Press and Szamuely Exposed as Reds; Baker Doesn't Know Paree; Lay Off the Bush Advocacy; Canadians Love That MUGGER
Re: John Strausbaugh's 9/13 "Publishing" about Bob Guccione Jr.: Nice feature on an interesting personality. I really enjoy Strausbaugh's articles on the publishing industry.
But when are we going to see an update from Celia Farber on the Durban conference ("AIDS & South Africa: A Contrary Conference In Pretoria," 5/24), and the joint dissident-true believer panel that came out of President Mbeki's conference?
M.G. Stinnett, Minneapolis
Free Republic
Crispin Sartwell intoned apocalyptically ("Opinion," 9/13): "Al Gore is the devourer of dimensions, the devourer even of time and of the possibility of time."
Damn. I'm sure glad he caught that. All along Gore had fooled me into believing he was just one of Plato's prisoners who had somehow managed to get free of the cave.
Derek Copold, Houston
Nothing Will Come Of Nothing
A friend pointed out Crispin Sartwell's 9/13 "Opinion" piece to me, and I wanted to pass on my compliments. Good article. Well-written.
Cassandra D. Hocutt, Atlanta
Such Gaul
Andrew Baker's cover story about Paris ("Slack Paris: La Vie Gangsta in the City of Darkness," 9/13) was such nonsense. He makes it out to be some kind of pit of decadence and chaos. I know Paris very well, and I grew up there. It's not anything like he describes. Sure, there are some neighborhoods, especially in the suburbs, where there is crime. On the whole, however, Paris is a relatively civil place. As for his saying that "Paris today is Africa"?that's false. The immigration levels in France are not that huge. It's nothing like the U.S.
It sounds like Baker went to certain neighborhoods, and then judged the entire city by this limited experience. He also appears to be prejudiced against the city to begin with.
Kay Min, Manhattan
Pretentious Horse's Ass
Re: Andrew Baker's Parisian cover story/diatribe:
Paris (to quote Henry Miller) is like a whore, only the author of this piece finds it more and more enchanting as he delves deeper and deeper into its orifices. While this may be symptomatic of the divide Paul Bowles delineated between tourist and traveler, in his assertion that France (sic) has become Africa, the author overlooks perhaps an even more key point raised by Baudrillard about Disneyland?its strawman-like presence draws attention away from the fact that the real Disneyland is "all of 'real' America." How, with the shimmering-on-the-hour-every-hour Eiffel Tower, the Ferris wheel near the Louvre (and the Louvre itself) and the countless Gaps, our huckleberry friend never realizes he is in fact in a EuroDisney Fantasyland of his own (expatriated) making, je ne sais pas. But then, Miller's "quiet days" were spent in the town of Clichy, not the Place.
Ajay Gehlawat, Manhattan
No Surprise
MUGGER: He might not be Bob Gibson (8/30), but Andy Pettite clearly has what it takes to knock off those lovable losers from Beantown. Pedro may be a good pitcher, but how many rings does he have? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Like W., the Bosox are all hat and no cattle.
See you at Yankee Stadium in October!
Marc Safman, Queens
Tanya, You Evil Bitch
Tanya Richardson: I just wanted to let you know that I am absolutely appalled at the article you wrote ("Music," 8/30) about Maddyfest 2000! I admit that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but all you did was make Maddyfest 2000 out to be a horrible day of drunkenness, boredom and stupidity.
I just happened to have had a very good time that day. I was one of the vendors at the show, and we sold more than $5400 worth of Madonna memorabilia to collectors from all around the country. I didn't hear a single person there tell me that they weren't having a good time. In fact, most everyone I talked to told me that they can't wait until next year's festivities!
You made the entire tone of your "review" sound like there wasn't a single moment of positive activity or happiness that day. It's fine if you didn't enjoy it, but I'm shocked that you didn't see that other people were having a good time.
You need to lighten up, and realize that the entire day was all in good fun, and the true Madonna fans who were there enjoyed themselves immensely.
Steve Caraco, N. Billerica, MA
Vive L'Amour! J'Aime L'AGRESSEUR!
MUGGER: I love you, man! Your column puts so much in perspective; I send it to everybody. Keep on 'em!
