emotional side of the speaker...
...Clinton’s own hike may have helped the Republican landslide of 1994, but it seems that tax-increase damage lasts only a year or two...
...Douglas Borton Tucson, AZ G o o d O l d N e w t i e I n “What Happened to Newt Gingrich...
...George Bush’s current status as a private citizen and the Tory party’s impending defeat are both proof of that proposition...
...Even in the current Israeli/Palestinian chaos, Krauthammer’s words ring true...
...Sure, some comics are violent and salacious...
...Letters will be edited for length and clarity and must include the writer’s name, address, and phone number...
...So the next time a conservative comrade berates you for browsing in the literary section of a 7Eleven, remember Judge’s closing line: “[Spiderman is] no [Dickens], but then, he’s not supposed to be...
...Widespread in the ancient world, it predated both the Hellenistic pantheon and Hebrew monotheism...
...Bush’s mistake was to break his pledge, in public, closer to the election (and contrary to the wishes of many of his supporters...
...The children and grandchildren of Palestine could have peace and prosperity like few generations have ever experienced...
...But it doesn’t seem to have hurt Bill Clinton any...
...And that is a problem that Ferguson does not fully investigate...
...By focusing too much on a dozen people, our candidates have lost sight of the overarching themes that move people...
...No one complained then...
...He still gets a moist eye when he sees Old Glory or hears “America the Beautiful...
...There are two other instances of that same emotion that are perhaps most telling especially within the setting where they happen...
...Israel/ Palestine could be the Hong Kong or Singapore of the Middle East...
...What about post-traumatic stress disorder...
...Thus, your article is inaccurate in suggesting that congressional activists sent NAS “back to work” when it found no association on its .rst review or that “canny Veterans Affairs administrators” are behind the expansion of bene.ts...
...Ideally located at the hub of Africa, Asia, and Europe, not to mention the Persian Gulf, Israel/Palestine could have the best economy in the world...
...We cannot continue to run on 52 issues...
...For all of his complaining that President Clinton runs his foreign policy by headlines and photo-ops, Bob Dole has followed Clinton’s lead and based his entire campaign on headlines and photo-ops...
...You may also fax letters: (202) 293-4901...
...William R. Still, Jr...
...To begin with, in 1991 Congress passed legislation that tasked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) with regular reviews of scienti.c literature on dioxin and to determine whether there was a signi.cant statistical association between dioxin exposure and adverse health effects...
...Earlier (industry-sponsored) studies that buttress this case have since been demonstrated to have been internally manipulated or premature—later stud ies of the same incidents are showing signi.cant adverse health effects...
...Alexandria, VA A n E n t i t l e m e n t D i s c u s s e d I f you ever expect to transcend the customary conservative journalistic myopia about Agent Orange, it would help to familiarize yourselves with the legal framework and scienti.c data surrounding the controversy (“An Entitlement Is Born,” Oct...
...Gingrich believes that America is now at a critical crossroads, that if she continues down the road of big government, rampant drug use, rising crime, victimization, and more, then America, the nation that Gingrich truly loves, is doomed to become something future civilizations just read about—much as we do the Romans...
...It suggests that there are no mental-health bene.ts for veterans...
...Dole’s criticism of Clinton is right on the mark...
...The contention that the case on Agent Orange is “.imsy,” “wispy,” or that it may be “a hoax” is itself .imsy...
...14) states .atly that “tax increases are politically impossible...
...Donald Kirche Saranac Lake, NY THE WEEKLY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor...
...The aim was to .nd a neutral scienti.c panel and transfer the function away from a Veterans Administration scienti.c panel, which was widely criticized for alleged bias in resisting the .nding of any association...
...Either the issues relate to each other, or Republicans are as much existential candidates as the Democrats we accuse...
...Thomas Spence Dallas, TX N o t a F e m i n i s t I n v e n t i o n I enjoyed Pia Catton’s essay “Judy Chicagoland” (Oct...
...One .nal thought: Why do people who advocate hawkish foreign-policy solutions shrink from compensating the soldiers who pay the price for implementing those policies...
...To Newt Gingrich, we are all just plain old Americans...
