Signorile's Heavenly; MUGGER's Somewhat Right On; Caldwell's Smokin'; More...
Reel Good, Mike
Michelangelo Signorile: Great read ("The Gist," 11/20). A friend of mine at work mentioned Far from Heaven to me over the weekend, but I'd heard nothing about it, prior. She lamented the movie, complaining that it was not relevant, but like you commented, I think she missed the point?that the more things change, the more things stay the same. I look forward to seeing the movie. I've always enjoyed seeing Dennis Quaid's work. Thanks for a great article.
G. Don Penrose, Concord, CA
Don't Kid Yourself?It's The Lawn
Mike Signorile: I loved your article on Far from Heaven. You have nailed so many valid points on the reality of where we are today on the subject of male homosexuality. The one thing I must say is that my partner and I reside in a fairly straight suburb of Long Beach, CA. Our neighbors know us, respect us and always include us in any of the neighborhood functions?I guess they see us as just another married couple (personally I think they love the way we take care of our property...but that's another issue).
The bottom line is, attitudes are much more difficult to change than laws. This country, like so many other countries around the world, is going through constant social evolution and part of that evolution is the changing of attitudes toward gay people. All I can hope is that the gay movement in this country stays the course, remains patient and accepts its wins (even the small wins). I feel that the "In your face" response does not always create acceptance; what creates acceptance is showing your fellow neighbors, coworkers, family and friends that basically we are good, loving and caring individuals and eventually our battles (no matter how big or small) will be fought by those various individuals who have grown to know, respect and hopefully love us. It will happen?social evolution is on our side.
Thanks again for having the courage to put your life out there as an open book so others can decipher more positive opinions about so many important issues of today.
Louie Tamantini, Long Beach, CA
Yep
Is that Jim Knipfel on the cover of Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits?
Mike Stadelman, Brooklyn
No Nancy Boy
Re the following quote from "Mad Mary" ("MUGGER," 11/20): "[Pelosi] bound the members to her by her crisp organizational skills and her hospitality. Right and left mingled happily with guards and secretaries at her buffet suppers in the whip suite on nights of late debates, partaking of Mexican soul food, or Italian dishes. It helped them to realize that having as your leader a bright woman who understands the importance of eating well isn't the worst thing that could happen to a wounded party." That's totally bogus. I mean, talk about a tongue bath. As all powerful Demos are today, Pelosi is a prolific fundraiser, coast to coast, and she distributed those funds to candidates in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Of course they will support her over the much more effective and capable Harold Ford, who doesn't have financial apron strings but does have the positions and ideas that could bring the Democratic Party back to some semblance of reality and national delectability.
Mike Daley, San Andreas, CA
Ain't It Funny How They Hate The Same Things?
MUGGER: How come only you and I acknowledge Mary McGrory is senile? Where is the American Psychiatric Association on this case? The diagnosis is there for all to see. Our country seems to miss a lot of what is right in front of us. Thanks for your work.
Mike Yost, Woodstock, GA
Huffin' and Puffin'
My opinion of Christopher Caldwell was greatly improved by reading of his encounter with the American grad student in Florence ("Hill of Beans," 11/20). I did not know that Caldwell was a fellow smoker, and was pleased to discover he shares my hatred of tobacco Nazis. Of course, I still owe Caldwell a good ass-whuppin' for the slanders against Dixie he wrote in the Atlantic Monthly, but maybe after I whup his ass good, we can enjoy a friendly smoke together and let bygones be bygones.
Robert Stacy McCain, Gaithersburg, MD
Smoking, Gun
How sweet it is to see that Christopher Caldwell is back on his game. His biting sense of humor has certainly made a comeback with his last few contributions. Nothing like a little nicotine deprivation to focus the spirit, I guess. His comments regarding the cancerous growth of antismoking fascism were certainly well-taken.
After the ridiculous cigarette tax increase instituted by our home state of Illinois (a pack of smokes now costs more than $5), my wife and I decided that we had contributed enough. We quit?our own little Va fan culo to the tobacco industry and the morons who run this state.
After giving up the cancer sticks?a task that was far easier than either of us imagined?we now comfort ourselves in the knowledge that another group of lowlife scum will have to shoulder the cost of government largess, as well as lining the pockets of the disgusting trial lawyers.
So, you won that battle, you imperialist social-engineering pigs! Next I suppose we will have to forfeit our Quarter Pounders with cheese and no doubt our SUVs as this Orwellian scenario further unravels.
However, be warned: our guns will not be surrendered so easily. The dank, stale stench of cigarette smoke may have faded from our home and clothing, but the twitchy nervousness of our trigger fingers has worsened dangerously.
