I teach in the Philadelphia school system and before Iraq, I actually encouraged students to go into the military [Cover, "Young Guns," J.F. Pirro, May 18, 2006]. For a significant number, the military provided both a steadying influence and a means to better their lives. It is not the risk that makes Iraq such a bad choice (the military is supposed to be dangerous and surviving hardship does make people stronger). It is that Iraq is, in the vernacular from Vietnam, a goatf*$#.

Bob Schwier
Brewerytown

I am a born lover of the thrill of erotic spanking. David Pierson is a friend of mine [Paper Doll, "The Sound of One Hand Slapping," Ashlea Halpern, May 18, 2006]. In these movies, the spankings are hard and may look surprising to those without a love of spanking, but to us the pain is pleasure and we pride ourselves as lucky to have such excitement from such a simple act.

Michelle Lozo
Adelaide, Australia

I work for David Pierson as a model. When I'm on David's set, I administer consensual disciplinary spankings upon the bottoms of young ladies under David's careful direction. I read your splendid article and I was impressed and delighted in the way you represented the spanking scene and film industry in such a personable and positive light.

I have been employed by other studios who film and produce movies and videos within the spanking and discipline genre. Without a doubt, David's organization and studio is the best I've worked for.

He and his team go out of their way to see to it that all their models and employees feel welcomed and comfortable while in his employment. Everything David does is first class, i.e. the studio, the working environment, the restaurants and hotels which he affords his models. He does look long and hard for just the right talent. David has flown in models from the West Coast, the Midwest and even western Europe. He'll stop at nothing till he finds exactly what he's looking for in a model for his next video and photo shoot. David is an outstanding director, and an extremely knowledgeable person regarding sensual dominance and submission. That magical combination is in fact the driving force behind Punished Brats and its success. As I alluded to earlier, his is not the first filming organization I've worked for, but I'd choose to work for him and Miss Wells over anyone else in the industry in a heartbeat.

You've done our industry a considerable service to say the least.

John Ryan
Denver, CO

Pierson and Pixie Wells are both a real asset to our scene and are highly respected. [Their] material is original and fun. I would know I have been in one!

Leia-Ann Woods
London

I wanted to heartily thank you guys for replacing Isadora Alman's sex column with Ashlea Halpern's. With Ms. Alman, I always felt a bit left out and depressed about my own rather dull sex life. Now, since reading the silly and pretentious Ms. Halpern's usually inane and sometimes stomach-turning meanderings, I actually feel much better about myself. And the fact that she's paranoid and irritated by Christians and morality is somehow an enjoyable byproduct. By the way, I noticed that her byline instructs "no phone calls." I can't imagine why anyone would wish to call her.

Matt Torrence
Norristown

I am a Philadelphia police officer and worked with Officer Gary Skerski for four years [Philly Blunt, "Lethal Rejection," Brian Hickey, May 18, 2006]. The public wonders why there are so many murders in Philadelphia? Well, when you have an offender who was arrested 40 times for shootings, robberies, thefts and other offenses and let go with a short jail term, then "non-reporting probation," it's not hard to [figure out]. There must be an ultimate penalty for the most violent offenders or this problem will never improve. The role of the criminal justice system should be the protection of the public from these violent offenders.

Thomas Young
Northeast Philadelphia

The news of Officer Skerski's murder left me with a deep sense of injustice and anger. While I read Hickey's editorial that same rage swelled again—no doubt it would be satisfying to learn that Skerski's murder has been avenged, that the murderer has been killed (and, hopefully, as brutally as possible). However, in calling for the death penalty, as Hickey does so persuasively, we let our rage get the better of us. Philadelphia's poverty-ridden neighborhoods are as rife as ever with a contagious hopelessness that has been passed on from generation to generation. It is a hopelessness often devoid of basic values such as respect for human life. The death penalty ignores and therefore reinforces the culture of hopelessness that produces monsters like Skerski's murderer.

Ryan Eckes
Center City

Like you, I believe the murder of Officer Skerski was a real tragedy. It saddens me, just like every murder does. What also saddens and sickens me is the way you exploited his death and used it as a platform for advocating the death penalty. Shame on you.

Your use of emotionalism in the article typifies the only tactic those who support the death penalty have left to latch on to. After all, it is irrefutable that the capital punishment system is discriminatory, does not deter crime and legitimizes an irreversible act of state violence. Indeed, the death penalty is a system that is crumbling under its own moral weight, and one day will collapse completely.

Eric Sears
Philadelphia

I am a police dispatcher and, for a few years, had the privilege of dispatching the Northeast division. The sentiments you expressed so eloquently echo deep within the heart of this department. On this night that I am writing this, we have possibly caught the animal who took a father, husband, friend and protector away. I wish your article would have never had to have been written but unfortunately it did, and I am glad to see you had the balls to write it. Many thanks for putting into words what most of us feel and for using your paper as a platform to do so.

