Yeah, MUGGER, Kill Him!; Good Ol', Poor Ol' Yanks; NYP Ain't Got No Typos; The Whole Friggin' World Loves Taki; Thanks and a Tippo to Richardson; Slivka, the Agenda-Driven Ideologue; More...
Thank God somebody in the news media is coming right out and saying what everybody by now should be taking for granted: Yasir Arafat should be assassinated, and immediately ("MUGGER," 10/31). Going back to Sept. 11, I thought one of the first things to happen would be for the U.S. to step aside and tell Israel that it's time to take care of Arafat once and for all. It's bewildering to me why, seven weeks later, he's still alive. These people are the closest thing we have to real friends in the Middle East. Arafat has to go, and who else but Israel is in a position to do something about it? After the PLO, next stop Hamas and Hezbollah.
Bill Parsons, Salem, OR
Next He'll Direct
I agree with MUGGER 100 percent (10/24): CNN's Aaron Brown is the only digestible talking head these days (except for Fox News channel's Laurie Dhue with the sound off). One complaint: Erik Maniscalco's illustration of James Gandolfini ("Film," 10/24) looks more like F. Murray Abraham. And that's right, MUGGER, fuck the Yankees (10/31). I've hated them for 30 years and hate them no less and no more this year. They're not a "great bunch of guys" representing our great city in this most trying of times (sob). They're just like any other group of sports stars?self-centered, overpaid nonheroes. Check out Derek Jeter in that lovely commercial for Fleet online. When comedian Jim Gaffigan noses in on Derek's finances, the supernice superstar gives the common plebe his best look of death. Quite realistic, I thought. Great Tony Millionaire cover illustration this week (10/31). I also liked the Knipfel and Poe ("Slackjaw," 10/31). Reminds me, I caught Troma's Terror Firmer on Cinemax, noticed Knipfel's name during the credits. So he's a writer/actor now, eh?
Mark Duffy, Manhattan
Have No Fear
MUGGER: After the Diamondbacks threw up on themselves Thursday night, I had a vivid nightmare: the Red Sox trade for Kim and sign Brenly as manager. Argh! The only hope is that Clemens pitches as well in his next start as he did on average for the Sox in the postseason. And Georgie S. cried, how touching. Pardon me while I soil myself. Glad you took a dig at the Globe's Ryan. He's the type of Boston scribe who out of sheer pettiness cost Ted Williams the MVP both times Teddy won the Triple Crown. Reminds me of the Russian proverb about the man, who having been granted one wish for anything his heart might desire, wishes for his neighbor's cow to die. Hang in there dude, I fear more emotional torture awaits.
Larry Dempsey, Modesto, CA
For the Love of the Game
MUGGER: A salute to the Diamondbacks and the Yankees is in order for giving us a World Series to remember. This series had it all: great pitching, clutch hitting, costly errors, the long ball, great comebacks, gutsy performances by great players, managerial mistakes, managerial genius, great joy and great heartbreaks. My compliments go out to Joe Torre. He is the personification of class and dignity, and outmanaged Bob Brenly in this series. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they got outhit and outplayed by a team that simply wouldn't be denied. The wills of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling carried their teammates to what can only be described as an inevitable rendezvous with fate. Their recognition as co-MVPs barely pays homage to what they truly meant to the success of their team.
The drama that unfolded at Yankee Stadium in games 4 and 5 will be the subject of the conversations of the most ardent of baseball fans as we settle into the long winter. The heroics of Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius with their two-out homeruns in the bottom of the ninth to save the day for the Yanks is the stuff of legends, and the performances of Kim and Rivera will be second-guessed until the first breath of spring lifts our hearts and raises our expectations for next season. This World Series reaffirmed for me that baseball is still the best metaphor for life we have here in America.
Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX
Do for Self
Mr. Christopher Caldwell: I believe that the UNICEF scam started in the 1950s ("Hill of Beans," 10/31). I remember little boxes being foisted on me by my well-meaning teachers. I totally ignored them and went out to collect my Halloween goodies. I figured if those staring children couldn't get off their duffs to get candy, I wasn't going to do it for them.
Laura Skamser, Elgin, IL
Such Fulsome Praise
John Strausbaugh: I can't believe I'm going to say this. You have finally pulled your head out of your ass and said something worth reading. Calling the WTC massacre a massacre ("Daily Billboard," 10/30) is the soundest piece of writing you have ever done.
