TOC/MAIL 35 THIS WEEK: The oxygen bar industry not in ...
THIS WEEK: The oxygen bar industry not in the E.R., more black eyes, please and a whole lot of election-year mudslinging. PLUS: Has anybody seen Hiroshi?
SLAVES FOR THE GOP
I am one of those "stuffy Republicans" A.J. Daulerio is speaking about in his article "Where the Republicans Roam" (8/25). I'm also a 24/7 lifestyle slave. I worked on Wall Street for more than 20 years. I believe in capitalism, low tax rates, personal responsibility, the death penalty for capital crimes and being left alone by the government as much as possible. I support President Bush and will vote for him in November. I shudder at the thought of Kerry becoming president. (And no, my Master doesn't tell me how to vote!)
The thought that anyone who leads an alternative lifestyle is automatically a liberal Democrat is ludicrous, yet all too pervasive among those who don't really know who's out there. It's also erroneous to assume that Republicans who go into "those places" would be white, middle-aged, button-down types. While I might look like your average soccer mom if you saw me shopping for groceries, should I attend a "lifestyle" event, you'd see me in fetishwear. Or maybe not.
That's the scary thing about "us"-we're all around you and you have no idea who we are! So do your readers a service and go past the stereotypes to the real story. We're real people. And we are everywhere.
Sarah Skye, Houston, TX
ROADBLOCK FOR BUDDHAS
Please pass this along to the "Thank You, Really" department on Page Two.
We had a great time, the three of us New York City born and raised guys. We had traveled far away from the Orange Alert, and the Adirondacks of upstate proved to be the most remote three-day wilderness camping we'd ever experienced. So relaxed and at ease we were after the placid lakes and calling loons near Saranac, it would've been dangerous to let us men of guard-down back into the boroughs.
Thankfully the New York State troopers had set up a checkpoint on I-87 for just such a matter. After pulling us off the road and checking our pack-filled trunk, they asked if we had something we didn't want them to see. We were bringing back down a rare form of calm but luckily those barricades, flashing lights, guns and probing questions put us back on the level, so I truthfully said "no." We continued on to our city feeling stupid that, if not for the friendly reality-check, we'd cross city lines five hours later with any sentiments other than fear, anxiety and loss of self. A thank you, really, is in order.
Rory Patrick McEvoy, Manhattan
NOT-SO-POPULAR FRONT
Just who is Alexander Zaitchik thinking of when he refers to the need for "some fingers in the dyke" ("A Lighter Touch of Evil," 8/25)? Surely not the Democrats, who, since 2000, have let the screwing of Florida voters, budget-busting tax cuts and Pentagon outlays, the Patriot Act and the Iraq invasion all slide past their indifferent fingers. And Zaitchik hasn't been paying attention if he thinks the Democrats aren't about to go ahead with the Maginot Line in space missile defense project just as the Republicans are.
All of which underscores the fallacy of the "Popular Front" analogy implicit in much of the Anybody but Bush (i.e., Nobody but Kerry, Anything But the Issues) rhetoric, and explicitly invoked by Zaitchik. Much as he and others on the left might try to persuade themselves otherwise, the Democrats of today are analogous not to the anti-fascist centrist politicians of the 30s, but to Vichy-recipients of a blank check from a desperate public that dared not risk other options. The words of Bertrand de Jouvenel, a Frenchman who survived the turmoil and conflicts of that earlier time, ring all too true in the U.S. today: "A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." And all the ABBers of the liberal and left intelligentsia who look at the Kerry campaign and delude themselves that they are seeing a new "Popular Front" are performing the function of dutiful shepherds.
Ron MacKinnon, Manhattan
THE CLINTON COVER-UP
Finished reading "911 Omissions" by Sander Hicks (8/25). Maybe, just maybe, all you left-wingers might point a little finger toward the Clinton administration and his group who just covered up terrorism with a blanket and a band-aid until they got out of office.
Gayle Cristopher, Houston, TX
HOT AIR
I read your scathing story in regards to AWOL (Page Two, "All the Kids Want Something to Do," 8/25). My objection is to the phrase "long-dead oxygen bars." Your writer is obviously unaware that the oxygen bar industry has mainstreamed and is bigger than ever. Our site is oxygenexperience.com. We sell worldwide and our business has been doubling every year. Tell your know-it-all writer to do his homework. While we do not sell and will not sell AWOL, the oxygen bar business is far from dead.
THE EDITORS REPLY: Sorry, we should've written the "long-dead fad of oxygen bars."
