Readers Gun for Signorile; MUGGER and Fall Ball; Vice Isn't Nice, Heimlich; Letter-Writing Campaign Against Parsi, Week 2; More...

MUGGER: I love your column and read it regularly on the Internet. However, I must correct one point that you made at the end of your most recent column (10/16). The fact that the Red Sox have not won a World Series in so many years has nothing to do with the trade by the Red Sox so many years ago of the Bambino to the hated New York Yankees. The trade is just an excuse to avoid the real problem. The Red Sox are cursed and Boston is being punished for all of these years because it is Boston and its environs that have inflicted the Kennedy family on this good country. A richly deserved punishment, I would say, and one in which I take great pleasure. Go, whoever the Red Sox are playing! Keep up the good work.

Henry P. Wickham Jr., Columbus, OH

Yup, Let's All Pack Some Heat

Why does Michelangelo Signorile, or anyone else for that matter, believe that disarming the innocent makes them safer ("The Gist," 10/16)? Guaranteeing that only lawbreakers are armed is appallingly illogical, and a proven failure in those countries that have tried it. Come to think of it, if Maryland didn't already have such restrictive gun laws, perhaps the shooter would already be in custody, brought down by an armed fellow citizen. As for McConnell's so-called "anti-gay" position, I assume that Signorile wants to also surrender his rights to freedom of association. I'll be happy to take him hunting for a week, but you'll have to make him go.

Mary McLemore, Autaugaville, AL

He's a Politician

Mike Signorile: I am a Korea war veteran. George W. Bush and John Ashcroft do not care how many Americans get killed with guns as long as they get all of that blood and hush money from Charlton Heston and the NRA ("The Gist," 10/16). Both are lying to the American people and the news media is helping them to do it. Bush is lying to the United Nations about Iraq the same way he lied to them about guns on Nov. 10, 2001. On that date he told the United Nations, "We have a responsibility to deny weapons to the terrorists and to actively prevent private citizens from providing them." What a whopper of a lie that was, and I hope that the United Nations will demand that he tell them the truth about his war on Iraq. Bush will lie, cheat and do anything he has to do to get this war started and he doesn't care how many people lose their lives, including the innocent people in Iraq. Saddam Hussein has already said that he will fight this war from the cities, which will force Bush to kill the innocent civilians over there.

Thomas Jelf, Lexington, KY

Uh-Oh, Chris, Busted!

Christopher Caldwell asserts that "Under current market conditions [the Republican proposal to privatize Social Security] makes them look frivolous, wacky and...complacent..." ("Hill of Beans," 10/16). I hadn't heard that the GOP proposed to privatize in toto as his wording suggests, but it is perhaps worth mentioning that I transferred my stock holdings in the TIAA-CREF fund to the TIAA annuity six years ago with the result that my holdings are now about two percent below what they would have been if I had retained them in the CREF equities. We can't expect much serious communication from politicians, but it would be helpful if columnists found the time for a little study and thought rather than spinning their opinions out of material provided by newspaper headlines.

John Frary, New Brunswick, NJ

Just as Long as You Keep Reading, Sweetheart

I don't think your publication has long to live. First the Tori Amos article ("Daily Billboard," 9/24) and now Bob Powers' "Tegan and Sara" ("Music," 10/9). You guys are total pricks! But maybe you're proud of that, which is pretty pathetic. Maybe you find humor in this response, which is also pretty pathetic. Whatever. As a genuine music fan, I respect Tori and Tegan and Sara and other artists for the art that they produce. You should have your male-chauvinist-pig-reviewers sit down and try to write a good song. It's not as friggin' easy as you think. Then you should ask them to start thinking of more than just their cocks. Not only are your Tegan and Sara and Tori reviews not humorous, they are disrespectful and immature. Which says volumes about your publication and the people who run it. This is not about free speech. This is about providing press and information to your readers that is interesting and informative. Keep it up and you can say goodbye to selling your publication, which means goodbye to subscription revenue, which will lead to "goodbye investors," which will mean goodbye New York Press?something that more and more people will be happy to see.

