No trains for Canarsie, Vallone rocks the Xbox and the Loathsome list continues to resonate.
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DEMOCRACY COW
Is Amy Goodman for real ("Breaking the Sound Barrier," 4/21)? "If the media showed us the sheared-off limbs of Iraqi children, of U.S. soldiers, of women and innocent civilians killed in Iraq, I think we would eradicate war." Perhaps if Pacifica and its ilk carried stories of Afghani women and their children forced into starvation because no man was around to escort them to food. Or how about Kurdish children gassed and choking in their own vomit? Maybe the stoning of raped Islamic women would make a nice sound bite, eh?
The list of atrocities on the other side of this equation goes unchallenged, but the liberal media would have a lot more soul searching to do if they addressed why we are at war with a culture that hacks away at the limbs of common thieves, but allows mullahs to deny young girls a shot at an education.
Nothing more frightening than a naive liberalespecially one with the power of mass media behind her.
Ron Malpeli, Staatsburg, NY
ALL ABOARD THE WEINERBUS!
While I suppose it's more or less a step forward for the folks riding the old buses out in Queens, it would be nice if bus service in the Bronx improved a tad ("Page Two," 4/21). I live a half mile from the subway station. Between my place and the station are two quarter-mile hills. While it's walkable, at the age of 42, I don't have the energy to walk it every day. Every morning, I can be sureat the height of rush hourI'll wait a good 10 minutes for the bus, it'll be jammed and the trip will take twice as long as need be. Every afternoon, I can be certain the maddening bus-bunching will occur.
As for extending the train to Co-op City: I don't know if it was said tongue in cheek, and I'm no civil engineer, but I see three problems with this. First, it's common knowledge that CC was built on a swamp and is sinking, although not very fast. Second, the traffic in Co-op City is terriblenot enough parking and far too many cars trying to fit into far too little CC. Installing a subway in Co-op City would require an incredible amount of planning to 1) optimize the distance covered by the subway, 2) minimize traffic disruption and 3) minimize construction time. Third, the cost would be stratospheric. And finally, a subway does run fairly close to Co-op City, the 5 train. It stops at Baychester Ave., and leads to a pedestrian overpass that leaves you in Co-op City.
Nathan F. Weiner, Bronx
MONSTER M*A*S*H
Russ Smith nailed John Kerry ("He Probably Thinks This Election's About Him," 4/21). Frank Burns is the perfect characterization for Sen. Kerry. Picture, if you can, Sen. Clinton in the role of "Hot-Lips Houlihan." Now that would be scary.
Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX
DID WE LOATHE WRONG MC?
I enjoyed last year's Most Loathsome list so much that I'm embarrassed to admit I missed this year's by a few weeks and, hence, am late getting this note off to you ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/31). So I guess the satisfaction I got from finally seeing someone adroitly lay into Sarah Jessica Parker's undeservedly elevated status was just collecting compound interest.
It was certainly satisfying enough to not feel too bad that you missed your mark by laying into 50 Cent when New York has a far, far worthier target with P. Diddy just aching to be roasted. For all 50 Cent's shortcomings at extending the rap genre, he certainly doesn't register as a comical put-on when in gangsta mode and then further undercut his own act by casting himself in the role of plutocrat/fop while gadding about the Hamptons. The only RICO predicates that P. Diddy the "gangster" is tough enough to commit are offenses to common sensibility.
Another Loathsome note: A letter from Gregory Piatetsky of Brookline, MA, defended Barak Pridor and Pridor's data-mining firm, ClearForest ("The Mail," 4/14). Part of Piatetsky's apologia for ClearForest is that their offices were located in the Twin Towers and, hence, have a more poignantly interest in collecting the data of whomever they feel like checking up on.
Does Piatetsky honestly think that being "lucky to escape [the WTC] alive" earns them any slack for socially reprehensible behavior? Or that their measures are defensible by their feelings of victimization? It's a measure of their plainly detestable nature that ClearForest does better to be characterized as vigilantes. I don't feel any better about the U.S. government doing it, but I don't remember appointing Pridor or anyone else like him to rummage through my mail to determine if I'm a terrorist and, by the way, my annual income and spending patterns for advertising purposes.
