Yuppie Horror; Is Georgetown Redeemable?; Taki Doesn't Get It; Tama in Budapest; A Sucker from Philly; Countin' Those Votes
This past Sunday my significant other and I headed over to Friend of a Farmer, on Irving Pl., for a spot of brunch, mocha and the Sunday New York Times. As I read the business section, she appeased her passion with "Arts & Leisure" and the magazine crosswords.
All of a sudden our chi was disturbed. We overheard our neighbor, a scruffy downtown type, discussing New York Press. Expecting to hear him prattle about some punk band, we were startled to find him looking in vain for the "Hill of Beans" column.
"Whither Christopher Caldwell?" my life partner whispered.
"Wait until next week," I cautioned.
We finished our flapjacks and left.
Today I went to pick up our little Zoe and Dylan from genius camp and I was flipping through your 11/22 edition only to discover Chris missing again. Was he let go? Say it ain't so. He was excellent.
PS: I never thought I was influenced by magazine or news ads. But I must admit those Winston ads are awesome and the women are so pretty. I am tempted to start smoking, but I do not want to be a total dupe for "Big Tobacco." Can you recommend a more appropriate brand?
Thomas G. Phillips, Manhattan
The editors reply: Chris Caldwell returns from a two-week vacation this week.
Felonious Monks
James Morrow's piece on the decline of the classics at Georgetown ("Opinion," 11/22) is not simply an account of another reputable school turning its back on serious learning. As Morrow suggests, there is something doubly regrettable about a Catholic institution allowing itself to be swept away by the leftist fads of the academic establishment. Catholic education in this country was established to present an alternative model to precisely the kind of "scholarship" that passes muster in the mainstream. In its frantic pursuit to achieve parity with the Ivies, Georgetown has become them. Georgetown could use its Catholic identity to redefine the tired categories of intellectual discourse in academia. Instead it is playing by their rules.
Take heart though, Morrow. When alumni money talks, Jesuits listen.
Kevin Doyle, Staten Island
You've Got a Friend in Chicago
Wow. What a wonderful article New York Press published last week by Russ Smith about the election chaos. It was truly exciting.
I am a registered Republican from Texas, but now live in Chicago. I work in the newspaper industry, and am somewhat familiar with your publication.
What a great article. I plan to distribute it to other people immediately. Thank you so much, and you are now bookmarked as a favorite!
Thanks, Russ. Take good care.
Tim Arrenius, Chicago
Use Decoder Ring
Taki: As usual, you just don't get it ("Top Drawer," 11/22). I have been in four states since the election. I have been at one of our major universities, the University of Washington in Seattle. The election impasse/imbroglio is of some interest?much like the weather. Now that we have e-mail and Federal Express, the national government just doesn't seem to be that important anymore. People feel that it will work out just fine, and are thankful for HBO and ESPN.
Would you please tell the Queen that she is a very nice lady and that she would be more popular if she weren't the subject of tests in school? We took on the Kaiser, Hitler, Uncle Joe and Bill Clinton. Guess what, we are less than interested in kibitz. Come on over here and join in the fun. Also, the celebration of Man in all his Grace and Glory.
Roy Lofquist, Scottsdale, AZ
Rigor Mortis
MUGGER: What fun it will be to have you write about George W. Bush for the next four years. It will be worth having the nation led by Tom DeLay and Trent Lott to read your abashed mea culpas.
By the way, please, just once, mention that W lost the popular vote.
Mort Weintraub, Larchmont
Life Partners
Russ Smith's 11/22 "MUGGER" column was awesome. It exposed the hypocrisy and lies of the Democrats and their partners in the mainstream media. Thank you!
Douglas Morris, Richmond, VA
Joan of Arcola
MUGGER: You are the best! I read you all the time. I'm a grandma from Texas who likes a person who tells it like it is. Keep plugging.
Joan Chacona, via Internet
Budapest, the Sixth Borough
Tama Janowitz: Re: Your "Budapest" column ("Food," 11/22)?why not stick to New York City restaurants?
