Non-Stop Taki; Willie Hearst's Legacy; Palestine or Texas?; the Cardinal in the Closet; Meatans v. Vegans

Don't you dare allow Taki to leave New York Press. He is the only journalist whom I applaud.

Dawn Reeve, Alicante, Spain

No, He's Gonna Clean the Toilets

I'm a bit confused. The final paragraph in Taki's article (5/1) says that this is the last issue of "Top Drawer." It further states he is staying on. My confusion is whether he will continue to write articles.

Two of the highlights of my week are reading Taki and Ann Coulter of the FrontPage Magazine. It will be sad for me and others not to be able to read him. He has one of the most sound and reasonable minds I've encountered. Also, one heck of a sense of humor.

Jim Huguley, Tampa, FL

Down the Drain

I do not comprehend the new American way of thinking when an article telling the simple truth, such as Alan Cabal's, is considered to be anti-Israeli ("Daily Billboard," 4/30). I think in the U.S. you can criticize your own government, but can't say a word about anything that has to do with the Jewish state. Where are the American values and objectivity?

Lamia Abbas, Amman, Jordan

Bitter Sarcasm

Just wanted to thank all the New York Press readers who write letters to the editor comparing Sharon to Hitler, Israel to the Nazis, etc. The parallels are obvious; one administration is a minority in its region surrounded by enemies on all sides and from within, whose actions, no matter how indefensible, are invariably in self-defensive reaction to suicide bombers and other attacks on its civilians and soldiers. If the attacks stopped, so would the Israeli actions. The other administration invaded countries throughout the continent trying to wipe out entire races of people?nearly succeeding, in the case of the Jewish people?and to conquer the world. Such an otherwise painful and insulting analogy is so much easier for us Jews to stomach when it has clearly been so well thought out in logical terms like that. Very classy, people. But like you say, that doesn't mean you're anti-Semites.

Mike Gordon, Astoria

No Pun Intended

I would have like to have directed this note to Mr. Signorile personally, but his e-mail site was not working and I was curious about a comment I heard watching C-SPAN2 yesterday. One Thomas Reeves was talking about his book on Bishop Sheen, who was a protege of Spellman. In the question and answer session he made a passing mention of a scurrilous book that claimed that Spellman was a homosexual. However, he said enough about other scurrilous behaviors of Spellman's in his jealous relationship to Sheen to cast doubt on his claiming that other book was "scurrilous." I wonder how hard the evidence is that Spellman was gay.

Larry R. Davis, Bedford, TX

Those Ballsy Mackerel Snappers

Mike: I read your article, "Cardinal Spellman's Dark Legacy" ("The Gist," 5/1) with great relish! With regard to the Catholic Church's currently nasty debacle, I regard you as one of the few sane voices in the midst of a cacaphony of hysteria and gay-bating. I've been telling my partner, my friends and anybody else who would listen, since the shit hit the fan, that "the scandal of the moment" would be exploited by homophobes in the Catholic laity and the yellow bellied closet queens in the clergy.

Look, let's be honest here: Catholics have been lurking in ambush for decades for just the right moment to pounce on the clergy and throttle them into handing over some power and moral affirmation. The specter of priests-as-sex-fiend-child-molesters is a no-brainer issue! Nobody in his or her right mind is going to so much as raise a peep of reservation about the issue. "Now," say the laity, "we've got you (oh dare I say it?) by the balls." Their insistence on a "married clergy" or at least a non-celibate one is an obvious code word for "not queer." After all, I don't seem to recall heterosexual married life to be an inoculation against sexual misconduct of any kind. Married priests involved with Catholic schoolgirl groupies and sycophantic women is the bedroom farce of the future. As for Ms. Spellman, there's hardly a gay man over the age of 40 who hasn't heard of that old queen's exploits at the baths as told by a friend of a friend, etc. The famous "six degrees of separation" often translates into "two degrees of separation" in the gay community, after all. The Catholic Church has created this Frankenstein monster and anybody who's actually read the original story already knows the grisly outcome. Something tells me that monster is going to get a lot of assistance from the gay community, which is not going to sit idly by and be made a scapegoat for the Church's sins.