Karis Lee, Philadelphia

San Fran or Bust

MUGGER: Enjoyed your latest column very much (10/16). My brother, sister and mother are Sox fans, so I am immune to the Yankee baiting; but, alas, and much to the distress of my 11-year-old son, I am boycotting this year's Series. You think Mother Bloomberg is a prig?the whole f-g state of California is made up of prigs. Jeez, if people want to go to fern bars and drink organic wine in smoke-free atmospheres, they should move to San Francisco.

Doug Levene, Wilton, CT

Vice Isn't Nice

Adam Heimlich: I rarely, if ever, take the time to send mass e-mails like this. But a recent interview with Vice magazine's publishers in New York Press has spurred me to take action ("Vice Rising," 10/2).

Vice magazine, in case you don't know, was recently named "Hot Magazine" by Rolling Stone. It is available, free of charge, in record stores, clothing shops and other "hip" boutique stores around the country. The publishers recently launched a record label in conjunction with Atlantic Records; their first release is Original Pirate Material, an album by UK artist the Streets that was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize (album of the year) in Britain earlier this year.

Vice magazine's forte is confrontational content. It regularly refers to black people as "niggers" or "niggas," homosexuals as "faggots," and freely makes use of any sort of derogatory epithet you can think of. Anyone who has seen the magazine will confirm this.

I have complained about Vice to my friends for years; its shock-value tactics, which initially amused me, quickly grew tiresome, then offensive. What spurred me to finally speak out, however, is this recent interview with the publishers.

I am not attempting to initiate a boycott of Vice or the Streets' upcoming album (which has deservedly received considerable critical acclaim by numerous domestic magazines and alt-weeklies). I only ask that you read the interview, then think for a moment on how these types of attitudes, even in a world where a man can burn down "Black Korea" and still sell more than a million copies, can be causally linked to untold socioeconomic inequities in this country. Then ask, are their comments a true reflection of the music industry? Is it okay to use bigotry as a selling point for trendy consumer products? Thank you for reading.

Mosi Reeves, Oakland, CA

Strausbaugh the Overweener

MUGGER: How is it possible that there is such a dearth of writing talent that you would have to bring that failed attorney Zach Parsi back to the fold ("Adipose Nation," 10/9)? Where are William Monahan and Andrey Slivka? Strausbaugh, who must take the blame for these gaffes, is indeed held to higher standards than ordinary men by virtue over his overweening talent.

Furthermore, I doubt you would have published this article had it advocated a tax based on the melanin in a person's skin. And yet, darker shades of skin tend to cost the government more. Can you not see how offensive this article is to someone who may have a gastrointestinal problem that causes his weight to fluctuate wildly? Not all obesity is caused by overeating, and whatever healthcare costs I may incur by holding my turds in, I'm sure they are balanced by the minimal wear and tear I exert upon the plumbing infrastructure.

Jabairu S. Tork, Boston

Nearing Perfection

Mike Signorile: You do great work. I agree with no one, not even myself, 100 percent of the time. But you are up there in the 95-percent category. I was really glad to read your statement, "HRC is, by far, not some agent of the gay left, and has often been criticized by gay activists" ("The Gist," 10/16). They certainly are not an agent of the gay left. I don't even consider them centrist, other than self-centrists. I'm glad you pointed that out. Keep that keyboard burning. I always look forward to your columns.

Bill Dubay, Seattle

He's Got a Mac, a Big Mac

I just read "Adipose Nation: It's Time to Tax the Fat" and I feel like vomiting. How could you allow anyone the vehicle for such a hate-filled article? People come in all shapes and sizes, just as they come in all heights, all different levels of intelligence and compassion (obviously!), and all different levels of ability and disability. Yes, I'm sure some people are fat because they eat too much, just as some are in wheelchairs because they drove drunk. Would Zach Parsi also suggest that those wheelchair users be denied the use of handicap-accessible facilities because they caused their fate?

There is enough ugliness already in the world without providing a pulpit for Parsi's unenlightened, judgmental tripe. Please, unplug his PC and give him a huge dose of compassion for his fellow man.

Elizabeth Fisher, Baton Rouge

You Go, Adele

I read Zach Parsi's fat tax story with interest. I used to share his opinion, but have come to realize the CDC's numbers are totally alarmist and bogus. Although I don't doubt there is an economic toll for obesity, I might argue, however, that it's more subtle than the bazillions of dollars the CDC claims we pay in healthcare costs. It's most likely due to clogged-up productivity. How much time do New Yorkers lose climbing up the stairs behind a fat person at the subway station? I also firmly believe?although I don't have any scientific proof of this?that fat people take approximately 25 percent more time pulling out of public parking spaces, and drive an average of 13 miles below the speed limit.

