September 16-22, 2004

mailbag

Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Con and Con

I found Bruce Schimmel's column "George Is a Con" interesting [Loose Canon, Sept. 2, 2004]. However, I think Bruce has it all wrong. The con is on we Democrats who, I believe, chose John Kerry as a goof on the American public.

We know Kerry slandered a generation of veterans and he's not apologized to us yet. (He had multiple opportunities in just the last several weeks with appearances in front of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars).

His lack of any meaningful legislation in the last 20 years in the U.S. Senate is troubling (even Congressional Weekly reported on Kerry's thin record on education and health care in April).

His turning his back on the Vietnamese community is disturbing (as reported so well by your paper several months ago).

His poor Senate attendance record is well-documented by now, and almost everyone knows about his indecisiveness and double-talk on many significant and important issues facing the country. And, of course, he voted for the war in Iraq. More disturbing, when asked just a few weeks ago if he would vote for authorization for war again knowing no WMDs were found, he said he would. I will probably be voting for George Bush with some reservations. But I will have no reservations about voting against John Kerry.
Jerry Komar
Collingswood, N.J.

You're Welcome, Paul

Thank you, thank you, thank you for Angelina Sciolla's piece about the Protest Warriors [Cover story, "Crashing (for) the Party," Sept. 9, 2004]. For too long, the term "political activist" has usually meant "liberal." This group stands that idea on its head. Their Web site has an amusing account of what happened when a group of Protest Warriors arrived at an anti-Iraq war demonstration at Halliburton's headquarters in Dallas. The protesters cheered their arrival until they read the Warriors' signs, which read "Help! I'm surrounded by America-hating idiots!" After several weeks of demonstrations and counterdemonstrations, the Protest Warriors actually outnumbered the lefties for two weeks in a row. This is encouraging. Also encouraging is the youth of the group's founders. This confirms something I've noticed in attending Bush campaign events and making calls for the campaign — that a lot of the president's supporters are college students or in their early 20s. This only bodes well for the future.
Paul Dyck
via e-mail

She's Horrified

I am writing to tell you how disgusted I was with A.D. Amorosi's article about Murray Hill's performance in a Fringe cabaret night [Cover story, "Catching a Cab (or Two)," Sept. 2, 2004]. Publishing an article that calls Murray a "man-girl" and refers to "his/her" work reinforces the type of stereotypes and fear that serve as a basis for the hatred and discrimination experienced by the transgendered and transsexual community every day. Such offhanded, thoughtless comments reinforce ignorance and prejudice, and I was horrified to see them printed in the pages of the City Paper.

Fringe is supposed to be about pushing boundaries and breaking down walls. It is ironic that your paper chose this time to undermine Murray's brilliant performances with such awful, insensitive comments.
Caitlin Barry
Philadelphia