Name Withheld, Manhattan
Sen. Halitosis
From MUGGER's 11/22 column: "It also makes you wonder why liberal women...aren't outraged by how (Katherine) Harris has been vilified." Apparently, that "right to choose" we hear so much about turns out to be restricted to abortions and Democratic candidates. You, of course, also have the right to choose derision and exile should you fail to follow orders?um, I mean "exercise your rights."
Aside to Paul Begala: The part of that map stupid and narcissistic enough to send Hillary Clinton to the U.S. Senate is blue. Surely that cancels out a few of the atrocities committed on the red side of the divide.
Lou Manzato, New Orleans
Four on the Floor
Re: MUGGER's 11/22 column: Wonderful and well put.
John H. Gunderson, Irene, SD
Bends Over in a Jeffy
MUGGER: You accuse Al Gore of trying to steal the presidency, but you don't say exactly what constitutes the "theft" you are alleging. You wouldn't be so arrogant, by any chance, that you think this is so obvious as to be unnecessary to mention, would you? Can you identify anything about Gore's response to the election crisis that conflicts with the law?
I didn't think so.
Jeff Norman, Los Angeles
Russ Smith replies: Just look at early morning hours on Nov. 8, smart-ass, and you tell me how that vote count tightened in so short a period of time. No, I don't have specific evidence of the fraud: back in '72, Woodward and Bernstein didn't have specific evidence of corruption in Nixon's White House.
Muzzle Grandma
MUGGER: Thank you for writing what appears to be the truth. Sadly, as we enter this new century, we are still saddled with the likes of Gore, Hillary, Gephardt, Bonior and a few more who talk like they are kings, which they may well be, but it is the throne of none. They are the ones the mainstream media caters to, and all other voices fall by the wayside. I wish many people would do what we have done, which is turn the tv off, except when you rent a movie. Get on the Internet, read what you want to, and then decide what is fact and what is factless.
Rather, Jennings, Brokaw, Russert, etc., are not invited guests in our home. The nice part is that, unlike your mother-in-law, you can turn them off, which is exactly what we did and will continue to do.
Jim and Glenda Hodgson, Raleigh, NC
We Love This Job
MUGGER: While all this election hoopla is still going on, and particularly the hoopla over the (military) absentee ballots that were given unusually tight scrutiny, my own life goes on, as does that of the buddies I went through 1968 with, in Vietnam.
In the process of building a unit website, we are trying to piece together exactly when and how one of our number crashed and burned to death after being shot down in the Ah Shau valley. The exchange of e-mails is especially poignant against today's backdrop.
For most of us, 1968 was the year we turned 21. In those days, that was the voting age. We voted for the first time by absentee ballot.
Our buddy did not. He and his gunner never got the chance. Their lives ended in a ball of fire that day in March.
Thank you Al Gore, Mark Herron of Tallahassee and all those other lawyers who worked so hard to deny today's servicemen and servicewomen their votes. I'm sure today's military will remember in the next election?just as the vets do.
How refreshing it is to have a blowhard like MUGGER expose himself for the shallow mountebank he is without making anyone else go through all the trouble. Twice in the 11/22 "Mail" he responded to intelligent and provocative letters regarding the election not with careful, thoughtful, reasoned analysis, but with the same glib speciousness that characterizes all his writing.
Matt Carroll's letter made an extremely cogent point: that the Republicans, their moralistic posturing notwithstanding, are acting out of naked self-interest every bit as much as their Democratic counterparts, and to accuse one party of venal behavior while apotheosizing the other in what is clearly a bare-knuckled attempt by both parties to grab the presidency at any cost is either naive or worse. MUGGER's response? "Carroll is wrong," followed by this surpassing bon mot: "Baker's fighting like a tough but honest boxer; Daley is all rabbit punches." MUGGER, it would seem, has at long last hit on the essential truth of the election that has eluded the rest of American punditry: Republicans are tough and honest, Democrats rabbit punch. It's amazing such genius can be contained in the mere six-page columns he allots himself every week.