Adele Gardiner, Brooklyn

Gays with Guns

Michelangelo Signorile: Thank you for your very inspiring column this week ("The Gist," 10/16)! I am planning to join (yes, join!) the local gun and rifle club, and to qualify for an LTC?license to carry. God knows! I might even join the NRA, and become a pink triangle toting a sidearm while paying homage to the war-against-humanity-thinkless-tank known as the NRA. Hell, if Libby Dole (sounds like a fruit salad to me) can boast her membership quota with the NRA, why can't an aging but still cute gay man lay claim to the same glory? I am a lot more fruit than this Dole can even imagine being! In fact, I think all us "faggots" should take sharpshooting courses, and create a national gay organization equal to NRA, GRA?Gay Rifle Advocates. When I was in the U.S. military, they taught me: This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for killing. This is for fun. The rifle, of course, is the killing weapon. The gun is that little winky God gave all men to play with, better known as one's cock. We can actually fantasize as we carry our assault weapons, our AK-47s, our .347 Magnums and our Luger stealth guns that we are playing with?well, you get the idea. You wanna talk about "protection"? Wow! Rifles, guns and ammo, and hell, I don't need a condom anymore. Yee-ha! And off yonder, I see the Bush posse chasing after some more o' them gangsta types?it's jus' a good ol' bounty hunt, man. I can feel the thrill. Oh, yea!

Vincent Turner, Boston

Falling on Deaf Ears

Mike Signorile: Big kiss to you. You're absolutely right about putting our excessive but cherished liberties on the side to ensure a future for ourselves and the children. We need to have a future and right now it's starting to look mighty bleak. You are absolutely right, and I hope that many others can see that.

Robert Ray, Boca Raton, FL

Doombya

MUGGER: Say what you will about Reagan's lack of authenticity, at least he was a positive person and projected some optimism and promise for this country. Bush is a total downer. A bigtime, all-time downer. It's all gloom and doom from this guy. Only if you love war and recession can you like this doofus. With unease, instability and crisis all around, our steadi-cam President is always there, at the ready with gasoline to throw on the fire: as confidence in the market collapsed, as confidence in our pensions sank, as confidence in the security of our 401(K)s plunged, and confidence in our corporate accounting tanked. There was Gee-Dubya on the side of the corrupt. Standing tall with Harvey Pitt against Biggs and Volcker. The disconnect was stunning.

After the Sept. 11 anniversary, there he was at the UN, promising war. Can one accuse the President of dishonesty on the eve of an apparent war? Is it right to just tell the naked truth about this dishonorable poser's phony war? Was that the time to expose our warrior manque's trickster dust? After all, this was genius right out of the Lee Atwater playbook. And oh, how Lee would have loved this shit. Little Gee Dubya. Our Heroic War President. Give us a break, MUGGER.

Peter H. Edmiston, Manhattan

Ah, It's the Mustache!

I was going to declaim about all the reasons why Bush is nuts about Saddam, like he's got no nukes, his army's in tatters, he couldn't shoot down even one U.S. plane, it's all about Bush Sr., etc. But once North Korea admitted to its own nuclear (or "nucular," if you're from Texas) program, and Bush hemmed and hawed again (he does it so well), it became clear that logic has nothing to do with all this. What's the real difference between North Korea and Iraq, other than we gave Saddam his biological and chemical weapons? Facial hair, of course! Just roll the tape, Warner. All those Iraqis with mustaches, all those North Koreans clean-shaven. We know how Republicans feel about facial hair, at least since the 50s. (They didn't mind Lincoln's, but that's so last millenium.) If Saddam wants this all to stop now, forget inspections, just shave.

