The Mail

THE MAIL

THIS WEEK: Signorile calls them as he sees them, a blog fan swears vengeance and William J. Ford won't beat his wife. PLUS: Getting to the bottom of fire-retardant smokes.

ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS SESSION

As a proud employee of the United States Postal Service (Customer Service Supervisor, Midtown Station), and longtime New York Press reader, I couldn't help but notice the odd placing of two random items: The always-compelling "Thank You, Really" column, right below a blurb about serial killer David Berkowitz (Page Two, 6/30).

For the record, the postal service is only responsible for the maintenance and replacement of the actual lock or locks (called an arrow lock) for a panel of boxes; the mailboxes themselves are the responsibility of the building management. I would suggest that if the super continues to stall, call the Inspection Service at 212-330-3900, and they will assist you.

Speaking of Benjamin Franklin, he was also the country's first Postmaster General.

Speaking of excellent writing, Matt Taibbi's column about journalists ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30) was just about the best piece of writing I've seen anywhere in a long time.

Finally, speaking of Mr. Wiggles, the burning question remains: Will he ever actually be rehabilitated?

Robert Liebowitz, Astoria

SEXUAL DEALING

Judy McGuire scores with her powerful candor ("Dategirl," 6/23). I'd assert, however, that the tension between the real and ideal body is the same at both ends of the block. Girls are boys, is the simple revelation, admitting of a hotter, gamier, more raw and exciting sexual truth.

Kiro Binns, Manhattan

HILL'S HYPOCRITES

Michelangelo Signorile's "It's Outing Season" (7/7) was a good, well-written article. But I'm sure that I need not tell you that.

I was stunned while reading and becoming aware of the hypocrisy covered in this paragraph:

"The corporate media report on every last detail about the marriages and divorces of heterosexual public figures, often when it's not relevant to a larger story and often when the information is even wrong (as in the case of John Kerry's non-affair with an intern). In this case, the votes of Barbara Mikulski and every member of Congress make their sexual orientation—and the status of their marriages and divorces—open to discussion, no matter if they're gay, straight, bi or whatever. Will the Washington press corps realize this time around that protecting the closet means siding hands-down with the gay rights opponents?"

Why not out everyone?

Anything else is hypocrisy, and once the dust settles few people will give a fuck anyway.

Greg Hill, San Diego

NYP ROCKS SASKATOON!

I was just in New York and had the pleasure of reading your well-written and informative paper. The issue that was on the streets at that time included a Matt Taibbi column on the media called "Shoveling Coal for Satan" (6/30). It may have been the best-written media critique I have read in years.

Marcus Davies, Director of Communications & Gov't Relations, Saskatchewan Medical Association, Saskatoon, Canada

NYP ROCKS AUSTIN!

From "Crime Blotter" (Page Two, 7/7): "Then she was taken to the hospital, where she was given a C-section. (You'd think she could've saved herself a trip, way things were going.)"

That hurts my feelings, it's just that awesome. I love and hate you so much. Terrible, terrible. Fantastic!

David Meiklejohn, Austin

BUT NYP DOESN'T ROCK MANHATTAN!

I just read Donna Larsen's article about enjoying torture, and I'm perplexed ("Apply Fist Here," 6/30). I'll admit that I'm what you would consider old-fashioned, but I am still open-minded. What I'm wondering is—what the hell was the point of the article? Am I supposed to ask my wife if she'd like a serious beating? Am I supposed to consider debasing myself by cheating on her so that I can beat up other women who enjoy it? Am I supposed to accept her perverse behavior, which I really didn't need to know about in the first place? And this is a front-page feature article in your once-fine paper? You've really taken quite a dive in your editorial content.

