Readers Gun for Scott Bowen; Taki Blows in from the Main; How'd You Like It If Sharon Bombed Your House, MUGGER?; Other Eagle-Eyed Analysis and Observation; More

Thank you for Scott Bowen's fine tribute to Bill Ruger ("New York City," 7/31). It is rare for anyone in the New York media to write about guns or gun manufacturers objectively. As for Bill's handiwork, the descendants of his Mark I design are still popular for plinking and target shooting?used by sportsmen (and sportswomen) everywhere.

Barry Cohen, Brooklyn

Zzzzzz

Scott Bowen's glorification of American gun manufacturer Bill Ruger and discussion of the Hamilton v. Accu-Tek lawsuit proved both factually and philosophically flawed. Bowen writes, "The New York Supreme Court in April 2001 overturned the Hamilton v. Accu-Tek decision." This statement is unsound on multiple levels. First of all, the New York Supreme Court, despite its name, is a court of first instance and as such does not overturn the decisions of other courts. Secondly, a state court can never overturn a case decided in federal court, as was Hamilton v. Accu-Tek. What actually happened in April of 2001 was that the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, answered two questions about the case that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit certified to it.

Where Bowen errs far more egregiously, however, is in his specious exaltation of gun culture and consequent vilification of gun control. Bowen hails Ruger's Mark I model as a "major advance in semi-automatics." What the author ironically fails to understand is that such "advances" are precisely what necessitate gun control today. As Bill Ruger's industry develops guns into more and more effective media of death, their potential for harmful misapplication increases. The underlying social issue of Hamilton v. Accu-Tek, which Bowen ignores completely, is whether gun manufacturers ought to take steps to limit this misapplication at the cost of diminished profits. As a civil attempt at broadening gun control, the lawsuit failed because the actions of the companies it targeted did not substantiate a legal claim of negligence. Nonetheless, their witting prioritization of fiscal gain over gun-crime prevention remains unconscionable and perhaps will one day be illegal as well.

Lee Brand, Manhattan

Now You're Getting Somewhere

How I imagine they think:

MUGGER: "The New York Times is a sham because of its liberal bent. In its stories on the Middle East, it clearly backs the murderous Palestinians. Its refusal to love and cherish President Bush as I do disgusts me to my very soul."

Alexander Cockburn: "The New York Times is a sham because it's not liberal enough. In its stories on the Middle East, it clearly backs the murderous Israelis. Its refusal to destroy and expose President Bush, as I try to do, makes me want to puke."

The New York Times: "Why do you guys still read this paper? So you have something to write about?"

Tom Patterson, Queens

Wot a Coinkydink!

Very interesting that Tom Disch runs fiction in New York Press the same time his self-admitted embarrassing The Prisoner novelization comes back into print!

Fran Tetoro, Manhattan

Too Close to Home

MUGGER: If Osama bin Laden bought a condo in Tribeca, and your hero Ariel lobbed a one-ton bomb through his window, "eliminating" Osama and 13 other residents, including nine children, you might begin to get the point (7/31). Is this abject worship of fascist thuggery a part of your genetic endowment? Please take care that your fart-like aura doesn't poison your children. This isn't baseball; you don't have to cheer for one set of religious fanatics or the other. Dead children are dead children? unless, like the right wing of Sharon's cabinet, you don't think Palestinian children qualify.

Name Withheld, via e-mail

Mike & Mike

Thank you for carrying Michelangelo Signorile's column. I look forward to reading it every week, and while I'm online with your publication, I look around. A few weeks ago I read in the MUGGER column about a piece by Steve Martin in The New Yorker (6/26). So I bought the magazine. It was the week after Martin's column appeared, but there were other columns that I loved. I will likely subscribe to the magazine. As for Signorile, in addition to being the cutest columnist, he has the most to offer the gay community when it comes to "rolling up his sleeves" on current issues. For example, he is telling it like it is in his current column about the "bareback" lie ("The Gist," 7/31). Where are our national leaders, be it in the gay community or not, on this subject? It's tragic. I'm 40 years old. I watched my generation go through this crisis. Despite being forewarned, it appears I'm going to watch the next generation go through it as well. I will remember guys like Signorile making a big deal about it. And I will continue to seek out and read his column. I have two wishes: One, that you continue to carry Signorile's superb column. And, two, that some night in a dark alley, Signorile and I would run into Andrew Sullivan.