Frank Turk, St. Nazianz, WI
John Strausbaugh replies: And this is the first intelligent letter your dog ever ghosted for you. Though how he gets his head out of your crotch long enough to write them for you must?please?remain a mystery.
Letter of the Week (And Try nypress.com)
I always look forward to reading New York Press, particularly "MUGGER," which is often right, occasionally off the wall and consistently interesting. I don't always agree with Russ or your other columnists, but you all usually have something interesting to say and say it well. Best of all, most of the New York Press columnists do not seem to share the usual left/liberal/Democrat view of the world that seems to be shared by virtually all other columnists and newspaper/magazine writers today. It is a breath of fresh air.
You are also to be congratulated for having absolutely no typos ever. The fact that you are this careful about typos suggests that perhaps you're just as careful about substance and writing quality. If New York Press subscriptions cost less, I'd probably order one. Except for that pricing issue, I have no suggestions at all and hope you keep up the good work. By the way, how do you circulate the Press to all those distant places from which you receive mail?
Joshua Stein, Manhattan
Block War Rages On
Thank you for you coverage of our continued attempts to improve our Pacific St. block here in Brooklyn ("New York City," 10/31). While Spencer Ackerman did an admirable job of maintaining an evenhanded approach to the situation, I would like to clarify several points that continue to puzzle the block about this proposal from the 5th Avenue Committee.
To begin with, 572 Pacific St. has been boarded up for almost two years at the request of the community so it may be sold for family housing (under HPD regulations, any city-owned property must remain vacant for two years or it may only be sold under conditions of its previous usage, which in this case was a city-run SRO). Just as the property is about to emerge from this moratorium, the process is sidetracked by the FAC. Why?
This property has served as transitional housing for ex-offenders before, during which time there were murders, muggings and increased theft at local area businesses. What makes the FAC think their attempt will be any more successful than previous ones? The site has proven unsuitable for this use, and this use has proven dangerous to the community.
Where was the FAC when the community was fighting so hard to improve the block? Now that we've improved it, why is it okay for them to sweep in and dictate its character? At a time when the city and state are hard-pressed for income, is it appropriate to give away city-owned assets, permanently exempting them from the tax rolls by awarding them to tax-exempt organizations? Is it fair to dilute the political franchise of a small community by dedicating limited real estate to transients who can't vote? The support from residents that Mr. Lander refers to in your article is exactly the one person he quoted. He is trying to railroad this proposal through in the face of united block opposition.
The FAC refers to the proposed residents as "recent parolees," which is inaccurate at best. The FAC is attempting to open a halfway house, which by definition is housing for current prisoners as the last step before final release.
James M. Vogel, Brooklyn
Away from the Limelight
I am usually in agreement with much of what MUGGER writes, but his criticism of the lack of sympathy for the WTC victims and families exhibited by the Yankees (10/31), in particular Paul O'Neill, is in no way justified. And I write this as a lifelong Red Sox fan.
Let me explain. During my very first visit to Pier 94 to fill out a missing persons report for my brother and to give a DNA sample, I sat down with a friend to collect myself, as I was overwhelmed by what I saw around me. In the cavernous space, with hundreds of individuals and families milling about doing the very same thing as I was, the amount of loss and number of lives destroyed, including that of my brother, finally got to me. At this time, Paul O'Neill came up to us, unescorted, sat down and talked at length. He wanted to know my brother's story and was fascinated with what my brother called his life "on top of the world" (he was a transmission engineer for WCBS working on the 110th floor of the North Tower). I later learned that Mr. O'Neill had been down at the pier a number of times and indeed was at the armory in the days immediately following the attack.
In the chaos of the weeks following 9/11, Paul O'Neill quietly offered direct comfort and support to the families of victims. My family and I were most grateful. He is a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. Russ Smith owes this man an apology.
Shawn H. Pattison, Manhattan
Stroking Our Egos
I wanted to thank Tanya Richardson for pointing me in the direction of the Rapture ("Music Reviews," 6/27). I picked up their album based on her recent review and I love it. I also appreciate her less-than-enthusiastic response to the Strokes, which she's made note of in a couple columns. What do the Strokes have going for them? Hype and more than a few enthusiastic writeups in mainstream rags.
