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CATHOLISCHISM
Perhaps the only thing as bad as deliberately abusing a child is to falsely accuse somebody of abusing a child [Gustavo Arellano's “Must-See TV Producer,” Dec. 12]. That's what many older and wiser reporters learned from the false allegations that created the McMartin Preschool trial, part of a monstrous witch-hunt that first blossomed during the 1980s and tarnished the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people. One major reason why that witch-hunt spread was multitudes of journalists who happily jumped to conclusions in order to produce a sexy story, however perverse.
After the McMartin case, many of those journalists happily found other piles of shit to grow their careers in, like Fox News. Others, however, learned from their mistakes and became better journalists.
Perhaps Arellano, whose article pretty much accuses Tom Fuentes—without a stitch of evidence—of ignoring alleged sex abuse by priests, will become a better journalist too. But first, he needs to search his own soul and apologize to Fuentes.
John Earl
Via e-mail
Gustavo Arellano responds: First, John Earl says I falsely accused Fuentes of abusing a child, and then, changing course, says I merely accused Fuentes of ignoring child molestation during his tenure as diocesan communications director. I haven't accused Fuentes of anything, and certainly not child abuse. I've asked him a question, one that many Orange County residents—Catholics and non-Catholics alike—have wanted to ask him for years. See, Fuentes likes to assert that he was the most powerful lay Catholic in the Diocese of Orange from 1976 to 1989, and he has evidence to support that claim: he worked directly for the bishop and coached that bishop on all media relations. He also supervised for years a man who that bishop had good reason to know was a child molester. Given all that, I simply asked Fuentes what many reasonable people want to know: Did Fuentes know what was apparently going on all around him? As I reported, Fuentes said he knew nothing.
EVERYBODY LOVES BOB
R. Scott Moxley should be proud of himself! There is now one person in America who believes his theories: Bob Dornan [“Mr. Taliban,” Dec. 26]. Moxley has to be thrilled that Bob Dornan—one of America's greatest thinkers and coolest heads—agrees with him that Dana Rohrabacher was up to no good with all of his Ay-rab friends. Great minds think alike!
Steve Pedersen
Fountain Valley
R. Scott Moxley responds: It doesn't take great thinking to inspect political contribution reports or to read federal terrorism-related indictments involving terror suspects who turn out to work with Congressman Rohrabacher. It takes only an open mind. Try as Rohrabacher might to cast our story as bunk, various forms of it have been published in the conservative media—in Insight Magazine, Washington Times and the conservative Center for Security Policy. Indeed, the story is bolstered by Rohrabacher's own staffer, whose memo warned the congressman to avoid “further counsel” from at least one of the suspects. Only one question looms: when is the congressman going to explain his relationship with men who've acted on behalf of Hamas, Hezbollah, Libyan Dictator Moammar Gadhafi and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda?
Happy New Year, but don't forget a lot of good things happened in 2003: Huntington Beach got a clue and denied the desalinization plant a permit to build in a really sensitive area of the state, not just the city. The county prosecutors office and Sheriff's Department both got caught in scandals and exposed (combined for brevity). Bob Dornan challenging Dana Rohrabacher for the conservative congressional seat in Orange County? Priceless!
Alan Sandoval
Costa Mesa
MUSIC LESSON
There was an important piece missing from your “Music Guide” [Feedback, Nov. 21]: a “How to” guide to getting your band written about in OC Weekly. Allow me to indulge, since I have been playing in the local music scene for over 20 years and have read the Weekly every week since its inception:
1. Find a gimmick! You've seen those cool-looking bands in OC Weekly almost every week. Get creative! Buy wigs, wear ugly faux-fur coats, and remember: Buddy Holly glasses ooze indie-rock cred. Take a lesson from the Moseleys, the Skatanic Rednecks and the Aquabats, and maybe you too will get a cover. (Don't forget to pose with the cheapest thrift-store guitars you can find.)
2. Learn Spanish. You're thinking, “How the hell is that gonna help me?” As a lefty liberal who digs Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky, I can attest that white men are responsible for a good majority of the evil in this world, and for a white-boy liberal like me, that creates a lot of white guilt. Same is true for Weeklywriters. Use that guilt to your advantage. Even if you are just another average rock band, the lack of actual rock en espaol in their mail box is sure to get you noticed—just make sure your P.O. box isn't in Newport or something.
3. Only play all-ages venues. I know there aren't many, but the music writers at the Weekly wasted their livers as far back as the '80s, and they like to get to bed early, as evidenced by the large amount of reviews given to Chain Reaction, AAA Electra and whatever gallery the kids are setting up and playing at this week.
4. Record in your bedroom. For some reason, the idea of some kid sweating it out with a cheap four-track in his bedroom is really endearing to writers, maybe because they spend so much time writing in their bedrooms. Why max out your credit cards and go broke making your little musical statement in a real studio? There is probably already a kid in Cypress with a Fostex recorder and an Electroclash fetish who is going to nab that coveted “Locals Only” column, and there is nothing your expensive-looking, fancy-schmancy CD with the color artwork can do about it.
5. Never get old.Since you are young now, it may seem so far away, but it can happen so fast, and next thing you know, you are—as Rebecca Schoenkopf put it—”aging punks hanging around the Liquid Den.” Or “sooo married,” as she put it in another column. You see, rock N roll is a young man's game, and it ain't hip to be old or to be thought of as old, and if you have been kicking around well past 30 without a record deal, you are considered embarrassing at this point.
Barry Stevenson
The White Liars
