Pollack, You Jerkoff; Nice Monk Story, Koyen; Normalcy's Returned: MUGGER, Caldwell, Cockburn, Taki and White All Suck Again; Good Lincoln MacVeagh

Regarding Neal Pollack's "In the Time of Plague" ("Culture," 10/24): This morning, I lolled about in bed, French-kissing Karen (my Williamsburg etc. etc.) Fuck you, Neal Pollack. Pussy, I was in Williamsburg before you got your first dick hairs. What the fuck do you know about Brooklyn, chump? You think this terrorist attack shit is funny? Stupid dickhead, you sure do seem to need some spores shoved up your disposition. Yours is the stupidest shit I've read in some time. Time is short, you jerkoff. Git yo' jive ass back to whatever cave you coming from. 'Cause dig my words, motherfucker, it ain't helping. Dat is a critique, Brooklyn style.

More generally, I like the rag. Always have, especially the mail. But what's with the witty li'l titles that adorn each and every missive? At first they appeared to be clever jabs at the writers. By now the concept is starting to wear thin. I don't want to know your opinion of the letter and/or the letter writer. I'll deduce that after I read the darn thing. You boys don't need to be witty with every aspect of your creation.

James S. Gagliardi, Brooklyn

Applause for the Pilgrim

Congratulations to Jeff Koyen on a great article about Mt. Athos ("Pilgrim's Progress," 10/24).

Yannis Xylas, via Internet

Back to Subnormal

For a while there I was worried that 9/11 really did change everything. I found myself agreeing with the likes of MUGGER, Alexander Cockburn and (gasp!) Taki. Thank God things have returned to normal. Cockburn's blaming everything on the CIA ("Wild Justice," 10/24). Szamuely's blaming America ("Taki's Top Drawer," 10/24). Caldwell, well, he's just Caldwell. MUGGER's a racist pig again, Taki's an even bigger racist pig again. Whew. We can't let these terrorists change us, guys! For inspiration, we should all look to Armond White. He's been a shining, unwavering beacon of idiocy through this entire storm. God bless him, and God bless New York Press.

Tom Patterson, Brooklyn

That's Between Him and the IRS

Lincoln MacVeagh's "Sidewalk Stories" ("New York City," 10/17) was a brilliant piece of writing. I used to sell secondhand books on New York streets and I wished I would've thought of selling my own stories. I want to know how much MacVeagh made altogether, selling his stories?he never said.

John Arnold, Kenai, AK

You Prick Republicans, They Bleed

Following is one of The New York Times' "Portraits of Grief" about a WTC victim. I am aghast at the first paragraph of this bio. The author implies that Republicans are, of course, evil, but that despite Mr. Murphy's Republican handicap, he was a good guy at heart. This is an absolute disgrace. Mr. Murphy deserves better.

EDWARD C. MURPHY

Defying Easy Categorization

Edward C. Murphy's life brimmed with contrasts and deep loyalties. He was a staunch Republican who invested in real estate and racehorses. But he also helped nonprofit groups raise money for food and clothing for poor children in his native Clifton, N.J. He loved the vitality of Manhattan but insisted on living in Clifton, where he headed a town board that improved traffic safety, especially around schools. Mr. Murphy, 42, was a managing director at Cantor Fitzgerald and was as busy as the job title implies, but every morning at 9 sharp, he called his mother Evelyn, a 77-year-old widow. On Sept. 11, her phone rang on schedule, minutes after the first jetliner hit.

"He said, 'Mom, I'm O.K., I'm getting out,'" said Mr. Murphy's brother Daniel. "She just cherishes that moment." Mr. Murphy's girlfriend of 17 years, Maryann Flego, called him a "quick-witted maverick" who jogged for years and loved both classical and rock music and the works of Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock and R.C. Gorman, a Navajo artist in the Southwest. He delighted in haggling to cut prices of many of his purchases, whether a pearl ring for Ms. Flego or a pretzel at a ball game.

Matt Carpenter, Manhattan

Don't You Like Old Movies?

Do you have no factchecking anymore? This week's print listings are more than a month old. What's happening? Very sad.