MORE SHOCK, MORE APPALL
Great article by Liam Scheff ("Orphans on Trial," 7/14). I am a nutritionist and a homeopathic practitioner. My husband is a chiropractor. I just want to say thank you to Scheff for the wonderful work he did compiling the information for this story about AIDS.
I am so shocked and appalled to hear that innocent children are being treated this way. Is there anything we can do to stop this? I would be very interested in knowing if they can be shut down or if this information could be spread to more people. I admire Scheff, and I wish there were more like him.
Bonnie Lantz, N.C. EDS Practitioner, New Ulm, MN
FROM ACROSS THE LAKE
As a member of the UK's Campaign for Truth in Medicine, I appreciate your decision to publish Liam Scheff's "Orphans on Trial" (7/14). It was harrowing reading, but this kind of medical tyranny needs to be exposed to the general public. It was a brave move on your part; keep up the good work.
Jim Cooke, Newburgh, Lancashire, England
SEE ABOVE
I just read an article based on an article you published about the treatment of children in a Catholic home, who are being force-fed AIDS drugs (Liam Scheff, "Orphans on Trial," 7/14). It was so horrific I couldn't read it all.
All I can do is congratulate New York Press for having the courage to bring this to light. Is there anything I can do to help stop this-given that I write from England?
Beryl Williams, Wakefield, England
WANNA BE TOUCHED BY YOU
I just ran across Donna Larsen's "Apply Fist Here" on your website, and it caught my attention (6/30). I know that there are many people disturbed and outraged by this piece, even (if not especially) in the BDSM crowd, but I am writing for the opposite purpose. I actually have a fetish for bruises, especially black eyes, and I am looking to find or create a support community of people who "get" this particular desire. I have occasionally tried to find support for this kink from within the BDSM world, but have met with results very similar to those described by Larsen.
I am absolutely serious about this, and it's all the harder when people respond with either absolute shock or complete dismissal of the whole thing as a put-on. My first question is whether or not Larsen is writing sincerely, or just taking a position for artistic reasons? Either way, if she can genuinely relate to the content as she's written it, I believe she'd be interested in hearing more of my story.
Name Withheld, San Francisco
MOST LOATHSOME DC'ER
At first blush, William Bryk's article "The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush," and Matt Taibbi's article, "The Liberal Case Against John Kerry," seem to paint a very dismal picture of our
political choices this November ("Dopes on a Rope," 8/4). But then I realized that I could sum up both articles in two sentences: "George Bush plans to do a great deal of evil and, if re-elected, will quite likely succeed. John Kerry plans to do a tiny bit of good, and, if elected, might possibly fail."
Sure, the Democrats could have come up with a better candidate than Kerry, but the Republicans would be hard-pressed to find a more loathsome candidate than Bush. I haven't felt so good about voting Democratic in my entire life.
John Scott Lucas, Bronx
LAROUCHE IN '04
Which candidate does William Bryk advocate in the place of Bush ("The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush," 8/4)? Surely John Kerry wouldn't return America to conservative values.
Erik Schuchard, Chapel Hill, NC
COPYRIGHT KID
Thank you, Matt Taibbi, for writing the only decent article to comment on the washed up Post and their dreadful confession of complicity in Cheney-Bush's schemes ("Sorry, Our Bad," 8/18).
My only disappointment is seeing the copyright at the bottom of your page-permission is given only to reproduce this article. Your words and opinion should be available for educational and non-commercial uses.
New York Press does a great civic service with this pointed and needed commentary. Great illustration, too!
Robert Alexander, Washington, DC
HIROSHI VS. MUGGER
Where is Hiroshi? I kind of miss his weekly columns.
If you're running out of space, I have a suggestion: Dump the Mugster, Russ Smith.
César Díaz, Denia, Spain
THE PRESS WETS THE RUG
I cry "Bully! Bully!" on Matt Taibbi's commentary, "Sorry, Our Bad" (8/18). "The Washington Post still doesn't get it," he says. This country is being perpetually misled, and, in general, it feels as if any watchdog press the people may have ever had to depend on has been long since put to sleep. It figures. The people never figured out Eisenhower's warning in his farewell address, and now denizens from the heart of the "military-industrial complex," as he put it, not only rule our land, they are grasping for complete control of the world. Disaster looms ahead for us all because of their self-aggrandizing and over-reaching.
