Heimlich, Friend of Nuwaubians; Foot in MUGGER's Mouth?; Criminal Gore; Ackerman's a Prick and a Bolshevik; The WBAI Debate Rages On; How to Make Good Ice
MUGGER: Don't feel bad about the election. You can't be right all the time, and obviously you don't think like a member of the Rosie O'Donnell/Oprah/Barbra Stalin-Streisand crowd.
The results of America's dumbing down are coming home to roost. The socialists love a gullible, greedy electorate that will vote for whoever has the most goodies to offer. Al Gore is a socialist whore who would see the United States in a civil war if it meant he could be president. I suspect he is more dangerous and evil than Bill Clinton, as his pathologies are megalomaniacal in nature. The state of Tennessee and his home congressional district don't want him?wake up, America!
I am most sorely disappointed that so many divorced women over 35 voted for Gore and Hillary. These are likely the same bovine types who went into nauseous grief overdrive at the death of the late Princess of Wales. The Founding Fathers seem to have been onto something in their reluctance to give women the right to vote, but of course they also restricted the vote to men with property, wisely seeing that men of no property would vote themselves the property of others if given the chance.
Lastly, to have Jesse Jackass playing the race card once again is unusually despicable, even for him. I hope the Bushes have the brass to deal with Gore & Co., who are attempting nothing less than a coup d'etat and, from all appearances, have the gangsters at their disposal to execute it.
I just wonder how the mainstream Democrat propaganda machine?oops, I meant "media"?will spin it. Gore saves the Constitution? I imagine Al Gore's communist mentor Armand Hammer is looking upward with a smile from his place in hell.
Adam Heimlich: Thank you very much for your very informative and unbiased article about the Nuwaubians ("Black," 11/8). I have read so many negative and biased articles about the Nuwaubians that it is a breath of fresh air to read one based on the facts.
I have visited this land many times and know many Nuwaubians personally. I know for a fact that Tama-Re, the "Egypt of the West," is a great place to visit. It is peaceful and serene. Thank you very much.
Brenda Williams, Eatonton, GA
Lucky Seven
Adam Heimlich: Outstanding article! Thank you. That was the most thorough and unbiased article that we have ever read! It has been a struggle for the last seven years in Georgia. But articles like yours give us inspiration and motivation to continue on. Again, thank you.
Egipt, Via Internet
Sore Throat
Excellent article by Tanya Richardson about Linda Marchiano ("New York City," 11/8). Very respectful and objective. Good work. Thank you.
Reginald Thomas Aubry, Cambridge, MA
Two-Minute Drill
MUGGER: You idiot, I lost a C-note because of your lame-ass prediction. Just when I thought I'd suckered a Democrat into a no-lose proposition, Gore pulls a fourth-quarter John Elway, driving his team in a mad, crazed, drunken dash down the field with no time left. Why didn't you tell me that Bush had shifted into neutral? How could you have been so completely, so massively wrong? I would have done better by letting my dog pee on an electoral map.
Ahh, fuck it, serves me right. I should have known better than to bet against a Daley in a big-time election. They're the only pros in the business. I'll know better next time.
C. Dudley, Chicago
Soup Bones
I'm unsure why MUGGER thinks the left wing should despise Bill Daley, Al Gore's campaign chairman ("e-MUGGER," 11/10). If you don't have a problem with Al Gore, why be fussy? Daley occupies his position in part for his expertise in election fraud. I would think there could be no better recommendation than that among Democrats.
It's beyond dispute now that Gore is trying to steal the election. On Meet the Press last Sunday, Tim Russert asked Warren Christopher twice if he would accept the result of the four-county hand recount and the absentee ballots?and Christopher refused to answer. What other interpretation is left? They will agitate and press for recounts until Gore comes out ahead. Those ballots are not made to be counted by hand, and the more they're handled the more they fall apart. This is a tactic the Democrats have used successfully many times in the past.
In those precincts in which unusually high numbers of ballots were disqualified, I would love to know what patterns there are among those disqualified ballots. I don't hear anybody talking about this in the media. On the Internet it was suggested that you could skew the results by lining up a bunch of ballots and poking a wire through the slot (or "chad") for candidate X. That would have the result of disqualifying all ballots with votes for any of X's opponents. You could get away with it, too?unless you did it with a lot of ballots. If an unusually high number of the disqualified ballots vote the Republican ticket and Gore (or any, for that matter), or Democratic and Bush, that would suggest fraud to me. Is anybody looking?