Jerry Confer, Ft. Myers, FL
Aye Mac
Mac Montandon's article ("First Person," 9/6) was quite wonderful. Let's hear more from him!
With the critical constellation of Matt Zoller Seitz, Armond White and Godfrey Cheshire, the New York Press' movie reviews are consistently surprising, thoughtful and readable. As a whole, the best in the city.
But Seitz is a bit too patient for my money with Nurse Betty ("Film," 9/6). He waited 45 minutes for the plot to pick up; I walked out after 25 and still felt robbed. If the lame, shooting-fish-in-a-barrel cliches about white America weren't bad enough, the racist dependency on the lovingly colored hitmen was downright noxious.
Armond White has written about this previously (keep on it, Armond), but it can't be said enough. Pop culture does a creepy job of romanticizing not just violent figures, but of using the assumed "humanity" of black folks to reassure the world that all is really fine when blood gets spilled. America's "bad niggers" both terrify us and play our caretakers. Actually, the only other ethnic group given this freedom is movie Italians. But where African-Americans are cursed with the status of full-time movie extras or portrayed as desperate angels wearily nursing the world, Italians take center stage, periodically suffering homicidal hearts due to displaced family values. And movie Jews play curly headed straight men?funny, sensitive, smart, maybe a bit sly, but never ultimately powerful or consequential.
In the end, I guess that's all kind of comforting. My sense is the American public knows this is a sham, and that's why music, fashion and even television have more cultural collateral than anything you'll get in a movie these days. In fact, if there's one strong reason reality television draws the biggest crowds, it's the possibility that however manufactured reality television is, it offers moments of genuine human surprise or honesty. Refreshingly authentic compared to today's movies. Programs like American High, Survivor and even Making the Band may try to manipulate their stars, but their actors will show more moral reckoning than most anyone designed by Hollywood or the so-called independents. Also nice is that you certainly won't have to wait 45 minutes for that reckoning to show up.
Jonathan Field, Manhattan
Szamuely, Press, Exposed as Reds
I seldom read "alternative" weeklies like New York Press, but whenever I do, I'm never surprised to see the ramblings of bitter, old, outdated, Marxist dopes like George Szamuely ("Taki's Top Drawer," 9/13), and their typically labyrinthine attempts to explain how a system that produced Stalin, Pol Pot, Mengistu and Kim Il Sung is somehow good.
Although I've never heard of George Szamuely before, I know he fits the description of grumbling old Marxist because of the telltale signs in his most recent article: his sneering reference to "champions of the free market" and their media flacks, his overeagerness to refute long-since-moot points against communism ("For years we had been told that 'shortages' occurred only under socialism, not capitalism"), his obvious bristling at a reporter's paraphrasing of Marx, etc.
But most revealing is his tortured and wrong analysis of the current labor shortage. He says the most obvious evidence of a labor shortage would be higher wages. I think a far more obvious indicator, which he completely fails to mention, would be the unemployment rate, which is, if I'm not mistaken, at an all-time low. A typical old-time Marxist tactic: ignore the obvious contradictory evidence, and focus on any obscure point that bolsters "the cause."
There is a real shortage of labor in the software industry, because it actually requires people to have the ability to read and do math, skills lacking in probably 90 percent of American public-school graduates. Software companies generally don't have much need for semiliterate, Ritalin-chewing, psychotic gangsta rappers who've spent the last 18 years learning about "diversity" and how wonderful Cuba is. Unfortunately for young Americans today, who've been brainwashed by an amoral media, and dumbed-down by a decrepit government education system, leftist indoctrination isn't very useful when it comes to designing software.
That's why companies hire people from all over the world: India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan?who, by the way, are making way more money than outdated white jackasses like George Szamuely ever will, and are quite happy to be buying nice houses in the suburbs for their families. Because those countries don't have ineffectual, degenerate, leftist slobs controlling their education systems, people who come from those countries tend to have unfashionable skills like math and reading.
Every time I see New York Press (or any other "alternative" McWeekly), I'm reminded how time has passed you and George Szamuely by. Isn't it time someone put irrelevant old bitches like you out to pasture somewhere?