Sometimes the American rock press reminds me of the notoriously hyperbolic British rock press, ready to anoint the next "saviors of rock" before their first LP is out of the factory. Fuck that! I can't believe I'm hearing comparisons to Television and the Velvet Underground when people rave about these guys. When a middling-at-best group like the Strokes can get a shitload of press and someone like Holly Golightly can't even get stateside recognition, there's something dead wrong. Continue to "hoist the black flag," as Mencken says. And hey, thanks MUGGER for a kickass weekly. I'm a pretty staunch liberal, but even in disagreement I'd rather listen to what you say than to what those dull pansies at the Voice are squawking about.
Justin McLaughlin, Los Angeles
Domo Arigato
Taki: Bless you, bless you, bless you.
Randall E. Drapeau, Tsuchiura, Japan
*#@!?#
Just finished Taki's "Heroes & Villains" in the latest issue. Amid the usual boring verbiage and blah, blah, blah ranting I was heartily amused by this, about freedom of speech: "But the only ones free to insult, denigrate and malign have been those insulting the flag, the military and the church."
Oh, really? If that were true, Taki would have been silenced long ago, for while Le Maitre may be a great supporter of the flag, the military and the church, if you removed from his columns the gratuitous insults, denigration and maligning, all you would have left is the punctuation.
Stephen Sterns, Manhattan
Slivka the Ideologue
It's hard to discuss the effectiveness of Andrey Slivka's thinking on the matter of federalizing airport security agents ("Daily Billboard," 10/29) without making too little of it. He doesn't seem to be able to think at all on the subject. What Slivka advocates, evidently, is the creation of yet another hidebound federal bureaucracy stuffed with folks who, thanks to the strength of their unions, are impossible to discipline, let alone fire.
Here in San Francisco we are well acquainted with the phenomenon, enduring everything from dangerously lax bus drivers to amazingly overpaid (and unproductive) city employees, all of whom shout the mantra, "Talk to my shop steward," at any attempt to apply some reasonable standards to their work. There is a reason most of the European nations are moving away from this sort of boondoggle, and it ain't because the Eurocrats hate federal employees. It's because they value the safety of their butts in airline seats.
Slivka, speaking I presume in the name of "safety," wants yet another federal bureaucracy making life even more miserable for already overburdened flyers. The setup he wants will end like all such governmental takeovers: picture something akin to applying for a driver's license or a passport every time you try to board a plane. If Slivka were serious about airline safety, he'd support giving pilots handguns and impermeable cockpit doors. But he isn't serious: he's just another agenda-driven ideologue, battening on to the WTC massacre in order to push a feckless partisan attack and a useless, even dangerous, boondoggle at the same time.
William Thomas Quick, San Francisco
Recession, What Recession?
Russ Smith: You tell us all that Bill Clinton started the "current recession" as a result of his misguided prosecution of Bill Gates and Microsoft ("MUGGER," 10/31). Do you know something we don't? First, you have told me twice in the last 12 months that we are in a recession?we are in dire straits, to be sure, but it still takes two quarters of negative GDP growth to put an economy into technical recession. We may get there, but it is not for you to blithely assert based on gut feeling. Especially when you throw out something as lazily rhetorical as the notion that the Microsoft case was the only thing standing between this country and unchecked economic expansion. The speculative excess that led to crippling overcapacity in this country is a rich subject, but again you surprise me with how little interest you display in the topic at hand in deference to the easy and ideologically comforting, pat answer.
John Atkins, Manhattan
Russ Smith replies: Spare me the Economics 101 lesson about the two quarters of negative GDP growth. There's no doubt that the NASDAQ implosion in the spring of 2000 began the recession: the absurd and punitive prosecution of Microsoft, which hurt almost all entrepreneurial high-tech firms, accelerated the decline. Anyone who owned a small business in the fall of last year knew that a slowdown was already under way. Clinton and the GOP-controlled Congress, to their credit, presided over an envious period of prosperity. It was the hubris of the Justice Dept., which understood nothing about Gates' business but plenty about headline-grabbing lawsuits, that caused great harm to the economy.
Silly Is as Silly Does
Russ Smith: You wrote that "as a result of [the Justice Dept.'s] prosecution [of Microsoft], the current recession began." While I'm generally a big fan of your column, that statement, well, that's just silly.
