China’s Lies
To the editor:
Thank you for Guy Sorman’s article on China (“The Empire of Lies,” Spring 2007). Years of studying the oppression of religious groups there and the tutelage of my professor (a survivor of the Cultural Revolution) taught me to see through the media’s optimistic spin. Your work greatly aids awareness of the true conditions in China.
Vanessa Phin
Baltimore, Maryland
White Lies
To the editor:
The rule of you (Andrew Klavan, “The Big White Lie,” Spring 2007), and others of manifest personality disorders and Leo Straussian Fascist tendencies, is coming to an end. So blather on to no avail, oh evil one.
Tom O’Malley
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
To the editor:
My eyes are opened. I am
a barbarian, out of step with modern times. But now, I’m not going to be ashamed of it.
John Heeder
American Fork, Utah
Drinking It In
To the editor:
I have rarely read an essay as sensitive to the complex, angry, formidable, and brilliantly insightful character of Arthur Koestler (“A Drinker of Infinity,” Spring 2007). That character is all too easy to vulgarize. Theodore Dalrymple’s essay holds all the ends together, without trivializing to laud or condemn.
Martin Krygier
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sharpe Exception
To the editor:
Newark is a thriving city with a diverse population (“Cory Booker’s Battle for Newark,” Spring 2007). Our crime rate was lower than New York’s under Giuliani. I am offended by the lack of objectivity in your article and your skewering of the leader of the last 20 years, Sharpe James.
Alturrick Kenney
Newark, New Jersey
Steven Malanga responds:
Only a Sharpe James supporter could call Newark “a thriving city,” with double the U.S. poverty and unemployment rate, average household income half the rest of New Jersey’s, and 68 percent out-of-wedlock births. The crime rate is higher than Giuliani’s when he took over in New York; translated to New York’s population, it would equal more than 3,000 homicides a year.
Judging Thomas
To the editor:
I was surprised that you
did not discuss Bush v. Gore (“Reading the Constitution Right,” Spring 2007). Judge Thomas seemed to betray his belief in states’ rights to reach a politically correct outcome.
Barry Davis
Eugene, Oregon
Stephen B. Presser responds:
Bush v. Gore wasn’t a
states’ rights case but one
where a state court violated due-process concepts and failed to follow federal guidelines for securing a safe harbor for electors. Also, Thomas wrote no opinion in the case.