Andrew Federman, Brooklyn

The editors reply: Due to a production error, New York Press ran outdated Film Schedules last week. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

Strongman Schechter

What a pathetic, despicable, groveling little Jew Josh Gilbert is ("First Person," 10/24). Just like so many Hebrews before him, he shucks and jives for his non-Jewish "friends" (and girlfriends) to try to make them like/love him. Hugging Arabs? I actually felt bad for the Arabs. He cozies up to people who fervently wish for his death both as a Jew and an American. No wonder Gilbert has Shimon Peres on his mind. He idolizes the king of the ass-lickers. He probably strives to be an Arthur Schlesinger, running errands for the Kennedys, keeping his fingers crossed in hopes of being invited to the next Great Wedding.

No wonder these Arabs hate Gilbert. They hate weakness over there as well as here.

Barry Schechter, East Brunswick, NJ

Wasn't Italy in the Axis, James?

So Josh Gilbert wonders what happened to his neighborhood ("First Person," 10/24). Let me clue him in. It's been invaded by ungrateful Third World immigrants who hate his fucking guts no matter how nice he tries to be to them. Does he really think they have any love for America or its ideals? These people hate our ideals. The only reason they're here is to make as much money as possible, which they then send back home. Unlike those in our parents' and grandparents' generations, should the U.S. get into a major ground war does Josh really think that young Mohammed Abdul, Sunni Punjabi or Sheng Fu Chen will answer Uncle Sam's call at the Army recruiter's office? Yeah, right.

Until Josh Gilbert and the other multiculturalist, diversity-loving pantywaists pull their heads out of their asses, the mess that is America's immigration policy will continue to cause him to be "confused, shell-shocked, and wondering what happened to his neighborhood."

James J. Calautti, Kearny, NJ

Strange Bedfellows

Never, ever, could I have thought it possible to agree with Taki. But his latest column ("Top Drawer," 10/24) hits the nail right on the head. Multiculturalism is the biggest intellectual con ever perpetrated on the Western world.

Gilles Ducharme, Montreal

No, Not That Stewart

William Bryk's column about Alexander Turney Stewart ("Old Smoke," 10/24) was fascinating. I wish that somewhere in it he had mentioned that A.T. Stewart was not to be confused with David Stewart (not related, as far as I know) who is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. I'm a guide at Green-Wood and already two people have asked me whether the A.T. Stewart mentioned in your column is the Stewart who is buried in the Stewart mausoleum in Green-Wood, one of the finest funerary monuments in the cemetery. Bryk mentioned a false, planted story that A.T. Stewart had been temporarily "held in a vault in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn," which seems to be adding to the confusion.

Alfred Kohler, Brooklyn

Extinct Species

I'm so glad Taki has the guts to say the truth about the baloney called multiculturalism and our idiotic immigration policies. Almost everyone I know wants all the Muslim Arabs sent back to their rubble. It's absolutely outrageous that we are still allowing Arabs who fit the terrorist profile into our country. I hope we don't end up like the dodo bird.

Margarite Woods, Portland, OR

Taki's Out of the Huddle

I was enjoying reading Taki last week, yelling to myself, "Yeah, you tell 'em." Then I woke up at the next-to-the-last paragraph: "[A]n immediate and permanent restriction on all further immigration from Muslim countries..." Let's try to remember that there is a difference between the "multiculturalism" claptrap and the reason why Miss Liberty is standing there in New York Harbor.

Mitchell Lapis, Phoenix

Kiss Kiss Kiss

Russ Smith, love you. How forward of me, but can you blame me? Your fabulous paper named us "Best Magazine for Young Women" (Best of Manhattan, 10/3) and, jeez, if you knew how much it meant! All of us totally love your paper so we were beyond excited when we saw the mention.

Like it or not, you, Russ, are now an honorary Cosmo Girl. Yahoo!

Atoosa Rubenstein, editor-in-chief, CosmoGirl

MUGGER Scholar

Make up your mind, Russ Smith. "Like all New York dailies the Post has its failings: Rod Dreher, for example, after terrific investigative work on the scams of Jesse Jackson, has turned in one embarrassing column after another...a young fella who not long ago was a crummy and pious film reviewer for the Post" (10/24/01). "The New York Post's Rod Dreher isn't the most astute political pundit?although he towers above his finger-in-the-wind colleague John Podhoretz?but his Oct. 15 column about the Mideast war was right on the button" (10/99). "If she does sign on with Rupert Murdoch, I expect she'll clean house almost immediately: see ya later, Pod, and you too, Rod Dreher, the dreadful movie reviewer turned even worse political columnist" (2/28/00). "It's almost certain that Andrea Peyser's days are numbered?she'd be a fitting understudy for Gail Collins at the Times. Dopey is as dopey does. I'd keep Jack Newfield, Steve Dunleavy and Cindy Adams for the nostalgia factor, as well as Rod Dreher and Robert George, two young columnists who represent the Post's future" (4/24/01). "Also let go was Jack Newfield, the longtime Village Voice/Robert F. Kennedy/Brooklyn Dodgers hagiographer who'd for the last 10 years written a column for the Post. That was a stupid move: Newfield's a brand name in this city, and provided a necessary antidote to other Post columnists like the wacko Steve Dunleavy and the increasingly excellent Rod Dreher" (6/12/01).