Thomas Connally, Manhattan
The editors reply: McWeekly? Idiot. Here we are, putting out the only "alternative" weekly that presents a diversity of opinion?an effort for which we're reviled by the doctrinaire other 99 percent of the nationwide alt press; and for which, among our slower readers here in New York City, we harbor an undeserved reputation as a "libertarian" or "conservative" or even "Republican" newspaper. And now comes somebody to slander us as old New Left types, and to abuse George Szamuely as a "Marxist." This, after we were called fascists and fratboys by another clever correspondent in last week's "Mail"; and even as this week's "Mail" section contains a letter from Alan Leventhal chiding our editor-in-chief for his outspoken conservatism.
Soup Bones
"Temporary workers imported from abroad...are paid considerably less than American nationals," says George Szamuely. Name one high-tech industry where that is true, George. I don't believe it.
It is entirely plausible to me that there is a labor shortage in the computer industry, where there is great growth and opportunity. I am occasionally surprised at the low caliber of applicants for programming jobs. For whatever reason, the pool of smart Americans is too small to fill many of these positions.
"There is?something obnoxious about American companies seizing on software engineers, who were educated and trained at great expense by other countries, just in order to boost their profit margins." No, there's nothing obnoxious about it. First of all, many of these people got their degrees here, not overseas, supported by stipends from American universities. And for those who were educated overseas, what of it? No one put a gun to their heads and forced them to come here. They came because they wanted to.
As for profit margins, why did you think these companies are in business in the first place? There is nothing wrong with increasing profit per se, and if somebody else offered you more money for your silly columns, other things being equal, you would jump in a second, as you yourself know.
Something far more ominous for the displacement of American workers is the phenomenon of farming out software projects to subcontractors in India. These guys do excellent work very cheaply. Again, I have no problem with it, but I think that's more deserving of your concern than incompetent Americans beat out by foreigners.
The poor slaves who come here from India and Russia care far more about their native countries than you or me. The U.S. is not "stealing" them. If they don't have a problem with working here, then you shouldn't either.
Joe Rodrigue, New Haven
Tell Thomas Connally
MUGGER: Over the past few years I've appreciated and been intrigued by your publication.
On the one hand, it's very readable and enjoyable, especially the political and media coverage, and, at the same time, totally wrongheaded about virtually every major political and social event in recent memory. In fact, you're providing an invaluable service by cross-referencing such a vast array of print media. I've been thinking that if only you could understand that what New Yorkers and the country need is a good radical, shit-kicking progressive publication, not this immature, negative reactionary stuff. Maybe now that the campaign of your hero, G.W. Bush, is going down, you'll reconsider your stance. Do you really think the majority of people in this country want these incompetent arch-hypocrite "rats" (Bush, Cheney, Lott, DeLay, Bennett, Thomas, Scalia, McCain, Gingrich, Keyes, the NRA, the so-called "pro-lifers" etc.) in full power? These are the same schmucks who in their zeal to nail Clinton would have really closed down the government and destroyed the economy.
As much as you hate Clinton, you can't deny the last eight years have seen an enormous revitalization of our society. It's been a pretty good time for you and your New York Press, too! Can anyone be as horrible as the Clinton you portray in your publication? He simply represents the best and worst of the boomer generation. Most importantly, he's authentic and accomplished and, despite his faults, has laid the stage for what can be a real flowering of American culture. As for the Bushes, please: a former head of the CIA, a not-too-successful president who will be remembered mainly for his shameful destruction of Iraq and his aversion to broccoli; and now, his kids, unleashed on America to get even with those darned Democrats.
The symbolism of the coming presidential election is that we all want to go forward and not sink back into the paranoia, anger and general kookiness of these right-wing characters. It's unfortunate there are still many decent Republicans who are just beginning to discover that their party has totally sold out, mainly to the more backward business elements and the religious right.
Maybe the coming defeat of Bush along with the Republican Congress is a wake-up call for you to make some changes in the direction of your publication. If you don't, I fear New York Press will be further marginalized and eventually disappear. Let's face it, while you print lots of fan mail from the electronic hinterlands, your publication is based in Manhattan, where reside most of your readers and advertisers. The demise of New York Press would be a great shame because, if nothing else, you've been a brilliant foil in helping me, and I'm sure many others, develop a deeper political, social and spiritual awareness.