Lou Faiel-Dattilo, Austin, TX

A Soldier in Armey's Army

MUGGER: Sounds like blackmail to me. Get a grip. I don't normally read your column and now I know why. If Mexico decided to start sending homicide bombers to El Paso and told Texans the only way it would stop would be to give Texas back, should we? Just because someone lives on land doesn't automatically make it theirs. If Palestinians want to stay in "Israel" let them. They will be citizens of Israel and will be far better off under them than they have been under the PLO. Think about it. I am one of Mr. Armey's constituents and agree with him 100 percent. I will miss him dearly.

Cathy Ricketts, Flower Mound, TX

Virginia Dispatch

MUGGER: Glad to hear that your neighborhood has withstood 9/11. Just to let you know, the Pentagon has its walls back up and they are almost finished with the limestone facing. The interior still needs a lot of work but the goal is to have people back in that section of the building actually working when 9/11/02 comes. They even have a big digital countdown clock at the work site with the words "Let's Roll" above them. You take care up there.

John Power, Herndon, VA

Why Indeed?

RUSS: Given the headline, I was hoping for a baseball column?big league, that is?and the Red Sox win last night (the same wobbly bullpen, the same clutch hitters) gives me hope that the American League is returning to the wild card world as it was intended to ("MUGGER," 5/8). The Yankees and the Red Sox both make the playoffs and meet in the finale. (By the way, if you ever get around to writing that Bosox book, here's a cover idea. Inside the green monster, among the many names scrawled on the walls, is a single forlorn statement: "Why us?") As for Davis, he'll get on his white horse and lead the charge against those damnable market-fixers from Enron, and yes, say "abortion" enough times in California and you win the election. Every time.

Harley Peyton, Hollywood, CA

Yes, He's Always Embraced Fornicators

Taki alludes to hypocrites and parasites in his usual ponderous, witless fashion ("Top Drawer," 5/8). It is of course impossible to take Taki serious on any issue, but on this in particular. Taki has continually embraced members of the former (you know, the fornicators who impeached Clinton for receiving fellatio, the ones Taki and Russ referred to as heroes), and is a particularly egregious member of the latter. How can an inheritance boy keep declaiming about parasites? Direct transmission of wealth from daddy to sonny may be, in the end, the only way to run things, but that doesn't make the teat-suckler any more deserving. Taki has a visceral reaction against any who didn't or wouldn't find SS officers "gallant." Fine. Then he attacks them for their politics. Bolstering his case by using labels which he would not forgive in himself and others like him is, in a word, dishonest. Russ himself does this a lot, constantly accusing say, Michael Moore, of hypocrisy. Like hypocrisy itself isn't something you can live with if Henry Hyde displays breathtaking amounts of it. Expecting any real wit, wisdom, or acuity from you assholes is apparently too much. Those are traits you're either born with or not. You can at least try to be honest. If you find hypocrisy forgivable when your guys show it, you should leave it alone when it manifests itself elsewhere.

Terry Benoit, Manhattan

He's That Good

Jim Knipfel predicted who the Midwestern pipe bomber was with what turned out to be pretty scary accuracy ("Daily Billboard," 5/6): sure the guy's a little older (chronologically) than Knipfel's supposed 14-year-old, and from the next state over, but the punk rock background, and general idiocy he nailed. Did he have a heads-up or is he that good?

Kathleen Warnock, Manhattan

A Slap & a Dap

RE William Bryk's article ("Old Smoke," 5/8): His claim that the Anaconda Mine in Butte, Montana, produced "the greatest copper find in American history" seems more hyperbole than fact. I suggest Mr. Bryk investigate the history of copper in Upper Michigan's Copper Country (the Keweenaw Peninsula), especially insofar as it was from the profits of mines such as the Quincy and the fantastic productivity of the mines around Calumet that quite literally provided the funds that built up the city of Boston from the 1850s through the 1920s. There is an amazing history there that contemporary America has never heard about.