Sure, your finger might be testing the wind, but I think you keep it someplace else. You're a second-rate scold with a seat in the bleachers and the most striking thing about your work, now that I've taken the trouble to sift it, is the sorry groping for "attitude" that passes for wisdom among the alt-weekly world's lesser columnists. And yeah, I'm a former coworker of Rod's.

Sean Piccoli, Manhattan

Russ Smith replies: I admire Piccoli's loyalty to his former coworker. However, despite the trouble he took in researching my past columns, he doesn't come up with the goods to support his argument. I've been consistent in claiming Dreher was a lousy film reviewer. He was also a lousy political writer?his hysterical devotion to the pro-life position colored his work?until earlier this year, and I've commended him for that, but his post-Sept. 11 work has been subpar. As for Andrea Peyser, that's a mystery too complicated for a second-rate scold such as myself.

Presto Change-o

Alexander Cockburn has explained to us that the U.S. bombing of the Taliban is the same as the attacks by the terrorists of Sept. 11 ("Wild Justice," 10/24). I await his next column, when he will show that there is no difference between a surgeon using a scalpel to remove a tumor from a cancer patient and a mugger using a switchblade.

Jerry Skurnik, Manhattan

O for the Battles of the 80s

Michael Signorile accuses me of acting like a jackass for accusing him of helping to keep bathhouses open during the AIDS crises and helping to legitimize the sodomizing of children by adult males ("The Mail," 10/24). Having lived in San Francisco from 1975-2000 I would like to say that the ACT UP organization there was continuously on the forefront of pressuring the city and health organizations of San Francisco into not closing the city's gay bathhouses. Because of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk's murder, and the gay riot ("White Night") that followed, the city was paralyzed into inaction. ACT UP and others stepped in to fill a void with we all know what results.

ACT UP and its ilk caused a crucial delay in the closing of bathhouses. Many believe this resulted in thousands of infections that eventually affected far more than just the gay community and that certainly could have been avoided. (ACT UP in San Francisco continues to press for the reopening of the bathhouses even today.)

The ACT UP organization also appeared frequently in marches, parades, demonstrations and public events with the presence and support of NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association. Unless I am mistaken, the sole purpose of this group is the prevention of persecution of adult males for sodomizing children. If I am wrong about this last sentence, please explain how else to say it, because it gives me no pleasure to repeat it. Signorile's response that he is for the locking up of those who practice this behavior could be viewed as a dodge, because I said persecution, not prosecution.

I recognize that being outed for past or present affiliations can be very painful, but lying down with dogs frequently results in flea infestation. Signorile has always touted his affiliation with ACT UP. Would he now publicly disavow any association with NAMBLA and regret that his voice and presence lent any aid and comfort to them or to the other causes I've mentioned? I apologize in advance for any misrepresentation of Signorile if he will do the same for his past affiliations and clarify his present position. I also freely admit that my feelings about Vietnam and the peace movement often make a jackass of me. For that, I have been apologizing for years, so once more won't hurt. Sorry if I got that part wrong.

Thomas Paynter, Las Vegas

Michelangelo Signorile replies: ACT UP, like many grassroots activist organizations, had no central leadership; chapters in each city had complete autonomy. Nonetheless, I can say with confidence that the bathhouses in San Francisco were closed well before ACT UP even formed?by the San Francisco Dept. of Health in 1984 (this was several years before New York City's closure of bathhouses). ACT UP formed in 1987, so how the hell did it keep the bathhouses open? Sounds to me like Paynter's made a jackass of himself yet again.

My own time in ACT UP NY, the biggest and most productive chapter, was spent fighting AIDS, government inaction and hatemongers, end of story. I certainly have always opposed NAMBLA, just as I oppose the vast majority of pedophiles, who are heterosexual men raping young girls. Mr. Paynter should in fact spend his time focusing on that larger evil, rather than whirling in a mad obsession and age-old radical-right strategy of painting homosexuals as child molesters (yawn).