I don't even want to touch the ridiculous argument that the butterfly ballot somehow "disenfranchised" Palm Beach voters. The ballot was legal and not difficult to figure out, and three people who filed lawsuits over it have already been exposed as Democratic shills.
If the Gore campaign is successful in its bid to do a very subjective hand count of selected pro-Democrat districts, it shouldn't be difficult for them to manufacture the votes Gore needs to win?although they evidently aren't even confident of it, as per Warren Christopher's remark above.
All of this could have been avoided if the election were done by computer. This is an easy problem that an MIT student could knock off in a couple of weeks. We have the privacy technology to do it. People could vote in one day anywhere in the world, and the results would be available the same evening. No recounts, no chads, no Jesse Jackson. Zero percent error, as opposed to the current 2 to 5 percent. The potential for fraud would be a fraction of what it is now. Of course, it wouldn't stop the Democratic cigarette brigades, but I'm too tired today to solve all the world's problems. Software could even prevent morons from voting for two candidates for the same office?a near miracle. I hope people will come to their senses as a result of this election debacle and get to work on this.
Just one drawback?people like Bill Daley would probably be out of a job.
Joe Rodrigue, New Haven
Concerto for John Popper
Thanks for publishing the fine article "The Harmonicat," by Bob Reidel ("Music," 11/8). I am certain all serious harmonica players will appreciate an article such as this, which lets the public know the harmonica is a serious instrument that can play beautiful classical music. I only wish I could get to the concert.
Jim Watterson, Chagrin Falls, OH
Baked Alaska
MUGGER: Why didn't you stiff the cabbie entirely on the tip (11/8)? What a puss you are. You should rename your column "MOUSE."
John Arnold, Kenai, AK
We're Docking His Wages
In his 11/1 column, Russ Smith wrote the following:
"Even though it's quite obvious that Bush is headed to a decisive victory, political hacks and analysts still cling to the daft notion that this election will be the closest in 40 years. That's dishonest reporting and most of the culprits know it. Whether it's out of sheer disbelief that someone who's not as 'smart' as they are might beat the favored Gore, or, more charitably, the desire for an exciting plot, the facts no longer point to a rerun of the Kennedy-Nixon match-up. Based on the evidence before me today, Oct. 30, it appears that Bush will win the popular vote by a 6-5 margin. It's increasingly possible that he'll blow Gore away in the Electoral College."
Who's the hack! Who's daft? Excuse me while I fall on the floor with laughter! It looks like Smith may need a doctor to extract his foot from his mouth. After that, his boss should make him take some remedial training in humility.
Mark Knapp, Minneapolis
A Fan's Note
Regarding MUGGER's prediction of "George W. Bush's blowout victory" (11/8), which is, of course, merely the latest howler in a decade-spanning string of wildly full-of-shit prognostications, one question comes immediately to mind. To wit: What will it take for the little twerp to realize that he doesn't know what he's talking about?and never will?
Steve Simels, Manhattan
Jets by Seven
MUGGER: As always, your predictions were right on target.
Oh wait, you were completely wrong again. But we should be used to that by now. My only request is a prediction for the Super Bowl, just so I know whom to bet against.
Eli Lehrer, Manhattan
Hipster Sheep
MUGGER: Since you are soooooo much smarter than all the other pundits and reporters, tell us again how this election won't be close! Oh yes, and tell us again how Hillary will lose!
What a jerk!
Abe Dana, via Internet
Beaten-Dog Democrat
I am a Democrat. A lifelong Democrat. Why should I stay one?
In light of the complete attack on our electoral system in Florida, it seems to me that the Democrats are trying to take this election by any means possible. It's frightening. I see Democrats getting people all worked up over spoiled ballots. Doesn't this happen everywhere, and in every election? Please tell me where this has never happened.
I see the media covering this like a sporting event. They are the main cause of the assault. The only people looking worse than the Democrats right now are the news media. They have lost all credibility with Americans.
You have Democrats making this into a racial debate. What about the blacks who were intimidated into voting for Gore? Are the Democrats looking into this? Why are they making the elderly look so helpless?
This is immoral. I, for one, am sick of the way this campaign was run and I am more than upset with how it is conducting itself now. Why should I remain a Democrat? Is there a good reason why I should not go to my courthouse on Monday and change parties?