Arthur D. Aptowitz, Staten Island

Glad to Hear It

I thought I might provide a liberal argument in favor of gun control ("The Gist," 10/16). It all comes back to the Bill of Rights. Our Founding Fathers, despite their considerable prejudices, overthrew an oppressive, colonialist power and set up a system with numerous safeguards, specifically the Second Amendment. How can I believe that the Fourth Amendment guarantees the privacy of my home (as well as my uterus) and that the Eighth Amendment makes capital punishment illegal even in Texas while thinking that the right to bear arms is simply an afterthought or only refers to "militias"? What militia in the modern sense of the word might challenge an unjust state? The National Guard? In reference to the sniper, I should point out that guns are illegal in Mexico and the serial killer(s) in Juarez dispatches victims with other methods. During the Reagan years, the Supreme Court effectively dismantled the exclusionary rule. Evidence obtained during an unauthorized search can be admitted if the officers acted in "good faith." In one landmark case drugs seized in an apartment searched in error (the warrant was for a different unit) were admitted as evidence. The only thing that prevents more searches of this sort is the fact that no officer knows what is on the other side of any door they might break down, and in a culture where firearms are restricted that is not the case. I'll leave the argument about "if guns are illegal only criminals will have them" to gun nuts and point out the danger of a world where only cops have guns. Keep up your good work in defense of civil liberties, and no?I am not packing.

Kelli Williams, Brooklyn

He Believed CBS And the Times?

Christopher Caldwell was right on the money about Cynthia McKinney and Al Gore ("Hill of Beans," 10/9). With Clinton-style Democrats like McKinney, it is always someone else's fault. You don't lose by as big a margin as she did because of dirty tricks by Jews and Indians. You lose that big because the voters finally figured out that you are an idiot. Hopefully Al Gore's latest speeches, which as Mike Kelly pointed out were peppered with what only can be called lies, will effectively end his political career.

Michelangelo Signorile's column the same week ("The Gist") is so far off-base I almost don't know where to start. Suffice it to say in poll after poll that I've seen a large majority of Americans do trust George Bush, particularly to handle the Iraq situation properly. I guess Signorile actually believed that slanted CBS/New York Times poll of a couple weeks ago. I wonder what he thinks now that the House voted 296-133 and the Senate 77-23 to give Bush the power to act. I also find it hard to put any stock in the opinion of Signorile, who, like Maureen Dowd, constantly refers to the Bush administration as the "Bushies." In a similar fashion I never put much stock in any opinion writer who referred to the Clinton administration as the "Clintonistas." It just seems to me that a professional journalist should not have to resort to such shallowness, or maybe Signorile actually thinks it's funny, which would really be sad.

Steve Hume, Canton, MI

Up and Armed

Michelangelo Signorile's ignorance of firearms is astounding. He calls for banning .223 ammunition and "assault rifles." As someone who knows a thing or two about deer hunting, however, I can assure him the victims of the Beltway sniper would be just as dead if the killer were using a commonplace 30-30 hunting rifle. And at closer range, there is no firearm in the world so deadly as an ordinary 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot.

The illogic of gun control is easy to summarize. Murder is a crime. Crime is committed by criminals. Criminals are people who, by definition, do not obey laws. If they do not obey laws against murder, what makes you think they'll obey laws against guns?

Does gun control save lives? Not according to Prof. Joyce Malcolm, whose book Guns and Violence chronicles the explosion of crime following England's post-Dunblane crackdown on civilian gun ownership. I might also recommend the works of Robert Waters (The Best Defense), Gary Kleck (Targeting Guns) and John Lott (More Guns, Less Crime) on this subject.

Signorile writes of "Heston and assorted other individuals" who own guns. There are an "assorted" 70 million of us, Mike. Firearms are found in about a half of American homes, including many here in Montgomery County, MD. Gun owners are the real majority in America on this issue.

Robert Stacy McCain, Gaithersburg, MD

Undecipherable in Florida

Michelangelo Signorile: Your attempts at incrementalism shine as a bright beacon ("The Gist," 10/16). How absurd is, "I'm just suggesting banning the sale of, oh, say, sniper rifles and 'military style' assault rifles like the one the Beltway sniper is suspected of using, as well the .223 ammunition (confirmed as having been used by the sniper) that shatters inside its target's body, doing deadly damage. And what the hell?let's throw in semiautomatic assault weapons, too." Assault rifles?

Okay! What about the .50-caliber, or the .300 Winchester Magnum, as well as hundreds of additional rounds? This is what makes Republicans, including presidents. But, you are far too dumb to realize that (no joke there), so I will not waste further disc space. Both are capable of shooting through a theater line of people?dozens! We see right through your dishonest suggestion of banning .223 ammunition.

