Notes and Asides - Letter to the Editor

Dear Mr. Buckley: "Second the motion!" on Robert Tonucci's suggestion of taxing the "entertainment" industry. And I suggest another approach: Sue the villains! If McDonald's can be sued because they serve their coffee hot, surely the record companies, movie studios, producers, performers, songwriters, sponsors, etc. can be sued because some young punk wallowed in their muck just before he began his rampage.

The purveyors of evil are in it for the big bucks; sue them for big bucks! It's a language they'll understand, and it won't take grinding the wheels of government to do it.

Sincerely,

Mary L. Utley

LaPorte, Ind.

Dear Mrs. Utley: I dunno. Under your rule, could people sue NR for damage done to socialist thought? Advise.

Cordially, WFB

Dear Mr. Buckley: You have several times called attention to the conflict between the Fourteenth and Sixteenth Amendments. In looking at the Fourteenth, it seems to me that equal treatment under the law applies to laws written by the states, and not to laws written by Congress. Has this discrepancy been the subject of a ruling by the courts that makes it apply also to the federal government?

Sincerely yours,

Robert C. St. John

Lake Oswego, Ore.

Dear Mr. St. John: You're correct, except that the principle of "incorporation" imposes on states the same restrictions that apply to the federal government.

Cordially, WFB

Dear Mr. Buckley: I wear my NR T-shirt proudly, even though I figure it's only a matter of time before I'm publicly upbraided for it by one of our self-anointed apostles of toleration. So far, the only person who's found it provocative has been a member of the John Birch Society, who apparently felt an obligation to drop whatever else he was doing to give me the inside dope about how the world is really organized. Fancy that! All these years, and it never even occurred to me that you were an agent of The Conspiracy! How could I have been so blind? Now, I hate to be rude, but I also don't like having my time wasted, so I was wondering if there's some way to get a card proclaiming me an honorary member of the CFR that I can flash at these people and say, "Shhh! It's all absolutely true! Just take my advice and don't breathe it to a soul. By the way, can I have your name and Social Security number?" Or would that be going too far?

Sincerely,

Carl B. Meadows

Atlanta, Ga.

Dear Mr. Meadows: Good fun. But let's keep the secret to ourselves.

Cordially, WFB

Dear Mr. Buckley: Your nephew's cat/toast engine (described in the June 19 issue), which he plans to use as the basis of a high-speed monorail system, reminds me somewhat of the perpetual yo-yo that I perfected recently. My idea consists of a piece of string in the vertical position with a yo-yo on each end. The lower one is just a conventional yo-yo, made of wood. The upper one is made of thin, light, hollow metal, filled with helium gas, and is lighter than air.

When released, the upper one goes up and the lower one goes down, until they reach the ends of the string simultaneously, whereupon they reverse their direction and go back toward each other.

Thus, you can see that the system just stays out there in midair, doing what yo-yos are wont to do.

It is obvious that this machine has many practical uses, although I never got a patent because I was afraid I might sell a couple and Janet Reno would get me for having a monopoly and I'd be reduced to ordinariness.

Sincerely,

J. Walter Lynch

Athens, Ga.

Dear Mr. Lynch: I'm sorry you haven't patented your p/m (perpetual-motion) machine. One thing you can bank on: Nobody can reduce you to ordinariness.

Cordially,

-WFB

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