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Posted May 8, 2001 Raimondo, Not Robots Mr. Raimondo, I just read your Feb. 23 article, The Sailors Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, and I have to say that it is the best article of yours that I've ever read. Your other writings are top notch too, but this particular one struck a chord with me, on a topic that I frequently try to bludgeon my friends with whenever the topic of honor and nationalism or the fine points of cultural heroes (I live across the street from a gigantic statue of Robert E. Lee) or tradition arise. In these days of SUVs, computers, political correctness, sitcoms, easy money, and internet porn, Yukio Mishima's story cut through the schlock like tomahawk missiles through a Yugo factory. The lack of cohesive honor and spirit combined with increasingly cheap high-tech gadgetry and throw-away craftsmanship of a country is depressing. It's depressing because there is no way out, or, I should say, back. It will only get more and more efficient and soulless, to the point where we will be able to conduct our business without having to get out of bed, and robots will roll in to hook up the liquefied steak IV bag to our veins . . . ~ George Jacob Good for the Goose? Dear Mr. Raimondo: ...As I looked at how Macedonia is being called upon by General Powell to have Albanian spoken more...I was wondering if we are going to have to abide by the same rules. It would be so inconvenient for America's schoolchildren to learn all 500 of our native languages after 200 years of English being forced not only upon conquered natives, but also on immigrants from all around the world. But, whatever is good for the goose must be good for the gander.... ~ Dan McDonald A Macedonian Prayer As a Macedonian, I am scared and deeply worried about my country, and have developed such hatred towards the West I once admired, that I really am deeply disappointed, especially by the US. May God help us all and may God have mercy on their souls for the horrors they have done in a once beautiful and peaceful country. ~ Igor "Right On" Raimondo Justin, I "just" want to say how much I appreciate your writing and analysis. Your stuff about the China "crisis" and National Review are, as they say, "right on." As an old, former "movement" conservative, I am appalled at the direction toward which we have turned. Anyway, keep up the good work and when my, particular, ship comes in, I will fork over a fifty to your cause. Until then, my sight is set on the horizon. ~
Bob Christian, The Edicts of King Lewis Dear Mr. Raimondo: . . . I am an American patriot, a former Marine cryptologic linguist (Russian), and aghast at our bumbling foreign policy. For the life of me I cannot understand why we seem to think it wisdom to go out of our way to alienate practically every other major world power . . . "If I were King, there'd be some changes made." What would I (want to) do? Cancel NATO. It was a worthwhile endeavor, I think, but its mission (i.e., the containment of an aggressive and expansionist Soviet Union) has been completed . . . Stop pissing off the Russians . . . I'm not saying [that we should] snuggle up to the Russians, but let us stop goading them. I see uncomfortable echoes of post-Versailles Weimar Germany, with the singular exception that Russia is larger, stronger, richer, and in the long term thus much more dangerous than Germany was/is . . . Kosovo was deeply disheartening to me… As soon as the rhetoric began, drumming up hatred of the Serbs, I actually found the North Atlantic Treaty and read it. While I would not insist upon slavishly following international law at all times and in all circumstances, NATO's bombardment of Serbia . . . was an act of war, without declaration and without justification . . . When we go forth in search of monsters, we will find them -- even if we have to create them out of whole cloth, or out of otherwise non-monstrous nations…. Lewis Ballard Chinese Not Villains It was interesting to read [George Szamuely's] article on China to get another perspective of the world. In recent days since the spy plane incident there has been a raid on Chinese people in the media. I hope that the outcome won't be to villainize the good people of one country or race. ...I disagree with our president that China is our competitor... After W.W.II, Americans wanted [to] have supreme power in the Pacific because they felt Asia could be a threat… I feel that the missile defense shield serves as [a symbol] that the Americans still have the upper hand. I just hope that the right things will be done because most of the people are emotional and the masses are mostly idiots. ADIZs As a pilot I found much of the rhetoric regarding our right to fly surveillance over the S. China Sea disingenuous. . . . To wit, we have what are known as Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZs) off all three of our coastlines which extend out hundreds of miles -- not just a '3 mile' or '12 mile' limit. There are quite detailed regulations and requirements for operating within these zones (Code of Federal Regulations--Title 4, Part 99)… Now clearly the Chinese consider the area around Hainan and much of the South China Sea an ADIZ. One would presume they also have 'rules' for the 'right' to operate within it (or them). And since they object to our surveillance flights, who are we to argue? …. ~ Bill Taylor Megalomaniacs Unite Dear Sir, As the "leftist" liberals and the "rightist" conservatives merge in action and policy to the point that the "liberal lite" policies of Bush are heralded as "conservative", it is insane to even consider that there are any true conservatives around . . . …The Cold War facilitated the growth of…oppression under the guise of "national security"… When the Cold War ended, we, as a nation, were a lot less free than when the Cold War began…The preposterous growth of anti-freedom during the last cold war assures that if there is another cold war the light of freedom will be extinguished in this Republic. Do we want to tread this tightrope? Do we believe those who exhort us to action? What is their agenda? The simple (even in our society with all its manufactured complexity) answers are: no, no, and the acquisition of power by megalomaniacs. Leave the goddamned Chinese alone, trade with them and let them run their country as they can… To do otherwise is insanity, imperialistic, and, ultimately, national suicide vis-a-vis freedom. ~ Kirk A. Hayes |