Apart from that piece of what I consider to be inaccurate history, I very much enjoyed Mr. Bryk's article.

Larry Wall, Houghton, MI

Ray's a Larf

Cockbite, er, I mean Cockburn refers to the Harris ranch on Interstate 5 ("Wild Justice," 5/8). There is also a hotel/restaurant there (located upstream from prevailing winds), and the location sits strategically about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. I could recommend both to travelers, but must say my last visit was most satisfying. Having the need for neither lodging nor nourishment, I stopped at the hotel, changed into swim shorts, grabbed a towel from one of the maids' carts, and enjoyed a lovely dip in their almost-Olympic sized swimming pool.

Ray Martin, Ridgefield, CT

True Trash

RE Signorile's "Cardinal Spellman's Dark Legacy" ("The Gist," 5/1): I just read this article and first started laughing and then wanted to cry. I wish I could ask you how you could write such trash and expect us to believe it. But I already know how you could write it?it is in all probability true. I just wish that I could dismiss what you wrote as the writings of a total fraud. It bothers me that such things were allowed to happen, and I wonder how many lives have been ruined by the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. Thank you for trying to expose this hypocrisy.

Mark Zanghetti, Denver, Co

You Mean Showtime?

The foul tools of the "homosexual network" are upon us. You will go to any length when threatened with truth.

Michael F. Brennan, Rochester, NY

Anti-Semites As Well As Phobes

MIKE: I enjoyed your article on the Catholic Church and homosexuality ("The Gist," 5/1). It reminds me of the way the Catholic Church and particularly the Popes treated Jews throughout the Middle Ages and even over the past 200 years.

Richard Schwartz, Manhattan

Maybe He Meant "Imputed"

What is wrong, Mr. Heimlich, with being the defender of Palestine? Is it wrong to defend the truth these days? I read Mr. Cabal's article and I did not see where he "inferred" that the holocaust did not exist ("Daily Billboard" 4/30 & 5/1). You are putting words where they do not belong. People died in the holocaust and I have cried many times over their death, but that does not make right that you should be using it to squeeze every emotion out of the American people. And that is exactly what you are trying to do. In this case, the emotion is anger at Mr. Cabal.

Well, enough is enough. I tell you point blank that what the Israeli army are doing are along the lines of Nazi behavior. They are killing innocent people every day and blaming it on self-defense. Israel does not have to defend itself. It is an occupation and it needs to withdraw. It is sickening how you try to brainwash the American public with your lies. What is happening in Palestine are crimes against humanity and against international law. But I forgot that Israel is so above the law. There is no such thing as reasonable criticism of Israel. Oh, let me be gentle and not hurt Israel's feelings. Until they stop killing people, falsely arresting and imprisoning young and old men, even children, torturing people, bulldozing houses, humiliating an entire people and occupying their land, we need to shout with all our might and wake up America, and wake up the world!

Rula Borelli, Sammamish, WA

Write to the Post

MUGGER: Great column, as usual. One correction. Harry Truman's card game, as David McCullough has pointed out, was poker. Bridge was Tom Dewey's.

Alan Weick, Paramus, NJ

Madame President

MUGGER: I read where Dick Morris augured that Hillary Clinton will be elected president. Well, though I do not have the psychic hotline powers of Dick Morris, and I have to admit that after I saw the cover of his latest book, I had a prescient flash that told me that Mr. Morris has mirrors on his bedroom ceiling, I have seen into the future and see a second American revolution if Hillary is elected.

John R. McCormick, Brockport, NY

Death For Dessert

In his essay "Willie at Large," William Bryk mentions Stanford White's parties in his Madison Square Garden studio at which women were the last course, dessert ("Old Smoke," 5/8). The report in a rival newspaper of one of those parties attracted the attention of William Randolph Hearst. White's craving for women in fact later led to his death. White had debauched Evelyn Nesbit, the wife of Harry Thaw, and on June 25, 1906, Thaw murdered White. Thaw was later found innocent by reason of insanity.