Mark Spiegel, Manhattan
Breaking the Shackles of Bad Writing
What happened to your neighborhood, Josh Gilbert ("First Person," 10/24)? For one thing, you live in it. You seem to suggest that your attempt at friendship and understanding could be conveyed through a simple hug, though you overlook the mockery that you presented. Rather than taking a true step toward unity and camaraderie, you instead poke fun at a hardworking blue-collar worker who is trying to feed his family and himself. What right have you to sit on your white horse, smug and pretentious? Perhaps you should point to yourself for a while and feel what it must be like to be the only stagnant thing in an ever-changing world.
Life as we know it is changing and unless you release yourself from the shackles that control your superiority complex you will always be the whiny kid standing in the street wondering where everyone has gone. No one is waiting in the rafters to save you, but perhaps you will be able to save yourself and help one person along the way. I ask you this: Where were you when two twentysomethings were flashing a video camera into a Middle Eastern gas attendant's face at 2 a.m., accusing him of all the misfortunes of late? Were you in that backseat? If not, come forward and learn to understand your fellow man rather than satisfy your cheap thrills and pacification.
Jennifer A. Uihlein, Long Island
Stinging Rebuke
I was U.S. Army active duty for three years and am currently in the Reserves (inactive as of now). I'm also a citizen whose background is Muslim Pakistani. I had been a fan of New York Press for years and always told anyone who'd listen that your paper had the best writing of any paper in this town. But the current racism in your pages sickens me and makes me feel like a chump for ever having praised you.
Blanket condemnation of any people, especially during wartime, is an insult to any of those people who serve in the U.S. military or New York City Police and Fire Depts. The time may soon come when I and others of my background will have to go to war to protect the U.S. There're a lot of people currently who think waving a flag makes you patriotic, but how many of them would be willing to help defend the country that makes their comfortable lives possible? My guess is that most of them would run off to Canada again. There's an old saying: Words fall down like shit from the dogs, deeds rise up like the spirit leaving the body.
Salem Rana, Astoria
Letter of the Week, 1st Runner-Up
MUGGER: I always enjoy your column?a big drop of sanity in the ocean of crap from other media. I was vacationing with my wife and son in your great city until three days before Sept. 11. Watched the U.S. Open quarterfinals, shopped Filene's, ate the best pasta ever at Giambelli's 50th, did the Museum of Natural History and other tourist stuff. We can never get enough of New York and will be back as soon as possible.
Coming back to the hotel one evening we watched a fire company roll out (Lexington and 51st) for an emergency of some sort. Now we can't help but wonder if any of those brave men and women lost their lives at the WTC. We contributed to the Fire Dept. fund and the Red Cross, but wish we could do more. I wanted to let you know how much your city means to many of us out in the sticks. I really enjoy reading about you and your boys. Our son left for college this fall and my wife and I are home alone. You can never ever spend enough time with your kids when they are young because they grow up so fast. Trust me, the memories of the fun things you did with your children are the best memories you'll ever have.
Now, some free advice regarding your trouble with Verizon and others. I started using Yahoo Bill Pay this year and it is great. Their free service lets me pay 90 percent of my bills electronically. It's very secure, convenient and I love it. At first it was a little scary but now I couldn't live without it. I could go on and on (I don't work for Yahoo) but check it out for yourself and keep up the good work.
Bob Kingsbery, Mill Creek, WA
As Opposed to a Smart Fuckstick
Russ Smith: You stupid, ignorant, brainless fuckstick. Only a Red Sox fan could whine like you. I swear, you and your Boston-loving cronies must have bitching perfected to an art form. I just finished reading your column in the 10/31 issue of New York Press, in which you start the last section with "Go Snakes!" Let me clue you in on something?the Braves were listed as "America's Team," as anyone who watched TBS during the 80s will tell you. Furthermore: If your beloved "Sawx" were that damn good, why did they finish the season more than 10 games back? With supposedly the best pitcher of the last 30 years in their dugout? And an "RBI machine" like that dork who left Cleveland? The only good thing you guys had this season was Cone, whom we should have offered 2 or 3 million to and kept on another season, but my last name isn't Cashman, I don't sign the checks.
All in all, your column of the 31st has almost singlehandedly turned me off your writings. I'm surprised you're allowed to go out in public by yourself.
