Correspondence
Correspondence KING OF THE DIAMOND THE SUB-HEADLINE of David Brooks's article asks, "Did running a baseball team help prepare George W. Bush to run America?" ("Texas Ranger," Dec. 13). It is a...
...And if Seattle is accused of being too liberal and caring too much about all the people, regardless of their social status, I guess a lot of us here can live with that...
...For cocaine the figures favor Holland even more—10.5 percent of the U.S...
...Here's the mystery: If, on one hand, Kristol and The Weekly Standard say that Buchanan is a sophist and that his statements are "false," and, on the other hand, they both say essentially the same things about China's WTO accession, is The Weekly Standard also guilty of making "false" statements...
...Why should he...
...The article claims: "Crime is rampant...
...First, few regarded George W. Bush's debate encounter with Ann Richards as "a snap" going in...
...M.A...
...Where is crime really rampant...
...And haven't its editors and writers repeatedly and painstakingly detailed their aversion to Pat Buchanan, who called China's WTO accession "a cave-in, pure and simple, to a regime that even today persecutes religious minorities and aims nuclear rockets at the United States of America...
...Please re-read the piece and let me know what it is I'm missing...
...Here, our drug use is hidden in shooting galleries and crack houses...
...Father Sava, in other words, is doing exactly what he should do as a Christian and as an Orthodox monk...
...I never thought I would read such ad hominem criticism, such a thinly veiled screed against an Orthodox Christian figure, in The Weekly Standard...
...Schwartz does not support his charges with anything concrete other than Father Sava's "multiculturalism" and use of the "narcissistic" Internet...
...David Tell, on behalf of the editors, raises what I believe are solid criticisms about the recently forged accession deal between President Clinton and the Communist Chinese...
...As for Barnes's assertion that Bush suffers from not having played the national political game to the same extent as John McCain, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, and Orrin Hatch—please...
...he directs the executive branch of the federal government...
...MATT ROSENBERG'S ARTICLE on the relation of Seattle's political culture to the WTO protests is just one man's opinion ("Seattle Politics, Always a Riot," Dec...
...Father Sava supports interfaith dialogue in Kosovo...
...When it comes to heroin, 0.9 percent of the U.S...
...Nicholas Dujmovic Parish Council President Holy Trinity Orthodox Church Reston, VA SPINELESS IN SEATTLE...
...It seems the more our drug policy fails, the more tax dollars we are willing to throw at it...
...DAVID C. STOLINSKY Los Angeles, CA AMERICA'S DRUG LUNACY DO THE FACTS MATTER when it comes to developing a drug policy that works...
...adolescent drug use rate has increased by 50 percent—finally showing signs of stabilizing last year after consistent increases...
...When it comes to drug use, the article relies on reports of drug use in 1992— almost a decade ago...
...BILL GREENE Arlington, VA...
...Although many of us here in Seattle decry what happened in our streets, on the other hand, no one was killed, not one bullet fired, and no one severely injured...
...The most recent (1997) comparable official government figures show that 32.9 percent of people in the United States have used marijuana, while only 15.6 percent in Holland have—even though we fight an expensive war on marijuana and the Dutch allow its retail sale...
...I seriously doubt that, had a protest of this magnitude occurred in Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York, the same claim could be made...
...Otherwise, once past the idiosyncrasies of New Hampshire, John McCain or anyone else will have a difficult time overcoming a national organization powered by the political machinery of nearly every Republican governor...
...Schwartz finds Father Sava a "man of the past," a New Ager of the '70s and '80s, a proponent of the "vague idealism of international pop religiosity...
...In fact, according to official statistics from both countries, the murder rate in Holland is 1.8 murders per 100,000, while the U.S...
...No doubt someone favoring the drug war will go to Holland and see marijuana shops, easy methadone availability, and public health approaches to hard drugs...
...Few others found any problem with Bush's defense in the New Hampshire debate of his tax package...
...If Rosenberg doesn't like it here, he can always move to a more repressive city—another privilege that comes with being an American...
...I'm confused...
...The cheapest shot, of all the cheap shots Schwartz fires at the "cybermonk," is that Father Sava wasn't a devout Orthodox Christian his entire life, and that somehow this makes him and his message suspect...
...Since 1992 the U.S...
...Sure, he didn't use up all his allotted time...
...In fact, the president does not "run" the country, or even the federal government...
...That makes drugs more visible—but that does not mean they are more prevalent...
...Mardig Sheridan Seattle, WA STRANGE BEDFELLOWS I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED by THE WEEKLY STANDARD'S editorial on China's accession to the WTO ("Trading Places," Dec...
...Don Feder's article about drug policy in the Netherlands generally avoids facts and misrepresents the real story when discussing Dutch drug policy ("A City Goes to Pot," Dec...