Alfred Kohler, Brooklyn

Dreadfuller by the Pound

I eagerly anticipate the next installment of William Bryk's "Willie at Large" ("Old Smoke," 5/8). I've been reading a biography of the Fleet Street press magnate Lord Northcliffe (born Alfred Harmsworth), who, like contemporaries Hearst and Pulitzer, can be credited with creating the popular press. A.A. Milne's aphorism, "Harmsworth killed the penny dreadful by the simple process of producing a halfpenny dreadfuller," would work for all. Like Hearst, Northcliffe was a promoter at heart. He rose to prominence by entertaining his readers and reflecting back popular attitudes. Hearst and Northcliffe, by erratically espousing jingoistic foreign and reactionary domestic policies, eventually became a pair of pocket Napoleons. You can't grapple with contemporary press lords without understanding these guys first. Keep supplying the context.

Brandon Musler, Manhattan

The Silence of the Brussels Sprout

RE the "Veggies vs. Meatans" article ("First Person," 5/8): It was delicious! In fact it was so good, I sent it to my vegetarian niece. I doubt, however, that she'll eat it up. She'll think it isn't worth the paper it is written on?without regard to the poor tree that was sacrificed for it. Poor girl!

Maureen Nolte, Cromberg, CA

Meatan or Meathead?

I'm vegan, and I don't preach to anyone ever. That is my philosophy. What everyone else eats is none of my business. And what I eat is none of anyone else's business. I don't even like to bring up the fact that I'm vegan because I don't enjoy the harassment I get. I just want the writer to know that not all of us are freaks.

Nicole Collins, Atlanta, GA

Black Is Black

In his article, Mark Gauvreau Judge mocks liberals for their rigid beliefs and their inability to see the conservative side of things ("Daily Billboard," 5/10). Yet at the end of the piece, he says his own beliefs are based in "irrefutable truths of human nature," many of which have been up for debate for centuries. Kettle, pot.

Tom Patterson, Brooklyn

Give Ken Liberty

MUGGER: It is becoming increasingly apparent that we are living in an amoral society. A society where the masses have lost their moral compass. Between our socialistic, liberal left, and our conservative, do-nothing right, no one seems to be able to carry the torch of moral objectivity. If Al Capone were alive, we would probably make him businessman of the year! Hitler would receive the Nobel Peace prize for his work in population control. I mean if Yasir Arafat could get one, is this really, totally out of the question? Hillary has her hands full with Bill. Actually, Hillary doesn't get that job. That job goes to any intern that is available. Linda Lovelace would have had a great future with the Democratic party, giving lip service to any number of political ideals, and then doing what the Republicans do. Nothing! Once upon a time we had taxation without representation. Now we have it with it. Maybe it's time for another tea party? But we better do it quickly, before they take our guns away.

Ken Sherman, Palmdale, CA

Give Manuel Libertad

What William Bryk writes about the Cuban patriots who fought Cuba's War of Independence (1895-'98) against Spain ("Old Smoke," 5/8) can just as credibly be said about George Washington's troops by switching some words: "A handful of American colonists were fighting a guerrilla war against British rule. Most colonists favored British rule; the rebels used terrorism to cow the people, and their leaders preferred working for French intervention to fighting for independence themselves."

The reason that "The Spanish mistrusted American reporters and kept them from entering the interior of the country" was because it was there that the Cuban rebels were fighting the 300,000 Spanish soldiers (including Fidel Castro's father) that had been sent to quell the Revolution. In the interior, also, were the infamous campos de reconcentracion (sound familiar?), where the Spanish, not the Cubans, "used terrorism to cow the people," by corralling with barbed wire more than a half-million Cuban pacificos (non-belligerents), mostly women, children and the elderly, who were systematically exterminated through starvation and disease.

