Good for You, James Wolcott; Caldwell's Death Penalty; Kicking Around McConnell; Taki, a Eurotrash Bore?; MUGGER in DC
Good 4/18 issue. I read Russ Smith and John Strausbaugh's James Wolcott interview last night?jeez, you guys are such media establishment bangers!
Dave Murrow, Manhattan
Salman Run
Bravo to James Wolcott, for remarking the "so bad" writing of Salman Rushdie. It is so bad, indeed, that it inspired in me this idea for getting him out of his difficulties with the Ayatollah: that he place a full-page ad in The New York Times, to wit, "In return for the lifting of the fatwa, I, Rushdie, pledge to cork my Biro for all time. The sacrifice of my writing life, which means the world to me, will pain me much more than the loss of my mere physical life. The solemn exchange of value I propose is in the highest tradition of all the great religions of the world."
I generously shared my thoughts with S.R. at the time, in a letter care of PEN. I guess it went astray. The more's the pity for the reading public. It certainly would have meant the world to me if he had cut the deal.
Dorothy Fabian, Manhattan
Walking the Walk
The more I read Russ Smith and John Strausbaugh's 4/18 Q&A with James Wolcott, in which Wolcott discusses Talk, the more I wondered if he was criticizing the same magazine I read and love.
Wolcott said, "when I see the magazine now, it still seems to be 20 conflicting notions. You cannot figure out who it's for..."
How about for dilettantes? How about for all age brackets? How about for the star-struck? How about for the politically inclined? The May issue of Talk was the best yet, with a wonderfully detailed story about Tanaquil le Clercq, a ballerina whose career ended too soon, an excerpt from A.J. Benza's Fame, Ain't It a Bitch, coverboy Hugh Grant and much more. Something for everybody. There's small talk and there's talk, and all talk differs, depending on who's talking. There's nothing completely esoteric about Brown's magazine, and that is its virtue.
Wolcott says about Tina Brown, "I'm mystified that she didn't figure out Talk by now." Maybe she's figured out more than Wolcott could understand.
Susan Smpadian, Manhattan
19 of 20 Ain't Bad
Christopher Caldwell's argument in favor of capital punishment cites two main factors: entertainment and vengeance ("Hill of Beans," 4/18). He implicitly acknowledges that execution has little or no deterrent effect on criminals. But Caldwell also writes that "...19 out of 20 people who get sent to death row are, like McVeigh, guilty as sin and wholly unrepentant."
What about that one person in 20 who is innocent (for you Republican readers, that's 5 percent)? Caldwell conspicuously fails to address the issue of mistaken executions?are these victims just "collateral damage"?
John Cantilli, Cranford NJ
Broke Out in HIV
John Strausbaugh: I just want to say that I really enjoyed your 4/18 "Publishing" column, "HIV or Not HIV." I passed the URL on to many friends. Thanks for writing so sanely on an insane subject.
Carol Stafford, Santa Cruz, CA
Watching the River Flow
Ian Hunter's article about Nyack-on-Hudson and Rosie O'Donnell ("New York City, 4/18) reminds me of a writer I knew during the 1970s, who supported himself at a meager level by cranking out sex paperbacks for a sleazoid publisher. Finally, as a self-parody, he produced a manuscript entitled Sex in Wild Nyack. The publisher's secretary was from Nyack, and loved it. It eventually achieved publication.
Do you suppose that Rosie O'Donnell, Larry Mullen and my literary friend know something about Nyack that Ian Hunter doesn't?
John Boardman, Brooklyn
Love Potion
Scott McConnell is some sort of frickin' genius. As proof, allow me to quote from his 4/18 "Taki's Top Drawer" column:
"The contours of a just peace are obvious. The Palestinians should have a Palestinian state...Israel should have the right to a secure existence."
My God, Scott, you're right! It's all so bloody obvious and simple! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Note to Sharon, Arafat, Bush, Powell, et al.: We have a great untapped resource here at "Taki's Top Drawer." Hire him, let him implement his beautiful ideas and all will be well.
Oh, yeah?I feel pretty much the same about the rest of his column.
Nathan Lamm, Queens
It's Given to Few
Scott McConnell is convinced that there is a groundswell of support for Palestinian irredentism among Americans?at least "educated" ones. Or, more specifically, the kind of educated Americans he meets at his church (and let us contemplate, with due horror, the sort of overfed earnest hypocrite one might find stuffed into a pair of beige chinos at a Churches for a Middle East Peace meeting). All of this is because of the deeper and more nuanced understanding that Americans now have, thanks to the Internet. And what does McConnell, as representative of this new sophistication, offer us? The statement that Jewish settlements are comparable to an Aryan nations facility in Harlem. If only we could all have Scott's novel insight!