David Romigh, Cliffside Park, NJ
Hollywood, History, Taki
Taki's War on Logic drags on with no hope of victory and no exit strategy. His screed on Hollywood and its softness on communism ("Top Drawer," 10/31) seemed to depend on his own definition of Hollywood: namely, left-leaning films he doesn't like and the people who make them. He conveniently ignores the late 40s through the early 60s, when Hollywood churned out anticommie propaganda films by the dozen and blacklisted artists whose political views had become, amazingly, illegal.
True, in the years since the late 60s, Hollywood has shown a broader range of political views than they did during the Eisenhower years, with an undeniable liberal bias. (Is anyone surprised that artists have a liberal bias? It's like pointing out that stockbrokers tend to be conservative.) But anyone who has watched a movie in the past 30 years knows that there was always plenty of criticism about communist totalitarianism, from the jingoistic, testosterone-fueled fantasies of Red Dawn and Top Gun to the schmaltzy, feel-good Moscow on the Hudson to higher-brow offerings like The Last Emperor and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. If Hollywood spent more time criticizing aspects of American society than Taki is comfortable with, well, that's the price of living in a tolerant and pluralistic society instead of a totalitarian state.
As with most conservatives and their love-it-or-leave-it blather, Taki makes the semantic leap of defining patriotism as loving America as he envisions it. Liberals who criticize various aspects of American foreign policy are said to be "America-bashers," but I seem to remember him frothing at the mouth over the bombing of Serbia a year ago. What gives, Taki? Were you not being unpatriotic then? And why weren't the Republicans "supporting their President," as they are so anxiously demanding of Democrats now?
I get it. Patriotism means defending America when a Republican is in office. Well, my America is different. My America (and that of the Founding Fathers) is the home of civil liberties, a place where you can hold whatever religious or political view you want and be free from harassment, a beacon of hope for oppressed people everywhere (and yes, that includes socialists and Muslim Arabs as well as anticommunist crypto-fascists), based on a Constitution that makes no provisions for the supremacy of laissez-faire capitalism or Christianity. America 1.0. Love it or leave it, Taki.
Jeff Scherer, Brooklyn
Torn Between Two Lovers
Taki and MUGGER: I love you both. You have different writing styles but my goodness?you guys are great. Thank you for doing what you do.
Joan Parker, Fort Worth, TX
From the Trenches of Windows 98
MUGGER: I read your column regularly through the Drudge Report and I generally agree with what you have to say, but I must take exception to your comment that the prosecution of the antitrust case against Microsoft caused the current recession (10/31). The recession is the result of a cutback in computer and software sales for sure, but the antitrust suit is not the culprit.
Businesses and consumers had reached the saturation point with computers about the time the Y2K problems were being solved. Computers had already satisfied the average home user's needs (spreadsheets, word processing, Internet), and businesses were seeing very little in the way of increased productivity with the later versions of Windows. Had the Y2K problem not presented itself, the recession would have begun sooner. The thing that may bring the computer industry back is more rapid interaction with the Internet, but that will depend on whether the price is right.
By the way, I had to spend $100 for an Excel upgrade in order to use a stock-tracking software I had purchased, and all I could see that the upgrade gave me was an annoying dancing paper clip that I disabled immediately. I, for one, think Microsoft should be broken up. Their defenders always cite Microsoft's ingenuity, etc., but a lot of their products were acquired from others, then improved upon. Their products are very good, of course, but if they are allowed to monopolize computer software you'll pay through the nose for new products/upgrades.
Ted Yeager, Charleston, SC
You Forgot Arrogant
MUGGER: Please follow your own advice that you proffered President Bush in your 10/31 column: Take a day off and smell the roses, drink some dandelion juice. Your remarks on assassinating Arafat, expanding U.S. aggression and comments against the most resourceful and resilient baseball organization in this country pale behind your utterance: "As a result of that [Microsoft] prosecution, the current recession began." I searched the rest of the article for the disclaimer that you had shares in Microsoft, but alas, I looked in vain. Switch to decaf, please.
Marc Safman, Long Island City
The Feeling's Mutual
Hooray for Taki! I love New York Press.
Marina Barnett, Philadelphia
More Love to Taki
Thanks for that great article, "Heroes & Villains" ("Top Drawer," 10/31). My sentiments exactly. Someone needed to say this and you said it very well.
G. Patton, Rock Spring, GA
How Much Courage Does It Take?