Then, in another letter, Josh Beckerman takes him to task for his flackery for James Baker. MUGGER responds, "I'm hardly a flack for James Baker, a man I flogged relentlessly for his tepid effort in President Bush's failed reelection campaign in '92." What an incredible evasion of the intent (a word that apparently now sends all conservatives into a blithering hysteria) of Beckerman's point, which was that MUGGER shamelessly shills for every Baker announcement while heaping scorn on anything?everything?that comes out of the Gore campaign (see above). Rather than deal substantively with the implications of Beckerman's remarks (i.e., that MUGGER is a one-sided hypocrite), he responds with an absolute irrelevancy regarding his previous opinion of Baker. The issue, MUGGER, isn't whether you are now, or ever have been, a flack man for Jim Baker per se, but that you are indisputably a flack man for the current spokesman for the Bush campaign, who happens to be Jim Baker.
MUGGER then completes his evasions by ignoring the central hypocrisy of the Bush campaign raised in the letter, i.e., had Gore won Florida by a few hundred votes, had Gore's brother been the governor of the state, and had the secretary of state not only been a Democrat, but the cochair of the regional Gore campaign, than the Republicans would be doing more or less the same things the Democrats are now doing, things that he now decries as perfidious.
To this, MUGGER has nothing to say. Instead, he chooses to refer to Beckerman as "Gomer" (next stop, the Algonquin), before implying, absurdly, that Bob Livingston resigned out of principle. If Livingston had a shred of the integrity MUGGER seems to ascribe to him, why would he have waited until he was publicly outed to resign, rather than saying beforehand something along the lines of "Having committed the same transgressions as the President, it would be hypocritical of me to call upon him to resign unless I am prepared to do the same"? But MUGGER, with laser-like acuity, saw the greater glory; at least, he says, Livingston "didn't whine."
I sincerely thank MUGGER for so ably making the case against himself.
David Letwin, Brooklyn
Three Words: Philly City Paper
MUGGER: You write (11/22): "If I had to bet, Gore's first act will be as audacious as his broad-daylight theft of the presidency: changing the country's name to The United States of Litigation."
But right now, Bush is doing more suing than Gore, over the overseas ballots, "pregnant chads" and the Florida Supreme Court ruling.
Then you write: "Bush's consigliere in this mess, James Baker, was ridiculed more than a week ago for making the obvious point that ballot machines are impartial and can't put a subjective spin on a voter's 'intent.'"
Obvious point? Texas Gov. Bush has signed a bill making hand counts and "pregnant chads" the rule of law in Texas. Last week, The Wall Street Journal noted that nationwide precedents of counting pregnant chads abound, while the Republican lawyers can cite precious few instances where they haven't been counted.
You seem completely blind to your own intellectual dishonesty. I don't know how a contemptible hypocrite like you can live with yourself.
Noel Weyrich, Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia
Russ Smith replies: I'm sure this intern, or youthful employee, at the Philadelphia City Paper is worked up into a lather. But the fact is, kid, when thugs like Bill Daley are trying to steal an election, you don't roll over. Also, if you read the Texas law about recounts, you'll see the rules are very specific about what qualifies as a vote, unlike the ambiguous Florida law. When you're old enough to drink, pop up to New York and I'll tell you a few more things about voter fraud.
An Interesting American Dialect
MUGGER: Last time I heard Bushes far and wide were calling Gore a liar, or as Will so grandly put it a purveyor of mendacity all based on lies put into play by the press on purpose I suppose. Your own organization has said you led with Bush being an angel and Gore a very bad person who did not know who is was, was too aggressive, was too timid, was too stiff was tooooooooooooo. You people have a lot to answer for and I predict you will get the chance. At least Mr. Harris listened to the chatter and the next evening she appeared in a gray suit, white blouse, pearls and natural makeup and she looked great. So in a way you could say all those nasty remarks will help her in the long run.
Helen Weber, Oklahoma City
Soup Bones
I can't wait to see the reaction to Taki's 11/22 "Top Drawer" piece. If the liberals can be distracted for a moment from stealing the presidential election, they will be incensed by his comments on racial demographics.