I can no longer see a reason for being a Democrat. I am ashamed to be one. Who would have thought that Richard Nixon would have more integrity than the Democrats of today?
Tom Jackson, via Internet
Mudslide
MUGGER: Where's "e-MUGGER"? It's Friday at 12:30 and I've been waiting all week to see how you plan to shrug off your pathetically inaccurate prediction. Losing the popular vote and possibly winning the electoral college by a scant majority is hardly a landslide.
I relish the fact that, no matter how things end in Florida (although I'm for Gore, I don't believe the courts give a rat's ass about the problems of those more than 20,000 voters, so he's probably lost it), Bush will enter office as one of the most hated presidents in history, and wind up being a crippled loser for the rest of his term. At least he won't be able to do any harm that way.
"Finally, when George W. Bush delivers his acceptance speech in Austin on Election Night, I hope he finds the time to mention a few fellow Republicans with whom, for strategic reasons, he couldn't identify himself during the campaign" (11/8).
I assume that you mean yourself, and that the "strategic reason" is that you still would like to pretend you're a libertarian. Be a grownup and accept the fact that you're a Republican.
Matthew Holm, Queens
Page Against the Machine
Sorry, MUGGER. The man you dismiss (11/8) as "another Democratic daydream believer," Clarence Page, got it dead-on with his prediction of a split verdict. And there are still thousands of absentee voters to be heard from in the military. It ain't over yet.
Oh, tell Christopher Caldwell the jury's still out on the accuracy of his column, "I'm Covered" ("Hill of Beans," 11/8). Right now it's sort of a "(C) None of the Above" situation. Although, in fairness, no one could have seen this farrago coming at us. Democracy at work.
Ross Erickson, Brooklyn
Not for Prophet
MUGGER: Isn't it about time you realized that it is impossible and pointless to predict elections? As they say, that's why they play the games. People make these predictions for sport, not with the seriousness that a rational person would shun (except for you, I guess).
When you call Clarence Page a "daydream believer," you only exhibit your patent inability to acknowledge the intelligence of others. It must be doubly frustrating when second-rate intellects such as Page or Bill Kristol are nearly dead-on accurate, especially when they don't make predictions with the self-importance that you inject into every paragraph.
Matthew Besse, Brooklyn
Daley Planet
The most corrupt political party to exist in the United States of America?corrupt due to its protecting and shielding the most immoral, corrupt and criminal administration this country has ever suffered through?now seeks to steal the 2000 presidential election with the most ridiculous antics and spurious allegations, with bogus lawsuits and intimidation by the Justice Dept. and the FBI?two institutions that have been reduced to the status of lackeys, able only to shield Democratic misdeeds and criminality and to silence opposition, while an army of lawyers assaults the results of the votes of more than 100 million Americans.
What is the essence of the assault? Why, Democratic voters are too stupid to use the ballots designed by Democratic election officials.
This must stop. Every Republican official should challenge every dubious ballot, voter or incident that occurred during the election, everywhere in the United States.
If that fails to halt this madness, the Republican members of Congress should shut the entire federal government down until Gore-Lieberman renounce and halt their unlawful and criminal attempts. Yes, a lot of us will suffer, but if this course is allowed to continue, we will have a totalitarian dictatorship, because the executive branch will be accountable to no authority, not even the voters in upcoming elections.
Robert and Wanda LaBisoniere, via Internet
For the Moment
MUGGER: Who can blame you for predicting a landslide? The polls supported you. I didn't think a voter mandate was likely, but I didn't think Bush was going to lose.
Second of all, somebody has got to whip up a tally of the lizard-like Democratic National Committee wags who provided "the holy grail of the Electoral College" essays, expecting Gore to squeak an EC victory but tank in popular votes, and publish a list of these bastards. Talk about sewage-level political rhetoric?reversing a position literally within 48 hours only because it makes them admit they lost fair and square is more brazen than I can express without saying "fuck." This list of writers should be published daily until every one of them publishes an apology to the American people for being rank stooges in a political machine that is more and more obviously unmindful of the survival of our nation.
Lastly, when they start marching out the military to conclude the Florida vote, my wife and I are packing up the baby and going to Australia?you, Mrs. M and the boys are welcome to join us.
O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave o'er the land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?