...Honoring the rights of dissenters is crucial to our democracy...
...If you truly expect him to stumble, prepare for a long wait...
...In a more sensible time, when an appearance on television didn't elevate one to presidential status, three of those gentlemen would never be on the stage...
...population has tried heroin, while 0.3 percent of the population in Holland has...
...population has tried cocaine, while only 2.1 percent of the population in Holland has...
...In Bush we are talking about a highly successful governor of the nation's second most populous state, a man who has virtually eliminated the once-majority party from existence...
...The article applauds the declining violent crime rate in the United States since 1988...
...They run the country, at least for the present...
...Father Sava, by Schwartz's admission, speaks the truth when he blames Serbs for eradicating Albanian culture and when he identifies Milosevic as the main problem...
...In almost Buchananesque tones, Tell condemns the "semi-conscious slide to appeasement" of Beijing's dictators and human rights abusers...
...It's too bad that people fail to find the positives within that...
...Louis XIV ran France, insofar as the technology of that era allowed...
...Here's what editor and publisher William Kristol recently said about Buchanan on Hardball with Chris Matthews: "Well, he's an intelligent man and he makes his false arguments with a certain convincing ability that sophists always have...
...in fact, most singled it out as one of his strongest moments...
...Any McCain "momentum" generated in New Hampshire looks to last no longer than South Carolina, where, despite the senator's huge effort, he trails by 40 points, and lags behind even among veterans...
...government surveys show use of crack has not diminished...
...But as the now-unemployed Richards later noted, Bush just keeps hammering away on message until he beats you down...
...Of course, the U.S...
...It does not reflect well on your magazine that your editors gave Schwartz a venue for his attack on a cleric that he, for whatever reason, simply does not like...
...If we wish to remain citizens, not subjects, we should avoid creating the impression that it is desirable, or even feasible, for one person to "run" a vast and complex nation of more than a quarter-billion human beings...
...Bush is in better shape than Reagan in 1980, and Reagan was about as inevitable as they come...
...Having delivered the message he wanted to send, why digress and dilute it, or offer something extra to be picked apart and attacked...
...As a human being, Father Sava is not allowed to be hyperbolic when describing "Crucified Kosovo," but maybe that's because Schwartz has not himself endured the destruction—systematic or not—of sites sacred to his faith...
...More modern technology allowed Hitler to run the Third Reich, stalin to run the USSR, Mao to run China, and Pol Pot to run Kampuchea, with poor efficiency and tragic results...
...For the most part, our small, undermanned, and overworked police responded professionally and with restraint...
...Perhaps if we learned from the successful approaches of other countries, we would see a drug war tax dividend rather than a drug war budget rupturing out of control...
...Democrats in Texas are still waiting— that is, the few of them that are still left...
...While we don't see it, the facts are that drug use is more prevalent, AIDS is more prevalent, and drug-related crime is more prevalent in the United States...
...What exactly is it that makes Buchanan's rejection of China's WTO accession "sophistry" and The Weekly Standard's rejection of China's WTO accession not sophistry...
...If our city is the last enclave in America that still considers the constitutional rights of others fundamental, then we'll just have to live with the consequences...
...KEVIN B. ZEESE President Common Sense for Drug Policy Falls Church, VA JUGGERNAUT GEORGE FRED BARNES'S ARTICLE appears to be more a continuation of The Weekly Standard's love affair with John McCain than a realistic assessment of either the New Hampshire debate or the GOP nomination contest ("The Less-Than-Inevitable Bush," Dec...
...It is a common expression that the president "runs the country...
...We spend $81 per capita on drug law enforcement, while the Dutch spend $27...
...Now that the crack market has matured and stabilized, crime rates are declining, even though U.S...
...REEDER Laguna Park, TX CYBERMONK SYMPATHY IT'S DIFFICULT for me to see what Stephen Schwartz's point is about the "trendy monk" he derides as being out of touch with reality in Kosovo and an alleged soulmate of President Clinton ("The Cybermonk of Kosovo," Dec...
...As for Bush's inevitability, I suppose he could be run over by a truck (it did nearly happen once...
...Anyone who underestimates his acumen does so at their peril...
...One more fact to consider: Our federal drug budget has increased from $1 billion two decades ago to $18.1 billion today...
...Running the country" may be useful shorthand, but it leads to a dangerous mindset...
...But wait a minute—isn't The Weekly Standard usually the mouthpiece for the free-trade, pro-NAFTA, pro-fast track, internationalist wing of the Republican party...
...rate is 8.22 per 100,000...
...Father Sava harbors the hope that Serbs and Albanians one day can live together in peace...
...violent crime rate was at very high levels in the mid-1980s when crack came on the scene...
Vol. 5 • December 1999 • No. 15
