The Mail
Decline and Fall
Wil Burns, Manhattan
Gone But Not Forgotten
I've been reading through the archives of your most righteous alternative news weekly, and have been particularly impressed with the work of John Strausbaugh. His description of Baltimore in the 1960s was priceless, and I loved his take on the rock 'n' roll museum. I know he's extremely busy, but I'd like to tell him some of the stories from my college radio days at Brown.
Michael Adams, St. Louis, MO
Don't Forget the Cookies
Re: "Brooklyn Rats" by Aaron Naparstek (The News Hole, 2/9): Thanks so much for this article on the biggest theft in Brooklyn. I'll be bringing copies of this article to my community board meeting tonight.
Erica DePiero, Brooklyn
Betty Crocker: Commie!
I'm as entertained by paranoid raving as the next guy, and I understand that when a left-leaning writer is coming up empty on deadline, a "creeping fascism" story is just an hysterical brain dump away.
But the stats Alexander Zaitchik relies on for his "Generation Red, White and Gray" piece (2/9) may not be as alarming as advertised, once you factor in the eternal stupidity of the average high school student. So what if one-third of them thinks the First Amendment goes too far? One-third of them would no doubt respond affirmatively if a polling organization asked them if the Betty Crocker Seal of Goodness "goes too far." The point is, American high schools cast a wide net, with one-third to one-half of students being barely functional idiots, if I recall correctly. These folks generally won't be voting anyway, so who gives a shit what they think?
As for Zaitchik's other contention, that the slapdown of Professor Churchill is a sign of creeping fascism: What would have happened to this guy in 1943, when the U.S. was involved in a war against genuine Fascists-who labeled themselves as such-if he had made similar statements about the military personnel killed at Pearl Harbor? What if Churchill had called them a bunch of native-murdering imperialists who had it coming? He'd have been strung up by his nuts-literally suspended by his testicles. O'Reilly's bitching and the Colorado legislature's censure are signs of growing liberalization, not creeping fascism.
Jim Christopher, Baltimore
Ward Gets the Cleaver
I'm not sure if Alexander Zaitchik actually read the First Amendment, but it has little to do with whether a state university can fire Ward Churchill for his comments ("Generation Red, White and Gray," 2/9). Besides, if what you want to say is not worth losing your job over, then it can't be very important.
Todd Sulchek, Oakland, CA
Polls and Trolls
Alexander Zaitchik fails to draw a real distinction between what he calls the "paranoid patriotism" of decades past and the "shrinking respect" for freedom allegedly unearthed in a recent Knight poll ("Generation Red, White and Gray," 2/9).
Though he argues that kids in the 1950s, however authoritarian their attitudes, "still had a sense" of the rich tradition of freedom in America, whereas today's "videogame generation" doesn't, he seems to ignore a noteworthy body of evidence suggesting that the "ominous" findings of the Knight Poll are nothing new. Two equally "ominous" examples are "Anti-Democratic Attitudes in American Schools" (ed. H.H. Remmers, Northwestern University Press, 1963) and "Anti-Democratic Attitudes of High School Students in the Orwell Year" by Stanley Elam (Phi Delta Kappan, 1984).
Jason Briker, Manhattan
Paging Mario Savio
Alexander Zaitchik: I am not at all surprised by the easy submission to authority drilled into our children day in and day out in school for 13 years (in Florida on its way to 15 years) to conform-or else be labeled, flunked, drugged, ostracized ("Generation Red, White and Gray," 2/9).
The education establishment has spent decades developing their curriculum and associated psycho-babble. A legion of drones coming forth should be no surprise. The experiment has been successful. Thanks for an insightful story.
Scott Ellis, Melbourne, FL
White's Brave Heart
Armond White is the necessary critic that matches the bravery of the filmmakers he triumphs.
Andy Irvine, Manhattan
Where's a Lockbox When You Need One?
Re: Russ Smith on Bush's plan to destroy social security ("Papa Said Knock You Out," 2/9). Smith names several columnists who praise Bush's plan to privatize social security. However, all these columnists-Joe Klein, George Will and Fred Hiatt-are wealthy, out-of-touch elitists who will never depend on social security for their income.
