Love me, love my guns
BY SUSAN STRAIGHT
(10/21/99)

Susan Straight was right to be concerned, and right to get out of that environment. I've been around guns all of my life. I own a few now, and the primary reason I keep them around is for defense. However, I do not leave ammunition lying around. Any weapon not in my hand is unloaded, locked and put away. With the right to own a weapon comes responsibility -- the responsibility to make sure that the ownership and use of that weapon does not constitute a greater threat than the alternative. Anyone who would leave unsecured and possibly loaded weapons lying around has abdicated that responsibility.

-- Andrew Templin
Dublin, Calif.

This guy Dwayne, as described in the story, is irresponsible for not telling his wife that he has a shotgun. He had children running around his apartment and guns that are stored improperly. If, God forbid, one of the children should shoot themselves, the parent will feel guilt that will most likely ruin their life. But Susan Straight is also irresponsible for possessing, fearing and not learning how to safely handle a firearm. Guns do deserve respect, just like any dangerous tool or animal. Fearing guns, and pretending they don't exist, is the worst treatment of this issue.

-- Jonathan Hastings

Waiting room
BY SCOTT HARRIS
(10/21/99)

I, too, work in an emergency department, several hundred miles north in San Francisco. Like L.A. County, we have a problem of long waits, but part of the problem was revealed in your story. You mention Mr. Funk, of the ear infection and clogged sinuses. What is the "emergency" in that condition? Another gentleman complains of a "stomach virus." That's an emergency?

Far too many people use the E.R. instead of primary care. In San Francisco, a number of community health centers (set up in the late '60s and early '70s) exist to treat the uninsured and the poorly insured; they get some use, but are not filled to capacity. Most county hospitals (San Francisco General Hospital included) run outpatient clinics, also treating those of limited means. In short, there are alternatives to the emergency department.

Next time you're in a waiting room in an E.R. with deep cuts, bleeding copiously and wondering why it's taking so long to be treated, look around the room at the number of sniffling kids and muttering adults. Ask them about their ailments. Assess their medical urgency in your own mind. Then ask yourself if at least part of the problem of long waiting-room times might be easily remedied.

-- Michael Treece, M.D.

Sharps & flats: "Woodstock 99"
BY ANDY BATTAGLIA
(10/21/99)

Any sentient music lover who has spent time with Bruce Hornsby's latest work, "Spirit Trail," knows that Hornsby's compositions are imbued with a rhythmic, melodic intricacy that few possess. Andy Battaglia is apparently incapable of grasping such subtleties, and instead dismisses Hornsby and his music as "offensively bland." Hornsby's appearance at Woodstock 99 may have not been a good match for a crowd that was looking for Neanderthal histrionics ` la Fred Durst. Battaglia could have made that point, however, without trashing one of the coolest musicians alive.

-- David Maland
Tyler, Texas

Was this intended to be inflammatory? I didn't get any sense of what the CD is like, only that it offended the reviewer's chic and hip sensibilities. The review itself was of little use to someone intending the buy the CD. Isn't that the purpose of a review? Or are we only to marvel at how profound the reviewer is?

-- Jackie H. Walsh

Naughty Bits: Use a pill, go to jail
BY HANK HYENA
(10/19/99)
The outdated "Khalwat" law is only enforceable on Malaysian Muslims -- approximately 55 percent of the population of 22 million to 23 million. The other 10 million of us happily and regularly engage in illicit sex free of persecution.

-- Tony Shue
Kuala Lumpur

Choosing a titillating name for a fairly serious column on a topic that many people unfortunately still have a hard time discussing intelligently was unfortunate. Perhaps I'm being oversensitive to the implications (joking and ironic though they may be) of the word "naughty," but it seems that Salon's creative editorial team could have come up with a catchy name for the column that more accurately described its contents without the puritanical baggage.

-- David Hoberman

Militia U.
BY KENNETH RAPOZA
(10/21/99)

Kenneth Rapoza's article on the presence of Indonesian students at Norwich University misses the point entirely. This is an issue of great relevance for American higher education. Should colleges and universities make admissions decisions based on a student's country of origin or political beliefs? Not unless they intend to apply some form of litmus test to every student who applies to their institution. To do so would be the first step on a slippery slope, leading to arbitrary judgments based on factors other than academic qualifications. It would, in essence, be a new form of admissions McCarthyism; it would be discrimination. The Indonesian students at Norwich are here simply because they met our admissions criteria. Norwich University condemns the Indonesian military's long history of repression and believe we all have an obligation to stand tall in the face of crimes against humanity. But we stand by our students.

-- Thomas Greene
Director of public relations
Norwich University
Northfield, Vt.

I'm sure the graduates of the Virginia Military Institute, including General George C. Marshall and a long list of others whose names would be immediately familiar to any student of American military history, would be interested to learn that Norwich is the only private military university in the United States. In fact, it's not.

I wonder what Rapoza thinks would be the appropriate solution to this "problem." Based on my own ROTC experience I can assure him that Norwich is not teaching torture, repression or anything other than basic military leadership and tactical principles. Kicking them out because Indonesia currently has a repressive government wouldn't seem to accomplish anything useful -- though at least the State Department could be seen to be Doing Something.

-- Paul Robichaux

The war for America's thumbs
BY GREG COSTIKYAN
(10/21/99)

The Genesis and Super NES did not crush the Atari Lynx. The Atari Lynx was the first color handheld and actually fared quite well in the market. The Atari Jaguar is the system that really dashed Atari's hopes in the console market. For one thing, they claimed it was a 64-bit system, but it was actually two 32-bit processors running in parallel. That combined with awful games (excepting Aliens vs. Predator, which debuted on that system), spelled a quick death.

Also, Power Stone is not the only game to have gotten glowing reviews on the Dreamcast. In fact, Power Stone has gotten rather mediocre reviews. Just look at videogames.com or dreamcast.ign.com -- and it will become instantly clear that the best game for the Dreamcast is Namco's absolutely incredible Soul Calibur. It's the only game to have gotten a perfect 10 score from videogames.com -- and it deserves correct recognition.

Also, I've not heard of any delays of Sega's "Phantasy Star Online," which you don't even refer to by name (in fact, it doesn't even have a release date yet -- just "Q2 2000" in Japan). There have been delays of another Sega title, but it's not a "massively multi-player online game ` la Ultima Online."

-- Barrett W. Nuzum
Nashua, N.H.

Brilliant Careers: Emmylou Harris
BY ERNEST MCLEOD
(10/21/99)

Ernest McLeod refers to the great Gram Parsons as a "a Harvard dropout on a trust fund [who] hardly had country music in his soul, but he loved it and wrote it." This heedless statement betrays a risible ignorance of the genre. Gram Parsons nearly single-handedly brought genuine "country music" (which he called "cosmic American music") into the generational mainstream of the 1960s. Through cross-pollination with seminal groups such as the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as musical collaborations with rock giants like the Rolling Stones, he created a musical language that is as influential and revered today as that of any other musician of the last 30 years. To dismiss Gram Parsons as blithely as McLeod does is to debase the very source of exaltation that gave Emmylou Harris the inspiration to fly on her delicate gossamer wings.

-- Alexander Ackley

Where's the beef?
BY MERRILL GOOZNER
(10/21/99)

The Fed's concern is not inflation now. Its concern is where inflation will be in 18 months to two years -- because that's how long it takes Fed policies to work through the system. If your author has good arguments for claiming inflation will not be a problem in two years, by all means let's hear them; but mention of how inflation today is in an acceptable range is really irrelevant to the discussion.

-- Maynard Handley