William J. Ford, Manhattan

TN: THE ABUSED GIRLFRIEND STATE

Hey Russ Smith, are you ever troubled that your name sounds fake? Just kidding. Seriously, I enjoyed your article very much ("Slate Strikes Out," 7/7). However, I had a comment regarding David Plotz's (another fake name if I ever heard one) article on Tennessee. I certainly won't dispute the poll results you cite (if anything, some days I'd be willing to bet that Bush sentiment runs even higher), though it should be pointed out that Plotz could have supported his case with just a minuscule effort in terms of research. After all, Tennessee's representatives are almost evenly split between Democrat and Republican, and the title of mayor of Nashville has traditionally been passed back and forth between the parties (currently, the occupant of the office is a Democrat). Calling it a swing state isn't wholly unjustified; Bush only beat Gore by four percent here in 2000, and the state should by all rights have a fairly significant pool of untapped Democratic power.

The problem is that the Democratic party here is organized for shit, and Gore took the state totally for granted in the 2000 election. Most of the universities here are fairly conservative, but Nashville is home to the historically black colleges Tennessee State University and Fisk University, and—as might be imagined—both campuses are as thoroughly Democratic as one might possibly find in this curious state. Between them, you have several thousand students with a history of activism to motivate them to get involved in a campaign.

Yet Gore and the Tennessee Democratic Party (if indeed such a beast can still be said to exist) totally snubbed the universities. I should know—I was a student at TSU during the election. I was very active in campus politics, and the level of energy and support for Gore was phenomenal. But there was never a major function in cooperation with the TDP, nor was there a visit from the vice president to the largest single concentration of Democratic students in the state. It was pretty disheartening, and something for which I have no ready explanation.

Plotz's article would have been much improved by even a slight effort at researching Tennessee's politics, rather than simply echoing the sentiment held by some that it is a swing state. I feel it could be, under the right circumstances. If Gore came within four percent of beating Bush here even with the paltry campaign effort he made, indeed, perhaps it is a swing state. But if the Tennessee Democratic Party repeats the mistakes of the past, the Republicans will continue to carry the state simply because they're the only ones who bother paying any attention to it.

Right now, we sit in the limbo of being ignored by both parties, which leaves me to wonder if we will, like a codependent girlfriend trying to choose between two losers, simply go with the one who mistreats us the least.

Landon W. Schurtz, Antioch, TN

HOW SMOKING SAVES LIVES

The question remains: Who benefits from the fire-safe cigarette (Page Two, "Kill 'Em All," 7/7)? One benefactor is Philip Morris, which has the market cornered on the fire-retardant paper. PM Select paper is being fronted by the anti-smoking cartel as fire-safe, which is a farce. There is no such thing as a fire-safe cigarette.

Because Philip Morris has crawled on their knees for the powerful health and anti-smoking lobby, the anti-smoking cartel actually helps PM sell their wares. When PM lobbyists, including the whole publicly funded anti-smoking industry in Minnesota, tried to get legislation for fire-safe cigarettes, wise committee members soon diluted fire-safe to "fire-retardant."

An ex-fireman-turned-representative along with the Professional Fire Fighters Association laid out two packs of cigarettes in front of the commission. Can you guess which brand saves lives? Philip Morris' Marlboro and Merit. Even liberal Minnesota recognizes the politically correct tobacco influence.

Archie Anderson, Coon Rapids, MN

AND A BLOG WILL LEAD THEM

At last one of your discredited tribe has pointed out that American journalism has no clothes—something many of us already knew (Matt Taibbi, "Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30). Have they started to heat the tar, yet? Taibbi should head for the border while he can. Truth will not be allowed to stand; that's just the way it is in Amerika, 2004.

I'm so ashamed of the press. You were to be our bulwark against the tricksters among us, the early-warning system, the DEW line. You are in a special class because this was your primary purpose. As this writer points out, it was more important to sell Fritos while yammering about "Freedom" to distract the trusting and foolish among us. You've sold your souls and this country down the river—for a salary. We weren't worth much, were we?

Michael Moore is "greedy," is he? Why? Because he makes money telling the world the story that you and your kind are too timid to tell? I'd pay twice as much for a movie ticket to get some little nugget of truth— that's how starved we all are for it.

But don't worry about it. We've found a way around you. Movies, books, the internet, blogs, email from the outside world. We've got the truth and you did not deliver it.

