Republicans lost in space
BY DAVID HOROWITZ
(11/29/99)

According to David Horowitz, the problem with the Republicans is that they need to take their gloves off and attack the Democrats. This is of course utter nonsense. We have lived through the hyper-partisanship of the "gays in the military" debate, the Republicans' (skewed and unfair) attacks on the Clintons' health-care proposals, the demagoguery surrounding every Clinton proposal, climaxing with the trumped-up impeachment of our president.

Horowitz is wrong. What the Republicans need to do is prove they can govern sensibly. If Social Security, education and welfare are a mess, remember that the GOP has been in charge of the White House for 12 of the last 19 years, and of Congress for the last five (not to mention control of the Senate during the Reagan administration). The Republicans lose in issues that matter to voters because voters are wise enough to know the Republicans would rather work themselves into an angry froth than solve problems.

-- Ken Schellenberg

Republican education programs are patently not about support for public education and public schools. Instead, they're politically loaded packages designed to cater to the various right-wing constituencies that wish to balkanize American education and culture.

Fundamentalist Christian Republicans, alarmed that their ideas (particularly those about race and religion) are not given primacy in public schools, demand something called "school choice." School choice is expressed in publicly funded vouchers used to pay for the education of one's children. The fact that vouchers are expressly a means to fund private religious schools, and that such conduct means violation of the establishment clause, is conveniently sidestepped.

This "choice" is less about overall quality of education than about educational content. It is clear that some devoutly religious parents find the teaching of evolution (for instance) in the public schools upsetting, as it conflicts with their beliefs. This is fine -- it's their right to disagree.

If the Republicans are as fond of the marketplace of ideas as they consistently claim, they should fight for a truly public education -- a standards-based, competency-based public school curriculum that ensures that each child has a base of reading, writing, arithmetic and reasoning skills that will enable him/her to function in the world. Then they can tell their children that what they have learned in school is incorrect, if they so wish, based on their religious beliefs -- and they can accept the results when their children use their beliefs in the classroom and are given lower grades because of it. The common educational base -- a common history, a common science, a common skill set, a common ability to reason -- is critical if we as a society are not to splinter into tiny groups fearful of each others' ideas.

If Republicans do otherwise -- that is, restrict their children's access to ideas that don't square with their doctrine, and so demand public funding for those ideas -- they tacitly admit that their ideas have failed in the marketplace and that the only means to promulgate them is to deny children access to the greater world of ideas. When Republicans admit that the goal of a quality free public education, in public schools, is what they're after, then the public will take their ideas seriously.

-- Matt Hayden

This piece states that 90 percent of funding for education originates at the local level, then in the next paragraph blames a Democrat-controlled Congress (which hasn't existed for several years) for the sorry state of education. I think the inadequate education given to most Americans has to have come from the same place it have always come: the local controlling authorities.

-- John Bonanno

David Horowitz's characterization of the test ban treaty issue and debate is ludicrous. The notion that the country with the best verification and simulation technology and the world's largest nuclear weapons stockpile would be put at a disadvantage with respect to North Korea or Iraq by this treaty can only come from the mendacious or stupid.

Even the argument over whether our verification technology is good enough misses the point. We are far ahead in nuclear weapons technology. We are even further ahead in the technology needed to build and maintain bombs in the absence of testing -- even if the other side is conducting ultra-low-yield tests. We have not only thousands of working warheads, but many fully tested designs. The treaty would not affect our ability to build more bombs. It is a much greater handicap to those trying to build their first bomb than it is to us.

Without the treaty, Iraq and their ilk get to take the easier road (of larger tests) to bomb development. The treaty is not about an Iraq vs. U.S. nuclear arms race -- it's about slowing down Iraq and convincing Iran to back off. The treaty is in our national interest.

-- Russell Williams

As a former student of a poor inner-city school, I find it galling that Horowitz blames Democratic policies for the plight of public schools. While perhaps the Democrats have not done enough to help, the real culprit lies in the white (and largely Republican) flight from our cities. This flight has been abetted by Republican policies which shunt social problems (and their costs) on urban residents. I remember the first time I visited a suburban (and overwhelmingly Republican) public school ... the roof didn't leak, they had a real playground, they even had art classes. Why should their schools, only 10 miles away, be so much better? The Republican plan for school vouchers would simply aggravate the problem by fostering further flight and punishing already suffering urban schools

-- Greg Stroud

Sharps and Flats: "So Many Roads"
BY SETH MNOOKIN
(11/29/99)

In his review of the new Grateful Dead box set, Seth Mnookin calls our decision to edit the botched beginning of a song "nothing less than sacrilege." He also implies that fading jams in or out is an inappropriate way to present the band's improvisations.