Alan Leventhal, Manhattan
Only When They're In Humboldt
If Alexander Cockburn is too scared to say it, I'm not. Susan Sarandon ("Wild Justice," 9/13) is batshit crazy. Let's just admit it?a whole lot of Hollywood stars would, if not for their physical beauty, be wearing straitjackets and being force-fed their meds. Or wandering the streets babbling to themselves. Of course, Cockburn probably parties with the Baldwins, so...
And reading Andrey Slivka's article "The Globalism Industry" ("New York City"), I realized something that made me smile. For the world to be truly global, they'll have to assimilate New York City.
Good luck, motherfuckers.
Skip Press, Burbank, CA
Gianni Dangerously
John Ellis writes, accurately ("Convergence," 9/13), that "CNN culture is sort of retro-Southern gothic. Most of the people who work there have never worked anywhere else. They see themselves as Georgians doing battle with hostile Northern forces."
This reminded me of one of the very few times I actually watched CNN. I had it on the morning Gianni Versace was shot to death in Miami Beach. Gee, the haircut called Linden Soles propounded, they must be having a really hard time with this down in Florida. This, Soles implied, is the kind of thing you'd expect to happen in New York City.
Umm... Right, Linden. We gun down our fashion designers every day in the streets of New York.
I don't think even the most "hostile Northern forces" extant have regional misconceptions as twisted as those of Mr. Soles.
By the way, is there some kind of weird contractual reason why Alexander Cockburn's work appears in your paper but not on your website?
Roberto Cortez, Manhattan
The editors reply: Cockburn now does appear on nypress.com.
Great Career Move
MUGGER: I'm a grad student at NYU, but don't hold that against me. I'm also a conservative of the most antediluvian nature, hailing from Reagan Country. I hate this city. Your column is manna for my tortured NRA-member soul. I know that Bush can win. I just get so discouraged by the assholes of the liberal media.
How the hell do you do it? How do you keep your sanity while wading through the pabulum that is the media?
Keep up the good work. You at least have one fan in the cesspool that is New York.
Mark Masters, Manhattan
Hanging Around the Lobby
In imagining that "the business lobby" is conspiring to use imported labor to keep a lid on U.S. salaries, George Szamuely ("Taki's Top Drawer," 9/13) gets it exactly wrong. Szamuely uses the lack of significant median family wage growth as his primary argument that there is no labor shortage in the U.S. He fails to recognize that the H-1B visa program is limited to highly skilled workers in specialty occupations, typically with graduate degrees. This small subset of the work force is enjoying a rapid increase in wages as employer competition for a limited pool of workers?a pool insufficient to meet business demand?is fierce.
The idea that these badly needed, highly skilled workers from abroad are paid considerably less than U.S. nationals is also wrong. The eligibility requirements for an H-1B visa guard against exactly that. A government finding that the employee is being paid the "prevailing wage" for the job is required where an employer may be tempted to undercut U.S. salaries. Szamuely seems to think that once the employer has them, they can be abused, because they can't be recruited by a business rival. Says who? All the rival needs to do is separately process a visa application on the employee's behalf?a step the current employer was already willing to take, so presumably the employee is worth it.
The sinister picture Szamuely paints of employers slipping foreign workers into the U.S. to keep a lid on U.S. wages requires one to believe that U.S. companies are doing significant recruiting overseas. In the real world, though, it doesn't work that way (thanks for the image, though; the picture of the human resource types I'm familiar with trying to conduct recruiting drives in exotic locales was good for a laugh). Typically, these workers are hired around the time they are completing their studies at the better U.S. graduate schools. Would a business prefer not to deal with the hassle of applying for a visa for these employees? Sure. But demand exceeds the supply of U.S. workers coming out of those programs. And I don't think we can look to the prison population or those "not exactly breaking down doors looking for work" to make up the shortfall in the foreseeable future.
John Dellapa, Boston
Take It Off, Bobby!
Bob Guccione Jr.'s analogizing Gear to "high class" strip clubs ("Publishing," 9/13) is flawed. He notes that they were opening up all over town a few years ago. Now they're in decline, at least here in New York. He attributes this to guys getting bored.