We will not forget this.

Barbara A. Rittiman, Santa Clara, CA

MEDIOCRE MEDIOCRACY

The recent article by Matt Taibbi on the media finally gives me some hope for your profession ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30). Please thank Taibbi and pat yourselves on the back for giving voice to the anger I have felt at the American media for several years.

Thank heaven for the internet so that I can find news not disseminated by the corporate-controlled mediocracy, and for leading me to this column. I know that I am not the only one that feels this way.

Bryan Haggerty, Indianapolis, IN

INTO THE CHIPPER WITH TAIBBI

Forgive me if this is a bit late, but I read Matt Taibbi's column today at the behest of a friend ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30). What his column has to do with journalism is beyond me. All journalists are cowards? Would he say that to the journalists that have been killed in Iraq? Okay, that was too easy. How about Sy Hersh, who doesn't put his neck on the line any more than living in DC entails, but does report on the dirty laundry of the Bush administration to great praise and presumably high remuneration? Or the poor anonymous AP bastards who report "desert rats" getting strafed and killed and form the only basis Taibbi has for calling Iraq a mess in the first place? How does Taibbi know that people are getting killed there at all? Through the mail?

I don't even know where to start. "No one among us will throw that first stone." Right. God knows there aren't enough journalists who complain publicly about their profession.

"The journalist with courage would have threatened to resign rather than repeat George Bush's justifications for invasion before it began." And this would have accomplished what? Silence? An administration that wants nothing more than to go about their machinations in complete isolation from the public, and Taibbi would prefer that journalists not force them to go on the public record day after day?

Can you imagine going to, say, Donald Rumsfeld and saying, "We're not going to cover the war until you do x, y and z?" Not going to cover the war? Really? No, anything but that. Please don't make us, the Pentagon, inform the public. We wouldn't want that responsibility.

What leverage does Taibbi propose that would have? Please don't throw Rummy into the briar patch.

Is his column some weird way of proving his own point? Disguising self-love as self-loathing is by all means cowardly, not to mention dishonest. Or maybe he's not dishonest. If he really wants to cast the first stone, he should fucking quit. Or feed himself through a wood chipper. Show us your vertebrae, Matt Taibbi, arcing out over the Arizona desert.

Whet Moser, Chicago

AUSTIN'S CITY LIMITS

Great piece by Matt Taibbi ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30). He took the words right out of my mouth. It's about time journalists began looking real hard at their profession. Like he said, it's about time we stood up and shouted "bullshit."

Frank Levine, managing editor, Xtra International, Austin

SEE ALSO, NEW YORK SUN

I still love your publication, and I still think it's one of the most entertaining alternative newspapers out there. But so many regular columns that I grew attached to seem to have faded away after I developed an interest in them. My latest complaint in this area is the "Old Smoke" column by William Bryk. It was always arcane, lucid, witty, illuminating and fascinating. (In contrast, I find Russ Smith insufferable and unreadable.) Who but Bryk could explain that "pieces of eight" was a reference to coinage that constituted New York's currency before we had a national mint? Who else could tell the story of the draft riots in far more detail than Martin Scorsese could do in a $100 million movie? Who else could point out the fortress from the 1812 conflict still standing in Central Park?

If his column is still available to you, I implore you to reinstate him. If it is not, but is still being published elsewhere, may I inquire as to where? And if he has ceased writing it, please tell him that his voice is sorely missed by at least one New Yorker who realizes that we cannot know where we are going if we cannot recall from whence we have come.

Don Stitt, Manhattan

WHERE'S VRUSHO WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

Matt Taibbi describes the Democrats as "ferrety, querulous, self-flagellating intellectuals who learned politics from the '61 Mets" ("Donkey. Elephant. Chicken?" 7/7). He's off by a year—the Mets began National League play in 1962.