Seth Armus, Queens
"I'm Particularly Galled by..."
The stale screed spewed by your Eurotrash, snobbish bore Taki, and his pathetic minions, does nothing for New York Press. Providing an outlet for such a sorry bunch of castoffs will quickly send your paper to the scrap pile from which you plucked those losers. Placing them in the center of your paper does nothing for your image. If you need to fill your paper with such tripe, it would be better if they were situated with the porno ads, but that might offend your low-life advertisers.
I'm particularly galled by their constant criticism of Israel, which is characterized by weak arguments, half-truths and distortions of fact. Perhaps it may represent their efforts to vent their anti-Semitism in a socially acceptable manner.
Paul Sternblitz, Brooklyn
Frost on the Duncan
MUGGER: It was fortuitous of you to write about visiting Washington, DC (4/18). I myself was on the train to DC for a short vacation to the homeland whilst reading the latest issue of New York Press. Which was, of course, terrific. Although, couldn't you have kindly noted in your discussion with James Wolcott in the same issue that Frostburg State College has for the past decade been known as Frostburg State University? It's called FSU?or more likely FU, after a few beers at Duncan's or Gandhalf's.
Marc Safman, Queens
What's That?
MUGGER: If you went to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and didn't take your boys to the Vietnam Veterans Wall, shame on you.
Mike Barbour, Naperville, IL
Go Go? Murder? Georgetown Dweebs?
MUGGER: Enjoyed your 4/18 column about DC and, as a native who came here during Coolidge, I welcome you back. There's lots more to see and feel and hear than what you did, but at least you brought your offspring, and I hope you return repeatedly. Get out beyond the official Washington more and you will see that, while power is such an attraction, there's more to the city than that.
John Jay Daly, Chevy Chase, MD
Norman Vincent Smith
MUGGER: Your column is uplifting, enjoyable and the truth. How very rare in today's world. I did so like your 4/18 descriptions of the line outside the White House. These same people come to church in halter tops, with tattoos showing.
As for William Kristol (4/18): his botch job is a result of his wanting to win the White House for John McCain, because McCain served in Vietnam and he?Kristol?did not. The same goes for Chris Matthews?they think by making McCain a hero, they can ease their guilt.
Anyway, thanks for making my day, and I do agree with you. It's a pleasure to see you touch on the high priestess Maureen Dowd, a bitter woman who might have trouble with father-son relationships.
G. Weicheld, via Internet
Another Burger Sold
MUGGER: I have been reading your columns only for a month. I wish I had started earlier. Keep up the good work. The pieces are concise, informative and laugh-out-loud funny.
Too bad more people don't have the balls to tell it like it is.
Rich Hershey, Levittown, PA
Yeah! We'll Say!
Re: The 4/18 "MUGGER": Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream? Peter Angelos' Orioles? Here's hoping you don't fall off the wagon again any time soon.
John Snyder, Frederick, MD
You Need Schoolin'
John Taylor Gatto's "The Psychopathology of Everyday Schooling" ("Live & Learn," 4/18) is an incoherent jumble. To take but one example?in one paragraph he speaks of Principal Lulu, and says that she expressed her "care" for troubled students. Gatto says that he doesn't believe that she was insincere. In the very next paragraph he's raving about schools being run by psychopaths, whom he defines as "people without consciences" who don't give a damn about students. And on his website, Gatto insists that the public schools are one giant evil plot unleashed on the dopey public by greedy capitalists.
Please. Get out of the radical bookstore and lope over to the university. You'll find a wealth of research that indicates that, yes, schools are coercive, but no, they aren't just the puppets of corporations. If you pick up a copy of Diane Ravitch's book, Left Back, you'll see that control over curricula has been exercised most by educational schools, which tend to be staffed with mushy leftists who are hardly the pawns of the Man.
Kevin Kosar, Brooklyn
Upper Crust
Thank you so much for Jessica Willis' piece, "Crusties & Cutters: The Prodigal Kids of Swift River" ("Live & Learn," 4/18). In the OTB world of New York City publishing, that writer is a sunny Kentucky Derby day, with a mint julep in one hand and the current high school quarterback's ass in the other. And, more importantly, a wonderful woman.