Personally I can't say I'm really concerned about immigration bringing down America's cultural and civilizational standards, because I figure they can't sink any lower than the Clintons and their liberal friends have dragged them already. The time to worry about that was before the impeachment. And I'm not blown away by most white people, so I don't care what happens to the racial demographic in America.
What does worry me is the potential for disproportionate numbers of immigrants to betray their adopted country by turning around and voting Democratic. Perhaps my concern is misplaced, but Al Gore's eagerness to naturalize huge numbers of aliens before an election is not a good sign. Anyway, I would think that unlimited immigration would inflate the population too fast to be sustainable.
The closest precedent I know of is Israel, but Israel is spartan compared to the U.S., and their immigrants tend to be more idealistic. My understanding is that they did fine with their liberal immigration policy until they began admitting hordes of lower-class Russians, who brought with them a whole raft of social problems previously unknown there, like wifebeating, alcoholism and prostitution.
But here we have liberals, so those kinds of faults are almost refreshing.
Joe Rodrigue, New Haven
Oren's Daley Roast
MUGGER: Let's not lose sight of the simple facts. Al Gore won the popular vote, contrary to most predictions. George W. Bush has barely won the Electoral College, contrary to most predictions. Understandably, Republicans are furious and frustrated. But it's time to exercise some intellectual honesty. Had the situation been reversed, Republicans would have been just as tenacious in trying to turn the Florida election around, using every legal trick in the book. Remember your hero Ken Starr?
Oren Tatcher, Manhattan
Who Stole the Kishka?
MUGGER: I have to agree that Gore has a very good shot at stealing the ball from the Bush team.
I am looking upon the events with some amusement, shared by most Europeans that I encounter, at the fate of the "world's greatest democracy." I am apolitical except in the sense that I view campaigns and elections as the regular season and playoffs?the regular season goes on forever and the playoffs are where the real fun is. I guess that makes me independent, as I did not vote.
However, I do have an opinion on the matter. I believe that is still allowed to an American citizen. In keeping with the sports analogy, I searched my memory for an event that this election farce most closely resembled. And if I were the Bush team, I would go on the offensive now. He must show that he values the country and the presidency enough that he will not allow it to fall into thieving hands.
The public will strongly support him in this. How does he do this? Does everyone remember the one Olympic gold medal missing from the vault of our basketball team? Yes, it is the one that was stolen by referees and officials and awarded to the Soviet team while America stood and watched in disbelief. The U.S. team won the game; they were ahead when the horn sounded (initial ballot count). The Soviets were given another chance to win the game and failed again (recount). Finally, the clock was reset and the Soviets managed to prevail. This seems to me to be the Gore tactic.
Perhaps this analogy has been brought up already, but if not, it should be. The Bush team should have a tv ad running now with the end of that infamous game. Americans will figure it out. It should be noted that the American team did not accept the silver medal. I doubt that a single American would accuse them of poor sportsmanship. Americans understand sports. Myself, I believe games should be decided on the field, by the players, not by referees or judges. I am not partisan?except when it comes to fair play.
Dennis Gunter, Budapest
A-Long the Watchtower
MUGGER: Read your column for the first time last week. What a treat. Where have I been? Thank God there is a "mugger" out there who can call it like it is. I, and I expect many others, have been appalled by the current state of today's journalism, with its simpering bend-overism when it comes to power-hungry Democrats.
I, for one, am sick of spin being a substitute for truth. Forget the theft of an election currently ongoing in Florida. Look no further than the support of the "feminists for fellatio" who overlooked the sexual predation of Clinton and who are now silent as poor Ms. Harris in Florida is derided for her lack of skill with a makeup kit.
What bullshit. Keep up the good work and kick 'em harder.
Ron Long, Goldsboro, NC
Dot the Ayes
MUGGER: Will we ever hear the total number of absentee and military ballots from all the other 49 states? I am so sick of hearing about Al Gore's winning the popular vote that I would like to know that that number has decreased by a substantial amount when all the absentee and military votes are counted.
