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NICE NAZI
I really enjoyed reading about the Nazi interrogator [Eric Skindrud's “The Good Soldier,” Sept. 10]. A fascinating article, I hope it somehow finds its way to people in power in Iraq. It's sad to say the Nazi looked much more human in the picture showing him with prisoners than Americans I've seen posed with Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Suzanne Jessel via e-mail WIMPY WHITE GUY
In regard to OC Weekly's “We Shoot Republicans” article [Sept. 3], it appears that Steve Lowery is the real “pussy.” He resorts to a gun instead of his fists. As usual, this is such a white man's cowardly way to everything. I'm not Republican or Democrat—I am the real American, the American you gun-toting cowards came to kill in order to steal our land, the land you and your people stole in order to build your ignorant Earth-destroying nation. So stop your ignorant bickering about Kerry and Bush! Both parties and your fucking intrusive ancestors are guilty of murderinginnocent Real Americans!
Diana Morning Sky Bellflower
I have just one thing to say to Steve Lowery: fire!
Darren Hurst Boston ARTISTIC LIE-CENSE
Don't even try to compare today's so-called “artists” to the great Louis Armstrong [Jim Washburn's Lost in OC, “No, You Shut Up,” Aug. 27]. Artists back then made political statements at great personal sacrifice. But today's fat-cat “artists” seem to think they can have their cake and eat it, too. Michael Moore made raging against the machine a revenue generator. The Dixie Chicks backpedaled from their anti-American statements, while Madonna did damage control for her “American Life” video, all of them compromising their artistic integrity, selling out and losing our collective respect. Is it any wonder the public treats artists like the whores they are? If I'm gonna be shelling out $100 for an Eagles reunion concert, Don Henley better shut up and sing exactly what I tell him to sing.
Dennis Chang via e-mail Jim Washburn responds: Dennis, having just returned from Seattle, where Public Enemy's Chuck D led an audience of 40,000 in a two-minute chant of “Fuck Bush,” I couldn't agree with you more. I was hoping they'd do “Ol' Black Joe.” It's getting so bad that the other day I was watching a porn DVD—Anal Jihad II, I think—and one of the actors stopped midplunge to opine, “You know, I keep thinking about what former White House counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke said about how Bush attacking Iraq would have been like Roosevelt attacking Mexico as a response to Pearl Harbor.” And then his partner chimed in, “Couldn't Bush foresee the enmity such an unjust war would engender? Oh, God, yes! Harder! Bang my pancreas loose!” Can't these actors shut up and just give me the good-timey cornholing I paid for? RAGGING
I just wanted to let Alison M. Rosen know how much I enjoyed her recent article on Throw Rag [“Scared to Sleep for Years,” Sept. 3]. Of all the reviews and interviews I've read about the band that I fancy so much, this one stood out: an original look at the band.
Andrea via e-mailBAD WITH GOOD
So Irvine Mayor Larry Agran blames the media for the widening energy scandal that could mean his end [R. Scott Moxley's “Agran's Filibuster,” Aug. 27]. Did he ever praise the media when it helped him fight the airport? Goodbye, Larry.
Donald Nyre Newport Beach VANITY UNFAIR
I totally disagree with the negative film review of Vanity Fair[Ron Stringer's “Becky, We Hardly Knew Ye,” Sept. 3]. Becky Sharp is portrayed sympathetically as a vulnerable orphan trying to survive in a society based on caste, money and Imperialism. How did the reviewer miss the echoes of our own society, the tearful farewell when Rawdon goes off to war, the bodies littering the battlefield, the feminist overtones as Becky bravely carries on while war bursts around her? It's much better to have a story with a true heroine than one with no hero. Long live Becky Sharp!
Ruth Shapin Orange Ron Stringer replies: I didn't miss the rather-too-loud echoes of our own society in Mira Nair's Vanity Fair, nor was I offended by Nair's feminist heroics per se. What I missed was the callow, “odious” Becky Sharp of William Makepeace Thackery's “novel without a hero” (Thackery's subtitle, not mine). CHURCH BULLETIN
I recently read Gustavo Arellano's story that referenced Father John Kenney [“Hide the Buggering Priests!” July 9], and I double-checked his facts against the Diocese of Orange website. Not because I didn't believe Gustavo, but his story knocked the wind out of me. Father Kenney heard my first confession, and I remember he was always on the playground with us at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Tustin. Now, add to that child abuser. It breaks my heart.
Name withheld by request Irvine
Is it sheer laziness that brings you to write about Bishop Tod D. Brown buying a new house [Arellano's “Movin' on Up,” Aug. 13]? Where would you have the bishop live? This story was only written to try and get a rise out of people. So the bishop wants to buy a house. So what? In typical OC Weekly fashion, you spin it so it sounds like he's buying an estate.
Jesse via e-mail Gustavo Arellano responds: When the Orange diocese is pleading poverty in justifying the elimination of church programs, the firing of lay employees and the non-settlement of lawsuits with sex-abuse victims, its purchase of a multimillion-dollar home qualifies as a story in my missal. And I don't know what neighborhood you live in, Jesse, but a $1.1 million manse in a gated community sure seems like an estate to me. As for where I'd like Bishop Brown to live: How about the Holy Family Cathedral rectory, like his predecessor, Bishop Norman McFarland?