A century ago Cubans fought for their independence for more substantial reasons than a tax on tea and a nobler purpose than the perpetuation of slavery.

Manuel A. Tellechea, Union City, NJ

Blinded by Faith

Mr. Signorile: I read your piece on Cardinal Spellman and Msgr. Clark ("The Gist," 5/1). If you know of any homosexuals in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and can prove that they are irreformably sexually active, please go ahead and "out" them if the hierarchy refuses to discipline them on its own. You will be doing the Church in the U.S. a favor, helping to clean up the mess that it is now in. However, repeating second- or third-hand rumors about a person who is dead and can no longer defend himself cannot help anyone and can plausibly be called evil.

Also, do yourself a favor and get in touch with reality: do not think that the Catholic Church will ever change its teachings that (1) homosexuality is a fundamental disorder and (2) any sex act outside of heterosexual marriage is always objectively, gravely sinful.

These teachings cannot be changed, no matter what you think or what anyone else thinks. You might just as well hope that the Church will add a fourth or fifth person to the Blessed Trinity or teach that heterosexual intercourse is always objectively sinful. The Catholic Church has never changed any of its official teachings on faith and morals. It has the perfect mechanism to insure that its teachings are always true. It is called infallibility and it resides in the official teaching authority (magisterium) of the Church, that is, the college of bishops with its head, the bishop of Rome as successor of Peter. So relax. (At least you seem very disturbed.)

You can put words together with relatively few grammatical mistakes. Therefore you must have some intellectual capacity. Either you are not using it, or you are the one engaged in the attempt to deceive and manipulate the public to follow your political agenda.

By calling essential Catholic teaching "gay bashing" you may think that you are one of the media savvy gay activists that you mentioned. But do not think that you will win this fight by manipulating the arguments with your savvy. The Catholic Church is not engaged in "gay bashing." It is fulfilling the command of its Lord: "to speak the truth in love" to a world hungry for the truth. We will see who wins this culture war, and also the war for people's souls.

Although I did not read the entire text of Msgr. Clark's sermon I seriously doubt that he "equated homosexuality with pedophilia" as you charge. Nor have I heard this "ugly lie" from the American cardinals or from the Vatican.

Some objectively conducted studies have demonstrated that homosexuals are three times more likely to engage in sexual activity with sexually mature minors than are heterosexuals. Other studies even show that homosexuals are three times more likely to engage in acts of real pedophilia (with sexually immature children) than are heterosexuals. Where is the deception in pointing this out?

The fact is that clergy sexual abuse of minors and sexual scandals in the Catholic Church in the U.S. in general seem much more homosexual than heterosexual. These scandals would not be as widespread as they are if there was not a tolerance on the part of many bishops for homosexual activity among the clergy. Therefore, I repeat, please expose all this activity that you know about and give us a chance to clean it out. You will be doing the Church a great favor. While you are at it, you should also expose any heterosexual activity by clergy that you are aware of. Let's clean it all up and let it be known that it will not be tolerated or protected.

Rev. Father Daniel L. Maurer, Vladivostok, Russia

Um, How "Surpassing"?

Jim Knipfel's commentary "Ratted Out" ("Daily Billboard," 5/2) brings to mind an issue that society may have to address in the not too distant future: the potential for human-machine interfaces to influence or even control human behavior, and to reshape society in so doing.

Using such interfaces, for example, it is now possible to induce intense sensations of pleasure in a person by artificial means, through electronic stimulation of the central nervous system.

Now, please consider the following scenario.

Imagine that a government offers its people a trade: greatly restricted individual rights and opportunities (that is, de facto slavery) in return for an interval each day of surpassing, induced pleasure delivered via implanted electrodes.

How much of the population would consent to make that trade? A majority, I suspect. And what would happen to dissenters who refused to sign away their liberties and join the "joy by electrode" crowd?