Tanya Richardson, Brooklyn
In Layman's Terms
Re: John Strausbaugh's 4/18 "Publishing": On the plausibility of the claim that there is no African AIDS epidemic, note this from The New York Times' science section, 4/17: "C.D.C.'s first major epidemiological triumph was to refute the myth of an epidemic of malaria in the southeastern United States. An investigation found that malaria was grossly overreported?by tens of thousands of cases each year?because doctors called unexplained fevers 'malaria' without any scientific evidence for the diagnosis."
C. Layman, Brooklyn
Beau Re Mi
John Strausbaugh: Thank you for skewering The Nation's silly attempts to "legitimize" Joey Ramone's career ("Billboard," 4/18). Why does a simple tunesmith all of a sudden have to be a political animal of a leftist nature? Indeed.
No, Joey Ramone may not have been the sort upon whom a Dave Marsh (or any other insufferably pretentious rock critic, for that matter) could logically base an oeuvre, and Joey may not have given two shits about Clinton/Bush/Blah-Blah. But I would go so far as to make the case that he was a pioneer, however inadvertently, in the area of rights for the intellectually challenged. In "Pinhead," he even suggests that some retards may be just smart enough to know that they're not right?and that that sad fact will likely prevent their natural sexual development: "I don't wanna be a pinhead no more/I just met a nurse that I could go for."
Dare I suggest that Joey & Co. expressed more empathy for their fellow man in those two lines of doggerel (attached, appropriately enough I guess, to a straight melody line in 4/4 accompanied harmonically in exact parallel motion), than most Noo Yawk hipsters would particularly feel comfortable contemplating? (The answer is: Yes, I do dare.)
Keep up the good work, and be sure to give J. R. Taylor that much-needed kick in the nads the next time you see him.
Beau Mansfield, Oklahoma City
Oh, He Liked It
Is New York Press' Alexander Cockburn related to Claud Cockburn or Christopher Isherwood? If so, does he know anything about their relationship to Kim Philby and his espionage?
Also, what did MUGGER think of Frank Rich's nasty little missive last Saturday? Rich has become the bloviating bandicoot of The New York Times' op-ed page, full of bathos and b.s.
Tom Phillips, Manhattan
Lip Stuck
I wasn't surprised by the dimwitted reactions in the 3/28 "Mail" to J.T. LeRoy's article "Pillow Lips: My Dinner with Gus Van Sant & Mike Pitt" (3/21). One writer offered an excellent example of the age-old truth that all homophobia arises from misogyny.
People ignorant of LeRoy's work can't be expected to realize the full context of the piece, although they don't have to be so dopey and meanspirited about it. A friend of mine, also unfamiliar with the author, simply enjoyed the piece for its charm and sweetness?how J.T. was drawn to Mike, but reticent about responding to his interest. Having followed LeRoy's writing since Bruce Benderson's introductory article about him in New York Press back in 1998, my take on "Pillow Lips'' was different. Knowing his novel Sarah, his memoir "Baby Doll" (from the Close to the Bone anthology) and his ''Notes from the Underpass'' pieces in SHOUT magazine, what struck me in "Pillow Lips" was its undercurrent of sadness. Mike's ability to draw out J.T.'s feminine side, although it may confuse some letter-writers to New York Press, is of course perfectly cool.
But that isn't just shyness or coyness in J.T.'s bottled-up reactions to Mike's kiss or to sitting beside him in the car. The night before their first meeting, Mike reassures J.T. over the phone, telling him, "Don't worry, I know, you're delicate, I know." He isn't saying, "I know you're femmie." He's saying, I know you've been brutalized, I know you've been traumatized, I know you've been abused and beaten and tortured, I know you've been raped and exploited and prostituted and terrorized and humiliated and abandoned. And I know you had to take all that when you were still a kid, when you were least able to protect yourself, when you would most believe that other people were right to hurt you. "Don't worry, I know, you're delicate, I know."
Mike is also a survivor of the street and speaks to J.T. in its special dialect of respectful understatement. And he does in fact know that the kind of suffering that J.T. has endured inflicts violence on a human being's capacity to relate, regardless of whether the relationship is sexual or romantic or emotional in any regard?or even just social, like a meal at a fancy restaurant. What's left are scars, and it's no accident that LeRoy ends by zeroing in on the scar tissue he and Mike share in common. I hope you publish more of his writing?and give him a raise too.
Cole Gagne, Brooklyn
Trendily Bicoastal
"Vote Bloomberg" by Taki ("Top Drawer," 4/18) reminded me of Los Angeles businessman-turned-mayor Richard Riordan.
Los Angeles and New York City have much in common. Both Democratic and independent voters outnumber Republicans by wide margins. New immigrants are rebuilding old neighborhoods and local economies.
