IP: Lynne Cheney's got her little list

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2001 18:26:54 -0800
> From: "Janos G." <janos451 () earthlink net>
>
> >From the Dec. 23 SF Examiner [apparently not available on-line]
>
> A Message to Mrs. Cheney: Get a life!
> By Lani Silver
>
> Dear Mrs. Cheney:
> I write in hopes that you and the organization you co-founded, the American
> Council of Trustees and Alumni, will add me to your list of 117 liberal
> academics who have offended you with their so-called anti-American comments.
>
> If you'd add my name to your list, I'd be able to stand alongside some of
> the people I most repsect - people like sociologist Todd Gitlin of NYU.
> Giltlin made you list when a reporter asked him to describe the mood on his
> campus and he replied, "There is a lot of skepticism about the
> administration's policy of going to war."
>
> Off with his head!
>
> Professor Joel Belnin of Stanford made the list for saying: "If Osama bin
> Laden is confirmed to be behind the attacks, the US should bring him before
> an internation tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity."
>
> Seditious bastard.
>
> You accuse these and other scholars of being anti-American for invoking
> "tolerance and diversity as antidotes to evil" and say that academics are
> the weak link in American's response to the attack." Are you hoping to close
> all of our universities?
>
> I'm no longer a professor, so I probably wouldn't qualify for your list, but
> I'd like to try. You see, I speak at universities around the country on
> various topics, including racism, genocide and social injustice, and if you
> would put me on your list, I'd get invited to speak more often.
>
> I'm sure if you heard my speeches, you'd oblige me because you and your
> husband are frequent targets of mine. I have always wished I could have
> stood up against Joseph McCarthy, and now my wish has come true.
>
> <snip>
>
> I checked out http://www.goacta.org/, and found an item -
> ACTA launches the Defense of Civilization Fund.
> November 11, 2001
> It was not only America that was attacked on September 11, but civilization.
> We were attacked not for our vices, but for our virtues-for what we stand
> for. In response, ACTA has established the Defense of Civilization Fund to
> support the study of American history and civics and of Western
> civilization. The first project of the Fund is Defending Civilization: How
> Our Universities Are Failing America and What Can Be Done About It. The
> report calls on college and university trustees to make sure their
> institutions offer strong core curricula that pass on to the next generation
> the legacy of freedom and democracy.
> For a copy of the report, click here.
>
> - but the pdf file linked there wouldn't open for me.
>
> In the Dec. 1 NYTimes, the ACTA president has a letter defending the
> organization against charges of McCarthyism:
> http://www.goacta.org/NYT/NYT%2012-01-01.htm
>
> ACTA (founded in 1995 and formerly known as the National Alumni Forum), the
> site says, is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, educational organization committed to
> academic freedom, excellence and accountability at America's colleges and
> universities. Sounds like just another leftist-liberal-academic hotbed of
> anti-Americanism. Or is it?
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Janos Gereben/SF
> janos451 () earthlink net

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