Hardly. The New York strip clubs were out of control?it was standing-room only at clubs like Tens or VIP?until the day the Mayor shut them down. Even low-class clubs like Runway 69 could have long waits for a private dance of choice. After the city acted, there were a few sputtering attempts to comply, but within weeks, the really interesting clubs (like Harmony) were gone and the remaining ones had cobwebs. This wasn't a matter of guys losing interest. The clubs were forcefully shut down.
But most telling is that despite the efforts of the NYC government, our local clubs are coming back. Tens, now operating in a fraction of its original space, is very, very crowded, and should the city relax the requirements on the apportionment of function, would easily fill its original showstage as much as in 1998.
And guys are hardly bored outside of Manhattan. The Foxy Lady in Providence is a zoo. And this is for a "classy" club where a lap dance is a fastidious JAP giving all air.
Raunchier contact clubs?Providence's Cheaters or San Francisco's O'Farrell Theater are filled to capacity.
I do share Guccione's scorn for the "classy" clubs. The word "classy" seems so misplaced. The women wear sequined long dresses, there's a humidor and studiously boring lap dances, and the place is classy? What a joke. So yes, they're boring, but if only they would really go out of business so those fussy JAPs would head over to a real club and do some grinding.
Maybe they would if they noted that in the non-classy contact clubs their pretty comrades make money at probably four times the rate they do. I know that men have no problem throwing money at a pretty girl who'll do some friction. At least a couple of dancers at New York's VIP head up to dance Providence! Watching this scene, and the way some of these women are occupied from start to finish doing lap dances for cash off the books, I figure some of these women must pull in salaries equivalent to the high end of six figures. And in a really crazy city like Tokyo?where the contact is intense, like at Roppongi Seventh Heaven?the women not only do huge numbers of lap dances at four times the New York price, but can also catch the eye of a Japanese mogul to become a regular and clinch their returning home a millionaire.
Name Withheld, Manhattan
Swell Column, Eh?
MUGGER: I really enjoy your column.
As a Canadian reader it is a lot of fun to watch the presidential race without having a huge stake in it (besides the obvious influences the U.S. elephant exerts on the mouse to its north). There are many eloquent, but more importantly, amusing advocates on both sides of the debate. You should count yourself among them.
I do have a serious question for you. George W. Bush often comes off in the coverage we see here as being a little dimwitted. Is that the result of a media ready to pounce on the slightest gaffe?to play that to the hilt, and ignore the rest of the speech, press conference, etc.? To me, it seems the coverage focuses on what weakens a candidate, never on what may strengthen him. And it is never about substance. Al Gore delivered a speech to his party's national convention, but all you heard about was him tongue-sucking the missus. The thing seems to be covered as a horse race, not as a serious event in which questions about how the nation should be governed are being addressed.
I guess that sells papers, and attracts viewers and listeners. But is it a good thing?
As entertaining as you are, should people not be hearing more about their healthcare? Their social programs? The worldview of the next guy to control the most powerful military force on the planet? (Gore goes on Letterman and says that if he can handle Letterman, then Saddam Hussein will be no problem. That is disturbing. It should not be a joke.)
I would be interested to hear your views on all that.
By the way, I have a six-year-old who plays soccer?and I liked that part of your 9/13 column best!
Mark Wilson, Burlington, Ontario
Flo Fabricant Rules
MUGGER: You are so right about the poor quality of The New York Times' columnists (9/13). It is an incredibly poor-quality bunch.
Bruce Bartlett, Via Internet
Her Dimples Are So Winsome
MUGGER wrote (9/13): "Cutie-pie Dowd is capable of making sense about once a month."
Sure, it's called PMS (Period of Making Sense).
Don Surber, Poca, WV
See Above
MUGGER: Just wondering why no one from the Times got in touch with you for the article on the front page of the Sept. 11 "Business Day" section about the launch of the free Daily News Express. The article mentions Leonard Stern, "who, as the owner of the Village Voice, turned the paid alternative weekly into a free newspaper and then sold it at a significant profit." The article makes it sound as if Stern came up with the idea to go free all by himself, with no prodding from the already-free New York Press. In fact, there's no mention of New York Press at all. Are there no green New York Press boxes on W. 43rd St.?