M. Van Voorhis, Alton, IL
They Just Want to Play Augusta
MUGGER: I love your articles and agree with most of them, at least in part. I do have a question/problem with your article on the Scouts (11/20). You wrote, "The Boy Scouts is a valuable institution?I still remember how to tie knots, identify trees and spot various birds as a result of my years in Huntington's Troop 12?but it's marginalized by petty issues such as strict adherence to the belief in God. Just as a couple of years ago the private group's flap over expelling homosexual members caused such a ruckus, this latest publicity damages the Scouts. So what if Lambert, who by all accounts was a model Scout, is an atheist? In an era when the lure of Scouting has vastly diminished?even in the mid-60s I took ribbing from buddies for belonging to such an 'uncool' group?you'd think the leaders would want to be more inclusive."
My question is: Why must the Scouts, or for that matter, any private institution or organization be more inclusive? I cannot understand the drive to bust an organization whose rules you do not agree with. Just don't join. The Boy Scouts have a requirement that one believe in God...so what. If you don't believe in God, either join and keep your mouth shut or don't join.
Currently there is a grand dustup of some ladies trying to break into some golf club (I don't golf, so can't remember which one). Why? This is a private organization if I understand it, and as such they have a right to limit membership to whomever they please. Why are these ladies so intent on joining a club that doesn't want them? By the same token, many years ago now, women sportswriters fought and gained the right to go into professional locker rooms (men's locker rooms) and interview the naked and seminaked men there. Gosh, maybe I do know why they did it. But was there any man who fought to get into women's locker rooms? And if there was one, did he succeed?
Back to the Scouts. I assume from most of your writings that you are not a liberal, so I ask you for your opinion on the liberals' tacit (not condemning) approval of the Catholic priests molesting children (or even young adults for that matter), but coming down with both feet on an organization that does not want homosexual leaders.
It seems to me that if I am not willing to abide by an organization's rules, having known and understood those rules before I joined said organization, then if I choose to no longer be willing to abide by those rules, I should remove myself with haste and go on my merry way, possibly starting up my own club with only members who believed as I do. Thanks for reading this.
Michael K. Phillips, Newton, IL
Don't Pin Your Hopes on Peyser
Alexander Cockburn: You fell into that same myopic trap that snared the narcissists of the left ("Wild Justice," 11/20). The Democrats did not lose the election, Republicans won. I know. I was there. Bush came to West Virginia and helped Shelley Moore Capito become the first Republican to be reelected to Congress from West Virginia in 36 years (the last one was her father). She beat Bob Byrd's boy (Jim Humphreys, who became ridiculously rich from asbestos litigation) by a whopping 20 points?in a district 2-to-1 Democrat. Republicans had ideas and showed courage. If Andrea Peyser can go public about voting Republican, there is hope for Manhattan.
Don Surber, Poca, WV
Square Peg
Mike Signorile: Well done, my good man! A wonderful review of a film that I have yet to see but plan to very soon ("The Gist," 11/20). As an openly gay man who recently came out, and who comes from a very (and I stress the very) religious background, I was referred to many aversion and reparative therapists for my "condition." I was raised Mormon, served a mission, was married and have three beautiful children. It was only when a dear friend committed suicide under the same situation that I decided to no longer hide. I am lucky my ex-wife has been so good to me but there is no kind of therapy that can change who a person is. If a gay many truly does not want to live the gay life, he simply has to choose not to live it. However, he is still a gay man. I hope to continue to read many more of your reviews and wish you the best of success in your work. Thank you again for your compelling insight into this new film and how it does send a message to us today.
Noal R. Robinson, Salt Lake City
Shit Happens
MUGGER: From one of the alleged 10 percent who will never, ever accept the Bush "presidency" and its exploitation of (if not outright collusion with) "terrorism" to advance the agenda of special interests (11/20), here are a few more "hard-knuckled facts" courtesy of the Associated Press.
"The National Geographic Society found that only about one in seven?13 percent?of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military warriors, could find Iraq [on a map]. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor." In addition:
83 percent cannot find Afghanistan
76 percent cannot find Saudi Arabia
70 percent cannot find New Jersey
49 percent cannot find New York
11 percent cannot find the United States
Other findings from the survey: When asked to find 10 specific states on a map of the United States, only California and Texas could be located by a large majority of those surveyed. Both states were correctly located by 89 percent of the participants. Only 71 percent of the surveyed Americans could locate on the map the Pacific Ocean, the world's largest body of water."
Therefore, in my view, your implicit claim that majority acceptance of the Republican occupation confirms its validity is like saying, "Eat shit?100 billion flies can't be wrong."