Nikki Oresic
Northeast Philadelphia

The entire death penalty "system" needs to be overhauled from coast to coast. God willing, some sort of an "express lane" will be developed for the animals we currently hold awaiting their well-deserved fates.

Frankie McKinnon Jr.
Hartland, WI

Brian Hickey's got the "broken system" part right, but he completely missed the mark as to how it's actually broken. Mr. Hickey's argument against "monsters" and "scumbags" is all too appealing if society could really chase away the demon of homicide so easily. But it won't.

Executing Officer Skerski's murderer would never bring him back, regardless of whether one believes the perpetrator could achieve any sort of redemption. Bringing swift execution will not bring justice.

Harold Wilson, exonerated from Pennsylvania's death row last year, had a signed execution warrant too, until finally after 16 years he was given a new trial, in which DNA evidence was submitted proving someone else's blood was at the crime scene. Wilson's new trial finally came given the safeguard of the appeals process, where it became apparent that Wilson had incompetent counsel in the face of then-District Attorney Jack McMahon's race-baiting jury selection tactics. These miscarriages of justice, from investigation and false conviction to apprehension and incarceration given Wilson's experience of abuse on death row, are all too common for blacks and Philadelphians like Mr. Wilson, regardless of their proportion of the population or the nature of their alleged offenses. Deep flaws nationwide keep the odds stacked against the poor urban minority.

Ultimately, Wilson was able to fight his way out of his injustice. Meanwhile, 121 other Harold Wilsons have been known in the United States since the moratorium was lifted, and new DNA investigation suggests that innocent death row inmates in Texas have been executed. These human beings may not have been sent "straight to hell," but this better (and bigger) death row "justice system," according to Mr. Hickey's reasoning, sent them to their deaths. "Speedy" justice should never take precedence over making sure, for which the appeals process exists in the first place (and all too often fails).

That Lisa Carrasquillo's child will never know its mother is a terrible tragedy. But this outcome is completely unchanged whether or not the state executes Jose DeJesus, a man who the Supreme Court acknowledges is incapable anyway of understanding any abstract moral penance to be gained from his death.

Meanwhile, it would've been another tragedy had Wilson not finally been released to reunite with his children, after nearly two decades of maintaining his innocence. At Wilson's trial, he was told by the prosecuting attorney to take a good look at photos of his young daughter and son, since he would "never see them again."

Research shows there isn't a clear deterrent effect at all. The death penalty didn't save an innocent mother from DeJesus, who would never in any circumstance be "down the block" but condemned to life behind bars. But the Pennsylvania death row came inches from killing an innocent father. Could the state ever have taken such a death back?

To this abolitionist, it would've been "vicious and unrepentant" murder, in which the entire system, including the voters, would've been tacitly implicated. An eye for an eye leaves us all blind.

Jules Y. Shen
university city

I want simply to distinguish between fact and rhetoric. Fortunately, our country was founded on, and still attempts to preserve, fundamental principles of equal justice for all and equal protection under the law. We have a justice system which often operates in ways that disappoint and frustrate, but the underlying principles are sound.

Laws are in place precisely so that emotions do not replace good judgment and reason in the meting out of punishment. Mr. Hickey resorts to inflammatory and defamatory language to argue justice in a case where most Americans would agree that the victim was tragically and undeservedly slain. He uses pejorative words to describe the killer at least 7 times (soulless scumbag, yellow-eyed cop-killer, monster, etc.) while suggesting a "shoot-first" response would be appropriate. He then scoffs at the Supreme Court's ruling in 2003 that the execution of the mentally retarded (not "mentally impaired," as used by Mr. Hickey) is unconstitutional and questions whether we would want such murderers living on our block, an invented outcome as the alternative to a death penalty sentence is life in prison WITHOUT PAROLE.

While Mr. Hickey appears to dismiss the finding, well documented in Pennsylvania, that blacks are disproportionally sentenced to die, I applaud the attempt to make our justice system live up to its promise of "equal justice for all."

Judy Nathanson
Bala Cynwyd

I am a Philadelphia Jew who has recently returned from volunteering in a village in Israel for six months. I wanted to respond to [Cover, "The New Book of Exodus," Jenna Portnoy, May 11, 2006] because this aliyah trend with Philadelphia Jews admittedly troubles me. I am a 23-year-old Jewish male from Philadelphia. I have been to Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah and even have friends who have recently made the move to Israel. Their reasons are similar to the reasons mentioned by Philadelphia Jews in the story. However, this article is slightly misleading because there are many Jews in Philadelphia, like myself, who would not move to Israel and join the army, and would certainly not be excited about it if I had to. Too many Jews visit Israel, pray at the Western Wall, speak with soldiers, float in the Dead Sea, climb Masada and become enamored with the land. There is nothing wrong with falling in love with a country you feel connected with, but there is certainly something wrong with moving to that country to pick up arms and defend it when any thinking Jew will clearly realize with a little research that the army is used to occupy and bomb ordinary Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and in this conflict, we, the Jews, are the more financially and militarily powerful group.