Anthony Zumpano, Commack, NY
Delaware Destroyer
MUGGER: Let's see. Jake Tapper has no credibility (9/13) on how much trouble Bush might have with the White House media because, in your stunted view, he "played footsie" with John McCain during the McCain campaign?
The logic involved in that position defies explanation. I've read Salon more or less regularly, and I didn't detect much liberal bias in his coverage of a guy who has more conservative bona fides than Bush will ever have. Besides, the statement was pretty straightforward?if Bush thinks this silly flap is something, wait until he sees what kind of treatment every little slip gets when he's president?but you slobber on your shirt in your zest to discredit him, as you do everyone who wasn't putting axle grease on the Bush bandwagon from Day One.
Better wear a bib. You know, some conservatives, believe it or not, don't see a bought-and-paid-for shill for the oil business and Wall Street as our best choice for president. And some of us are clear-eyed enough to see your cheerleading for what it is. If you ever post a picture with your column, better wear your letter sweater.
Credibility, indeed.
Al Mascitti, Hockessin, DE
Whipped
MUGGER: Okay, this falls into the category of arcana, and nobody will care, and they probably shouldn't, but on Oprah's softball fest?and let me state for the record that I loathe Oprah and all she stands/kneels for?Prince Albert answered the question, "What is your favorite movie?" with an answer that was not the result of a focus group, was not the usual bullshit?Saving Private Ryan! Chariots of Fire!?but instead something rare, obscure and worthy, and that's Local Hero. I'm assuming you know the movie?and if you don't, get thee to a Blockbuster post haste?and the choice is stunning in its way. This is a small movie steeped in the romance of absurdity that came and went before not many noticed, but some people did, and for them it has been a kind of touchstone ever since. And it amazes me that Al even heard of it in the first place. Which speaks volumes about him (or Tipper or one of the daughters...)
I can now vote for Al Gore without hesitation. I bet Shrub's favorite movie is Animal House. Which isn't bad either.
Harley Peyton, Santa Monica, CA
Mandy's Gonna Tell Our Mommy
As the coordinator for New York HELP, a herpes support group and resource, it was with great interest that I read George Tabb's article on herpes ("Jimmy Lube: How I Learned I Had Herpes, 9/6). I found it surprising that none of the three "experts" Tabb consulted took the time to perform a herpes culture or blood test. A good doctor would never diagnose someone with herpes without conducting a thorough examination, which would include a culture of the infected area. For the first two doctors to tell Tabb he definitely had herpes (and for the third doctor to tell him he didn't), based on only a visual examination, was completely irresponsible on their part. I would urge Tabb (or anyone else in his situation) to consider going to a reliable physician and insisting on a reliable blood test for herpes (such as the Western blot or POCkit HSV-2 Rapid test). The commercial ELISA blood tests for herpes are practically useless.
Unlike letter-writer Linda Simon ("The Mail," 9/13), I did not find Tabb's article or tone offensive; I actually found it rather amusing. What I did find offensive, however, was the editors' reply to her letter. To title her letter "Queen Itchie" and to make slanderous insinuations about pick-up bars is in poor taste, to say the least. My organization is a paying advertiser of New York Press, and I will certainly let my ad sales rep know how I feel about your comments.
Amanda DuBoff, New York HELP, Manhattan
Rare Wood
Re: Taki's wonderful 9/13 "Top Drawer" column: I cannot but believe that Rupert Pilkington-Boreham Wood is an invented person or a persona. I know well the Hooray Henrys who walk four feet in front of their wives, but I think in this instance Taki is indulging in some tongue-in-cheek invoking the Macbethian omen as a talismanic nom de plume.
Peter Jayson, Los Angeles
Tapeworms
Jim Knipfel: You expressed my exact thoughts ("Slackjaw," 9/6). One of my greatest joys in life is going on a scavenger hunt through the library files on the Net, looking for an audiobook that actually has a plausible/believable plot?and that's read by someone who understands that he's not up for an Oscar for his reading abilities. I have to admit, I have listened to some titles just for the sheer joy of listening to the reader's voice, and have turned off some probably excellent novels for the lack of voice that I heard.
Anyway, I hope you'll pass on my thanks to Mr. Knipfel for an article that hit a "good spot" and was enjoyable and real.