Bless Taki's heart, it's writers like him that give this 86-year-old lady the courage to smile. He is a blessing in my life?every time some freak exposes his hatred for America, expecting to be lauded, I am confident that Taki loathes that person also and will cut him down to size. Thank you from a proud member of the vast right-wing conspiracy.
Hester Nichols, Oklahoma City
Isn't That the American Way?
Once again, Taki has hit the nail on the head by nailing the Hollywood jerks for what they are ("Top Drawer," 10/31). There is no morality and no ethics in the Hollywood mainstream not malleable in pursuit of money.
Ernest Shaffer, Keller, TX
..., Man
Taki: Keep saying it like it is!
Ken Ritz, Santa Clara, CA
Balls Balls Balls
How appropriate are Taki's recent observations. I'd once criticized his relevance, but this essay proves he's a thoughtful writer and a man who writes "balls out." Thank you, Taki. The establishment media has already begun treating Bush's war on terrorism as a sitcom, with the UK press "turning their backs" and all that. They're disgusting and insulting.
Tom McDustrell, Los Angeles
Island Breezes
Russ: I read and reread your column trying to find something, anything, I could disagree with, to no avail. It's so true that we're in a very weird place between the outrage and horror of 9/11 and a free-floating anxiousness about what's to come. I've also come to admire President Bush and especially his Cabinet; they're adults and I feel that someone is in charge. I'm almost glad I don't have my apartment in the city anymore. There must be a certain melancholy that's unavoidable when you venture down the streets south of Canal. I hope that you and your family continue to do well and you continue to write your superb columns.
Adrienne Bellovin, Dix Hills, NY
Speaking of Balls...
In response to MUGGER's "Let Sharon Be Sharon" (10/24), it really sucks that you guys have not had the balls (or the common sense??but that's impossible) to get the hell rid of this MUGGER guy, who is amongst the most misguided and conservative?in a bad, no, sickening way?journalists I have encountered in the supposedly liberal press of New York. It is a disgrace that his voice gets a weekly platform in this great city and it is inexcusable that you subject normal, sane people to his nonsense week after week. Sharon is a mass murderer. To side with him is to side with Hitler. Bush is arguably the most embarrassing president ever in the history of this great country. To side with him is to trumpet your own stupidity. MUGGER remains an effective repellent of potential New York Press readers of some intelligence.
Name Withheld, Bronx
United States of Denial
Russ Smith: You're absolutely right, there's a weird kind of hysteria/anger in the air?isn't that the stage after denial??with respect to the war effort (10/31). It'll take time, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the media is more impatient than the people at home. And McKinney and Lee aren't even on the radar, so who cares? If anything, I'd worry about the hard-chargers on the right, who are as impatient as the media mullahs. Here's a bizarre prediction: if the war continues at a pace not deemed appropriate to the right wing, there might be a Bomb Them All and Bomb Them Now challenge from the right during the next presidential election. Impossible? There are plenty of historical precedents. And yeah, they've blown the anthrax problem wide open, but then again no one's ever had to deal with something like it before. Sure, Sorkin is loathsome, but I knew that from just about every writer who's ever worked with or for him.
I guess I have to applaud or, well, acknowledge, your consistency re the Yankees.
Harley Peyton, Santa Monica
A Hand for Held
Mr. Smith: As the saying goes, the main difference between journalism and literature is that the latter can be read more than once. By this definition your latest, "The Hangover Sets In," is literature as with every new reading I enjoy it more and more.
The last issue is rich in other hard-hitting pieces, to wit those of Messrs. Taki and Caldwell. (All the while, the Voice sets "scientific" breakthroughs: successfully transmutes foul-smelling fecalia into equally foul-smelling printed matter, something the alchemists of old would not even dare to try.)
New York Press emerges as one of the "unadvertised specials" leaving behind the predictable weeds in the journalistic garden, with the notable exception of The Wall Street Journal, a daily beacon with the candlepower of the sun.
R.P. Held, Manhattan
Great Minds Root for the Sox
MUGGER: I was reading your column and thinking to myself, this guy thinks an awful lot like I do. Then a few paragraphs down I understood why. Like me, you are a Red Sox fan in the wrong city. That second plane blew up right in front of me and I had to run back into the subway to avoid getting hit by flaming debris (the plane's engine bounced off a building 100 feet behind me on Church St.). The WTC tragedy is very personal for me (I've seen three flag-draped coffins motor by my window this week), but I will never, ever root for the Yankees.