Name Withheld??

I've never ever written a letter to New York Press before, and this will be the first and last time I ever do. You must really be eating your heart out with the knowledge that the Voice is more popular than you. You've been staying up all night asking yourself a question: What can we come up with so that the Voice can't compete with us? The answer is simplicity itself: fill up your newspaper with tons of the most racist, xenophobic invective in the world. Oh, and another thing: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot!

Name Withheld, Manhattan

Firemen, Shine While You May

Usually, when reading the "Daily Billboard" and coming upon something by Andrey Slivka, I prepare myself for something I'm at least not going to agree with, and usually wind up ranting about to all who would care to listen. Perhaps this is the same way that regular readers of The Washington Post feel when they get to George Will's column. However, Mr. Slivka's more recent dispatches have caused me to rethink my position. His piece on boomer self-pity, navel-gazing and nostalgia is right on the mark. (While Mr. Smith engages in the nostalgia part, he fails to delve into the first two, which is why I continue to read "MUGGER.")

"Twilight of the Firemen" (10/22), while couched in Slivka's usual class-warfare-is-everything rhetoric, deals with an issue our society always gives lip service to after a disaster but rarely during a lull: appreciation of the men and women in our armed forces, police, fire and rescue departments. These people take lousy jobs for low pay and terrible hours, keep our country and streets safe, save lives and get treated as second-class citizens. No summers in the Hamptons for the police; when was the last time you saw a soldier or sailor at Sardi's? Nobody is forced to join the police or fire departments and there has not been a draft in this country in well over a generation. Yet over the last decade we heard nothing in the Times, the Post or any other "paper of record" about these brave, essential people except regarding their mistakes.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that, within a year of bin Laden's capture/death/defeat, we'll be back to the same attitudes about these courageous folks as we had on Sept. 10.

Matt Gourley, Jersey City

Is Szamuely Moving Right?

I appreciated George Szamuely's intriguing summary of the emergence of the Taliban ("Taki's Top Drawer," 10/24). I wonder, however, about his opinion that "the IMF [should] appoint someone to oversee Saudi finances." I'm not disputing the suggestion itself; it's just that based on many of his previous columns, I wouldn't imagine Szamuely favoring IMF involvement in anything. Is there any shift in ideology indicated here?

I was also hoping he could clarify one crucial point: If the Taliban have been "enthusiastic proponents" of plans to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to the Arabian Sea, then why is the Bush administration?reportedly at least as keen on the project as its predecessor?apparently so determined to topple them, unless it is truly convinced such a move is necessary to prevent future Sept. 11s? What have been the obstacles to the project to this point if the Taliban have favored it?

Ron MacKinnon, Manhattan

...and Still Champ

The Post is my first read, The Wall Street Journal the second. MUGGER's column would rank first if it were written daily. Keep up the good work.

Denis W. Schreiber, Madison, NJ

You Volunteering?

Mr. Smith: Yeah, I can't understand what all these overreactions to anthrax are either. Why are people so worried? If you have inhalation anthrax and its flu-like symptoms, they're not going to treat you anyway. They have to have a verified source. You'll be long dead before they figure out it was anthrax. I agree with the non-alarmists that we shouldn't emphasize or expand our efforts to contain this threat, because if we do, then the terrorists "win." I always thought America had too many people anyway.

Scott Atkins, Brooklyn Heights

Take That, Mexicans!

Several of your writers have correctly identified multiculturalism as obstructing the attempt to unite behind and prosecute this war. A problem even more blatant and egregious is the holding of dual or multiple citizenships; indeed, this could be said to be multiculturalism carried to its final term. Citizenship, one's nationality, ought to be indivisible, especially in a nation at war. Dual citizenship vitiates and compromises what should be a fundamental loyalty and identity. Congress should legislate an end to it as basic and long-overdue national security legislation. Stopping folks running around with several passports in their jackets is part of basic border and travel control, and it costs Americans nothing either in dollars or in personal liberties.

We are at war. Let those U.S. citizens who have split their formal allegiance by taking on the obligations of an additional, foreign citizenship (or who never renounced a prior foreign citizenship) immediately ask and answer the question: Am I an American, or am I something else?

M. A. Lackner, Manhattan

Manhattan Needs Tourists

I enjoy your paper and look forward to reading it online. I also pick up a copy when I get into the city, which is rarely. I wish you would start distribution in the outer boros, especially Queens.

Martin Browne, Queens

La-La Loves Taki

Taki: I am not a New Yorker and do not know much about New York Press, but got to it by reading your column. Just want to let you know that I very much appreciate your intelligent and insightful writing. The New York Times maddens me, as does most of the broadcast media and all of academe. But there is a slightly hopeful tone in your writing and you are closer to real information than I am and I take your tone seriously. Keep it up, please, there are so few things worth reading these days.

Ron Winokur, Los Angeles

So Do You

Taki: God bless you, you speak the truth.

Janet MacDonald Webb, Canberra, Australia

Democracy in Action

"Freddy Ferrer & the Pawns" by C.J. Sullivan ("Bronx Stroll," 10/17) missed the newfound relationship between Mark Green and Freddy Ferrer along with the real winner of the Democratic primary and runoff elections. With more than 2,900,000 eligible enrolled Democratic voters, about 1,700,000 were so turned off by the original five choices (Green, Ferrer, Hevesi, Vallone and Spitz) that they voted for none of the above by staying home. In the Democratic Party runoff, the same number stayed home. Exit polling showed if Mayor Giuliani had been on the ballot, he would have beat everyone hands down.

Mark Green received only 279,000 votes in the primary and 402,000 in the runoff, making him the choice of less than 15 percent of registered Democrats. With more than 3,600,000 registered voters of all parties, he currently represents a little over 10 percent of the electorate. This makes him a fringe candidate with no real mandate of support from the average New Yorker.

The real election is in November when voters can decide who will best manage our municipal government and rebuild our local economy. New York City has a budget larger than that of most states and many nations. Our city would be better off with an experienced chief executive such as Michael Bloomberg to guide us through the difficult financial times ahead. Mark Green has already sold his soul to the usual Democratic Party clubhouse leaders. Having been locked out of City Hall for eight years, they are drooling at the prospects of renewed access. Clearly his payment for the recent support of former rival Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer and company was a political quid pro quo for a piece of the "action" after Nov. 6. The biggest pawn shop in town is at City Hall.

Larry Penner, Great Neck, NY

Get Your -isms Right

Re "Islamofascists," I prefer the term "Islamocommunists." It is more true to their terrorist nature. Remember that the Nazis were socialist and socialism equals communism and the communists this century have killed more than 170 million.

Dr. Peter Wilhelm, Terrell, TX

Taliban's Timetable

In response to Mr. Caldwell's thoughtful "No Safe Harbor" ("Hill of Beans," 10/17), here is another clue about whether it is 1931 or 1941. Perhaps he already knows about this, that the Taliban began forcing Afghan Hindus to wear identifying yellow patches beginning in May 2001.

Nancy Oppenheim, Los Angeles

The Ruthless Dilettante

Just when I get to thinking that Taki is merely a mildly amusing dilettante he comes up with something as ruthlessly bold and important as his piece on terrorism ("Top Drawer," 10/24). While I agree with him right down the line, I should think that even those who don't might honor him for spelling out that position so clearly and cogently.

Michael Peirce, Atlanta

In a Mess

Carol Iannone's "Homeland Insecurity" article ("Taki's Top Drawer," 10/17) was excellent. I couldn't agree more with her assessment of how we got into the "mess" in which we now find ourselves, i.e., with millions of "Americans" who don't hold dear the principles upon which this country was founded.

Carolyn Wilson, Genesee, ID

Fighting in Vain?

Carol Iannone's was a wonderfully written article. She is exactly on target. These poor Muslims are in a real Catch-22 situation (I mean those living in America). They for the most part will not swear allegiance to America and the principles for which she stands, but as Carol Iannone says, they want to come here to enjoy the freedoms we have in which to practice their religion. If America were to disappear tomorrow, they would have no place in the world to practice their religion, for there is no stronger supporter of Islam in the world than America.

We have truly almost diversified ourselves out of business. With diversity as the American goal rather than the Americanizing of those we embrace in our country, we create the greatest future division ever to be experienced by a nation. This love affair with diversity can do nothing else but bring this great nation to its knees. This has nothing to do with racism or the perceived racial problem we have in this country (a problem perpetuated by highly racist black leaders who require a high level of racial tension to maintain their soapboxes and "legitimacy"). These young Muslims would support any other leader (but America) if that leader would claim to fight for Islam. Osama bin Laden has no concern for Islam other than how he can use it to control the people he needs to in order to bring about the terror he lives for. We should identify any Muslims, or any other sect or cult, who hold this view and forcibly eject them from this, the only country that will protect their rights.

Let them find out too late the grave mistake they make by supporting a cowardly, vicious, evil man and his cause. This attitude is not restricted to Muslims but is common to virtually any nationality or religious sect that comes to this country seeking freedom. Since we no longer teach the love of our country for fear of hurting someone's ethnic ties, require no patriotism, no American history, no requirement to learn and use the English language, to assimilate into this nation and culture, how can we expect them to become Americans? I think we actually don't, or that those who have changed the rules don't expect these people to become Americans. They have a different agenda and we are now seeing the fruits of their leadership. I wonder if all this new security and enforcement can turn the tide of hate directed toward America. My guess is that until we get back to the "idea of America," the sense of identity, of belonging, this battle is in vain.

Dale Carson, California, MO

Get Ready for Number 4

MUGGER: I can't think of anything pithy to say about anthrax, but I also can't help but wonder how many weeks it will take Jesse Jackson to stick his face in front of the tv cameras and demand reparations for postal workers. I apologize in advance for my cynicism.

I am certain that many New Yorkers are elated that the Yankees are back in the World Series. The sentiments of the nation will probably be with the Yankees, or at least most of those who don't know or care anything about baseball. I reluctantly tip my cap to the Boys from the Bronx. They came back from the dead when the A's had them down 0-2. Perhaps their story is an apt metaphor for the city's post-9/11 rebound. We can be certain that should the Yankees win the World Series that will be an overwhelming theme. The Diamondbacks have their own working-class heroes in Craig Counsell and Curt Schilling. I hope they measure up to the expectations of those of us who don't wear Yankee pinstripes to bed.

Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX

Early Turkey Day

Mr. Smith: If Gore had won and he and his advisers were conducting this war in the same calm, measured, careful way, think of how you and your buddies on the right would be screaming for blood! The absence of that cacophony is reason enough to be thankful.

Mort Weintraub, Larchmont, NY

Actually, More than One

Good heavens, a conservative in New York City. Good column, MUGGER, one that gives the reader hope that the administration hasn't fallen into the same old patterns of reserve and retreat from world aggression. I sincerely hope that your vision is correct. I, too, "stand with Sharon" (10/24) and hope that he is strong enough to hold the tough stance that is needed by Israel. Most of the world is poised to witness the final "Final Solution." I hope you continue to joust with the ultra-liberal, anti-Semitic New York Times.

Karla Paul, Spokane, WA

Dreck Inspector

Russ Smith: Excellent analysis of the dreck oozing from the pages of the Times and Newsday ("MUGGER," 10/24). Why Robert Reno is employed as a columnist is beyond my comprehension, but I guess since I listen to Rush, I'm one of those poor souls with a low IQ. What a dick. Keep up the good work, I know how difficult things are down in your neighborhood. I have friends in Tribeca.

Marty Morahan, Bloomfield, NJ

With Friends Like These

MUGGER: You are so right! Now, can we take care of our own people, our own country, for a few decades? We propped up the Shah of Iran who, to our amazement, was not the people's choice. I personally (USAF) helped prop up President Diem of South Vietnam, not a great leader. One other I would like to see us back away from?far away from?is, yes, Ariel Sharon. We have to get our attackers, and his selfish tantrums may yet block this noble effort.

R.T. Carpenter, Panama City, FL

You Go First

MUGGER: You're right on again. It's my gut feeling that we will have to deal with the Saudis as well. Maybe we ought to cut a deal with our newfound friends in Moscow and split the oil that we discovered and produced (and had confiscated just like in Mexico) in that fleabag country and be done with the frigging medieval ragheads, even though it could bring on the Armageddon. Let's git it on!

Greg Hall Sr., Grand Prairie, TX

Everything's Clinton's Fault

MUGGER: I am wondering why someone in the press hasn't asked the question: What in the hell has this government been doing for the past eight years? Everyone is complaining about not being ready, Biden has his mouth open again?all these people could have worked on these problems for eight years. Where is the accountability? You would think in listening to the press that all these problems concerning anthrax and the CDC are problems caused by the present administration. What a group?the White House press corps needs to get real.

Jeremey LeBlanc, Houston

Not Nazis

Christopher Caldwell's "Hill of Beans" (10/17) was just that: Rightly, he criticizes Hitler hype but then compares the Taliban to Nazis. The pious young primitives in Afghanistan were warped by war and their fanatical instructors, but remain uncomplicated believers. At least they think they are doing good. Bin Laden did not bring them into existence.

Al Qaeda is another kettle of fish. They, too, oppose the infidels and are demented but necessarily dependent upon bin Laden. To compare these international soldiers of God or the devil with the Nazis, those power-hungry pagans, is worthy only of yesterday's newspaper. Nazis you'll find a little closer to home?you might even look in your closet. Primo Levi, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, said that yesterday's victims become today's oppressors. A nutcase in point is "butcher" Ariel Sharon.

A. Cammarata, Sunnyside

History Lesson #8692

I have always taken MUGGER's blinkered partiality for Israel to be an isolated area of blight in an otherwise sound intellectual apparatus. But his "let Sharon be Sharon" effusion (10/24) makes me wonder. Before further encouraging the murderous Sharon, MUGGER should review this brief primer on the Arab-Israel conflict.

Arguments for the establishment of Israel from ancient texts are feeble. Nor is it rooted in tradition other than the biblical. Any notion of an earthly Zion is rejected outright by old-fashioned Jews. The early (pre-Stern Gang) Zionists did not envision settlement in Palestine, let alone a "return" to it. Europeans through and through, they tried to buy land for a Jewish enclave in a number of places including Russia, and in fact came very close to closing a deal with Stalin. It is worth noting that 1920s and 30s-era Zionists believed firmly that the Jews should seek to settle only where they were welcomed by the indigenous people, and should go out of their way to ensure enduring good relations.

MUGGER apparently needs reminding that the Palestinians bear no responsibility for what befell the Jews of Germany. The atrocities against them were perpetrated by Christians. This was a terrible black mark for Europe and Christendom, and logic suggests that the attempt to make amends to the Jews should have included the award of, say, Bavaria. But Europe was disinclined to inflict such a wound on itself, however much it disliked the Germans. Flash to the British Protectorate in Palestine and a weak leader, Lord Balfour, his forces vitiated by the losses England suffered in the trenches of World War I. The Stern Gang (the brutal Menachem Begin, an earlier version of Ariel Sharon, prominent among them) began hanging British soldiers in the orange groves of Palestine. Balfour cut and ran. Militant Jews surged in. The land grab was on. The Arabs weren't supposed to mind. They did. They still do. Any fair-minded person would have to acknowledge that they have a point. How fair-minded has MUGGER demonstrated himself to be?

Dorothy Fabian, Manhattan

They Love Us in Peoria

Holy smokes! It's scary to see how many illiterate rednecks there are in the woods across America (and why do so many of them read New York Press?).

No-brainers: No one is "blaming the victim." (Ironic that the rednecks are using the language of the hyperpolitically correct left now, wouldn't you say?) We are all blaming the U.S. government for its irrational and criminal behavior in foreign policy. Who has blamed the civilians who died in the towers? No one. So please cease with the lies to cover up for our murderous government.

Our government helped kill 6000 Americans on Sept. 11 and that's irrefutable on many levels, from security, intelligence and military failures to foresee/prevent the attack, to the inept foreign policy that inspired the attacks (again, if it's our freedom they hate, then why don't they bomb Amsterdam first?). It's even been uncovered that the "fire exits" were locked to prevent "vandalism" (as if lots of kids were making it up to the rooftop in a building with extensive security).

It really does frighten me that there are so many delusional people out there who believe these crazy pro-USA government lies. Then again, maybe all these letters you get are written by the CIA for purposes of damage control. If it hadn't been widely reported that we funded and trained Osama, nobody would ever have believed us crazy "conspiracy theorists." (How ironic that we also trained and inspired the guy who killed civilians in Oklahoma City.)

Hey, if the terrorists hate our freedom, then why do they keep hitting government offices, military barracks and other government and military targets? (Even the WTC towers were government buildings and headquarters for some of our largest capitalistic purveyors who fund destruction all over the world.) Why not hit the Mall of America instead? Why didn't they bomb Hollywood? If you continue to underestimate these terrorists, then it's no wonder they can get away with such huge attacks against our stupid government and the stupid people who trust this stupid government. And to all the crazies who say U.S. involvement in the Middle East isn't about oil, but rather about democracy, how do you explain away our protection of Saudi Arabia? They violate human rights every day. And it baffles me how many people (or CIA agents pretending to be people) insist we emulate Israel's zero tolerance for terrorism. That country has the worst record of preventing the deaths of their own people due to terrorism ever seen in the planet's long history. Whatever Israel is doing, we need to make sure we do the exact opposite.

Jon Flanagan, Manhattan

We Think It's the Masons, Houston Branch

Russ Smith's article mentioning the anthrax scare ("MUGGER," 10/24) neglects one important point, namely, who is responsible for this annoying nuisance?

A week after the destruction of the Twin Towers, former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu rushed to DC to give a speech before Congress. It annoyed me to no end to hear him tell the American people what "we" now have to do. Netanyahu and his friends seem to be unaware that Israel and America are two entirely separate countries, each with its own distinct interests. Obviously, his plan was to persuade Congress to authorize the mighty American military establishment to rub out Syria, Iran, Iraq and any other state that has given Israel the slightest bit of criticism.

At about the same time that Netanyahu was giving his diatribe in DC, the first anthrax letters were sent out by parties unknown. Their message? "Death to America. Death to Israel. Allah is great." Now, who do you really think would send such a thing? Osama bin Laden? Iraq or Iran? How does the Israeli Secret Service sound as a reasonable suspect? What do you think?

Clifton Wellman, Manhattan

Interpretive Dance, Perhaps?

Must more bombs be dropped in America before the public wakes up and discovers that our government, in our name and with our tax dollars, engages in policies that have robbed the delight of life and the dignity of the human race from millions of innocent people? Russ Smith's comments in "MUGGER," noting that national missile defense should be a key component of America's military future (10/17), don't make me optimistic for peace here.

The NMD is a technological mess and a fiscal sinkhole that robs scarce resources from things our country truly needs. Our country's intelligence network failed to detect this heinous plot. One reason why is the decreasing investment in human intelligence in favor of techno-gadgets like the NMD pipe dream. Machines cannot do the work of humans.

A strong diplomatic presence is the foundation for a peaceful coexistence with other countries in this world. Why should we even get to the point where another country or group of individuals dislikes our country so much that they want to kill us? More importantly, we could rescue a little NMD money and devote it to life-enhancing things, such as medical research and perhaps airport security (something that the federal government should be responsible for).

After a delightful read from Taki, I had the ill fortune to read Michelangelo Signorile's "First Person" (10/17). Signorile is wrong that America had to bomb to make a strong statement. American leaders boast about how our country is run on due process and all that. Just because we were the victims of a terrorist attack doesn't give us the right, in this day and age, to go off forming ad-hoc "international coalitions" to bomb the bejeezers out of an already impoverished nation. There is an international system in place for such situations.

We have evidence that certain individuals are responsible for the despicable acts. We should prosecute through the international court system. Signorile's fear that extradition/capture and trial of those responsible would inspire further terrorist attacks is a copout. Justice is not done with the wanton death of innocent people. We can express our anger better.

Of course the trial would have to be in an international setting. No lawyer worth his or her salt would allow bin Laden to stand trial in America, certainly not here in New York. What are we afraid of? Let the world hear the charges and view the evidence and if it's as good as 43 says, then there will be a conviction.

A fair trial of those accused would demonstrate one of the great things about America. If the Taliban agrees to have bin Laden turned over to a third country, then we should cease all military operations as soon as he has been surrendered. Bombing only kills innocents and spawns a new generation of anti-Americanism. Our intervention in Afghanistan is a death trap. To unseat the Taliban without a solution acceptable to the people of the region will only continue the stagnation of the area and the legacy of colonialism.

Bush's "you're either with us or against us" response to this terrible event would have made Benito proud. Action must be taken against our enemies! The bombing of Afghanistan is the simple man's solution to the thinking man's problem. Can't we do any better? We've known what the Taliban represented for years. Now they are bad. Our fuzzy math on terrorism is a throwback to the days when the British decided to set the boundaries between Pakistan and Afghanistan. All it says to the world is that America has really neat bombs and well-fed and -trained killers. That's not the America I like to feel good about.

The federal government's lack of vision and patience led to a tragedy in Waco, TX, that in turn resulted in a greater tragedy. The federal government's lack of vision and patience in response to the tragic events of 9/11 will only lead to further tragedies. It's not just our Middle East policy that needs changing, the world's leading exporter of instruments of death needs to look hard at the mirror about how we interact with the rest of the world before we anoint ourselves judge and jury of legitimate governments of this world.

Marc Safman, Long Island City