Dot Czarnecki, Philadelphia
Uh, Sure
MUGGER: In your 11/22 column you do the seven men and women of the Florida Supreme Court a disservice in assuming their decision was politically influenced. Their job was to interpret Florida's election laws and they chose to give the local boards more time to count all their ballots rather than enforce the restrictive certification rule. Perhaps they simply wanted to make sure everyone's vote got counted?presumably one of the main purposes of the Florida election laws.
John Kiely, Eugene, OR
Kitz for Kat
MUGGER: I would not be too sure that George W. Bush would not appoint Katherine Harris to a position in his organization. To hell with Al and Jesse. Everyone I know has sent congratulations to Harris. She must be getting millions of e-mails.
John Kitz, Lancaster, OH
Russ Smith replies: I disagree. Harris fell on her sword; a Bush appointment would create enormous headaches for him from the Democratic Party and just revisit the ongoing farce in Florida.
Tripp Wire
MUGGER: What's happening to Katherine Harris is nothing new. In fact, it was part of the impeachment fight of two years ago. House manager Lindsay Graham very credibly charged that Sidney Blumenthal, acting on behalf of the President, engaged in a campaign to smear Monica Lewinsky through the news media by portraying her as a delusional stalker. Had she not followed Linda Tripp's advice to preserve the evidence on the famous blue dress, Monica would not now be living the good life in the West Village. God only knows what would have happened to her.
Of course, the feminists did nothing to protest the treatment of women by Clinton and his ilk, so why would they protest the smear of an intelligent, ambitious professional lady who happens to be a Republican?
Harold Nikiforakis, Carteret, NJ
Jacksonism Democracy
MUGGER: Another fine specimen of reporting. It's about time someone exposed some of the poor excuses for journalists we readers have to put up with on a daily basis.
I've often wondered why tv talk-show hosts like Chris Matthews have to act like rude loudmouths. I know they want to put out as much information as their guys want them to, but they become victims of the remote controls of some of us "mature" people.
But my real question is why they can keep putting out marginal truths and half-truths. Why are not Bill Clinton and Al Gore called murderers and drunks, as George W. Bush was by the so-called Rev. Jesse Jackson? (Jackson is truly someone we all respect! In his dreams!) But then, he got all his political upbringing in Chicago. I had the displeasure of meeting this person in Chicago in either 1967 or 1968 when a Republican candidate for Cook County attorney, Bob O'Rourke, traveled to his church on the South Side of Chicago. He was arrogant then and has only gotten better at being hateful. This is a real role model for young folks.
And 646 GI's not being allowed to exercise their right to vote! How many generals and admirals are going to resign over this? I wonder.
Thanks for your time, and also for telling it like it is.
Ed Loftus, Capt., USMC (ret.), Lancaster, CA
My Three Sons
MUGGER: I enjoy your references to your eight-year-old son. I have three boys, ages eight, 14 and 17. They are the focus of my life. I remember that, with the older two, we would always watch the evening news together, and I would spend an hour or so explaining what we had seen. We did that, although at times with varying degrees of comfort, through the Gulf War. I remember the day it stopped: the William Kennedy Smith rape trial. I could not bear trying to explain to my sons the discussions of who smeared what on whose articles of clothing. Of course, they were much younger then. But we turned the news off for years. I still can't watch it with my youngest.
Thanks for supporting our military. As a parent of boys, have you sensed the danger yet? No one has said it out loud, but surely you are not all blind. If Gore wins, the volunteer military is over. Can you say "draft card"?
My oldest turns 18 in January. Will I sit still while he is drafted to serve as a "peacekeeper" target under UN command, to serve at the whim of an Al Gore? What do you think?
And that raises another question. Don't women serve in the military? Aren't we all equal now? What is the justification for registering our sons and not our daughters? Is this equal protection under the law? Any thoughts?
I take comfort in the thought that Gore's victory would already have been assured had he not lost his home state of Tennessee.