In fact, we audit honesty by searching on "ban." It is that simple. The next audit for dishonesty and curveballs is found by searching for the terms "assault rifle" and "sniper rifle." This is how we keep track of you turd-brains on a daily basis.

Bob Nelson, Jacksonville, FL

Adolf Bush

Michelangelo Signorile: Many thanks for "In W We Trust?" ("The Gist," 10/9). You wrote what I have been saying and writing to anyone with an e-mail address, to all my congresscritters as well as Byrd, Daschle, Biden and Gephardt. To no avail. A disgusting, craven, cowardly lot who have made not the UN but the U.S. Congress irrelevant. I hope to God at least France stands firm. I have this picture in my mind of Bush (I never, ever refer to him as "President") doing a Hitlerian little jig and smirk.

There are some other things to consider. This war will be no cakewalk. And while nobody seems to give a shit how many Iraqis die, it is quite possible a great many Americans may also die. Think Somalia, a microscopic undertaking. Think Hue, as someone did in a recent Times. Must say these people are counting their chickens well before they are hatched. An invasion of Iraq will not be without cost. And the arrogance to be planning the administration of another sovereign state following naked, unprovoked aggression against a fully functioning secular society. Iraq is not Japan at the end of WWII. This will not be a depleted and exhausted nation that signed a formal surrender. There will be no surrender and no peace so long as a single U.S. soldier is in the country. Think many, many Somalias.

Another point: Iraq has few aircraft but they are very high-performance ones. Iraq will not leave them exposed to easy takeout on the ground or risk them in dogfights against U.S. planes. I believe our modern ships are actually less well equipped to shoot down attacking aircraft than were WWII ships. All missiles, no guns. I hope to God it never happens. But I wish someone would tell me what the real reason is for Bush's obsession. None of the stated ones?and they change every day?makes any sense at all. It can't be something as trivial as personal pique, can it?

Peter J. Brennan, Manhattan

Free-Range Christians

Mike Signorile: Love the columns, biting the conservatives right in the rear, if you ask me. And about time, too. San Pedro High School certainly has its share of hypocrites; after all, it's only fair to say that the gay-straight alliance should be able to have announcements twice a week, while the Christian (and very obvious, but not confirmed homophobic club sponsor) club, "New Life," can roam freely announcing what they like when they feel.

Leslie Smaltz, San Pedro, CA

Strange Bedfellows

MUGGER: Let's stop talking about oil as though it has anything to do with W's crusade against Saddam. The U.S. does not need so much as one drop of Middle East oil, and we would be a great deal safer if we restricted our imports to the Western hemisphere, which we could easily do. The U.S. Government has kept Iraqi oil off the world market for 11 years, which has produced higher prices for everyone, not lower, and no one talks about making war to raise oil prices?not in 1991, not now.

You seemingly refuse to face the fact that the desire to kill Saddam and as many Iraqis as happen to get in the way has nothing to do with oil, or democracy, or freedom or terrorism or anything else but Zionism. Iraq is the only credible threat to Israel, which is the be-all and end-all of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Mind you, Israel is not our country and is hostile to everything we stand for (e.g., equal treatment under law), but all the cheerleaders for war against Iraq are Zionists, and opponents of slaughtering Third World peoples are loath to mention the word "Zionism" or "Israel" lest they be attacked as "anti-Semitic" (the most bizarre word in the world, given that the overwhelming preponderance of all Semites (speakers of a Semitic language) are Arabs). Saddam is not so reticent but regularly speaks of Zionism as the engine of war against him and urges Americans to look at a provision in the UN resolution W pretends to want to enforce that requires the whole of the Middle East to be a nuclear-free zone?but of course that means Israel would not be allowed to have nuclear weapons any more than Iraq would; we would have to send UN inspectors into Israel, and W won't do that; and when Israel refuses inspection, W won't threaten war against Israel to destroy its weapons of mass destruction. As for allies in a war against Saddam, consider a recent news report: two Kuwaiti men attacked U.S. Marines in the Middle East, killing one and wounding another, before they were themselves killed. Kuwaitis! The people we "saved from Saddam." Would you want such allies at our backs during an attack? I wouldn't.