Frank Turk, Pittsburgh
Charming
MUGGER: Wanna help me torture and mutilate Maureen Dowd? I'll bring the duct tape, rusty pliers and the soldering iron. You bring the beer.
Name Withheld, Manhattan
Russ Smith replies: Sounds interesting, but I have no legal controlling authority. I'll have to pass on this one.
For the Sake of the Children
MUGGER: A fan of the Democrats, I'm certainly not. And over the years I have enjoyed your relentless bashing of the Clinton administration. The public needs to know what is really going on with our executive leadership, and your thorough coverage is well appreciated.
But I was wondering what a Texas asshole really looks like. I figure since you've got your nose buried so far up the GOP's backside, you could answer my burning question?is everything really bigger in Texas?
Given that you're the editor-in-chief of an alternative?and when I say "alternative" I mean independent, not trendy misinformed leftist?newspaper from New York City, I would think that you would be savvy enough to see through the fuzzy hot air that both Democrats and Republicans burp directly into the faces of ignorant and gullible U.S. citizens, and tell us the straight story.
I have become semi-obsessed with your political motives. Are you jealous of all the liberal dinosaur journalists from the 60s who landed positions at so-called reputable publications, while you ended up at the helm of a paper that supports itself in part with ads from chicks with dicks, or are you just another run-of-the-mill sociopath from New York City who measures success by the amount of money and attention he can attract in a lifetime by spewing nonsense for the sake of no one?
Paul Hansen, Rochester, NY
Armed with Battle-Ax
Please tell me how, in the name of all that is right, just and decent, New Yorkers can support and vote for Hillary Clinton? I am totally mystified by this behavior!
Nick Psaki, Jacksonville, FL
Fat Legs and Halitosis
And you people on the East Coast think people in California are crazy. You just took on the burden of Hillary Clinton. I expect you will crown her queen, or at least a "Jewish Princess," make New York a Queendom and separate yourselves from the rest of the U.S. Hey, I would vote to let you go. I just hope we don't catch what you have in the West. Right now we have these narcissistic intellectual elites bottled up in Hollywood.
Name Withheld, Via Internet
Not a Democrat
MUGGER: For God's sake, don't soft-soap the shameful demagoguery of the Scumocrats.
One: The Daley-family coat of arms is a woodcut of a wallet being lifted by an eager pickpocket. Two: Jesse Jackson's job in Florida is to keep the threat of civil unrest simmering if Gore's team of shysters should stall or fail. Three: Nashville is busily spinning that a Bush administration would be tainted and gridlocked, but a Gore administration would be exercising a mandate. No, I'm not kidding. Four: Get a good long look at the kind of government Al Gore will give us?so utterly slimy and dominated by fixers that Republicans will begin referring to Honest Bill Clinton. Five: Buchanan is Hitler until he utters a usable soundbite?then he's magically an honorable, straight-shooting Hitler. Six: I'm at work and have to cut this short, but if this disgraceful and desperately selfish hijack attempt lasts another month or six weeks, I'll have lots of free time to expand this list, and so will hundreds of thousands of other folks. And here I thought "Gore will do or say anything to win" had been rhetoric all this time.
Lou Manzato, New Orleans
Fraternal Order of Beavers?
MUGGER: You are no doubt grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of the win of Gov. Bush. Throughout this election cycle, you have touted him as a more ethical alternative to Vice President Gore.
However, when the Dilettante-Elect falls asleep at the wheel (I mean this quite literally; the guy takes more naps than Reagan), whether from lack of interest or insufficient intellect, we can expect all sorts of revolving-door conflict-of-interest shenanigans. After all, it's okay to rip off the American people as long as you're an F.O.B. (see Silverado Savings and Loan, Harken Energy Corp., etc.). I can assure you that this administration will make Clinton's look saintly by comparison.
Dennis Feldman, Manhattan
Intertribal Warfare
Spencer Ackerman's article "Cult of Personality" ("New York City," 11/1) did a gross injustice to Dinesh D'Souza, to Ronald Reagan and, most importantly, to the local activists who work their hearts out to unite Republicans.
