Notes and Asides.

--Memo to: WFB

From: Rich

I think our readers will want to have the big news about Jay Nordlinger. He won the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism.

The award is made by the News Corporation, and was presented at a ceremony by Rupert Murdoch and Lally Weymouth. It is given annually in honor of the company's late editor and executive, our old friend Eric Breindel. It is rumored to be the most lucrative ($10,000) award in journalism and is given to the journalist who exemplifies the "spirit" of Eric Breindel: one who demonstrates "love of country and its democratic institutions" and who "bears witness to the evils of totalitarianism."

Jay won the award for writings having to do with race relations, Cuba, China, Bob Jones University, and patriotism.

--Dear Mr. Buckley: Upon reading your book Let Us Talk of Many Things, I came across a little gem of historical repetition.

On page 285, you recall then-Vice President Walter Mondale remarking that Mr. Reagan's proposed tax cuts would enable the wealthy to buy a new Mercedes, while a teacher could buy only a hubcap. Sound familiar? Replace Mercedes with Lexus and hubcap with muffler. Apparently this bit of rhetorical flourish is something that crops up every two decades.