L. Craig Schoonmaker, Newark, NJ

Or rickspringfield.com

MUGGER: I think being right entitles one to being snide?being an editor of a wiseass weekly helps, too?but I'm not buying the vernacular use of "Dolby levels" for the volume levels of surround sound-ed movie soundtracks ("The Mail," 10/16). A neat rationalization nonetheless. A little more respite today than when I composed that letter and a little miffed with myself, of course, re: the "Jessie's Girl" thing. I did look, but I didn't look well. (Should've just used eBay or Amazon, huh?) I had called EMP's public relations person toll-free because I had some difficulty digging through their site and just guessed that Weisbard was still there. She returned my call late Monday. Didn't query her exactly on Weisbard's preferred method of genuflection, but she was quite friendly and eager to please. I recommended that she dig through your archives for Armond White's Wilco film review and pass it on to Weisbard for his perusal. I told her that I didn't think you'd be publishing my letter since I hadn't heard from you. I do regret that White (or Seitz) had no words to share on the Seidl films. Get rid of "Blender Kitty," though the latest was one of the two or three good ones in the past 20 (correct me if I'm wrong) months.

Chris Beneke, Brooklyn

Fat Chance

To all the fat letter-writers who somehow actually thought Zach Parsi ("Adipose Nation," 10/9) was being 100-percent serious, I suggest they read Swift's A Modest Proposal.

Mark Duffy, Manhattan

The 700-Lb. Club

As a sin-tax supporter (both with my votes and my dollars spent on sin), I read Zach Parsi's "Adipose Nation" with great interest. But not since the temperance movement have I heard such intolerance and judgmentalism being sold as logic. Difference being, the finger-wagging that led to Prohibition is now safely pressed into the pages of history books, alongside the social engineering films that polluted the psyches of mid-century American schoolchildren. Parsi's tale of engaging in the last socially acceptable form of prejudice was sure entertaining, but when he broke into a full-out presidential tongue bath, anointing George W. Bush with "credibility to speak to both sides of the gluttony issue," I had to wonder whether he'd actually heard Bush 2 speak. Just as the genitalia Parsi so carefully pondered (assigning fruit to its size, no less, and picturing it in action) was buried deep beneath his in-flight seatmate's belly, the valid points in his essay were hidden by the misinformation, oppression-lust and jokes that didn't fly. New York sin-tax advocates aren't interested in his juvenile brand of support. It's Parsi's right to feel superior looking down his Poland Spring bottle at someone enjoying his beer and dessert, but that's what The 700 Club serves as a soapbox for, not New York Press.

Kimberly Massengill, Manhattan

A Local Purple Baboon

If Zach Parsi is not a fat-hater (despite his disclaimer), I am a purple baboon with wings. I find this article offensive, hate-filled, unresearched and full of inaccuracies. The author has relied not on facts, but on "popular knowledge" for his diatribe about the evils of being fat. If he had done any research at all, he would have discovered that the equation between caloric intake and caloric expenditure is a myth, that dieting reduces the metabolism and can contribute to future weight gain, and that 95 percent of all diets fail to be anything other than temporarily successful. I find it remarkable that the piece was published in the first place.

Melanie Ryan, Manhattan

Obesity's the Real Epidemic

Russ Smith: I've just read "Adipose Nation" by Zach Parsi, and I have to let you know that this is one of the most disgusting, vile, contemptible attempts at writing that I've ever witnessed. The writer?I won't honor him by calling him by name again?says that he doesn't say certain things to the gentleman sitting beside him on a plane because he doesn't want to hurt his feelings. Yet he writes this long dissertation on fat, and hurts every fat person who reads his garbage. He says he doesn't hate fat people. He is a liar. Hate threads through his article like a piece of well-woven fabric. Hate is so evident in his writing that I kept expecting him to suggest that killing all fat people would benefit travelers like him.

But as angry as I am with him, Smith, I'm angrier with you, as the editor-in-chief of this paper, for allowing something like this to go to print. Do you care that you've offended possibly half of your readers? Would you have allowed this kind of hate literature to be printed about a minority race? About gays? About any other human beings on this Earth except fat people? I don't think so.