Ron Brassfield, Knoxville, TN
NO SMILING ALLOWED
Matt Taibbi's article on media failures on the Iraq war made me smile; the whole situation makes me crazy ("Sorry, Our Bad," 8/18). Living in a red state and talking to people about it is like trying to convince an abused wife that in spite of his promises her husband will continue to beat her until she's dead. They talk about Bush-haters, but they don't hold a candle to Bush-lovers in fanaticism. Oh well, maybe history will be a little more circumspect.
Lis Ham, Tulsa, OK
COLONEL KURTZ
Kurtz kills me! People died and are continuing to die, at least in part, because the media and the press did not do their job (Matt Taibbi, "Sorry, Our Bad," 8/18). The Washington Post and Kurtz are among those people that did not do their job. If any of the big-time reporters had the integrity of bread mold, they would resign in disgrace.
Since that is not likely, Kurtz, and the rest of the media/press slackers, need to understand that apologies consist of two parts: saying you are sorry, and then changing the behavior. In this case, that means do your job. That is, if an angry mob of parents whose kids have been taken from them forever does not come after you with torches in the night!
Dot Dedman, St. Simons Island, GA
HOUSE OF HORRORS
I read with horror the testing regimen and death by drugging suffered by those poor kids in a New York City children's home (Liam Scheff, "Orphans on Trial," 7/14). What are these people on? It is proof indeed that there is little morality or true integrity left with the drug giants and that these children are considered expendable.
Congratulations on this article and having the courage to publish it. The public are so brainwashed into believing most of what the medical profession tells them, particularly if the disease scares them. They blindly go along with the most insane theories instead of taking responsibility for their own health and listening to results.
Brid Eve, Long Crendon, England
THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH FAT BURNS
I was very curious about Kenneth Scheurkogel's letter, especially his indictment of Fahrenheit 9/11 (The Mail, 8/18). I'm an open-minded guy, and I sure like knowing when I am being lied to. And there has been a lot in the air about Michael Moore's movie being full of lies.
So...what lies exactly? I mean, by now the general public knows pretty well by heart the specific things about which Bush lied, and how, and when. That's a case where, when someone counters, "What lies has he told?" we can answer fairly definitively. But exactly what parts of Moore's movie were lies? I don't seem to have ever heard-in any of the criticism of the film I have seen or heard-specifically where or how he lied. And, you know, if you're going to call a person a liar, the nature of the lie itself is a reasonably important detail.
Landon W. Schurtz, Antioch, TN
WHO'S THE TRAITOR?
I thought writing was supposed to make you smarter, but I guess it only works for Russ Smith in a parallel universe, proving what a two-bit neo-con dumbass hack he is ("Hollywood Squares," 8/18). Now he uses Benedict Arnold and John Kerry in the same sentence? You want to compare records? Well, let's see. Kerry volunteered for Vietnam and commanded a swift boat. Bush sat frozen in a chair for seven minutes after being told we were under attack, forces re-enlistment of soldiers who already served (some more than 60 years old, for crying out loud), extends their tours indefinitely and cuts their paychecks and vet benefits.
If a Democrat were doing this, Russ would be calling this treason. Now tell me who the Benedict Arnold is?
And in regard to your caption to Allen Smith's letter of Decatur, GA, in the Mail section, yes, even a cold grilled-cheese sandwich would do a better job than George W. Bush.
James L. Simon, Manhattan
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
Thank you, Liam Scheff and New York Press, for the article "Orphans on Trial" (7/14). This took courage for you to print, and most would not have done so. It is so important that this type of information be made public. It's the only way to help these kids and a beginning to helping ourselves. Please keep up the good work.
Jackie Smith, Skiatook, OK
AND WHERE DO YOU TEND BAR, DOLLFACE?
Concerning your interview with Ellen Moynihan of Siberia Bar, written by Gregory Gilderman (8/25): I am Nancy Moynihan, Ellen's mother, and I approve.
Nancy Moynihan, Manhattan
NOTED
Hello, New York Press! I wanted to thank you for reviewing The End of the Line and including it as one of your Picks (8/18). I'm really glad you enjoyed the show, and I appreciate the positive review. I have a request, however; your reviewer missed the fact that the show was a collaboration between Jessica Hammer and myself and gave complete writing credit to Jessica.
I came up with the concept for the show about a year ago, asked Jessica to help me write it (we decided to share the copyright), and then took on a second part-time job to pay for the production. Over the course of the last several months, I assembled a creative team, wrote the soundtrack and produced the show. After all that, it would really mean a lot to me if you would include my name along with Jessica's in the review.
Once again, thank you very much for reviewing the show!
Isaac Everett, Brooklyn