...F o c u s G r o u p s v s . I d e a s O nce again, THE WEEKLY STANDARD unapologetically points out the utter lunacy to which our political system has resorted...
...And yes, Persian Gulf veterans are indeed demanding compensation for exposure to chemicals...
...What happened to Newt Gingrich...
...Clinton has been asleep at the wheel on taxes, teenage drug use, and foreign policy...
...there’s a lively political/scienti.c controversy over what’s popularly called Persian Gulf Syndrome...
...Whatever happened to genuine ideas...
...A war in which Gingrich’s America will be lost if he and his party lose...
...Maybe so...
...Donald Weatherwax Esparto, CA P e a c e i n I s r a e l can always trust CharlesIKrauthammer to shed the light of truth on the dark lies and deceptions of politicians (“Bibi’s Tunnel, Yasser’s p Correspondence War,” Oct...
...These occur in Gingrich’s Renewing American Civilization course...
...Because classical and pop are two different musical “idioms,” there are no grounds for esteeming the one more highly than the other...
...However, I question his conclusion...
...In “The Focus-Group Fraud” (Oct...
...Numerous recent studies demonstrate serious health problems...
...Judge’s “Rule of Different Idioms” is simply unanswerable...
...The more exact statement would be, “It isn’t hurting Bill Clinton now...
...But, hey, that’s no reason to toss out those that are really funny and upbeat: “The simple acknowledgment of different [literary] idioms, and that there can be high and low achievement within those idioms, opens up a new kind of acceptance for conservative [comic book] fans who can’t stand the obnoxious clamor of [the X-men] yet don’t want to jettison [the Archies] with it...
...Oct...
...It’s just that Gingrich is smart enough to realize that it’s better to compromise and lose the battle than not to and lose the war...
...Attacks on Clinton for the tax increases early in his term (to say nothing of those proposed but voted down), no matter how true and justi.ed, do not appear to matter anymore to the American voter...
...Maybe a Dole rout will wake up the rest of our party...
...By not making a sincere and feasible peace agreement with Israel, Arafat and the Palestinian leadership are dooming their own children’s future...
...Scholars such as James Frazer, Robert Graves, and Herbert Miller wrote of this religion—and its possible origin in primitive matrilineal societies— decades before modern feminism’s pernicious politicization of history...
...He believes that we are not Chinese Americans, Irish Americans, or African Americans...
...The article betrays several other shortcomings...
...Nothing...
...He becomes obviously overwhelmed following the showing of Chamberlain’s address to his men at Gettysburg...
...This happens again after the reading of Sullivan Ballou’s letter to his wife prior to the battle of Bull Run...
...Of course, parliamentary government doesn’t have .xed election dates...
...14), Andrew Ferguson puts into words what so many conservatives have been feeling for the past couple of years...
...He thus liberates “cultural conservatives” who suffer guilt about their appetite for pop music...
...William T. Bennett National Vietnam Veterans Coalition Washington, DC A c r o s s t h e P o n d I rwin M. Stelzer’s article on Tony Blair and Britain’s reconstituted Labour party (“The Bill Clinton of the Sceptered Isle,” Oct...
...It used to be that the Republican party was the party of ideas and ideals...
...Ask Margaret Thatcher about the poll tax sometime...
...Although the law provides for only two categories of scienti.c conclusion (thumbs up or down, based on a preponderance of evidence), NAS has insisted on creating four categories...
...Based on new studies, spina bi.da was upgraded in the second NAS report...
...Don’t get me wrong...
...Gideon Kanner Los Angeles, CA C u l t u r e W a r s C o n t i n u e I n “Miracle of Pop” (Oct.14), Mark Gauvreau Judge breaks new ground in cultural criticism...
...Palestinian leaders either cannot conceive of this future or are deliberately denying it to their descendants for short-term political gain...
...Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich have reduced this party to one of sound-bites and polls...
...If only someone had come up with this handy concept sooner...
...All letters should be addressed: Correspondence Editor THE WEEKLY STANDARD 1150 17th St., NW Washington, DC 20036...
...service-connected disability has been awarded in this category previously for multiple melanoma and several respiratory cancers...
...So much for relying on Uncle Sam’s guarantees...
Vol. 2 • October 1996 • No. 7