Do you know that anorexia?self-starvation?is of epidemic proportions in this nation, and people are dying from it on a daily basis? Do you care that you've probably started several other people on this long road to mental and physical torment, and even death, by this garbage that you've allowed in your paper?

If you are, indeed, an editor, then edit. Stop allowing Hitler-style hatred to creep, like well-formed maggots, through the pages of your paper.

Pat Ballard, Nashville

There's the Rub

Zach Parsi, in "Adipose Nation," makes statements that demonstrate exactly why the subject of obesity is such a difficult problem. He repeatedly points to the consumption of beef as being a major part of the problem and yet there is considerable research that indicates that the consumption of low-fat, high-carbohydrate foods, like pasta, is a much bigger problem than eating high-fat, high-protein foods like, well, cheeseburgers.

Bill Allen, Tuckahoe, NY

We Need Booze & Cigarettes to Live

Ah, go ahead and say it, Zach Parsi?ya hate fat people. You'll feel better. I know you write "there are people who harbor a strong hatred for the fatties of the world...the way some hate Jews or German tourists. I am not one of them." But your "Pseudopods of blubber" and "shivering lard" comments, while inventive, give you away. Be honest, pal. You were judge, jury and executioner of that fat guy on the plane whose chub encroached on your space. But it's okay to hate fat people. You can slag 'em on tv, in the movies and in print. No one will say a word. Maybe someone will write a letter to the editor, like me, or a beached whale from some "rights" organization will make a stink. But other than that, take your best shot.

A few words, though. What's missing from your story is compassion. Compassion is nonconditional; either you have it or you don't, for everyone, or no one. It's the responsibility of our society to take care of everyone, no matter how stupid or lazy or criminal. We're all in the same gravy boat.

Food is everywhere you turn. Some, like me, found it impossible to resist due to weakness or emotional pain, and stuffed it in nonstop?cakes, chips, burgers, gallons of ice cream. Unlike your friend, I threw up for seven years and stayed skinny. At age 40, now recovered, I'm still coming to grips with the staggering amount of food available when I take a walk anywhere in New York City or any other part of the country, and food pushed at me via magazines, television and other media. I exercise six days a week, too. Glutton Tax? Gotta tax the alcoholics, too, then, and the gamblers, and all the other poor slobs who can't or won't help what they do and who cost us all money somehow. The only thing is, you don't need to gamble, drink or smoke to live. You do need food, and most of the food available is processed crap. To learn what to eat takes education, and many Americans don't read. Many of them, unlike your plane friend, read these books you say are available about diet, and find completely conflicting information.

You're looking at the overhang, and there is a bigger picture, no pun intended. Lighten up, skinny. One world is enough for all of us, and next time, write a letter of complaint to the airline.

J. Max, Brooklyn

Were You Laughing?

I have a question about the article "Adipose Nation" by Zach Parsi. Was it a joke? I couldn't quite tell. At first I thought he was serious but it became blaringly obvious that the airplane incident was a fictitious account. So I was left unsure as to whether this man is a closet socialist or has a really bad sense of humor.

Tammy E. Lasek, Decatur, GA

Gag Reflex

I am writing this to voice my complete and utter revulsion to the article titled "Adipose Nation" by Zach Parsi. I find it difficult to believe that anyone with any kind of social awareness or responsibility could allow this to be published. Obesity is an illness, just as many socially unacceptable diseases are. I know this because I have suffered from this illness my entire life. If I were an AIDS victim I would be less likely to deal with the discrimination that I have suffered these many long years.

Parsi needs to do more research on a subject before he spouts off about something he evidently knows little about. Obesity has been found to be caused in some cases by our genetic makeup?instead of the lazy gorging lifestyle he seems to have attributed this problem to. His narrow-minded views are the reason many of us have turned to the drastic measure of weight-loss surgery. I myself have had surgery. I also belong to an online support group for weight-loss surgery patients. The suffering that so many of us have endured to become what is considered socially acceptable is staggering. To hear people like myself referred to in the same breath as pedophiles and corporate embezzlers is an outrage. I believe it is the responsibility of the editor to make sure that the statements made are at least accurate. Is it your intent to poke fun at the incredible human suffering by such irresponsible suggestions as the "Glutton Tax"? I would venture to guess that Parsi has offended people in his own family or at the very least his circle of friends.

Julie Snider, Mason, OH