Sadly, the fact remains that that the Republican Party, grassroots and otherwise, in New York City is deeply divided. Nov. 7 made this even more clear, when Rick Lazio's seat to win was won by a carpetbagging liar from Washington, DC, who never, in any way, contributed to the well-being of New York. The few of us who, in a spirit of partnership, approach other Republicans to join us in efforts to cooperate in raising community awareness, raising funds for honest Republican candidates, sifting through political propaganda to alert our neighbors to pros and cons of issues, holding public forums, debates and lectures?we are turned away by selfish so-called "independent" Republicans who care more about their personal glory than about getting something accomplished.
Secondly, Mr. Ackerman failed to see the magic that D'Souza's presence at L'Ivre that evening brought to us. Mr. Ackerman criticized the audience for nagging the author about his previous book on Ronald Reagan, rather than recognizing that it is Reagan who nobly inspired us, young people, to become involved in politics in the midst of apathy, by continuing, well past his days in office, to fascinate Americans and to mesmerize the young people gathered at L'Ivre. Mr. D'Souza's writing confirms, with each book, that he is able to reach the souls of his readers, and, because of his Reagan book, serve as an extension of the man himself, wherever he goes. He is also a witty and captivating speaker?why was Mr. Ackerman so offended by the ice-breaking Reagan anecdote and completely oblivious to the touching connection we continue to feel with Reagan?
Finally, Mr. Ackerman chose to mock Republicans for airing our dirty laundry. He completely ignored a gifted author with a brilliant message and an audience that gathered to hear him a month before the book even hit the stands. In short, the article was fiction, not journalism.
Elena Suhir, Manhattan
Spencer the Bolshevik
Please wipe that smart-ass schoolboy sneer off your face, Spencer Ackerman.
Robert Alan Hornak of the New York Young Republicans distributes bumperstickers that read, "Vote Communist, Vote Democrat." This inspires Ackerman to respond that "most people find the equivalency ridiculous." Vox populi, vox dei.
Yes, Mr. Ackerman, and as I sit here on the Saturday before Election Day, there is the distinctly ridiculous possibility that "most people" in New York will decide that Hillary Rodham Clinton ought to be a United States senator. Your bandwagon fallacy is showing, sir.
What Ackerman is actually saying is that "most people," by which he means most smart people, like him, find it naive and picayune to suggest that the liberalism of Democrats is akin to the socialism of communists. Still more foolish, in Ackerman's view, is Hornak's suggestion that Democrats aim at totalitarian rule.
Ackerman might enlighten himself with a careful reading of the Nov. 1 "MUGGER" column. Note how the Democrats reacted to the Nader threat. Okay, so there were no threats of the gulag, but the reactions of Todd Gitlin, et al., to Nader's insurgency were otherwise eerily reminiscent of the Moscow show trials. MUGGER himself recognizes that the editors of The New York Times, in warning of the "very real danger to the Gore campaign" posed by Mr. Nader, were essentially calling for "a one-party state."
Are Democrats and communists the same thing? Try logging onto the Young Communist League's Internet site and poking around until you find some of Gus Hall's comments on politics in the 1990s, when Hall (who recently became the only kind of good communist) twice endorsed Bill Clinton for president. Hall's comments on the evils of the "right-wing" Republicans are generally indistinguishable from the rhetoric we hear from such "liberals" as Maxine Waters, Rosie O'Donnell, Barney Frank, Warren Beatty, Jesse Jackson and Alec Baldwin.
Is Hornak a simpleton to see an equivalency between Democrats and communists? Do the names Henry Wallace, Armand Hammer, Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss ring a bell? All were Democrats and, now that we have the Venona decrypts and some documents from the KGB archives, we know they were all Soviet agents.
Hornak's claim is not "ridiculous," unless you think that Nobel Prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek was "ridiculous" to suggest basically the same thing in his 1944 bestseller, The Road to Serfdom. Many other respected authors have made similar arguments; in New Deal days it was commonly said, both by liberals and their adversaries, that a communist was just a liberal in a hurry.
What is truly "ridiculous" is the naivete of those who, like Ackerman, harbor a Cold War cartoon stereotype of communism as something distinctly Russian: tanks parading through Red Square on May Day, expressed in terms of five-year plans, state-run industries and people lining up to buy shoes. Communists might also be cigar-smoking guerrillas in jungle fatigues who issue propaganda full of words like "proletarian" and "bourgeois" and "revolution."