Don't misunderstand me. I feel compassion for these people. They are ill-informed and misled. No one cares what they think or how they feel. And they're the ones who will die in this war. Almost everyone else is just trying to sleep through this thing. I understand the temptation. I keep hoping it's just a nightmare.
Speaking of shit, in "off-the-cuff," "refreshing" prose, the sort you purportedly admire in our "President," you're a piece of it. So is the Homeland Security Act. Even some Republican senators said so. It's a wholesale purchase of American policy, with taxpayer dollars, for private interests.
When the truth comes out about the Bush cartel, a crime family far more murderous than the Gambinos could have ever imagined, Clinton will look like a saint. In fact, he already does. A "failure," you say? By what measure? He had a two-term presidency?eight years, primarily characterized by peace, prosperity and the Roadless Rule, the single greatest piece of legislation ever devised.
Well, thank God that's finally over. Now we can get back to doing what Republicans do best?generating wealth for a handful of individuals by screwing the people, crushing dissent, befriending loutish dictators (until they become inconvenient), raping the natural world and waging war. We'll see what happens when the middle class loses their kids, can't afford the gas in their SUVs, has their cable cut off, winds up in the poorhouse. I'm willing to bet they'll smarten up real fast. In fact, they may not have been that dumb to begin with. Remember, Bush lost by more than a quarter-million votes, a significant majority.
You fucking hack. I feel sorry for you. President Gore is coming back in '04 to put a boot in your ass.
Name Withheld, via e-mail
Enjoying Your Trip Through the 21st Century?
I wanted to thank you for having Armond White on board. His review of Mission to Mars ("Film," 3/29/00) inspired me to finally see the film.
Todd Ford, Mandan, ND
MUGGER: Jeb Bush might have lost if Clinton had done his job in Florida, but my sources tell me he spent his entire visit looking for blowjobs.
Chris Wigert, Manhattan
Slow Week in Brenham
Christopher Caldwell: I think you are a good writer. Get focused ("Hill of Beans," 11/20). Nobody gives a rat's ass about smoking in restaurants in Italy. Did someone hit you in the head with a bag of quarters?
Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX
The Way of the World
MUGGER: I disagree with much of your point of view in your article, but would just like to address one issue: the war with Iraq ("MUGGER," 11/20). The way you stated your position, I am assuming that a preemptive war against Iraq is obviously justified and needs no further written backing. I have heard the argument that we are in a different kind of world, etc., and this justifies our attack-first/talk-later approach. I would venture to say every other nation that attacked first believed the same crap. When the truth conflicts with our values, it is amazing how the truth always loses. If the war is so just, why has the Bushmaster had to lie in some cases and embellish the truth in others to get the American people to buy in? Daddy Bush lied about babies and incubators in Kuwait for the Gulf War, and Johnson lied about the Gulf of Tonkin. Fifty-thousand Americans died because of the last lie. How many will die because of Bush's lies? We probably won't know, because Rummy will cover it up.
What pisses me off the most, however, is the candy-ass, conservative, chickenhawk rocking-chair warriors like Perle, Wolfowitz, Rove, Cheney, et al., who beat their chests for war while sending other people's sons and daughters off to die. I guess Cheney still believes that "He has other priorities beside the military." Then they have the balls to call someone who lost both arms and one leg in Vietnam a traitor because he didn't jump on Lt.-Missed-A-Year-of-Military Service's war wagon.
Sooner or later, the American people are going to wake up to the fact that the rich send the poor and middle class off to fight and die in wars that make the rich richer. At that point they will tell these Part-time Patriots to go to war themselves or go to hell. Class warfare? No just simple justice. Have a great day.
Name Withheld, via e-mail
Unwise Blood
Re C.J. Sullivan's "Blood In, Blood Out," (10/30). What was that about? I learned nothing, got no deeper understanding and saw nothing but a bunch of fools talking crap. No "facts" to learn, no "insight" to gain. Why?
John Randolph Ticknor, Strongsville, OH
Western Hawk
Mike Signorile: You wrote ("The Gist," 11/20), "...the early part of which was the only other time prior to now in which the presidency, the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate were under the control of the Republican Party" So have you become a Democratic shill full-time now? Or did I miss something about Democratic Party rule in the 60s as a golden age for gay folks? The two-party stuff is boring and a dead end. Gay rights happened because people struggled, not because hack politicians in the capitalists' back pockets smiled on them one day in committee. There's a war coming, too, that's bipartisan through and through, with enough gay shills for that, as well, to pack a stadium. Should we choose between a Democrat who wants to wait before attacking and a Republican who wants to do it right now?