Where were Jeter, Clemens and Bernie on Sept. 11? I agree that they are classy guys and the team's success these past five years is downright spooky, but I don't have to like them. Keep up the good work.
Jim Veneau, Manhattan
Because He's a Redneck Mercenary
After reading your latest column, MUGGER, it's curious to see what motivates Red Sox fans. I'm a Yankee fan going back to when my dad took me to the 1961 World Series, have lived through the lean years and am enjoying this run enormously. I don't think the Yankees had anything to do with the World Trade Center destruction, and they don't need anyone rooting for them for that reason.
This is a great team to root for because they seem to be good people, they play baseball properly (Jeter is a star player by any standard, but he is the best fundamental player I've ever seen?a great baserunner, high-percentage base stealer, great instincts). I really enjoy rooting for him, Bernie Williams, Torre, the rest of the "irrevocably loathsome" Yankees and, yes, even Steinbrenner, who has shown himself capable of reform to the point that he has had two managers during the past decade. Meanwhile, you can enjoy rooting for Carl Everett and Dan Duquette (too bad Jimy Williams is gone). Clemens, who allegedly can't pitch in the postseason, has excellent numbers in the World Series. I don't get why Red Sox fans hate Clemens, as the GM did not want him on the team. What was he supposed to do, retire in mid-career?
Bob DeGrande, Hoboken, NJ
Never Go to Roc
Tom Scocca can chew his take on the Rocket ("MUGGER," 10/31). I hope you gagged on your brew in the fourth inning and Schwartz is a hardon for the Red Sox. Misery deserves company and you guys are the worst. What is nauseating is your column. I'm glad I have never met you in my journeys in Tribeca the past 25 years.
Buck Ziemelis, Hoboken, NJ
Hurts So Good
I love your column, MUGGER, I read it every week, but what is it with the Red Sox? I root for the Yankees because I have followed them since the early 60s and I find it entertaining. Mix in an occasional World Series victory and it becomes great entertainment.
Rooting for the Red Sox is masochistic. The organization is full of losers from top to bottom. They are a dysfunctional organization and rooting for them is an exercise in self-flagellation. It's almost as bad as rooting for the Knicks.
You cry out that Steinbrenner has no class, but what does bad-mouthing a better team show? Certainly not class. Leave the Yankees alone and stick to what you do best, skewering phonies and liberals.
Ed Callahan, La Habra, CA
Pukes?!
MUGGER: Good one (10/31). Some comments from the hinterlands. On the phone calls you got from the bill collectors: for one of my jobs I work for a major electric provider here in Texas. We are getting calls from mostly elderly folks because they are receiving termination notices for the first times in their lives and it is keeping them up at night. We send the notices out (automatically) 16 days after we send out the bills. Usually their payments are posted by the time they get the notice. Seems the float we all had post-9/11 is no longer available, even out here.
As for the finger-pointing, the only finger pointing out here is at the media elites giving aid and comfort to the enemy by telling us and the terrorists where the Marine or stealth-bomber bases are located or where the President is gonna be on Thursday, or passing on the Taliban's counts of civilian casualties or how to take over a nuclear power plant or how few INS personnel are at this crossing in Canada or how many shipping containers or trucks crossing our borders are inspected. These people are digging a hole for themselves. As for the immigration issues that have yet to be addressed, what's up with Teddy Kennedy? What is the quid pro quo for having sponsored a sweetheart immigration deal for Middle Eastern pukes several years ago?
Folks out here are very wary of all the people with turbans running stores and computer and Internet companies. Remember the heroes of flight 93, and "let's roll."
Greg Hall Sr., Grand Prairie, TX
Speaking for the People
Mr. Smith: Great column, as usual. Lack of manners by credit card companies ("MUGGER," 10/31) and others may be pervasive. Upon arriving home last night my wife greeted me with a pink envelope from my auto insurer informing me my policy is canceled as of Nov. 20 because of my alleged failure to make the October payment. I immediately reviewed my records and found that I had mailed the premium check as usual on Oct. 15, but the insurance company, GEICO, located in DC, hasn't received it yet. This is understandable given the anthrax scare at DC's main post office.
I called and was told by a customer service representative that the company knows the mail is slow in coming in, but is unwilling to make any allowance for the delay. Fine, I'll just mail the November payment in earlier. What galls me is that I have diligently paid them on time for probably 15 years, but the first time a payment is late, I get a cancellation notice like I'm some kind of deadbeat. Also, GEICO managed to get its cancellation notices out of DC with no problems.