It never occurs to the Ackermans of the world that a communist might wear a nice blue suit and call himself a Democrat and, by using phrases like "working families," "special interests" and "reform," more effectively advance the same cause. When Al Gore declared at the Democratic National Convention that he and his party were "for the people," while their opponents were "for the powerful," one half expected him to end by screaming, "Workers of the world, unite!"
I would urge Mr. Ackerman to remember last April's newspaper photo of a federal agent brandishing a gun in front of Elian Gonzalez, and ask himself how the people who ordered that action?Democrats, all of them?were any different from the man they were trying to appease, Fidel Castro. In case you haven't noticed, the dictator of Cuba is a communist. At least he's honest about it. The only thing ridiculous is the ability of some people to overlook what's really happening.
Robert Stacy McCain, Gaithersburg, MD
Critical Mass
Mary Karam: Your 11/1 "Scouting Report" piece about the Latin Mass at the Church of St. Ann resonated in this quarter. At least in the old days you could offset the guilt with a beautiful ritual, one that was the same all over the world and had been for centuries. The guilt is still there nowadays, but there is not a quid pro quo in the current flabby YMCA singalong, complete with a "sign of peace."
Incidentally, the real thing can also be seen and heard every Sunday at St. Agnes Church on E. 43rd St. It is well attended.
In an era of international travel and trade, with shrinking distances and globalization, it is bizarre that the Church should have abandoned an international language for a babble of Welsh, Catalan and Carpatho-Ruthenian. It must have been the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost would never have allowed it.
I will pray for you to St. Blaise.
Name Withheld, Manhattan
Ice Ice Baby
Matthew DeBord writes in his "Peeves & Passions" piece ("Food," 11/1) that "Melting ice is a fairly unreliable (it seems to me) medium for maintaining a predictable coolness."
Actually, it seems to me that that's exactly wrong. If I remember my college physics correctly (this is something we should all probably have learned in high school physics, but no matter), a well-mixed bucket of ice water will maintain an exact temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit until the ice melts or until the water freezes. You can set your thermometer to it. And in physics lab, we did.
A bucket of ice water is also a very good way to cool down a bottle of wine quickly?quicker than even the average freezer. Of course, the wine in the bucket will eventually cool down to 32 degrees if the ice doesn't melt first, and while I'm a philistine who likes his wine cold, I have heard that that's probably colder than the average wine critic likes. But it won't get that cold right away, which leaves you plenty of time to ponder the mysteries of physics while enjoying an optimally temperatured wine.
Good article anyway.
Peter Dutton, Queens
Matthew DeBord replies: Dutton makes a good point about a well-mixed bucket of ice, and I take him at his word, since my high school physics remains just that. I agree that unmelted ice in a bucket will probably suspend, for a time, a white wine's temperature somewhere between storage level and freezing. What bothers me is that the wine will likely get colder the longer it remains in the bucket, and, for me, that's not desirable. I would rather most white wines warm from serving temperature, rather than go the other way.
The crucial point here is that we're not starting out with a warm bottle of white wine, but rather one that has been stored at an optimal temperature and then iced, in a bogus effort to keep it at storage temperature, at the table. It's the restaurant practice that bugs me, more than the strict physics of the thing. Still, if Dutton wants to do some research?you know, monitor temperature change over half an hour of icing?and then relay the results to me, I'll be happy to make note of them in a future column. God knows, I need all the help with thermodynamics I can get.
Radio Clash
I don't have any inside info on the WBAI issues. But comparing the level of discourse in Norman Kelley's 11/1 "Opinion" piece with Bernard White's reply to it ("The Mail," 11/8) makes it clear that Mr. Kelley occupies the high ground of reasoned and logical articulation.
White's ad hominem attacks are clearly the last resort of a person who has no substantive argument of his own. Whatever they are, good or bad, Kelley's personal programming skills are irrelevant to the issues he raises, and for White to inject them into his invective deflates any credibility he may otherwise have had. White attacks Kelley regarding the number of staff members who were polled before Kelley wrote his opinion, but in his turn White makes no mention of the number he polled either.
White is the program director at WBAI, so it is within his power to settle the issue fairly and objectively. White can poll the staff by using a secret ballot response. White should send every staff member (paid and unpaid) a copy of Kelley's opinion with a secret ballot asking whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree, including a solicitation of comments. The answers should be put into a locked ballot box and opened and tallied in the presence of neutral observers.
Okay, Mr. White? Do you dare put your democracy where your mouth is?
Gregory Wonderwheel, Santa Rosa, CA
Hang the DJ
Norman Kelley's article on WBAI states that the "latest crisis stems from a faux pas committed by [Democracy Now! host Amy] Goodman: she gave Ralph Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate, a press credential that allowed him on the floor of the Republican National Convention. While this was good political theater, it was bad journalism. It was also bad politics. Now Democracy Now!'s enemies have a 'legitimate' reason to go after it."
This is not what happened. It is simply propaganda cooked up by the Pacifica Foundation National Board and its apologists, like Marc Cooper, to attack the award-winning news show and its producers. Amy stands in the way of their neutering biting investigative reporting. The Board acts at the behest of the Democratic Party national leadership; it plans to corporatize the entire network.
As Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Michael Ratner explains, neither Amy Goodman nor Democracy Now! provided Ralph Nader with a floor pass to the Republican National Convention. This claim was merely a Pacifica pretext, and a false one, so the National Board could deny Democracy Now! credentials to the Democratic Party's national convention in Los Angeles, and deny Amy Goodman the opportunity to ask tough and potentially embarrassing questions of Gore and Lieberman on such issues as their support for genetic engineering, the death penalty, the prison-industrial complex, the Rockefeller drug laws in New York, Gore's vote to confirm anti-abortion Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, their connections to oil and insurance companies and the continued incarceration of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, among others.
Ralph Nader did go to the convention floor at the Republican Convention, but this was not facilitated by the use of press credentials either from Amy Goodman or from Democracy Now! employees. Ralph Nader entered the convention at the invitation of MSNBC. Democracy Now! arranged an interview with him in the hallways of the convention. He was soon surrounded by numerous journalists, and he walked onto the floor without the necessary floor pass and without being stopped by security. Pacifica knows this, but continues to repeat a story that does not comport with the facts. However, even though the story is untrue, Pacifica used it to forbid Democracy Now! staff from receiving press credentials to the Democratic Convention in L.A. Again, the story regarding the claimed misuse of the press pass was a pretext to keep Democracy Now! out of the Democratic Convention and to censor Amy Goodman.
The fight over the Pacifica Foundation National Board and its directors is no tempest in a teapot. There are now three lawsuits brought against the Board on behalf of the listeners, local advisory board members and even several national board members who are basically whisteblowers fighting the fascists. The lies of the National Board leadership are intentional, and designed to impugn the integrity of Amy Goodman and other WBAI investigative journalists. I'm surprised Norman Kelley fell for this ruse.
Mitchel Cohen, Green Party of New York, Brooklyn
Meditation on First Principles
New York Press is a publication; a weekly newspaper. Or at least it had been for the last 10 years or so.
For a number of months now, New York Press has been publishing some material exclusively on the Web. The online edition features select pieces that are reader favorites: the lion's share of "The Mail," and pieces by Jim Knipfel. This is a ploy to drive traffic to your site, and it is unfair to your readers.
Your website should not take the place of your hard copy. You are a newspaper, not Salon. If you want to encourage readers to visit your webpage, offer supplemental material for certain articles. Let readers use your webpage to go beyond your paper. Do not take a beloved section such as "The Mail" and cut it down to a third to drive more readers to the webpage. Do not let your webpage replace your newspaper.
If you are indeed hell-bent on featuring "Web exclusives," why not limit the MUGGER column in the paper, and run the remainder in the online edition? Let Russ Smith comment either about his kids, or Tribeca, or politics, but not all three. Why not put MUGGER's full-color photos on the Web, and give the space back to the readers?
Anything that you feel is important to publish should appear in your newspaper. Your readers take the time to pick up the paper each week. They take the time to read its articles and advertisements. They should not have to go subsequently to your webpage, though, to view more pieces of your "newspaper." Reading articles on real paper should never go out of style, because reading text on a computer screen gives one a headache after a few minutes.
Brian Manning, Manhattan
Correction: Due to an editor's misunderstanding, a letter in last week's "Mail" was printed incorrectly. It should have read as follows:
MUGGER: What's with the annoying habit of dropping the preposition "of" in your sentences? An example occurs in your cover interview with the Maxim editors (11/1), when you say to Itzkoff: "...which tells me a couple__things." Jim Knipfel does it all the time, too.
I think you are a great writer otherwise, neighbor.
Jim McCarthy, Manhattan