Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

Stuck on Traffic

I suspect, and definitely hope, that I'm not the only reader, while appreciating the editorial concern and reporter's persistence in getting and presenting this story [Cover Story, "The New Face of Slavery," Helen i-lin-Hwang and Brian Hickey, Dec. 2, 2004], who wonders how many of the brothels and "relaxation" parlors which advertise in your paper, whether offering "Asian girls" or not, are customers of these human traffickers, or simply the trafficking scum themselves?
Todd Mason
Roxborough

Editor's reply: You're probably not alone, Todd. We expected to hear concerns along these lines. Still, we thought it would be wrong to ignore the issue of human trafficking just because massage parlors — whether they're guilty of this crime or not — advertise with us.

Miss-ty Eyed

Mike Missanelli not being on the air is indicative of the rot within conventional radio since someone at WIP seemed to be willing to sacrifice the station's interesting quotient for the sake of punishing his maverick style [Cover Story, "Miss Me Yet?" Doron Taussig, Nov. 25, 2004]. Meanwhile, sycophants remain on air until retirement, offending no one and boring everyone. The problem with the article was it confused arrogance with swagger. Anyone who Missanelli rubbed as arrogant should be listening to Prairie Home Companion. The fact is that Mike's old S&M show (with Steve Fredericks) was electric and makes the ass-kissing fare now at WIP all the more glaring.

Missanelli was the perfect sports-talk host, which is all that should matter.
Russell Fabry
Center City

Fight the Power

Art Segal expresses outrage at growing pressure to support the Bush agenda's "new majority" [Letters, "French Toast," Dec. 2, 2004]. He balks at the idea that "We must come together and agree that those we detested as uncritical, unreasonable shit-brained warmongers are in fact quite reasonable people."

The sentiment is a dangerous one: that the election is over and there is nothing that we can or should do other than accept the status quo. The fact of the matter is that democracy does not end at the polling booth. Power takes many forms in our society, and the role corporations now play in shaping our lives means that we need to broaden the ways we think about influencing the impact that America has on the rest of the world. The "uncritical, unreasonable shit-brained warmongers" that we really need to worry about right now don't sit in the Oval Office, but in the boardrooms of America.
Jess Eisen
Field Organizer
Corporate Accountability International

Backing Abraham

I want to clarify the reference Mary Patel made to the clash between District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson [Political Notebook, "Law and Order," Nov. 25, 2004]. Much disinformation [was] deliberately [spread], especially on radio stations, regarding Abraham's appearance at her U.S. Senate [confirmation] hearings. When Massiah-Jackson was asked by the Senate if she could rebut Abraham's documented testimony, Massiah-Jackson chose to withdraw from seeking a federal District Court seat. That move was perhaps one of the few wise decisions Massiah-Jackson made.
Jerry Boris
Center City