Lila Francis, Via Internet
D-Nice
Melik Kaylan: I'm not a Diana worshipper by any means?she was a fantastic girl who got to taste the sometimes bitter fruit of royalty (fame being the same thing in the States). Your 9/13 "Taki's Top Drawer" piece on her was one of the best posthumous glimpses we've had of the fantastic charm that made this woman a star. She will be missed, but the melancholy you subtly convey with your piece makes me wonder if the gods did not spare her in her youth so that she might forever be an English rose, her youthful beauty and tragic death to be parlayed into a fairytale homage for future generations.
Thanks.
Dale Fitzgerald, Johnson City, TN
Man Without Hat
MUGGER: Please write an editorial asking Joe Lieberman for specifics on Israel. I have yet to hear one journalist put his feet to the fire. Jews think that because he's Jewish he'll vote on Israel the way they want him to. Just look at the State Dept. Jews to see how Jews, the only people to do so, sell out.
Will Lieberman toe the Clinton-Gore land-for-peace line? Absolutely. Will he want to divide Jerusalem to get the Arab vote? Absolutely. Let's get some specifics.
My mother is a Kohan who comes from a long line of very Orthodox rabbis. Lieberman is not Orthodox. The real Orthodox don't pick and choose what's convenient for them to worship or practice at the moment.
And where is Lieberman's yarmulke?
Sandy Bass-Cors, Springfield, VA
A Is for...
MUGGER: Just read your 9/13 comments. Great! If any reporter, like Adam Clymer, takes issue with being called such names, he should find another vocation to pursue. Clymer's feigning injury to his character only shows that G.W. Bush was spot-on.
Keep up the articles. I'll continue to enjoy your observations.
Pete Simonson, Kissimmee, FL
Liddy Dole Hawks an Oyster
I hate to say it, MUGGER, but I don't think we'll ever see another Republican president. A Republican is up against not only the Democrats but the entertainment industry, and about 93 percent of the mainstream media. The Democrats, along with their cohorts in the media and the entertainment world, have demonized the meaning of "Republican." The Democrats lie with impunity. A Republican coughs and the media portrays it as an attempt to spread an epidemic to hurt the poor.
Jim Shobert, Lilburn, GA
Yasir, Boss
As a Catholic who keeps a mezuzah on her door and supports Israel, I am happy with Rick Lazio's excellent explanation of why he shook Arafat's hand. He'd been in the Middle East as a guest of the President to witness the revocation of the Palestinian declaration to destroy Israel. (Gee, and wasn't that about the time Clinton invited Lazio along because the impeachment vote was coming up, and Lazio wasn't solidly behind the Republican leadership yet? Hmm, yes, I believe it was!)
If I were witnessing such a revocation?the start of the very peace process that the President is now trying to bring to a close?and I was in a receiving line along with other witnesses, and Arafat was standing right next to my president, as shown in photos across the country, I bet I would shake Arafat's hand, too. To not shake Arafat's hand would have been undiplomatic and embarrassing for the country.
I must say this, though: I am offended for my Jewish friends that this photo has been put out there to try to sway their votes toward Mrs. Clinton, and if I were a Jew, I'd be personally insulted. I would understand the disdain for my intellect (that I would be unable to tell the difference between a benign receiving line and a hug of Arafat's wife) that is implied by the release of such a photo.
Elizabeth Scalia Mauro, Lake Grove, NY
No Good Deed...
As one who loathes Al Gore, I was intrigued by Crispin Sartwell's 9/13 "Opinion" piece, which concludes that "as you enter the polling booth you face the question of whether you yourself will cease to exist."
Was this the most highbrow satire of Al Gore's rhetoric ever printed?lampooning Gore's own belabored attempts to show us how smart he really is, by proving to us we are our own worst enemies??or was it only a long-winded piece of self-congratulation on the fact that Crispin finished his philosophy comps?
Or does it merely fall into the cacophony of Presidential Election Year slanders with which all voices in the media must resound?like some kind of chorus of modern Echoes, damned for being merely chatty?