I can only assume that Mnookin is simply unaware that many of the Dead's best-loved live albums -- the so-called "Skull and Roses" album, "Europe '72," "Live/Dead" and "Dead Set" -- also contained edits, tunes faded in and out, cut-and-pasted jams and even harmonies and keyboards overdubbed in the studio long after the performance. Such edits and corrections -- sensitively done -- are the tradition of Grateful Dead live albums, not an aberration. We made a decision to make a slight edit to the start of the final performance of "So Many Roads" so that Robert Hunter's powerful lyrics could be appreciated with a vocal performance that did every verse justice.

Edits on live albums aren't necessarily indicative of a Milli Vanillizing of the music. Miles Davis' early '70s "live" recordings were pastiches of many different performances layered in the studio by Davis and producer Teo Macero, and the long jams on CSNY's "4 Way Street" were woven together by Graham Nash at the mixing board. One can hardly accuse Glenn Gould's cut-and-paste renditions of Bach of lacking "honest, genuine effort," to use Mnookin's phrase.

Perhaps because Jerry Garcia didn't have the luxury of imagining that every note that he played was holy, he wasn't kept up nights by the "sacrilege" of making smart editorial decisions about the music. Dead fans who cannot tolerate such alterations have the opportunity to explore the thousands of hours of raw, unadulterated live Dead available for free in the tape trading community.

-- Steve Silberman
Co-producer, "So Many Roads (1965-1995)"

Breaking character
BY CLAIRE DEDERER
(11/22/99)

Philip Seymour Hoffman may be non-talented, fat and someone you would never ask out on a date, but geez ... Clair Dederer cuts him down like a person who ran over a little old lady. Is this an honest critique of Hoffman's acting ability, or just line after line of insults for someone who's just trying to pay the rent?

-- James Hamilton

Close the door on open marriage
(11/29/99)

One of the main reasons marriages end is because of people's unrealistic expectations. The idea of monogamous/romantic/happy forever marriages is relatively new to human beings (the last 100 years or so). People are just not that simple. Although some people are quite content with monogamy, statistics and history show that the majority of people are not monogamous. For those who aren't, our culture embraces serial monogamy. And when each relationship ends, it's deemed a "failure."

I don't have a solution for this couple's marital problem, other than researching the roots of the "ideal marriage" and deciding whether it's meant for you. Being aware of how we came to have such standards is the first step in understanding ourselves in relationships.

-- Mike Ryan

This couple successfully negotiated what many would call two infidelities; they both changed jobs; they're raising their first child with solid concern for her needs -- and they're still speaking? Fabulous!

They tried something difficult, and the experiment didn't succeed. So -- next! If they apply the mutual respect and admiration that allowed them to make it through all those tough moments, they'll be back to humping like bunnies whenever they and the baby have had enough sleep ... which should occur sometime in the year 2018.

-- Lisa Moricoli Latham

Attack of the holiday gift guides!
BY JENN SHREVE
(11/19/99)

I was offended by the remarks about "A Real Man" by Norah Vincent. I have been married for almost five years to a wonderful woman who had the strength and courage to get her sex changed. In today's politically correct climate, journalists can no longer make snide remarks about African-Americans, Hispanics or women. Transsexuals, however, seem to be fair game.

I found this article acutely derisive towards transsexuals. It just underscores the fact that in the media, transsexuals are invariably referred to by their former genders and names; their problems are trivialized, and they are relegated to the same social tier as junkies and rapists.

Jenn Shreve asks, "Can someone please tell me what is the point of obsessing over this relatively rare operation?" The answer is twofold. For one thing, young people who suffer from gender dysphoria need to be aware that there is a cure (therapy and surgery) and that they are not alone. These young people live in a hell of self-hatred and fear. It is far better that they get therapy and surgery when they are young than later on in life, when it will cause confusion and pain for their spouses and children.

Also, transsexuals are often the victims of hate crimes, even murder. The media sets the tone for social behavior. When the media treats transsexuals like freaks, it sends a message to the public that it is OK to treat these people differently from those who are "normal." It tells parents that they are justified in being embarrassed by, and therefore disowning, their transsexual child. It even makes it easier for some wacko to assault and murder his beautiful girlfriend when she confesses to him that she grew up as a boy.

I hope that, in the future, Shreve thinks about what she is saying in her writing and how it may carelessly hurt. Transsexuals don't have powerful publicists. They can't afford first-class lobbyists. Their numbers are too few to demand the attention and respect that the gay and lesbian community has won.

-- Mark Roth