Peter Anestos, San Francisco
Cub or Bambino?
MUGGER: I have been reading your column for about six months and enjoy it immensely. You really get to the point. I also have great empathy for you as I am a lifelong Cubs fan?I am sure you have heard about the Cub curse. It supposedly was the reason for Buckner's error. Anyway, I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you I appreciate and enjoy your writing.
Bob Prugar, Louisville, KY
You Major in Medicine?
MUGGER: I think you are making a common mistake in the beginning of your recent column (11/20). Statehouses means the state legislative capital, not the governor's mansion. Taking control of the statehouse means winning a majority in both houses of the state legislature, not electing a governor. In states like Texas, it is much more important to win the statehouse than to elect a constitutionally weak governor. I see the tv pundits making that mistake so much that I am afraid the know-nothings are going to dumb-down the language. The fact is, they are way too damn lazy to check on the races for state legislatures around the country, and just count the 50 governorships to decide a statehouse winner.
Maxwell Edison, Dallas
The God Scouts
MUGGER: You helped me keep my sanity while I was living in New York, but now you write that the Boy Scouts are "marginalized by petty issues such as strict adherence to the belief in God." And you say Garrison Keillor and The New York Times are out of touch with "real people"?
If you're just worried about the Scouts being publicly maligned, you shouldn't be. Sen. Max Cleland's (D-GA) vote against the Scouts in June 2001 became the topic of Republican speeches and even political ads this fall. Despite Cleland's effort to secure the homeland from the Scouts' meanspirited, God-fearing bigotry, Georgia voters chose his opponent by a surprising margin. The same may happen to Sen. Mary Landrieu in Louisiana next month.
On the other hand, if you really think that knowing how to tie a clove hitch is more important than belief in God when it comes to educating young men as leaders, then you need to get out of Manhattan more often. Keep up the good work.
David Freddoso, Alexandria, VA
Like Jello
MUGGER: Gosh, it must be great to be a blob of quivering self-righteousness. When a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation interviewer questioned Garrison Keillor when he first burst on the scene as a "humorist" about the similarity of his Lake Wobegon stories to Canadian Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Garrison got quite shirty. What irony that a suspected plagiarist should suggest that others are beyond-the-pale transgressors when he himself could probably claim membership in the Kearns, et al., brigade.
M. Woods, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Queer Ideas
Mike Signorile: I love your columns, even though they tend to give me major agita. Your take on Todd Haynes' new film was right on ("The Gist," 11/20). He handled the same themes in his earlier, and less mainstream, Poison, which weaves sex/AIDS hysteria, conservative "morassity" and the homoerotic fantasies of Jean Genet into one intriguing fabric. Do you suppose the new era of conservative gloating will land us back in the bland and horrific 50s, and far from the heaven of peace and diversity? Will wacko groups such as Aesthetic Realism and Scientology be able to brainwash more frail, self-loathing souls to enlarge their empires? (I was nearly ejected from a meeting of the so-called Realists, because I dared to challenge their bizarre theories. They promote the theory that gay men are basically failed heterosexuals, who seem to have been traumatized by an overbearing woman. Ergo, they are unhappy in their gay relationships. Nuts! In my case, I must have been traumatized by Joan Crawford or Barbara Stanwyck!) When I suggested that perhaps there are some people who are basically asexual or sexual phobic, it seemed to rock their cozy little congregation. Then I pursued the point that perhaps bisexuality is far more prevalent than even Kinsey imagined, and perhaps many so-called heterosexuals are actually closeted homos! The ripple of hysteria through the room was palpable at that point?and the grand pooh-bah of the group saw me as the true Unbeliever that I am! Rhetorical question: So why do you suppose that the conversion therapists (pseudoscientists that they are) never imagine the possibility of a freeform sexual urge that can light blissfully and unproblematically on either gender, with the lightness and agility of a butterfly? Could it be that sexuality can be as fluid and creative as man is capable of being?if the doctrinaire religious fanatics didn't live in constant denial? (Ergo, the red-faced clerics in the Catholic Church.) Another rhetorical "queery": Are convents also a hotbed of illicit sex? Strange, we don't hear of Sapphic habits among the sisters. Maybe that's because it's closer to heaven than we can imagine. That 1931 movie was called Maedchen in Uniform. As for Psychology Today's backtracking, it's enough to make the ghost of Magnus Hirschfield unrestful over the reactionary atmosphere in our so-called free society. Keep writing, Mike! And let's hope that Little Orphan Andy Sullivan gets the help he needs so badly! A mind is a terrible thing to waste!
Michael Ehrhardt, Manhattan