Frank Turk, Pittsburgh
Stuck in the Middle
John Strausbaugh: Before I get down to a little criticism, I want to say that I enjoy your paper, and your own writing, very much. I moved to New York in '87, and started reading New York Press pretty much as soon as it came out. I don't always agree with the opinions expressed, as I'm sure you don't either, but it's usually thought-provoking (thoughts such as "they're so right"; or "how can that a-hole say that?") and/or funny.
I've got to say that your 9/13 editorial had me both nodding in agreement at parts and thinking you were being a bit harsh. After reading your piece, I read that New York Times article you wrote about. Yes, some of it came off as middle-class whining, but a lot of it just seemed like the people whose votes Gore and Bush need to win saying how they feel economically.
Sure, the Times, as your paper repeatedly points out, gives it a bit of the "people are anxious" spin, implying they need some Gore social handouts to feel better. But a lot of it rings true. Take that couple in Des Moines, or wherever, with the combined $90K in salary, which you a little snidely suggest should be plenty for them in Bumfuck, USA?he was working from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. every day, or something like that. His wife worked, too. They have a kid. And even in Des Moines, kids need braces, clothes, etc., and Des Moines orthodontists charge plenty, too, I'm sure, though maybe not as much as in Baltimer (sorry, that's a little snide of me).
And your take on the "fear of hunger" was also disconcerting. People's fear of going hungry in some cases is misplaced, and in some cases is probably legitimate. Fear of going hungry keeps some people working, I'm sure. But whether real or imagined, fear of hunger is not something to mock (although the Times take on it could be, I guess; I didn't read the piece). Making fun of others' anxiety, even if that anxiety, in your mind, is not caused by an actual threat, isn't nice.
Actually, a fitting rejoinder to your editorial comes in George Szamuely's "Taki's Top Drawer" piece in the same 9/13 issue. He's usually one of the New York Press writers who gets under my skin, but I respect his contrarianism. In trashing the conservative fear of the "labor squeeze," he discusses why Americans might not be feeling so flush despite the economic boom?because real wage gains have been slim since 1989, and the Fed is always warning that too much employment might lead to inflation. See, it's not just because people are lazy that there is unemployment. Some unemployment is taken as a good. So I think George understands why that couple in Iowa feels a little stressed financially.
I can't let George completely off the hook, though. His take on Greenspan's warnings about labor shortages leading to inflation is a little uncharitable. As Fed chief, Greenspan's mission directive is to check inflation. The man's just doing his job to point out warning signs. Cut him some slack. Almost all economists used to think that 4 percent unemployment would lead to rampant inflation. Greenspan has acknowledged that productivity increases by American workers have helped keep inflation in check while allowing for fuller employment. Szamuely's complaint that Greenspan has concentrated only on a tight labor market as being a potential harbinger of inflation, and not on the frothy stock market, is unfounded. Greenspan has made widely repeated comments about "irrational exuberance" in the markets (aimed more at averting a blow-up of a bubble than at inflation fears), but has also warned about asset-inflation, has warned that we need to take that into account when looking for signs of price inflation.
Finally, MUGGER quoted Bush's oft-repeated "we trust you with your money" bit in his 9/13 column. Hey, I trust me with my money, too. If I got a tax cut, I'd be able to go out to some place like Veritas or Il Mulino one more time a month. (I don't make as much as Mr. Smith, but I loved his old restaurant review asides in MUGGER and tried to keep up with him on the dining front.) If Gore wins, it'll have to be El Teddy's. But I think that the issue in the election is what to do about seniors who either had no money to save for medical care, or "forgot" to save, or misgauged how much to save when they were working back in '55 when medicine was cheap, I guess; and what to do about children who have no money to begin with. If they have no money to be trusted with, what then? Do we send 'em to the wall? I don't think Bush advocates that, so I think the soundbite is silly.
Oh yeah, on the Times-bashing front: I think MUGGER is a little harsh on Paul Krugman, who I think makes some good points. At least he tries to make fact-based arguments, and isn't as squishy as everybody else there but William Safire, and Maureen Dowd on occasion.
Well, I guess I've tried to cover too many bases here. That's my fiscally moderate, left-of-Bush, right-of-Gore, respect-but-won't-vote-for-Nader, stick-up-for-the-Times-a-little (but not Joyce Purnick, please) take on things. Sorry to digress.
Hugh Shull, Manhattan