Mike West, Hollywood, CA

Sloppiness, Hogs

MUGGER: In your column, you wrote that Arthur Andersen did not deserve to die as a company because of Enron (7/31). If that were the only bankruptcy that Arthur Andersen was involved in I might agree; however, Arthur Andersen has been involved in a number of high-profile scandals and bankruptcies all over the world. In the U.S., there is Waste Management, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona, Sunbeam. In Austrailia, it was HIH. That is the largest bankruptcy ever in that country. The common thread is sloppy auditors who missed the warning signs.

Stan Aten, Dallas

He Was Out Swashbuckling Last Week

Here in the swamp, as you know, we live for our weekly dose of Taki. Whence comes all our major knowledge of the world and how it works. Is he gone for good? If so, where, that we may follow? A day without Taki is a day without knowledge (but I have said that) or without sun or rain. Can one be overblown in describing such talent?

While on the subject of both over and blown, there is Michelangelo Signorile and his glaring lack of talent. Reading or trying to read his articles is similar to that of reading some liberal spinner for the left of the nation. You know what they are about to say, and that the truth is not with them; seldom on the same planet. You know further that when you finish reading you will feel, if not despoiled, at least dirty and ready for a bath. The man seems to always pick the subject and his approach to be the one that will shock the poor frail Southern belle, such as I, the most.

A.H. Watson, Holden Beach, NC

There'll Always Be a Staten Island

God bless America?freedom of speech! You had yours, Bay Rigby, now I'll have mine, you clueless cunt of an art-fart ("The Return of the Living Dead," 7/24). Joey Ramone never did junk?he died in pain, and much too soon, of lymphatic cancer after a long fight. As for Dee Dee, I dare you to walk a mile in his shoes. I hope he kicks your ass some way, somewhere, someday?'coz I'll be standing right behind him with a baseball bat to back him up. Seal that with a Johnny (sourpuss) Ramone All-American "FUCK YOU." That particular depiction completely and utterly sucked, and so do you.

Kay Garaventa, Staten Island

Bigtime

MUGGER: While I can agree with your comments about the Adelphia arrests being election year-motivated (7/31), you are ignoring the historical record when it comes to Arthur Andersen. In recent years, AA has been the poster child for facilitating corporate America's hornswoggling of reality. Enron was only their latest "scandal" to be unearthed. AA got the intervention they and the rest of their ilk needed.

Marc Safman, Long Island City

Who's Neo?

MUGGER: Glad to find you on the neocon axis, since I've always liked your writing. (So why didn't I glom on to the fact that you swung my direction? Dunno. Limited political scope? Hopelessly naive about affiliations?) Why is Reno a fraud (7/24)? I am not being confrontational. Just curious?she's very popular among the female homosexual set, by the way. Of course.

M.D.S. Dreyfus, Manhattan

Pre-Copernican

I got a kick out of the letter from that religious lunatic talking about "traditional" values ("The Mail," 7/31). Perhaps they didn't know that throughout history, tradition has been proven foolish or evil exactly 100 percent of the time. (Earth revolves around the sun, anyone?) Only crazy morons praise "tradition"?from those who opposed the Enlightenment to those who opposed ending slavery here in America, "tradition" is the bogus banner they hold up. Progressive creatures know there's always a better way, and if these religious freaks doubt this, then they should, oh, I don't know, stop using indoor plumbing. (What happened to the traditions of the outhouse?)

In the year 2002, it's pretty clear to any educated and honest person: organized religion is an evil sham. And there's little difference between the religious fascists of the Taliban and the religious fascists of the White House. Didn't we use to lock up crazy people? And MUGGER, I don't always agree with your columns, but I always find them poorly written and poorly thought-out.

Tom Bachar, Manhattan

Better Not Be

MUGGER: Your column of 7/31 offers your readership an unvarnished view of the current feeding frenzy the media is indulging in concerning their unrepentant desire to hang all the woes of the stock market on the GOP and their friends in "Big Business." The fact of the matter is that the "Democraps" are up to their eyeballs in the mud. Sens. Lieberman and Dodd were principal ramrods in loading the guns of disaster when they vociferously worked to get legislation passed that would allow accounting firms to serve as consultants as well as auditors. They knocked the lock and the hasp off of the henhouse door and ushered in the wolves.

Lieberman has the nerve to blame President Bush for the current state of affairs. I for one would like to see Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman as guests of honor at a good old-fashioned tar-and-feathering. We'll use the feathers from the henhouses at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia. Enron probably has some leftover tar.

Now for a world-class segue: the Astros will never catch the Cardinals and I doubt if the Red Sox will catch the Yankees. This summer sucks. Is this is as good as it gets?

Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX