Ann of a thousand lays
BY THOR HESLA
(06/25/99)
Please refrain from exposing us to any more of the hate-filled,
bombastic drivel that Thor Hesla seems to feel passes for humor.
His screed to Ann Coulter abuses her, women in general and the
English language. That kind of misogynistic trash has no place in a
magazine that desires to be thought of as credible.
-- Peter Roff
Political Director, GOPAC
Washington
Thor Hesla's article on Ann Coulter was hilarious and on point! Who in their right
mind would want to date a woman who looks like her (stringy hair,
skeletal physique), talks like her (nasal, snorting, giggling) and thinks like
her (hateful, snide, condescending). She is out of touch with normal
people, doesn't bother to get her facts straight and has only one thought -- a hateful putdown of all Democrats. When she opens
her huge mouth, one expects to see her biting off the heads of little
bunnies, so intense is the hate that spews forth.
-- LaVonne Otwell
Marietta, Ga.
I am deeply disturbed by the tone of Thor Hesla's diatribe about Ann Coulter. She may be a big-time Republican talking head but the tone of his "advice" to her was abusive, offensive and just plain rude.
Do you remember Tipper Gore's PMRC days? At that time, I remember some band (Mötley Crüe, I think) commenting that what Tipper really needed was to "get fucked really hard" -- and that would "solve" her objections to their music.
Hesla's article reminds me of that event -- some man responding to a woman's opinion by attacking her clothes, demeanor, body or sexual history. I'm truly disappointed. She may be a hardcore Republican but so is my mother. No woman deserves to be attacked in that way, and especially not in public.
-- Rebecca Wilson
Ann Coulter has
needed such a review of her antics for a long time. I hope she will heed Hesla's
advice and get real; many of us find Coulter ignorant and repulsive.
How on earth has she achieved the status that allows her to harangue
everybody on the TV talk shows? Some of her articles in Human Events are
rambling, ambiguous messes and have little point. If she is a constitutional
scholar, then I am Johann Sebastian Bach.
-- Mildred Perry Miller
Chattanooga, Tenn.
When liberals are unable to debate ideas, they
attack the messenger. They attack the personal appearance, the family, the
heritage, etc., of any conservative they are unable to debate on even
ground.
Thor Hesla is obviously no exception. "Thor Hesla is a political and event
management consultant," hardly begins to cover Hesla's credentials,
meager as they are. It may have been worth mentioning that he works for
Jennifer Laszlo, one of Clinton's most vocal defenders and frequent talking
head on the pundit shows. One has to wonder if he was attacking Coulter
at the behest of his boss.
-- Ted Crider
The struggle for legitimacy
BY LAURA ROZEN
(06/24/99)
Laura Rozen seems to consider the KLA equivalent to the Serb regime in Kosovo
because its members man roadblocks and its supporters fly flags. Very
interesting logic! The Serb government is on a level of nastiness that Rozen doesn't seem to comprehend There is no equivalence whatsoever between the KLA and the Serb government other than that they are both made up of violent men.
After what the Kosovars have been through, they cannot be expected to react
like American upper middle-class suburbanites. All that can be hoped for is some tentative form of
order and justice. The only force with legitimacy in Kosovo is the KLA, because
they put their asses on the line to fight for the lives of their neighbors and
friends. That, by any standards, has value -- particularly compared
with the general tendency of Americans to discount the perennial virtues of courage,
honor and loyalty. The Kosovo crisis could have been averted had Western leaders acted from any
motivation other than sheer cowardice during the early '90s; if Rozen realized this, she might grow to appreciate young men with courage.
-- Christopher Stahnke
Laura Rozen's article on the KLA was disconcerting and flesh-raising. The article's sledgehammered point is that the disreputable KLA has tried to position itself in an allied position to NATO in order to gain power. But then, Rozen's point is to discredit the KLA as much
as possible; her poorly wrought analysis that the KLA doesn't think we
have a great role is sure to be incendiary for a country that committed huge
amounts of money to enter the fray.
Deciding that the KLA "emerged to provoke" the Serbs, Rozen argues that the only purpose of the KLA's existence was to incite the now hagiographied Serbs. They were asking for genocide? Curiously deleting all details of Serb atrocities, Rozen slides through the back door an argument that the KLA invoked its own
suffering in order to create international involvement in their conflict. But
does Rozen actually believe that the demonized Albanians hurtled themselves to the bottom of mass graves in order to make Sam Donaldson give a shit?
Rozen suggests the KLA will do whatever it wants, then goes on to give a very specific list of what the KLA would hypothetically do. She seems to believe that the
KLA is far worse than anything Milosevic on his massacring purges could ever
dream up. We're left at the end with the horror that the KLA has swooped in to
seize power with vengeance and bloodlust in the wake of a dubious NATO
"victory." Forget the atrocities of the Serbs; forget the deeply nuanced
sides of the conflict; in fact, forget anything except the credible voice of
the lone reporter crying out from a war-torn nation.
-- Terry Sawyer
The tyranny of fashion
BY ERIN J. AUBRY
(06/25/99)
What do shoes have to say about you? A brainless question if I
ever heard one. Do you really find it necessary to be affirmed by the random coverings of your body,
or were you just trying to get my hackles up? There are very few
questions you should ask about daily fashion. Question 1: Does it
fit and feel good on your body? Question 2: Does it suit
your personality? Question 3: Is it appropriate for the occasion?
All the other questions -- Is it something that
anybody else would wear? Will I see myself walking down the
street and look better in it than other people do? Is my body image
what I want it to be? Is it costly/cheap enough? Will it attract
the kind of attention I'm after? -- are ancillary. Forget "fashion"; just get dressed.
-- A. Beals
I was a junkie stockbroker
BY BOLT EDSALL
(06/24/99)
The author's points about the lack of wisdom in extending the
trading day are directly on point, but his reasoning about why the
hours were originally short is somewhat off. Originally there simply was
not the volume to justify being open much longer, and as the volume took
off, the lack of computer power (this was in the '60s and '70s) meant
that documentation and verification could not be accomplished without
"artificial" restrictions of the volume -- that is, the shorter hours. By the time the
lack of computer power was rectified, the force of tradition had taken
force.
But in deference to the author, perhaps it was a wiser being that designed things -- so that the adrenaline junkies who do well in the market have the down time to recharge.
-- Milton Christopher
Gobsmackathon!
BY AMY REITER
(06/25/99)
Please explain to me what is so funny about Olga Korbut's allegations of sex
abuse on the Russian gymnastics team.
I can certainly understand making fun of Spice Girl Mel G's skin troubles and
other such silly fluff. But to apply the same derisive and disbelieving tone
to Korbut's account of routine sex abuse is unfair and offensive. Why
does Amy disbelieve Olga? And if what Olga says is true, what's so funny
about it?
I award a gobsmacker to Amy.
-- Lorna Collier
Belvidere, Ill.
Shares