_______________ UNSPUN: A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF AMERICA BY STEVE ERICKSON (01/20/99)
	Steve Erickson aptly describes Tom DeLay and the drift to the right, but seems to get lost in the conflict between his contempt for the person and the person's privilege to denounce the kind of government that tolerates his contempt. Personalities like DeLay surface most frequently in politics, police work and the ministry, and represent those professions' most aberrant occupational hazards. For the most part, they are held in check by their majorities and do little harm. However, whenever one of them comes to dominate their milieu, havoc reigns. The danger to democracy isn't their tolerable presence, it's the amount of sway the majority is sometimes willing to give them. Criticizing DeLay's majority would have been more to the point in my opinion. As for DeLay himself, his antics merely demonstrate the wisdom of the Founders' penchant for balance. As for his role in the impeachment hysteria, no one's ever bragged about being the engineer after the train wreck. -- Tom DeLuca My head is still light from the barrage of spin launched by Steve Erickson. I am no fan of the right wing, and I am as opposed to a theocracy as Erickson is, but I still found him to be quite blind to some political realities. There are many, many voters who have been voting continuously to try to limit the growth of government and the steady implementation of socialist programs that are directly opposed to their beliefs. These people are not anti-democratic, they simply became politically active and elected people like Ronald Reagan and Tom DeLay. That's democracy in action, whether you agree with it or not. -- Tom Biggs I look forward to Wednesdays so that I can read Steve Erickson's latest. Today's piece on Tom Delay was especially fine -- except for one small point. The counterculture of the '90s isn't on the fringe of society as their counterparts in the '60s were, instead they are in the vortex of power. That individuals of such ilk can be in such positions is a testament to the apathy and general hatred of politics that has infected the populace. None has the heart to go where the heartless fear not to tread. -- Keta Hodgson
_______________ ASK CAMILLE: THE GLORIES OF MALE FOOTBALL AND THE LIMPNESS OF FEMALE PORNOGRAPHY BY CAMILLE PAGLIA (01/20/99)
	The only bands Camille Paglia talks about are the pre-punk banks of the '70s, the Rolling Stones (who are about as punk or revolutionary as a paper bag) and the Sex Pistols. She characterizes punk as a thumb-sucking stage, and if you look to Johnny Rotten as an example, this may be true. But what about the raw energy of punk? There's vibrancy and heat (and stench) to early punk that the Rolling Stones could never reproduce: The Clash; Gen X, with a beautiful and swaggering 17-year-old Billy Idol (not the later, '80s version she references along with the Chili Peppers, please!); Black Flag fronted by Henry Rollins at his most intense, and a host of other powerful groups. Also, Patti Smith isn't the only great female rocker; the roster of female punks includes the Slits; Lydia Lunch, who is the female equivalent to Rollins; Poly Styrene of X-Ray Specs and of course, Siouxsie Sioux. Punk is the Haiku of rock 'n' roll; the Rolling Stones are, however, like those old guys at poetry readings who read their verse long past the time limit. Even if it's good, it gets pretty sickening, and that goes for David Bowie and his "baroque art-rock" too. Paglia should read some Greil Marcus and, for once in her life, listen. -- Alexandria O'Keefe-Dobkowski N E X T+P A G E+| New ways to insult our president; Hitchens is a great journalist