Alex Wayne, Chicago
MAKING OUR HEADLINE BLUSH
Cute headline about Schumer solving the Lindbergh case, but it's really not funny ("Page Two," 4/21). And I don't know about the new evidence on Emmet Till (I missed the documentary), but I do believe there isn't a case from that era that shouldn't be re-opened or re-examined.
And no, the Lindbergh "kidnapping" has never been solved, and there's good evidence that it never even took place; it was probably a hoax on the part of a crackpot eugenicist father looking to be rid of an ill firstborn child who would only defile the lofty Aryan's image. The case is probably solvable, but New Jersey authorities have refused to allow DNA testing of the 72-year-old evidence.
Worse, New Jersey sent an innocent man to his death 19 months after he was arrested and with hundreds of unanswered questions concerning his guilt and the charges against him. The governor of that state believed he was framed and said so publicly. The bravery of Gov. Harold Hoffman was met with the kind of unfair jeering you are promoting in this editorial (against Schumer and Rangel), and it disturbs me to think anyone from New York (my beloved birthplace) would want to poke fun at any truthseeker.
Ronelle Delmont, Pembroke Pines, FL
COUNT 'EM
When calculating the total number of Iraqi casualties caused by America's most recent devastation following the ousting of Saddam Hussein, it is important that we don't forget what was going on in Iraq over the course of the past decade ("The Numbers Game," 4/14). The economic sanctions and myriad other related hardships imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War killed, by conservative estimate, several hundred thousand Iraqis. Perhaps these deaths weren't as obviously attributable to U.S. actions as the deaths that are accompanied by thundering explosions and buildings turned to rubble, but they were the effective result of U.S. foreign policy. Anyone who doesn't believe the American government bears any responsibility for all those years of misery is living not only in a social and political vacuum, but a moral one as well.
Ned Kelly, St. Paul, MN
YOU'RE WRONG
I take exception to the Most Loathsome list's inclusion of Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League ("50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," 3/31). I applaud his courage for standing up to Mel Gibson, a man who refuses to repudiate his father's belief that the Holocaust didn't happen.
I also notice New York Press always seems to take pleasure in savaging the State of Israel. Last week you had an interview with an organization called Jews Against the Occupation (Crane, 4/14). Some of your columnists, like Alexander Cockburn, always condemn the government's attempts to crack down on the intifada. You have never acknowledged that Israel offered to give most of the West Bank to the Palestinians in 2001, but Arafat rejected the deal. I see a pattern of editorial bias that reeks of anti-Semitism. I hope I am wrong.
Steven Edlin, Farmingdale, NY
TIT FOR TAT
I like breasts as much as the next guy. I'd certainly agree with Mark Ames that Uma Thurman has nice breasts ("Film," 3/9). However, calling them fun-bags is horrific. Any man uttering the words "fun-bags" in the presence of a woman will get a slap in the face, a knee to the groin or a black eye. As humorous as your reviewer thinks he's being, it's offensive and disgusting.
Bjorn Stromberg, Rapid City, SD
BUT EVERYBODY LOVES DONOVAN. WEIRD, RIGHT?
Russ Smith: As a boomer-aged parent, it occurred to me some years ago that we exist in a tiny window of appreciation for Dylanthose older than us, as well as our children, cannot understand or appreciate his music, specifically his voice ("He Probably Thinks This Election's About Him," 4/21). Though I am sure there are college student hippie wannabes who listen to him. Stay well.
Joseph Latino, Cortlandt Manor, NY
VPL FACILITY
I'm pretty sure that Plum Island is a BSL-3 facility ("Monster Island, 3/17). At least the last time I checked it was. Does your reporter have new information he could share suggesting that that has changed?
David Ruppe, Global Security Newswire, Washington, DC
3-C
Oh, dear. Matt Zoller Seitz's review of the Coen brothers' The Lady Killers is pretty good until he falls on his face with some quite horrible alliteration, which makes perfect nonsense ("Film," 4/7). A "five-finger exercise from filmmakers who specialize in baroque contraptionist concertos." Pardon? Can we have the English translation now, please.
David Hakes, Hoboken
STAYING ON SMITH'S GOOD SIDE
I just finished reading this week's Russ Smith column. He really tore Sullivan and Ames limb from limb ("Through the Past Darkly," 4/14). I hope to God I never piss him off.