Andrew Milner, Bryn Mawr, PA

WE HATE NO ONE. DISLIKE, MAYBE

There is a reason why that memorial is on the grounds of a Catholic church (St. Sebastians, I believe) and not in the triangular park across the street, between Roosevelt and Woodside Ave., which is city-owned land (C.J. Sullivan, "Lest We Forget," 7/7).

Back in the mid-80s when the memorial was conceived and dedicated, some busybody in Andy Stein's office noticed that the memorial mentioned God or Christ. Well, we cannot have such a brazen violation of the First Amendment, can we? This busybody, with no objection from Andy Stein or any of the lamebrains in the City Council (including Tom Manton, the boss of Queens) would not yield, and said the memorial as such could not go up on city-owned land. The local Catholic church said that it could go up on their property.

Well, end of controversy, but if you didn't have a reason to hate liberal New York Democrats, I just gave you one.

Daniel Heneghan, Astoria

ALL PLUGGED UP

Matt Taibbi seems to mistake his column for a therapist's couch ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30). In the "tampon factory" where I work, someone having this man's obvious problems would be supported by his managers, colleagues and friends in getting the help he is screaming for. Or, is this one more of journalism's failings?

Bill Guest, Los Angeles

THE HINTERLANDS

Just read Matt Taibbi's "Shoveling Coal for Satan" (6/30). Dry those tear-stained cheeks, pat yourself on the head, then pull it out of your ass. Where in the hell do you plan to make a living outside of this "crass commercial world"? Short of rail-riding while carrying your household on the end of a stick, or doing the perpetual horizontal under an overpriced etched rock, I wonder what world one could inhabit where ultimate truth is job number-one and making a living is optional.

Hint A: The ultimate truth not found in journalism may be pursued in religion.

Hint B: Most journalists aren't at all interested in religion.

Hint C: That's why the public ignores most of them.

Darn, you're going to have to trundle back through the mental crabgrass of philosophy while working at McDonald's.

Cheer up!

David A. Park, Hanford, CA

SELF-LOATHING TAIBBI

Setting aside my own fundamental disagreement with Christopher Hitchens on the subject of the Iraq war, regardless of what one thinks of Michael Moore's film (as either argument or simply agit-prop), he hardly needs the defense of someone like Matt Taibbi. Or any defense at all ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30).

Taibbi, mercifully, doesn't really take on this task. Instead, he makes his contempt for his own profession and his own self-loathing an excuse to slam Hitchens—not to mention any number of courageous journalists. What about Sy Hersh? Amy Goodman? Anne Garrels? There are others all over the world. I suggest that if Taibbi is sufficiently incited by Hitchens' fusillade on Fahrenheit 9/11, that he take on Hitchens himself, instead of tarring himself and colleagues (not his peers) with his broad and clumsy swipes. I think he can be safely assured that by the time Hitchens is through with him, he won't need a woodchipper.

Ezrha Jean Black, Los Angeles

SWIMMING WITH GUPPIES

I have two very close friends in the media. One is a producer (now moved over to sports), and the other is an on-air personality at a network affiliate. I respect both of them very much, and I think they would actually tend to agree with what Matt Taibbi wrote ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/30).

But one thing I wanted to point out: These two individuals who graduated from the same school of journalism at a major midwestern university had never been assigned Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent or any other works of media criticism that I read as a history major. I don't know how to phrase my question, but basically, if a future reporter never learns about the system of media as a whole, and how and why it operates, how can he or she be expected to rebel against it? The behavior Taibbi calls for is like asking why the fish doesn't just get out of the water when being chased by the shark.

Paul Fritsky, Brooklyn, NY

THANK YOU, MR. ANDERSON

Dare I say "Bravo!" to Matt Taibbi for expressing a bit of the truth, and getting it into print ("Shoveling Coal for Satan," 6/23). Many people seem to enjoy living in a world of black-and-white truths—while reality is often closer to shades of gray. In reality, the truth is full of hypocrisies; people make their choices and live by them the best they can. That's the way it is; let's just stop lying about it, or pretending it doesn't exist. Bravo, Matt Taibbi, for taking a step in that direction.

David Anderson, Manhattan