Since cities can no longer rely on any significant increases in state or federal assistance, having a businessperson run City Hall is a good idea. A self-financed campaign would leave him independent of municipal labor unions and special-interest groups. Given the Big Apple's history of career politicians running municipal government, why not try something different?
Michael Bloomberg offers our best hope for a pro-free-market Independent-Republican fusion administration, which can continue the progress made under current term-limited Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The alternative is a return to anti-free-enterprise one-party Democratic clubhouse control, with the usual accouterments of corruption and scandals.
Voting for Bloomberg is the best investment New Yorkers can make on Election Day to continue our local economic growth and prosperity.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
Working for You
MUGGER: I read your 4/16 "Billboard" article on Katha Pollitt. Honestly, I thought of sending her an e-mail myself, but I was too lazy. Your article fit perfectly and saved my day.
Joseph Plumitallo, Charlotte, NC
Red Threat
MUGGER: I really enjoy your columns. You are so full of it! You remind me of the two characters on In Living Color. When commenting on movies, the two obviously gay men pan all the women and gush over the men, just like you deride Bill Clinton at every turn and praise George W. Bush. The same credibility. Let's hear more about your family and the Red Sox!
John Pianoforte, via Internet
He's Blushing
MUGGER: You are awesome! I love reading your stuff. Thanks.
John Deffes, Jacksonville, FL
Nefarious Plotz
MUGGER: It's been a while since I've written you, but for that David Plotz bit (4/11) you deserve a pat on the fanny. Has Slate's Plotz nothing better to do than to write about some "risky" t-ball scheme? Yes, this was a person who, when he was a kid, was the rat of the neighborhood: "And then Russell threw an acorn at me, Mrs. Smith, and hurt my arm!" We all remember those kids?unfortunately, they grow up to be the Michael Kinsleys of the world.
Jim Casaburi, Dover Township, NJ
Golden Bowles
As I sit here this morning, enjoying my cup of coffee and this week's MUGGER column, I have to say to you, "Well done." I have been reading you for the past few months.
We are the same age, have gone through similar political growth processes and have similar feelings, albeit we are from different parts of the county. My wife and I love to visit New York City at least once a year, much like you visit DC or Mexico. Your writing has gone a long way to show how little difference geography can make. The biggest surprise is that my father has become a reader of you as well, right-wing Okie that he is, and now we have additional conversation topics.
At any rate, I enjoy your writing, whether it's about politics or family or whether you're making odds-and-ends observations. Keep up the good work.
Richard Bowles, via Internet
Dapper Don
MUGGER: Doug Allen's little cartoon of Steve Martin doing the excuse-me shuffle on the wing of a plane, which illustrated Christopher Caldwell's 4/11 column, made me crack up this morning.
Come on, go easy on Don Zimmer (4/11). I'll always associate him with what I consider the glory days of the modern Red Sox. I mean, you're probably tired of hearing stuff like this, but the victories of the Reds and Yankees in those World Series would not have been as beautiful, interesting or memorable as they were without the involvement of the Red Sox. Some of us in life are meant to play the role of loser forever. Rice, Lynn, Yaz, Evans, George Scott, Fisk, Bill Lee, Butch Hobson, Luis Tiant?well, not all of these guys were Hall of Fame caliber, but at least half of them were better than or as good as anyone on those Yankees teams (the Reds teams were a different story). What the Yankees had, though, was some great pitchers (the Sparky Lyle trade was a terrible thing).
The Yankees also had Billy Martin managing them most of the time. Martin was the all-time best short-term manager ever. I don't buy the bullshit about him ruining pitching staffs. Actually, wherever he went, he managed to get the most out of often mediocre pitching talent. The problem was his style of leadership. It wouldn't take more than a season or two for the team to stop responding. But for those initial seasons, wherever he was?New York, Oakland, Texas, Minnesota?he would get amazing results.
Anyhow, is it really the responsibility of a Major League manager to worry about the long-term pitching health and efficiency of a pitching staff? I don't think so. I think the stats reveal that Martin made the mediocre A's pitching staff flourish for a few years?not that he overused their arms and ruined their careers. After Martin left, they just sort of went back to normal. Look at their pre-Martin numbers. They should help prove this point. The man could motivate a team and win games.
I know: Lemon, not Martin, was the manager when the Red Sox had their most famous summer swoon. Hmmmmm. What's considered the reason for this? I know that Guidry and Hunter really poured it on in the second half of that season. Was it just this difference in pitching? Why did the Bosox fold? What's the Boston fan's reason?
Paul Marra, Brooklyn
Little Lamb, What Art Thou?
MUGGER: I read your 4/18 comments about Chris Matthews and Bill Kristol to my husband and he agreed with them 100 percent, as do I.
I'd like you to comment on this Paul Krugman. He seems to have a twice-weekly column now in The New York Times. However, like all the other opinion-givers, he's not worth reading. Thanks also for your 4/16 reference to smartertimes.com, which is my new favorite website.
Keep it up. You should go on C-SPAN again. The Washington Journal is really in the dumper since they added their politically correct lines. Not only is every call-in predictable, but they've even limited the topics of discussion to a question thrown out each hour or so. Someone should try to convince Brian Lamb that he's ruined a good thing. I wouldn't miss that show a decade ago. Now I rarely tune in.
Kit Winterer, Harbor Island, SC
Russ Smith replies: Paul Krugman, a Johnny-one-note economics columnist ("tax cuts are bad"), is probably the most dangerous op-ed contributor at the Times today. Frank Rich, Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd write about nothing of substance. Anthony Lewis' worldview was solidified in the Camelot days and hasn't budged since; Thomas Friedman, a man Chris Matthews calls "America's greatest columnist," is so full of himself, for no particular reason, that he's easily ignored. Krugman, however, given the current economic climate, is troubling, because people actually read him.
The NJ Steve Forbert
MUGGER: You're truly a breath of fresh air. But go easy on Bruce Springsteen (4/18). Although I disagree with his political views, I was lucky enough to meet the Boss earlier this year. He was down to earth and how I would expect any true hero to be. Just a normal guy. Anyhow, thanks for your always entertaining column.
Tommy Dadmun, Boston
Kristol's Method
Bill Kristol (4/18) is still fuming over John McCain's loss. He was blubbering all over McCain while, at the same time, dissing Bush during the presidential campaign. Today, you can still see him doing it as news analyst on Fox's Special Report. He continues to give Bush no slack at all. How sad.
R.F. Miles, McKinney, TX
Diamond Life
MUGGER: Your 4/18 column was very enjoyable. I like reading your opinions, and I enjoy your adventures with your kids. Keep up the good work.
Baseball is life, all the rest is details.
Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX
Washington's White Wiener
Your son's reaction to the Washington Monument reminds me of my daughter's. When she (at about the age of 11) and my wife visited Washington, she first referred to it as "that tower thing," and it became a running gag between them. Later, when they rode the elevator to the top, she told her mother, "I didn't know this tower thing was really so tall," and got a corrective lecture from some snooty old broad also riding the elevator. What a hoot!
Later they were looking at some little memorial plaques for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and she surprised her mother with the personal details she remembered about them: this one had had seven children, that one had been married twice?she got an "A" in U.S. history that year after that trip.
Pete Madsen, Olalla, WA
Batty Average
John Strausbaugh ("Publishing," 4/11) describes Timothy McVeigh as an "average" type of person. Perhaps he was, but his "averageness" does not explain his actions.
I am surprised that Strausbaugh does not mention Andreas Strassmeir, the presumed intelligence agent who, some writers have suggested, may have been the Puppetmaster who was secretly putting ideas into McVeigh's head. Strassmeir, chief of security of Oklahoma's Eloihim City, is usually described as a "former German army officer," but he was much more than that.
Rarely mentioned is his father, Gunther Strassmeir, former secretary of state in West Germany in the 1980s. Stationed in West Berlin, he was at the pinnacle of West Germany's intelligence apparatus, and was responsible for supervising every double agent, triple agent and quadruple agent in Berlin. It should abundantly clear that both of the Strassmeirs, father and son, were lifelong employees of both the German and American intelligence agencies.
Could Andreas Strassmeir have been secretly working as an agent provocateur for the American government? Responsible commentators such as Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and James Ridgeway have suggested that this may in fact have been the case. If Strassmeir was indeed egging McVeigh on, who was supervising Strassmeir? The Liberty Lobby and other sources have suggested that the head of the FBI's Oklahoma City office filled that role, though another possibility could be the chief of operations of the Special Group of the National Security Council, which in 1993 was?one hears?one Rahm Emanuel.
The world will never know the truth about the greatest single act of terrorism in American history, until the question is answered: What was the relationship between Timothy McVeigh and Andreas Strassmeir?
Perhaps McVeigh will answer that question before he leaves this vale of tears and passes through (he hopes) the Pearly Gates.
Clifton Wellman, Manhattan