If Ms. Harris gets tired of living among the lily-livered Republicans of Florida, who cannot seem to muster the cojones to stand up for her in public, she would be welcome in the Volunteer State!
Thanks for letting me sound off.
Neil Bell III, Brighton, TN
Mama, You Been on My Mind
MUGGER: When one takes a look at a cross-section of Al Gore supporters, one sees that they range primarily in two large groups.
One group consist of elitists, wracked with guilt issues, who look to socialism to validate their existences. The second major group consists of mindless idiots, unable to grasp current events and utterly unconcerned with history, who are vulnerable to silver-tongued demagogues like B.J. Clinton and brass-tongued demagogues like Jesse Jackass.
The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, decreed that only men with some property could vote, wisely realizing that men with no property will vote themselves the fruits of another man's labor if given the chance. Gore supporters, unkindly called Gorons by some, have a huge constituency of the gimme gimme crowd, led by fat single women who wear spandex and believe the government is the answer to the disaster they have made of their lives. What does it matter if the purveyor of the largesse is a traitor, rapist, criminal, etc.?
In my opinion the United States is swiftly evolving into a de facto matriarchy. Show me one matriarchy that has ever prospered. The soccer moms, Million-Mom March moms, NOW women and other bovine feminist herds strongly suggest that the 19th Amendment was a horrible mistake and should be repealed for the good of the country.
Ronald Oliverio, Farmington Hill, MI
Sunny Day in Cali
MUGGER: By 2008, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, 52 percent of the U.S. population will be over the age of 40. Look for the GOP to grow. I don't think the Democrats are smart enough to realize that, generally, as people get older, they get more conservative. On some visceral level I think you're seeing the Jackass Party react like the dying mules they are. Their frantic brayings have run their course with more people than they realize, and as my generation hits the Social Security wall they're not going to freak out when lied to like the generation who weathered the Depression and WWII.
This whole Gore-fest is the frantic flailing of cornered were-beasts who know they're about to die. The trial lawyers know the public hates them and wants them reined in; the travesty known as the Florida Supreme Court has now punctuated this nicely. The old liberals instinctively know they've gotten fat and screwed around in the name of public trust far too long, and they just can't reconcile themselves to the party being over. Baby boomers like Clinton and Gore know deep inside just how hollow and sorry they are, but keep looking for an older generation to blame. There's nothing wrong with growing up, but of the two contending presidential candidates, apparently only George W. Bush was smart enough to turn in his Peter Pan pixie dust and stop clapping for Tinkerbell.
Call me optimistic, but it's all looking good to me. If frog-voiced liberal wackos like Susan Estrich can see the light and come to the defense of Fox's John Ellis for merely doing his job, and writers at The New York Times and Washington Post are turning on Gore, pretty soon all the libs will have left are hacks like Margaret Carlson. What a pitiful sight that will be.
All in all, it's a very encouraging scenario, and it's tremendous fun watching the bloated Hindenburg once known as the Democratic Party flame out, even if they do scorch a bit of earth in the process.
Skip Press, Burbank, CA
Catnipped
Re: John Strausbaugh's 11/15 "Publishing," about animal rights activist Gary L. Francione:
I love my cat with all that is me. If all animals were my cat, I would never allow myself to speak with another meat-eating human being. Yet, my cat comes home every day with some very dead animal, happy as can be at what she has just done.
A professor of mine once told me that mother nature was not a vegetarian. But with the illogical, hypothetical statement made above, there is hypocrisy, which is slowly catching up with me every day. I can feel it. One morning, I'm gonna spit my beloved Taylor ham and cheese sandwich out on the floor in disgust, and my cat will run over to eat it. Crazy world, huh?
Brian Bell, Wanaque, NJ
Important Announcement from Celso Garcia
I am outraged that urban politics have been neglected in this election. I want the issues of urban politics addressed. Poverty, abuse, crime, jobs, education. Instead we are hearing the two candidates bicker over who won. Well, urban areas have lost in this election, because we have been neglected. What we need to do is stop politicians from continuing this neglect.
