Mailbag

It’s been more than 10 years since we last dipped into the Mailbag under a post with that heading. I thought we might retrieve it to publish a couple of messages from readers.

In my view, John Hinderaker is one of the few commentators on the subject of guns and the Second Amendment writing in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre who has consistently added facts and context that illuminate the issues. Dr. Scott Gilchrist shares my view. Dr. Gilchrist addresses John:

Thank you for your spot-on articles on a number of issues and, more specifically, “gun control.” I share an interest in guns and recreational shooting. And I’m not a closet anarchist or shadowy soldier-of-fortune kind. I’m a physician, father of five children, and married 31 years. The lunacy and demagoguery in DC is beyond any description of sanity. All of my children handle weapons safely, and a “ban,” if it happens at all, will be no more useful than the prior law in 1994.

The massacre at Newtown was heartbreaking, but we lose about 48 people a day to drunk driving–about 16,000 people a year. Where is the moral outrage over those who chose to drink and drive and often do so repeatedly and then injure and/or kill others?

I’ve never written you guys before. I truly find your opinions refreshing and intellectually stimulating. You’ll find this amusing. I’m an Ob/Gyn and I generally don’t like lawyers. When a colleague asks me if I have any friends who are lawyers, I tell them I do. I ask them to go check out the guys on Power Line!

Keep up the good work.

Best regards,
Scott Gilchrist, M.D.

Following up on one of John’s posts, reader Jeffrey Meling copied us on his letter to the editor of his local Gainesville newspaper:

Luddites at the AP

The Associated Press article appearing on Wednesday’s (January 23) front page entertained us with the notion that jobs are “being obliterated by technology.” Really. This claim is of a kind with President Obama’s lame 2011 attempt to blame 9.1 percent unemployment on bank ATM’s and airport kiosks. The AP’s all too obvious intent was to provide cover for Obama’s “jobless recovery,” which, unlike the previous, truly is jobless.

John Hinderaker has posted a thorough analysis of the AP story at Powerlineblog.com (January 23). Read it all. Hinderaker refers to Ned Ludd, an 18th century English worker from whom the term “Luddite” derives. The term has come to describe those opposed to technological change. Hinderaker notes “that blaming unemployment on technology has a long and disreputable history” and that Singapore, not exactly tech-averse, now has 1.9 percent unemployment.

The AP story’s unintentionally rich ironies include that the “progressives” Obama proudly leads employed “Forward!” as their 2012 campaign slogan and preach that science should be followed wherever it leads. More evidence that being a progressive-Democrat means never having to be intellectually honest.

Jeff Meling
Gainesville

Thanks to Dr. Gilchrist and Mr. Melling for permission to post their messages.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses