Ian Hunter Rocks; Unreal Williamsburg; Give 'Em Hell, MUGGER; More

I read with pleasure Ian Hunter's "The War Correspondent" ("New York City," 2/13). I have loved his work since Mott the Hoople and he is a fine addition to your writing staff. Maybe in the coming weeks he can do a music review. Any chance of me coming down to the office and getting Ian to hum a few bars of "All the Young Dudes"?

Matt Nuskind, Manhattan

Words Can Heal

MUGGER: Glad to see by your column that the wounds of 9/11 have at least scabbed over, though are far from healed. Hope it works out in time. At least the old fires seem to have flared up and you are writing give-them-hell-Harry missiles. You are a shining light in a milksop, feelgood, permissive press. Thank you.

Jim Froscher, Spring Hill, FL

French Fry

Like John Strausbaugh, I thought that the Village Voice was a bit hard on Sylvere Lotringer and his recent Semiotext(e) anthology ("Publishing," 2/13). Until, that is, I read Lotringer's own defense in the pages of New York Press. What a pompous, self-justifying, intellectually barren caricature of a frog professor! The book's in-your-face title, Hatred of Capitalism? "I always expect that people who can read Semiotext(e) have a sense of humor." In other words, Eet ees only a joke! We wair only keeding! The Voice's charge that the writers represented in the book are now passé? "[T]he hype, and snobbery and who is in and who is out... All this is totally uninteresting." Yeah, right?except that the "stupid empty fashion" that Lotringer pretends to scorn is exactly what he grabbed onto with both mitts when he was assiduously building his career back in the 70s and 80s. Contemporary America? "I mean, look at Sept. 11?all this press, and not one thought. It's horrible." Yes, we need a trendy French academic to tell us what to think. I turned the page, and came upon MUGGER eviscerating Sen. Byrd; but for a moment I thought he was writing about Lotringer: an "old fool who has no business making long-winded, sanctimonious speeches that most often are a run-on of nonsequiturs."

Kevin Watkins, Manhattan

Let Allah Sort 'Em Out

MUGGER: Geneva Convention for these creeps (2/13)? Hanging a few swiftly from a scaffold, with brethren watching, would loosen their tongues right quick.

Bob Montrose, Fort Lee, NJ

We Think You Know How Desperate We Are for Submissions

I never thought the letters in your magazine were true. Oh, sorry! When I picked up New York Press recently and read Tim Hall's "Permanent Foreplay" ("First Person," 2/6), I thought I had mistakenly picked up a copy of Screw without paying for it. How desperate are you guys for submissions? If I want to hear about a guy's sticky shorts...well, I just don't. What's next? "Strausbaugh's Books and Bukake"? Photos of the week with the Young Republicans' Golden Showers? Please leave the smut to the Village Voice. While New York Press is always entertaining and informative, it doesn't need to debase itself.

Khaled Younes, Manhattan

The editors reply: It's a big tent, Khaled. Some of our readers actually like bukake.

Yuppies vs. Yetis

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you, John Strausbaugh, for "Sex and the Boroughs" ("Daily Billboard," 2/11). I am a Williamsburg resident, and was appalled by Julia Chaplin's New York Times piece that Sunday. I agree with everything you said.

Rasha Refaie, Brooklyn

Matt's Really Really Real

Holy shit?if I read any more crap from either side of this hipster/gentrification debate on Williamsburg I am going to flog the first pseudo-intellectual boho I see with a sickle. What truly makes me laugh is the attitude that "original" Williamsburg residents present. They are disgusted at these losers who come over the bridge to sample their version of authenticity. However, most of these residents came to the neighborhood after there were enough white people in the hood to justify increased police presence. These bohos come from the suburbs and now want to present the image to everyone they ever knew as being part of the underground. As anyone from Brooklyn knows, Williamsburg is a shithole. The housing sucks, there are a million of those Hasidic freaks running around pretending you are not there, and you are a stone's throw from the real shit, i.e., Bushwick.

When I was a kid, we often played hoops at a church in Williamsburg?a total dump right off the G train. We played and then were happy to get the hell out of there alive. For anyone who grew up in Brooklyn, the real Brooklyn of the 1980s?you know that there is nothing hip about seeing crackheads sprawled out in an alley, getting a knife pulled on you miles from your neighborhood or seeing whores giving head in a schoolyard. That shit is depressing and if those bohos saw that Williamsburg, they might have a different understanding of themselves and their authenticity.

That said?busloads of tools invading anyone's neighborhood is annoying?but the pretentious shit has got to go. If they want to be pioneers, check out Brownsville?there are plenty of "lofts" on Rockaway Ave.

Matthew Fuchs, Manhattan

Bigtime

RE J.T. LeRoy's Jonah Matranga article ("Music," 2/13): J.T. rocks!

Lisa Castagna, Kings Park, NY

And the Wind Beneath His Wings

Mike Signorile: You have once again hit the nail on the head, this time with "The Money Bias" ("The Gist," 2/13). Money, money and more money, just look what a few dollars has done to G. Rivera. He sold his left-wing hat and all of what he claimed to believe in for the almighty dollar. I think the Repukes love to say "the left-wing media" so they can keep any balanced conversations from happening. I don't really care who the media are or what they believe as long as they say so from the start of the show and allow a person from the right and one from the left equal time without screaming over the left point of view. Well, I guess that is a pipe dream. Keep up the good work, you're my beacon in the night.

Warren Faulconer, Mt. Pleasant, SC

Enjoying that "Word a Day" Calendar, Chuck?

Mike Signorile: Well, well, well. You are biased. I could go on, try to make a point or two, but you would be unconvinced. And we both know why?you are in a closet. Not that one, heck no?but one that is dark and serpiginous.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, you are surrounded by those whose opinions give you comfort. Outside, you see intolerance and bigotry. And your job of course is to protect and serve (those who agree with you). Keep up your chosen role, what else can one do?

Charles O'Connor, Santa Clarita, CA

Twat, Did You Say?

Reader Phil Hall's letter ("The Mail," 2/13) in response to C.J. Sullivan's "No Protest No Peace" ("New York City," 2/6) was a rather ham-handed piece of cop-bashing. Mr. Hall takes the occasion of one cop's harmless griping to revisit the Amadou Diallo shooting. Nice. His crack about the cop's job security is tasteless. Well, Mr. Hall, the cop might have a secure job. Unless of course he is fatally shot while on duty, or gets crushed to death while evacuating people from a burning skyscraper. In fact, Mr. Hall, I'm willing to wager that the number of police officers who died on Sept. 11 alone is higher than the number of unarmed immigrants who have been shot by cops in New York City. A hunch, but I'm willing to go with it. Meantime, go watch West Wing, you imperious twat.

Patrick Donoghue, Glenmoore, PA

Fit to Be Bowtied

MUGGER: Bravo! And Tucker Carlson deserves a Pulitzer Prize for his putting Henry Waxman on the ropes (2/13). But Mr. Carlson probably won't get it because he was unconventional by holding a man accountable.

Mark Bruggom, Everly, IA

Three Minutes to Wapner

MUGGER: Why are you even looking for consistency in Chris Matthews' opinions ("Daily Billboard," 2/14)? You said it yourself: he's a loudmouth. His ideology is called "shouting." Don't you recall on Election Night, when it looked like Gore had it sewn up, Matthews and Pat Caddell started rhapsodizing about how this proved that a New Deal/LBJ coalition could still win national elections? A week later the two of them were pissing on the Tennessean's corpse with almost sadistic glee. Not a word about how wrong they were.

None of these basic cable blowhards has the least bit of intellectual integrity?especially Matthews. His careening pronouncements have an almost Rain Man-like quality. If you accept him on that level, he's amusing. If you expect coherent thought, you're shit out of luck.

Robert Schnakenberg, Manhattan

Schweinehund Cabal

Odd to see this in New York Press ("Remembering Dresden," by Alan Cabal, "Daily Billboard," 2/13). Almost as odd to see the editorial line at robotwisdom.com. "Butcher" Harris (as he was called behind his back by superiors and underlings alike) was indeed slime. No mention is made, however, that the destruction of Dresden was in retaliation for the German destruction of Coventry, a similarly nonmilitary, artistic city, nor any mention of indiscriminate German bombing of many nonmilitary and undefended cities.

Here in Germany there hasn't been a word about the anniversary of Dresden in any paper, magazine or tv program that I've seen all week. What's next? Is New York Press going to allow the Japanese their revisionist fantasy that they're really the victims of WWII because the bomb was dropped on them? The Japanese also like to believe Nanking wasn't raped, that they brought civilization to Manchuria and that none of them was responsible for war crimes, a la Nuremberg.

The bombing of Dresden was not a proud moment for the Allies, but in the context of the war at that time, it was neither unprovoked nor the unmitigated evil you've portrayed.

M.W. Grossmann, Munich, Germany

Taki Comes Up with A Good One

Taki writes in "Race Rats": "The only way to counter them is by recreating Christendom in America..." ("Top Drawer," 2/13). This is shockingly good sense from an unexpected quarter. It is also the only possible hope we have for our culture to survive. America is the direct fruit of the Reformation and would have been impossible without men like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Knox, not to mention Jonathan Edwards or John Witherspoon. Americans in general, and American Christians in particular, have willingly squandered the cultural capital we inherited from these giants.

Jack Edward Heald, London

Not to Mention Pimm's Cups

RE: Taki's "Race Rats." As an American-born citizen, I find it annoying, offensive and ultimately laughable that a foreigner like Taki, who has no clue of the struggles that people of color had in the country, would be lecturing us on the dangers of multiculturalism. I'm not saying that there are not issues related to immigration in this country, but to hear this particular immigrant rail against it is simply ludicrous. If he has problems with things here, he can always pack up his needle, spoon and belt and go back to Crete. After reading his column, one can only conclude that drug use is truly harmful to precious brain cells!

Sean Anderson, Sunnyside

No One Calls Him a Girly Boy

MUGGER: I just read one of your columns (and then five more) on Jewish World Review for the first time. You're really good. So good, I doubt even Ann Coulter would call you a girly boy. That being the case, why is this the first I've heard of you? Who else carries your stuff, and whom should I contact to expand your circulation?

Judson Carroll, Blowing Rock, NC

Late Praise from Houston

Matt Zoller Seitz: Excellent review of Lord of the Rings ("Film," 12/19/01).

Shay Files, Houston

Anarchy, State & Dyspepsia

Sen. Fritz Hollings and Sen. Robert Byrd and their pompous tirades pose an excellent argument for term limitations and/or euthanasia ("MUGGER," 2/13). Somebody throw a tent over the circus they call the U.S. Senate. Sen. Tom Daschle should don a red waistcoat and a top hat in honor of "The Greatest Show on Earth." Beam me up, Scotty?I've had all of this I can stand.

Spring training is here, and while I understand the rest of the world won't go on hold, at least we can derive some slight satisfaction that MLB is just around the corner. Good luck to the Red Sox and tell William Repsher to kiss a fat man's ass ("Daily Billboard," 2/6). His comments about the Astros having pajama-like uniforms was absolutely ignorant.

Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX

Everyone'll Like "Heroes Among Us"

MUGGER: I'm not going to hold up too much of your time, but I read your column (2/6) regarding comic books (actually my father passed it on to me) and thought I might tell you about something that MUGGER III might be interested in. Check out the "Heroes Among Us" exhibit at the NYC Fire Museum downtown. If you want to know more about it, click on www.nyccomicbookmuseum.org. I'm actually an adviser to the comic museum, so if what you read interests you (we've been around for more than two years doing various events and exhibits) then feel free to contact me. Something tells me you'll appreciate what we're trying to accomplish (I'm sure your sons will like it too).

Jeff Reingold, Manhattan

Heebie Jeebies

Spencer Ackerman grossly mischaracterizes as a "deeper truth" Jennifer Bleyer's smug pronouncement that "there is absolutely no uniform experience of being or feeling Jewish" ("New York City," 2/13). Neither Ackerman nor Bleyer could possibly think they are enlightening anyone if they are pointing out the vast diversity of experiences among Jews in the world today.

So we must be dealing with the normative?Bleyer and Ackerman are saying, "I disagree with those Jews who think there should be a uniform Jewish experience of feeling or being Jewish." I doubt many would disagree with this bit of wisdom either?even the Lubavitchers only come into Manhattan seeking joiners once in a rare while, usually limited to holidays. Considering this is the most Jewish city in the U.S., you really don't see too many Jews telling other Jews how to live their lives.

For Bleyer, her "deeper truth" is a clever (if at all intended) distortion. Because in Bleyer's eyes, anyone who criticizes Heeb is really attempting to impose his own notion of Jewish identity on her. Heeb is Bleyer's way of being and feeling Jewish. Attack the magazine and you are attacking her right to define her own identity as a Jew.

But it's not that clever. After all, Neil Diamond, carpool moms and hair problems? These are not exactly uniquely Jewish phenomena. What we have here is People magazine with a lot more -steins and -bergs (and, undoubtedly, edginess and attitude!).

While there is no uniformity to being and feeling Jewish (or Catholic, or Buddhist, or Muslim, or Zoroastrian or human?yes, I too understand a "deeper truth"!), there are certain universal aspects to being Jewish. One of these is the connection most Jews feel to their history, to the efforts of ancestors to get to today and the desire to make those ancestors proud.

And then Bleyer comes along and creates a magazine with a name that many of our grandparents, and parents, had to endure. A name spat at them by those who often backed it up with violence, who wouldn't just let the Jews live how they wanted, which as we all know is all that Bleyer wants for herself. Evoking memories of helplessness and pain and death is a small price to pay if it generates buzz and advertising revenue. Bleyer and Ackerman should be a little more grateful. And respectful.

Daniel Altchek, Manhattan

O Fair Skippy

Why is it that when I read an article by an ultraconservative like MUGGER, I get the feeling that the predominant tone is one of personal attack on those he doesn't agree with? When I read the article by Mike Signorile, "The Money Bias" ("The Gist," 2/13), it seems to me that he presents data and information and does not carry out a personal vendetta on those he disagrees with. The more I think about it, this view on how to argue with those who see the world differently from you seems to be common throughout the ultra-right media. These folks must have some need to destroy a person rather than to state a position backed up by data (e.g., Jesse Helms, Ann Coulter). I guess if you don't have the data on your side, then you attack the person. Also I watched the O'Neill-Byrd poor-boy faceoff, and no, Mr. Almost Had Tears in His Eyes O'Neill did not come off as the winner. But then again, I'm making this judgment based on the actions I observed, not on my political bias.

Skippy Bell, Fort Lauderdale, Fl

Yeah, Bus 'Em

Taki: An excellent article, as always ("Top Drawer," 2/13). Thank God someone is facing the issues of the day and speaking common sense. One point you might have made is that, while multiculturalism leads to huge problems in the long run, integration has worked. When immigrants (and residents for that matter) adopt the host language and values, even religion and surnames, real integration and marriage follows. We've seen this time and again. The biggest hurdle/delay to the process is simple numbers?the larger the immigrant community, the easier it is to live with your own and not evolve. That is why there are "Pakistanis" in Bradford who can't speak English, although they have been there for years. The government can accelerate the process by requiring English language proficiency at schools, etc., but as you say the politically correct crowd object. We need strong leadership but, alas, it isn't there.

Christopher C. Hart, Geneva, Switzerland

He's Perfectly Refreshing?And 0 Calories

MUGGER: Perfect (2/13)! Your reporting on Tucker Carlson (I read it on the Jewish World Review website) is perfect! Really enjoyed that refreshing piece.

Joe McChesney, Longview, TX

Waxjob

MUGGER: I love you for providing this Tucker Carlson interview. I don't know how people would elect a person like Henry Waxman.

Eduardo M. Diaz, Houston

Music Notes

I was laughing along with John Strausbaugh while perusing the Voice Pazz & Jop piece ("Daily Billboard," 2/13). Seeing as Destiny's Child appeared in their list, my personal greatest musical moment of 2001 bore only a tangential relation to whatever world they live in: Paul Weller at the State House on July 25. Sure, taking leave from the military to return to the city was great anyway, but seeing one of two Paul Weller dates in the U.S. was quite extraordinary. Second only to seeing my girlfriend dissolve in hysterics with the opening strains of "English Rose" was hearing Jill Sobule shyly disclaim that she doesn't "often play covers" before launching into a raucous solo acoustic version of "Survivor," beating her guitar like a deadbeat husband. Of course, in addition to the geritocracy of the Voice poll, it was obvious that the witty hipsters who contributed were only writing with the enthusiasm that springs from finally feeling okay about embracing completely commercial acts.

Adam Heimlich wrote a great piece on the state of hiphop ("2002: Hiphop's Year One," 1/23). My only question is this: Am I the only person who has thought throughout this now-waning debacle that Nas' It Was Written wasn't really that bad of an album? I mean, "The Message," "I Gave You Power," "Shootouts" and "If I Ruled the World" put a lot of Jigga's tracks to shame, to say nothing of the glut of "average MCs." No?

MUGGER: You still steer my favorite newspaper, but I've basically given up on reading your column. I know, I know, big loss. I just see defending Bush right now as a prelude to the kind of defense mustered by the folks I work with.

Keep up the great work, all. I feel like part of the team whenever I check out the Press online, which has become important since all my friends ostracized me for not caring to watch the Super Bowl. I guess I couldn't help but think that in 1992 U2 still thought that "football" meant soccer.

Daric Desautel, El Paso

There's Them Lie-berals Again

In "The Money Bias" ("The Gist," 2/13), Michelangelo Signorile writes, "Bias is peppered with anecdotes about producers', editors' and reporters' personal beliefs, which Goldberg contends are politically liberal. That's probably true. But so what?"

So what?! Pick up a basic civics text and you'll learn that the media plays an important role in a representative democracy, much more important, I dare say, than interior decorators (I don't recall them being mentioned in the First Amendment).

The media tells citizens what is going on: they call issues to attention, frame the debate and so forth. How are citizens to vote intelligently if the media isn't giving us an accurate portrayal? Citizens need the media to cover politics objectively. Yes, nobody can be perfectly objective. But if a television news program or publication is going to regularly skew its reporting, then they are obliged to tell viewers and readers outright (e.g., The Nation and National Review). CBS, NBC and ABC news cloak their liberal biases and pass themselves off as moderates telling America the truth, and that's a betrayal of the public trust.

Kevin R. Kosar, Brookyln

Tram-Rider's Lament

When I first saw Michelangelo Signorile's review of Bernard Goldberg's bestseller Bias, I thought we were going to get the lowdown on the mainstream media's alleged liberal bias. Not so. Signorile skips over the real issue: the media's persisting, self-congratulatory delusion that it is liberal, when in reality it has been reduced to one more despotic corporate construct.

What is so liberal about an industry where around 80 percent of professionals in print and electronic newsrooms are white and male? Where longtime employees are fired overnight and escorted to the door by security guards? Where minority journalists have to sell their souls in order to be admitted? Where there are plenty of old white guys as commentators, but practically no women over 50 on camera?

The media's "liberal" bias is a lie and a joke, but Signorile didn't begin to touch on all the most glaring contradictions of this posture.

Patricia Duarte, Roosevelt Island, NY

He's No LBJ

MUGGER: The problem with saying something as jaw-droppingly inane as "...this President is certainly the most stirring speaker of my lifetime" ("MUGGER," 2/6) is that it convinces your readers that a) you are five years old, b) you were locked in a sound-proof room in 1968, c) that the sentence is poorly constructed and can be interpreted more than one way, i.e., Bush is the best presidential speaker you've ever heard as opposed to the best speaker, and d) all this wet-panty Bush love is getting a little embarrassing. He may be twice the man I thought he was, but he's not half the man you suggest him to be. (Oh, and double what I thought he was brings Shrub up to the level of Tillie Fowler.)

Harley Peyton, Los Angeles

Don't Be Dissin' Mrs. Worth

Lately, it's fascinating to see what's going on in the cartoon division of New York Press. Your latest issue is no exception. There are some gifted and entertaining people whose work appears only sporadically, while the truly abysmal crap is as regular as my cat's toilet habits.

What's up with "Henry"? It was maybe more entertaining than "Mary Worth," back in the day; but that day is way over. When it first started rearing its ugly (bald) head in your pages, I thought it was some sort of cheapo reprint of the old stuff. Looking closer this week, I noticed that it has a semi-current copyright date, and is syndicated by King Features. I'll bet those gonifs are charging New York Press more than the total paid to every other cartoonist in the issue. I can't believe that its inclusion isn't at the behest of Russ Smith, attempting to recapture his childhood, in his usual backhanded fashion. Mr. Smith's taste in the art of the cartoon is right up there with his inclinations toward baseball teams and politicians.

Jim Wilson, Manhattan

The editors reply: Wilson's wrong about the gonifs. Actually, syndicated comics come quite cheaply. In fact, we're currently considering a whole page of "Henry," "Dondi," "Mary Worth," "Brenda Starr" and "Little Lulu." They don't come any better than "Dondi," chum.

Never Forget

MUGGER: Thank you for "Beyond Belief" (2/13). Every day when leaving my apartment I look in the direction of the WTC and tears form in my eyes and heart. How can people forget the horror of it all so quickly? Your words always ring true.

A. Finkel, Manhattan

100 Stories in NYC

MUGGER: I've been enjoying your articles on Jewish World Review for some time now and wanted to comment on the column appearing today (2/13). We took our family vacation this past year in NYC and stayed at the Marriott World Trade Center at the towers. On July 11, we watched the sun set at the top of the tower. I'm still in shock and can't conceive of actually seeing the site and "not feeling any emotion" while looking at the destruction. To live there and have the constant reminder has to be difficult.

Todd Jenkins, Montgomery, AL

He's a Domino's Man

MUGGER: I've always considered your articles a take-the-good-with-the-bad sort of thing. Your coverage of the media is excellent, but too often your articles come off as Christmas letters. But this latest offended me with the phrase "...although it probably wouldn't meet with their Pizza Hut-standards" (2/13). This is the sort of snide elitist disdain that I expect from a limousine liberal, not a conservative author.

Alan Daughton, Huntington Beach, CA

Rube About Goldberg

Mike Signorile: How can you attempt to disprove media bias by taking one example, which occurred after Goldberg's book was published ("The Gist," 2/13)? On a cable network no less? It seems to me that you have a vested interest in disproving the premise of Goldberg's book. Too bad that we see examples of media bias every day! You'd have to be blind not to see this inherent bias. The amount of coverage, the way groups are labeled, who the media goes to to get reactions to stories. Many many examples. Let me ask you, before trashing the book, did you take the time to read it?

Michael Zatlin, Fallbrook, CA

Freepers Against Free Speech

Your reporter Alan Cabal wondered why a group of conservatives affiliated with Free Republic would counterdemonstrate at the WEF when more than 90 percent of our participants are opposed to it ("New York City," 2/6). He figured we were generally opposed to the various causes of the protesters, "the vegan antiwar crowd." He was correct, but what most concerned us was the antiwar nature of the protest, evinced by the name of the group organizing the protest at Park Ave. and 50th St.: "International ANSWER: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism." As one of the organizers of the counterdemonstration, let me explain the misunderstanding.

Firstly, there's great confusion about what the WEF is, especially amongst the participants of Free Republic. It is a bunch of rich people who gather together to eat catered shrimp and listen to one another drone on about themselves. At night they go to cocktail parties. Unlike the WTO that now has the power to change U.S. tax law, and unlike the IMF that impoverishes working and middle classes in Third World countries through currency devaluations, the WEF is relatively harmless. You can roll back all of the unconstitutional legislation, end all of the unconstitutional treaties, get the U.S. out of the UN, but the Waldorf will still be playing host to rich people talking about themselves. You can live under the perfect communist system, anarchist system, capitalist system or constitutionalist system. There will always be rich people talking about themselves.

Secondly, the Free Republic participants who gathered that day at 51st and Lexington Ave. varied widely in their opinions concerning the WEF. Some think as I do, that the WEF is harmless. Most think it is evil incarnate. We all agreed on one thing, that those who protest a war of national self-defense are traitors. This is not a war waged to save Jacques from being killed by Hans. This is not a war waged to save Vietnam from communist dictatorship. This is a war that, until bombs started falling in Afghanistan, had mostly claimed American lives. Between the first Twin Towers bombing in 1993 and the second in 2001, the only terrorist attacks, which primarily killed non-Americans, were the African embassy bombings and perhaps the allegedly suicidal Egypt Air pilot. This is a war fought in America, where your family is at risk. Additionally, this is a war fought for America, for no less a principle than freedom of religion. Those who protest our military effort are giving aid and comfort to those who seek to kill your mother, then force your daughter into subjugation in accordance with their religious ideals. The protesters came to New York to demonstrate against our war of national self-defense not five months after my friends, coworkers and I cheated death in one of the battles of this war, not four months after the smell of burning flesh ceased to waft from Ground Zero. No matter if you agree that this is treason or not, all New Yorkers can agree that this is poor taste.

If it was just a matter of traitors marching in the streets, we might have stayed home. But, sadly, we can be assured that The New York Times will breathlessly report about the peace protesters we consider traitors. This "news article" will take the form of a quasi-editorial that will ask, in essence, "What rational person could be for the war?" After a year or two of relentlessly beating an antiwar drum, perhaps the cowardly mediacrats of New York City will succeed in turning public opinion against the war. Perhaps after three or four years, the mediacrats will succeed in pressuring the government to end the war prematurely. This is something the nation cannot endure. If the media succeeds in their campaign, the consequences are much graver than another Third World nation, like Vietnam, being subjugated by a dictatorship. If the media succeeds in their campaign, New York City and America will suffer another eight years of deadly terrorist attacks that go unanswered. Our motive for counterprotesting was nothing less than survival.

Owen Heslin, Manhattan

Enter and Sign In, Please

MUGGER: You don't know that I'm one who reads your column every week. I feel I can get the true nature of New Yorkers' feelings on the WTC (2/13). I don't know how I would feel if my neighborhood was a place where so many came to gawk. But I do think a lot of people just like me would come in order to pay tribute. I know I would. But again, I don't think I would want to see it. Not just New Yorkers are angry, a lot of us are mad as hell. I'm a middle-aged woman and I'm afraid what things will turn into in the future for my grandchildren and others who will come along. I will say that I'm so thankful that George Bush is in office and taking this serious. Already The New York Times is crying about the treatment of prisoners, and bombings and so on, trying to turn public opinion. As long as they can trash the military without naming names, they will start to put doubt out there about these operations. They can't get Enron to stick so will have to find other ways. Just wanted you to know! A lot of us still care and always will.

Name Withheld, via e-mail

Oh, They're in Constant Touch

MUGGER: If you have the President's ear, why not suggest James Glassman to replace Paul O'Neill (2/13). I don't think O'Neill is so bad, though. He made a fool out of Sen. Byrd with the who-had-the-poorest-childhood routine. It was great.

Getting back to Glassman. He's the smartest and most ethical person in the world of finance. I'd love to see him before a congressional committee. Not only wouldn't they know what hit them, they wouldn't even know they were hit until one of their aides explained it to them. He's smooth. Love your columns.

Evelyn Palmeri, Flagler Beach, FL

Pronounced De-Niece

Regarding Mike Power's ("The Mail," 2/13) criticism of President Bush for not being able to pronounce "nuclear," I assume he found it equally ludicrous that President Jimmy Carter, a former nuclear engineer, also pronounced it "nucular." This is hardly a secret?Dennis Miller devoted a routine to Carter's pronunciation on The Off-White Album.

Clay Waters, Jersey City

Body in Dixie, Heart in NYC

MUGGER: Eric Alterman is a jerk among other jerks (2/13). Example, in the 90s, states increased their spending an astonishing 63 percent. That was when times were good, too good for the politicians. Now in Clinton's economic downturn, jerks like North Carolina's Gov. Mike Easley raised taxes in order to keep the state at its proposed spending level. Now comes the good part, gold lode boy Mike Bloomberg will have to raise taxes again.

Frank Hodgson, Raleigh, NC

How'd You Get Producers Tickets?

MUGGER: In the 2/6 issue you wrote, "And of course this chumminess is bipartisan. Rush Limbaugh brags about his friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas, which is just as egregious as the Totenberg-Ginsberg bonding." On the contrary, Rush never claims to be anything but partisan and expresses his bias at every turn. He is working for, by and with himself (and his advertisers). Totenberg purports to be a "journalist," an unbiased spokesperson for NPR. Family and I spent a week post-Christmas in your fair city, stayed at Essex House and saw The Producers. Excellent time had by all, hope our financial contribution helped. Thanks for the commentary, always enjoy, usually agree.

Mike Hausmann, Alpharetta, GA

Makin' Bacon?

MUGGER: This isn't a comment on today's column, but a suggestion for your next shot at the idiots of the Times. This week their "Arts" section embraced the stupidest literary intellectual idea in the whole history of stupid literary intellectual ideas in the whole history of the world?to wit, "Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare." Not the comedies, not the tragedies, not the romances, not the histories, not the sonnets, not the narrative poems?not nothing, no way, except maybe the part of the will about the second-best bed. Yes, the Times is now in the Oxford camp! (Edward de Vere, the late Earl of Oxford, that is.) Do you suppose this has been Frank Rich's hidden agenda all along?

Mark Mittleman, St. Louis

Snipjob

Mike Signorile: You're right: presidents (or their aides) should not be allowed to talk to anyone in private ("The Gist," 2/6). Everything they say (and even do with a cigar) should be taped and recorded so the "other" party can use it against them (Nixon really was a visionary, after all!). I'm so glad Bill had town meetings, so those handpicked folks (Queer As?) could tell him everything he needed to know about running the country and the economy. Did businesses (small and big) give us a surplus (or do we only get that by taking as much money as we can from taxpayers)? I've never figured that out, I guess. Hillary and Bill never abused their power, while others threatened, or said anything, to buy or influence people, just to gain votes. Thank God (is there one?) someone in government is honest. So many presidents seem to lie these days. I'm so glad there are no Democrats who took donations (bribes?) from Enron (and I don't believe rumors)! So as punishment, I think all Republicans should have term limits, because of their greediness. Hey, I hear that Al is converting over to Buddhism.

Scott Ager, Pensacola, FL

Nonreligious & Wrong

As an American who does believe very strongly in God, and who holds a four-year degree in religion from Augsburg College, a fairly well-respected Lutheran college, I have to say that I am in complete support of Michelangelo Signorile. His article is very true and to the point ("The Gist," 1/9). The far right who have declared themselves to be the "religious right" are not the gray-haired grandmothers sitting quietly in the pews. They are the hatemongers, the people who slur and who support only their own agendas in the name of God. For now, they are bringing about their own ruin; let all of us hope they never hold power?a few school prayers would quickly become church-run schools with no girls and women in veils if these wackos ever got a hold of power. I hope Mike stands firm. I feel it is refreshing to see New York Press finally unveiling the hate of the religious right, which, as I heard it said once is neither.

Philip A. Berglin, Minneapolis

Left in the Middle

No groundbreaking information linking Bush and Cheney to Enron illegality this week? No bother, Michelangelo Signorile moves on to cover media bias ("The Gist," 2/13). Signorile proves once again that liberals are incapable of honestly assessing a liberal bias in the media. How the writer and others continue to see, hear and speak no evil of the likes of Dan Rather is amazing. It's true that the networks' pursuit of money is of the first order. It's also true that times have changed?somewhat. But this whopper: "The biggest concern producers have, they tell me, is trying to figure out what the vast number of Americans in the mundane middle want to see and how they want it packaged." Have them contact the people at top-rated Fox News, or the new hires at CNN.

M. Van Voorhis, Alton, IL

In a Pithy Mood

Taki: Sorry, but the phrase "Pour encourager les autres," ("Top Drawer," 2/6) was Voltaire's, and that is the reason it is in French. Admiral Byng was not French, nor was French the language of the British Admiralty. I doubt if anyone in the Admiralty ever said anything so pithy.

George H. Hardin, Morrisville, NC

Harry Gave Him Hell

MUGGER: Chris Matthews, as so many of those worshipping at the shrine of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, readily confuses fiction with historical facts ("Daily Billboard," 2/14). Young John Kennedy did not appreciate the counsel and experience of the French. As a young United States senator, John Kennedy made a speech critical of France and was thinking of making a speech advocating independence for Algeria. As proudly recounted by CBS correspondent David Schoenbrun in his biography of Charles De Gaulle, his fellow CBS correspondent, Eric Sevareid, in Washington at the urging of Kennedy, cabled Schoenbrun and asked his views. Schoenbrun sent back a cable strongly advising against the speech during the existing tense period. Kennedy canceled his speech. Could anyone imagine Nixon contemplating such a dangerous grandstanding gesture with the connivance of the working press?

Long lost in the memory of the assassinated young president has been the warning of the previous Democratic president, Harry Truman. In 1960 Mr. Truman resigned as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and charged the proceedings were taking on the order of a prearranged affair, an ordination perhaps. The elderly former president was advising the 43-year-old senator from Massachusetts to "put aside" his personal ambitions as the troubled world situation required the nomination of "someone with the greatest possible maturity and experience." In a press conference in Independence, MO, Mr. Truman told the media of a statement he was going to make to the young Kennedy, whom Mr. Truman professed to have always liked and still did: "Senator, are you certain you are quite ready for the country or the country is ready for you in the role of president?" After this humiliating question Mr. Truman urged Sen. Kennedy to be patient and asked the young man to remember the meeting in Independence where Truman counseled the need for finding a man who could unite the Democrats in purpose and action. After berating a reporter for being a numskull, Mr. Truman was asked about the reading of his statement where instead of reading John Kennedy, he had read Joseph Kennedy and was asked if this was a Freudian slip. Mr. Truman denied this and iterated the name of the young man was John. For this assault, the good Sen. Kennedy demanded compensatory airtime and was offered 30 minutes by CBS.

The correct historical perspective on John Kennedy would not come from his sycophants like Sorensen, Schlesinger or McNamara, who were more interested in hiding the faults and lies of the Camelot era, or Chris Matthews for that matter. The one to look to has been Charles De Gaulle. In May, 1961, Kennedy stopped in Paris prior to meeting Khrushchev in Vienna and was counseled by De Gaulle. De Gaulle warned the young JFK that intervention in Asia would be entanglement without end and warned that once nations have awakened, no foreign authority can be imposed. De Gaulle admitted to French experience with this and noted American desires to take the French place in Indo-China, but qualified his assessment: "I predict to you that you will, step by step, be sucked into a bottomless military and political quagmire despite the losses and expenditures that you may squander." De Gaulle counseled on helping the Asians from poverty and humiliation that were the causes of totalitarian regimes: "I say this to you in the name of our West." In his memoirs De Gaulle wrote his impressions of conversing with the young president: "Kennedy is listening to me, but events will show that I did not convince him."

Richard Earley, Springfield, PA