Teresa Sue Klein, Columbia, MO
COFFEE AND INTERNET AND DJS? PREPOSTEROUS
Hey, Jennifer Blowdryer! I just wanted to say thanks for the Lower East Side tips in your "Delancey St." article ("Up All Night," 1/7). I checked out that coffee shop you recommended, Alchemy 106, and I am hooked. They have the best coffee I've ever had, and the best computers I've ever found in an internet cafe. When I was in there they had a live DJ spinning trance upstairs. When I asked them about it, they said that they have open tables, and I could come down whenever I want to spin. So thank you New York Press, for finding me coffee, internet and an audience all at once.
Joshua Skye, Huntington, NY
DON'T TEASE, ANTHONY
Mark Ames: I am writing to apply for the position of catalyst to your conversion from law-abiding New York Press columnist to high-octane, duster-clad vigilante antihero. I refer to the last line of your column in which you invited parties interested in offing your prospective bride and offspring in a bid to drive you to a state of righteous moral outrage ("Film," 4/19). I would be happy to either kill or severely and permanently debilitate your hypothetical family, and below, I present to you at this time the reasons I feel that I'd make a superb archenemy:
I attended 12 years of Catholic school, thus I know a thing or two about how to inflict pain.
I am a published horror erotica poet/author and publisher/editor. I could bump someone off and write a story about it to cover my tracks ("Honestly, Officer, wouldn't I have to be pretty stupid to kill a person and then write a story detailing exactly how I did it?).
I own a lot of black clothing, and the bad guys always wear black.
I'm great at fashioning clever, over-the-top villain's dialogue.
I'm quite the night owl; rarely in bed before 2:30 a.m.
I do hope that our daytime personas/secret identities might become friends. That would add the perfect touch of pathos to the brutally antagonistic relationship that our alter-egos will be sharing. Thank you for this opportunity!
Anthony Beal, Editor, Scared Naked Magazine
SMOKING DEBATE RAGES ON
Gene Borio is, indeed, getting tedious, as he himself admits ("The Mail," 4/21). In his attacks on the evidence presented by CLASH, and his tediously cleaving to the creed of his fellow activist, Michael Siegel, who's on record as advising: "Do not get into arguments...about scientific evidence. Instead, the best approach is to expose the tobacco industry ties of the so-called scientists making the arguments."
Or, to put that succinctly, when you can't rebut the argument, attack the guy who made it.
This McCarthyite tactic is as useful to anti-smokers as it was to McCarthy. So no matter how slim or vague, no matter how far in the past, and most critically, whether or not there is such a "tie," that tie gets pulled from the rackwhile the actual evidence remains unrebutted.
And since Borio clearly hasn't read CLASH's evidence, and doesn't know its provenance, his crack is especially shallow and malicious, and tediously irrelevant.
Finally, it's past time that spades were called spades. Anti-Tobacco is a big business too, funded by billions of government and, crucially pharmaceutical company grants. (Talk about possible conflicts of interest.) So the "so-called scientists" like the all-but-ubiquitous Stanton Glantz and his sidekick James Repacedarlings of the anti-smoking crusadecould thus, in the words so favored by their movementbe accurately described as nothing but "paid lackeys" and their evidence, therefore, summarily dismissed.
Linda Stewart, Manhattan
I don't get it. Russ Smith has cast John Kerry as Major Frank Burns ("He Probably Thinks this Election's About him," 4/21)? Sorry, but as Gertrude Stein would say "There's no there, there." Burn's character was first and foremost a coward. John Kerry has a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Case closed. On the other hand, of the two major presidential candidates, George Bush is the one who claims to get his marching orders from God. How's that for "inflated self-esteem"? Throw in the president's boasting about disliking the "intelligentsia" and never reading newspapers or books and his insecurities become obvious. George Bush dislikes anything that may be over his head, which come to think of it, is also just like the Major Burns character.
Robert Prichard, Manhattan
OOPS. CONSIDER IT FIXED
First off, your "top 50" list last year was hilarious and too true. I do have one question/possible correction, though. For number three, Michael Moore, the authors make this comment: "His arguments against gun control are simplistic, weak and mired in the cloying stink of self-service..." Should that not be, "His arguments for gun control...?" Michael Moore is about as anti-gun as they come. I can't imagine he would ever argue against a gun control measure!
Jonathon Brent Kecskes, St. Clair Shores, MI