That scenario may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. It would appear that the motive and means to develop and deploy such a system exist now, and the opportunity may arrive soon.

Moreover, it is worth recalling that the development curve for new technologies is shortening all the time.

Once, it took perhaps 30 years to turn lab results into finished, practical systems ready for application. Now, that interval has been reduced to only a few months in some cases.

Does this mean that a system like the one described above is much closer to reality than many of us would care to think?

Dismiss this as another techno-paranoid fantasy if you like. But the future of human-machine interfaces, and of social control through them, is not exactly a comforting thought these days.

David Ritchie, Seoul, Korea

From the Poor Side Of Garden City

The article entitled "Under My Parents' Roof" by Amy Harmon ("Real Estate," 5/1) made me question why the Press would print such pathetic trash in a time when unemployment in New York is at an all-time high and hardworking young adults are just getting by. Please do not tell me that we are supposed to feel sorry for Amy. In a time when many people wonder how they are supposed to pay the rent and eat at the same time, as I once did, Amy's article seems to snicker at the fact that she obviously doesn't have to work for a living. I must say, how typical of a little rich girl to need to publish an article like this?it should, however, have a more appropriate title such as "My Parents are So Rich, I Don't Have to Pay Any Attention to the Current Economic Downturn."

With that said, does it surprise any of us to find out that Amy is from Garden City, the "upper-middle-class town"? And just for the record, Amy, as an ex-resident, I must assure the readers that Garden City is anything but "middle-class." I grew up there too and to any transplant, it is one of the more exclusive upper-class towns on Long Island?where kids like you get everything they've always wanted. It's precisely the reason why kids from other towns on Long Island classify kids in Garden City as "Goldies." But you probably never heard that because you've never left your sheltered life in sunny, comfortable La-La Land where everything is given to you.

Amy is obviously still as green as grass at her ripe old age of 28. When I read the line "I was 27 years old and finally had something that I truly felt was mine," I wanted to puke. Amy, do you realize that some people wait their whole lives to save enough money to buy a small apartment in New York? You act like the six years you waited was a lifetime and you surely didn't live a burdensome life. And you didn't save up a dime to get that apartment?it was handed to you on a silver platter. I am sure I speak for the entire city of New York, a city that prides itself in hard work, when I say, "Congratulations! Amy, you finally did it!"

Now, I can't blame Amy entirely for writing this article, what can you expect from a sheltered girl who has been pampered her entire life by dear old dad. I love the part where daddy doesn't let his golden child live in the dangerous East Village. I understand where he is coming from though, it probably would tarnish his poor daughter's concept of unreality. You know, dad, maybe it might have been better for Amy to live in the East Village like the rest of us scum.

I hope Amy's next article is a little more thought-provoking, but it will probably be something like: "I had to Settle for a Used Mercedes Convertible as a High School Graduation Gift."

Kenneth Cole, Manhattan

Bryan Needs Direction

MUGGER: When I grow up (and I'm 45 years old), I hope to be able to write as well as you do. In the meantime, I have been seriously considering entering the priesthood. Which is odd because I've never seriously considered buggering small boys. What is even more odd is that many people I meet seem to believe that pedophilia is one of the basic consecrations of priesthood. Also, I am neither a communist, a socialist, an atheist or even a vegetarian. What sort of priest can I be? I admire your writing. Keep in mind that some wannabe priest in the hinterlands of Montana thinks well of you.

Bryan Johnson, Helena, Mt

Prickly & Tory

Mr. Bryk: I love your work, but I think I found an error. In your column "Old Smoke" (2/14/01), you wrote part 2 of your essay on Tom Paine. In that piece you referred to William Cobbett as an "English Admirer of Paine's," but from everything I've read he was the opposite.

Cobbett published the "Porcupine's Gazette" under pseudonym Peter Porcupine. He was the most popular pamphleteer at the time and he was a high Tory. Everything he wrote about Paine I've seen is condemnatory. Please clarify.

Tom Phillips, Manhattan