Such programs as the Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society allow students to get involved and make a difference. The first chapters of Chi Alpha Epsilon have been established in New York City. This organization is the type that can uplift our youth and allow urban politics to be important.
Celso Garcia, interim president of the Alpha Xi chapter of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Manhattan
She's Not as Innocent as She Looks
MUGGER: If you think you're having a problem explaining this election farce to your eight-year-old son (11/22), you can appreciate my problem in explaining this to my four-year-old granddaughter Alexandra, who with her little hand is flashing a "W" with her little fingers, for George W., and an "L" over her forehead for loser?for Al Gore.
What is important to realize is that your son will be l6 and my grand-daughter l2 should the next president serve two terms?a big chunk of their developing years.
Consequently, I am very hopeful, to say the least, that George W. Bush and a Republican administration, which includes the influence of people like Bill Bennett, will occupy the White House for at least the next eight years.
If you need any advice for your son about playing stickball, halfball, boxball or wallball from a 67-year-old kid who grew up on the streets of Philadelphia, please advise.
Sam Levine, San Diego
That Famous Albertan Humor
MUGGER: Enjoy your columns. However, I think you miss the reason that Margaret Carlson (11/22) writes like that?she tries to make up for being incredibly ugly by being incredibly stupid! When she's on Capital Gang, bulimics take a break from using their fingers and just look at Carlson. It does the same job!
Rick Morrow, Calgary
Adios, Sayonara, BAI-BAI
Leave it to New York Press to publish what others won't touch. What a description of WBAI's internal situation (Norman Kelley, "Opinion," 11/1).
First, I don't agree with some of Kelley's comments about the issues surrounding the Amy Goodman/Democracy Now! portion of the article. The fact that Pacifica used any of the Nader/Republican Convention against her, and especially since it was a ploy by Pacifica management to discredit her for their own ends, shows how out of touch they are with the network's mission. David Adelson, of Adelson v. Pacifica, one of three lawsuits against the national board and Pacifica management, said, "Pacifica should be a home for hellraisers."
I wholeheartedly agree. But that is the problem. The national network, and WBAI locally, has lost its radical edge. Hellraising is discouraged by national management, and the problems described by Mr. Kelley at the local station prevent new ideas and fresh energy from being injected into the mix, lest someone's personal position might be eliminated. This protection of one's turf has weakened the ability of producers to concentrate on the product?what comes out over the airwaves. There is little for the youth, one of the many communities not represented at this community radio station. There is no inclusion of the greater community by means of training and open public broadcast hours and, most importantly, by means of public disclosure of the station's business. This?not the coup of Nader being accompanied by Goodman on the Republican Convention floor?is why the listenership will dwindle and give the Pacifica National board (a menagerie of real-estate agents, union-busting lawyers, sports-team owners and such) a reason to intervene.
How did this happen? Through a nondemocratic process of top-down management and no input from the listeners?the shareholders. Fifty years of listener financing doesn't mean squat to the people at the helm. Just keep it coming, so big bad Pacifica doesn't blow the house down. For the last five years, while everyone was busy avoiding the boring business of keeping an eye on democracy, the foxes were watching the henhouse.
As a listener-sponsor and a member of the (CdPNY) Coalition for a Democratic Pacifica, I find that there is no room for any kind of criticism on the local level. Heaven forbid one would think the listeners should be allowed to make informed choices about how to support the station and the network, or to have a hand in the election of its boards. Supposedly we are kept in the dark by the Pacifica "gag rule." But according to one local board member, who's the producer of the WBAI labor show, Mimi Rosenberg, "there is no censorship and no self-imposed censorship either." Then why have only some of the broadcasters in the evening and overnight slots consistently included the listeners in on the big ugly secret?
As a progressive watchdog listener-sponsored radio network, it should practice what it preaches. Until then, we are the "pick[ed] ragged pockets" that Norman Kelley speaks about. Hopefully, if the sun shines in, some policies will be looked at and there will be a breeze from the East River and into the studios of WBAI?which are on Wall St., of all places.
Patty Heffley, CdPNY, Manhattan