Privatization will reduce social security benefits by 40 percent. The percentage of the FICA contribution that would go to fund current recipients will go into the private account. And the amount of their social security check will be reduced by that amount. Social Security is a social contract between the younger and older generations. And it is funded on a pay-as-you go basis. Therefore, when the current social security recipients were younger, FICA was deducted from their paychecks to pay those who were retired. Who is going to make up the difference to pay the current recipients? Bush wants to base the yearly COLA increase on the cost of living index rather than basing it on the percentage of the increase in wages. Over the long run, it is predicted that this will decrease the rate of growth of social security by 50 percent.
There is no question that Bush wants to destroy social security while rewarding his fat cat friends on Wall Street.
Reba Shimansky, Manhattan
All Net
"The Brooklyn Rats" (2/9) was a great three-point shot concerning construction of developer Bruce Ratner's proposed Nets arena in Brooklyn.
Remember the closed-door private meetings hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz in fall of 2004? Everyone knows when government officials conduct a closed-door meeting, it usually means that they have something to hide.
Opponents of both Bruce Ratner's Brooklyn Nets and Robert Woods IV Jets West Side Manhattan Stadiums have much in common.
You have to wonder how many New York City Council members have endorsed one or both projects and received campaign contributions from Nets owner Bruce Ratner or Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV and their friends. It will be interesting to read about future financial campaign reports prior to Borough President Markowitz's reelection effort in 2005 to see if there was a political quid pro quo.
With an all but deceased Kings County GOP providing no real opponent, why would he need to raise over $1,000,000 for his reelection campaign fund to date?
Larry Penner, Great Neck, New York
Fascism in Film
Alexander Zaitchik might want to view the film Brute Force about prisons, fascism and power over populations ("Generation Red, White and Gray," 2/9). It's more than eerie when the captain tortures a prisoner to Wagner and is the spitting image of our friend on Pennsylvania Ave.
"I am a normal man, captain, and I get drunk on liquor," he says. "What do you get drunk on?"
PK, via email
Just Some Guy
I was perfectly delighted that you chose to run my letter, which you titled "Next Week: Outing Vito Fossella" ("The Mail," 2/2). Except that you made one big blunder: You printed one of my sentences as "And finally, compliment Judy McGuire for clearly using the homonyms 'discussed' and 'disgust' in the same sentence." If you had read my letter more carefully, you would have seen that what I actually wrote was "compliment Judy McGuire for cleverly using the homonyms." Yes, "cleverly," not "clearly." Your readers might read it and think that I wrote it that way.
And that makes me look bad, as the word "clearly" makes no sense in this context. Please print this and have me exonerated of all blame for this goof. My reputation as a frequent letter writer to New York Press is at stake.
And by the way, just who is Vito Fossella?
Richard Fried, Brooklyn
Okay-Anybody Missing an Irish Nut Job?
Re: "Anybody Missing a British Nut Job?" ("The Mail, 2/9"). Thanks for printing my letter, but I'm an Irish citizen living in London. Did you make an assumption that was incorrect? Seems this is not the only one.
You also missed a golden opportunity by failing to specify the type of surveillance technology that makes the combination of SIGINT with HUMINT possible.
All those involved are well known to me and identified. There are no mysterious "they."
I'm just communicating information. What people do about it is their decision. You will learn the truth sooner or later. Looks like later.
While I write this, I'm currently watching a BBC multi-part program called Auschwitz: the Nazis and the Final Solution, Frenzied Killing Part 5 of 6. It is a great tragedy that the lessons of the Holocaust have not been learned. The same mistakes are being made all over.
The technology is now different, but the sadistic, destructive character is still the same, attacking those whom they do not like, and no one is getting the real truth out. Ê
Those carrying out the surveillance are delighted they were not exposed. They were quite abusive when I wrote, sent and answered the emails. Ê
Gary D. Chance, London
Not Exactly Churchill's Point, But?
Re: Alexander Zaitchik's "Generation Red, White and Gray" (2/9): It's absurd to take the case of a guy who may have said that the U.S. war in Korea was imperialistic and was fired, and compare it to Churchill's statements that the combat teams of 9/11 made gallant sacrifices and that more 9/11s need to be done.
Churchill endorsed mass murder as a political act. He also justified the killing of innocent people. He was not just saying that Muslims have some legitimate grievances against the U.S.
No wonder some people take such a dim view of freedom of speech when it is construed to promote mass murder and terrorism. U.S. law has never taken such statements to be a valid use of the First Amendment and free speech does not mean that anything goes. Most people who support freedom of speech can see the difference between being against a war, and advocating mass murder.
Randy Erb, Houston