The next envelope I opened was my American Express bill. I have been hit with a late payment charge from last month because the mail has slowed down and the check didn't get to AMEX on time. I called AMEX. Same thing as GEICO. AMEX is aware that mail is getting to them very slowly, but no allowances will be made. Fortunately, I can adjust and pay bills on a cycle that should fit the current situation because I don't live paycheck to paycheck. What about the folks out there who can't? For example, some young couple with kids who can pay their bills, but are operating too tightly to cut checks two weeks earlier than normal. Credit card companies stand to really cash in on late charges on the backs of these folks. I'm no populist, but this is wrong, even if it is legal.
John W. Mills III, Los Angeles
Bay Ridge, Nebraska
MUGGER: I like the way you think and talk. My best friend Brooklyn Eddie says, "He talks like he is from my fuckin' block." With the versatile F-word used as a modifier in many appropriate ways, Eddie expresses our feelings in flyover country. Have you checked out the despicable actions of the Red Cross with respect to the Victims Fund? These bastards may spend more than 200 million of the donated dollars on other things before it is all distributed. The families of victims of the cowardly act still cannot get more than pocket change from the fund. What's up with that shit?
Mike Harris, Omaha
From the Desert
MUGGER: Just wanted to drop a line thanking you for your good work. I access your column through the Drudge Report, and yours and Taki's columns are just my style. Keep putting it to those assholes.
Shane Hershberger, Palm Desert, CA
Trampling Out the Vintage
Couldn't agree with you more, MUGGER, about "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" being more appropriate at the moment than the National Anthem (10/31). I attended a government function where the National Anthem was sung at the beginning and the "Battle Hymn" toward the end. The "Battle Hymn" was sung slowly, almost on a poetic reading level. Every word had a powerful impact, especially in today's context. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Don Parnell, Glynco, GA
The Novice
First time I read you, MUGGER, but not the last. Great article, and the truth. Thanks again.
Bruce Rava, Scottsdale, AZ
They Don't Want Him
Who has the tightest security system in the world? Israel. Do they have a post office-style federal bureaucracy running it? Of course not. This idea of federalizing airport security is nothing but a jobs program and a sop to the AFL-CIO. Hey, if they come up with the level of accountability that exists in, say, the military, I'm all for it, but we know it's going to be more like the postal service. John McCain should just go ahead and join the Democratic Party. What a dumb-ass moron.
Mark Froehlich, Jacksonville, FL
Where's that "Battle Hymn"?
My thanks go out to all of you at New York Press for continuing, as you have over the years, to be a forum for opinions from all over the political and social spectrum. The fact that the excellent Scott McConnell is still writing for you (and being assailed by readers who seem to have no idea of the ultraconservative viewpoint he presents, even confusing him with a left-winger) is testimony enough to your willingness to print opinions that are uncomfortable to many in this era of phony patriotism.
Yes, that's right, phony patriotism. Most of the armchair warriors?those who are now waving flags and effectively baying for the blood of innocent Afghan children who had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?were not patriots when our elite U.S. establishment was selling out our manufacturing sector and its workers in favor of its business alliances with our former enemies overseas. They were not patriots when they overcelebrated "the end of the Cold War" and allowed America's military home defense to fall into disrepair while people with names like Clinton overextended the military in a host of questionable ventures on foreign soil.
They were not patriots when they refused to criticize the establishment's alliances with corrupt, anti-Christian Muslim governments, all for the sake of their oil businesses and money, instead of strengthening our home security, manufacturing and resources. And they were not patriots when they allowed this country to slide away from its Christian traditions and into the morass of abortion, the outlawing of prayer in public schools and a rabid materialism, consumerism, hedonism and secularism that bear all the ingredients of the doom of a nation.
I pray to God through the Lord Jesus Christ that this country will turn en masse to Christ and find the kind of redemption that makes empire-building unnecessary and that will give us the desire to send mass Christian mailings and humanitarian aid to the world instead of bombs. I pray to God that we will look inward and, as the Savior said, get our own spiritual house in order, instead of trying to impose a Godless imperialism on the world. Because America under names like Washington and Jefferson was the world's greatest anti-imperial country.
Jack Seney, Queens