Mailbox
Ben Domenechs article on the Capitol murders ("Capitol Shooter: Russell Weston, Three Years Later," 7/18) was riveting and poignant; I hadnt known the details. Kudos.
Terry Ward, via Internet
Stupid and Illiterate
Are you paying Tim Hall to spew that swill in defense of illiterate teachers on the New York Press website ("Daily Billboard," 7/13 and 7/16)? I can deal with his carping that the New York Posts take-down of Sunny Liang was unfair and cruel. Who doesnt make mistakes in e-mail notes? But Halls clearly operating his word processor under the influence of stupidity when he goes on to claim that it doesnt matter if Liang is illiterate because: 1) hes a foreigner, 2) he teaches social studies, not English, and 3) Hall once had a teacher who couldnt speak English very well and look how smart Hall turned out.
The first two points are pure fools drool. Being from a foreign land shouldnt exempt you from being qualified to do your job. If there were any sense to Halls second point–the notion that writing grammatically is only important for English teachers–why would we bother having students take English classes at all? Most of them wont be English teachers either.
It turns out that Halls third point is nothing more than a boring fact of his biography. A recent study by Harvards George Borjas demonstrated that students perform worse when they are taught by foreign-born teachers who have trouble with the English language. For Gods sake, MUGGER, keep Hall off of education and safely in the music columns.
Name Withheld, Manhattan
Nkomo Mon Amour
Maybe yall should steer Nkomo Morris and her next "Nothing Happened" piece over Salons way ("First Person," 7/11). Thats why theyre going Chapter 11.
Jeff Gilchrist, via Internet
A Childs Love
John Strausbaugh: Reading your article on Komar & Melamids RBS Gazette ("Publishing," 7/11), I couldnt believe you failed to mention the wonderful article by Josh Zeman regarding Jewish pirates. Jewish pirates! What a fascinating and original idea. To tell you the truth, I found the piece to be quite enchanting and extremely well-written. I think were going to be hearing a lot from this writer in the future. Best regards from Joshs grandmother...
Ann Childs, Pittsburgh
Whiny Europeans
Andrey Slivka: There is one thing I would like to hear from Western Europeans ("Daily Billboard," 7/16): "Thanks, America, for the Marshall Plan." Maybe from the Germans a "thanks for the Berlin Airlift." We heard no whining about smog from all those C-54s landing food and coal at Tempelhof, did we? No sniveling about greenhouse gases from the tractors used to harvest that food, no finger-wagging superiority about the pollution generated by the machinery used to mine the coal to heat German homes in the winter.
I dare Europeans to actually ratify, rather than just sign, the Kyoto Protocol. Then they might have a point. But of course they wont do it. I hope that next time those wine-besotted, soap-averse cowards in France scream for help we sit on our hands instead.
David Mann, Concord, CA
Jung and the FBI
I liked Alexander Cockburns article on the polygraph ("Wild Justice," 7/18). About two years ago I translated and synopsized 80 articles on the polygraph for the Pentagon. The manner of questioning that is used in conjunction with the polygraph goes back to Jung. (Other systems of measuring various reactions were also tried out.) Jung would compose a block of questions relating to the crime and person. Reaction times were also measured. If the person took a long time to answer, I think more than four seconds or so, the answer was considered invalid.
Based on the subconscious, Jung could tell if the person knew something of the crime. It was all very interesting, but Jung did not like using the method for criminal investigations. He also cautioned against abuse and pointed out that only a fully trained psychologist/psychiatrist could make the system work. It is worth noting that even Nazi Germany found the polygraph useless and deemed it illegal.
Name Withheld, Alexandria, VA
In Defense of Cal
MUGGER: Cal Ripken a mediocre athlete over the past decade? In 1991, Cal Ripken Jr. won the MVP award. His .323 average is the fourth highest of MVP winners in the past decade. It takes a pretty good athlete to take the field every day. As for Ripken being indifferent toward his teammates, if you had upstanding citizens such as Albert Belle, Roberto Alomar and Armando Benitez on your team, would you down beers with them after the game? Ripkens best friend on the team is Brady Anderson, which is no surprise at all since Anderson has been an O since 1989.
All superstars get the first-class treatment, thats just the way sports has evolved. Its not a good thing, but Ripken cant be faulted for it. Do you think the Sox treat Nomar, Pedro and Manny the same way they treat Troy OLeary? Do you think they stay in the same hotel as Craig Grebeck? Im not saying Ripken is still a great baseball player, far from it. He should have retired two or three years ago. He did revolutionize the position of shortstop, though. I cant help feeling youre knocking the man because you hate the Os and Peter Angelos.
Gregory Joseph, via Interent
Russ Smith replies: A preposterous letter. Agreed, I do think Angelos and his fellow trial-lawyer pirates are a scourge on society. But having lived in Baltimore for 14 years, being a vendor in their old Memorial Stadium for three years while in college, a season ticketholder for many more, the Orioles were always my favorite team aside from the Sox. Ripken was an exciting player in the 80s, just as Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, Frank and Brooks Robinson, Mike Cuellar and Eddie Murray were in their days. But something snapped with Ripken, and as any Baltimore fan will tell you, it wasnt good for the team.
Sams Champ Is