A man in the article states that the Palestinian struggle isn't justified as much as the Israeli one. This is not only shamefully incorrect, it is disrespectful to their universal right as a collective group of people with historically recognized roots in the land to a national home. There are even many Israeli-born soldiers serving time in Israeli jails right now because they refuse to serve in the occupied territories. So why would a Jew from Philadelphia willingly join a group that Israeli natives are rotting in jail to avoid? And why would a Philadelphia paper praise this without asking the hard questions?

Every kid in the article seems to recognize that Israel has "its flaws," but neither the reporter cared to ask them what these flaws were, nor did the kids themselves attempt to articulate them. Why not ask them their position on the Arabs living within Israel? Why not ask them why it is OK for someone like me, a Jew from Philadelphia, to receive tax benefits, scholarships and other incentives just to move to Israel but it is not OK, in fact illegal, for Palestinian refugees living in Kuwait who possess the original deeds to their homes to even visit their former house.

In Israel, Arab-Israelis are not required by law to join the army. At first, this seems fair, because if they were to join, they would be fighting against their ethnic brethren. However, 60 percent of all employment opportunities in the country are only available to those who have completed army service. Israeli Arabs only have access to 40 percent of the jobs in Israel.

My problem with the article represents my larger problem with Jews who make aliyah. They don't ask the correct questions. It's easy to love Israel and it's easy to feel pride for the historical miracle that is the country, but it's much harder for Jews to confront these issues which, in reality, are the issues that anyone who truly has Israel in their heart should be addressing, for the future of Israel as a just and fair nation for all its residents sincerely depends on it.

Joseph Freeman
West Philadelphia

In [News, "The Outsiders," Doron Taussig, May 11, 2006], you describe Liz Mednick as being "bound to a wheelchair." Pictured sitting in a manual wheelchair, it sure doesn't look like she is tied to it. Outdated phrases like that bring the paper down for anyone who can observe that some people with disabilities use mobility aids like wheelchairs, crutches and canes but they are not bound to them or confined to them. They are just making use of them. Thanks for an otherwise descriptive article about the dedication of followers of long-shot candidates.

Gretchen Bell
Liberty Resources Inc.

You think you got your story straight? Fahgedaboudit! The football game that Sal Mazzotta organized, in which Justin Guarini played, was not to drum up interest in his upcoming movie [Icepack, A.D. Amorosi, May 18, 2006]. It was a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania. Mazzotta is the chairman of the Children's World Organization, a nonprofit that helps care for terminal and underprivileged children, and it was through his organization that they raised more than $13,000 for Children's Hospital. Justin Guarini's fans have also raised about $2,000 in his honor. Instead of dissing Sal and Justin, why not make a donation?

P.S. Justin is not in the seventh ring of hell. His fans love him. He produced and released a fantastic new jazz CD titled "Stranger Things Have Happened," and has a third CD coming out soon, with a single being released next month. He looks great, is doing great. So next time, mostro respetto for Sal and Justin or its cement shoes for you!

P. Kraus
New York City

I would like to thank you for (publicly) putting into words just how bad Tom Bazar's production of True West was [Arts, "False Move," Mark Cofta, May 18, 2006]. At the end of the performance, I felt as if I had been hosed down with testosterone and male midlife crisis by some bloke that fancied himself a multidimensional talent. Sadly, if you knew him more personally, you would note that when Bazar is onstage, his interpretation of "acting" is what the rest of civilized society knows as a "coming out" party. Here's hoping you have saved someone else a wasted evening and a couple gallons of gas.

"Theater Junkie"
Chichester

I did not see Hunger Theatre's production of Sam Shepard's True West, but I did read the review. I am a playwright and actor living in Los Angeles, but am a native of Philadelphia and have worked with Hunger Theatre. I am not writing to tell you that your review was wrong, but that it was harsh and personal. This may be a failed production, but it is a failed review as well.

You say, "Before its four-year hiatus ended with last fall's Endgame, Hunger previously suffered from the same lack of vision—save for an exciting revival of Shepard's Pulitzer-winning drama Buried Child, which Bazar did not direct or act in—but apparently lessons were not learned." I acted in Hunger productions of American Buffalo, for which we won an award at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival, Bent and Waiting For Godot. You also failed to mention a very successful run of States of Shock, also a Shepard play, which in my opinion was the company's best. Hunger had some other duds, one being a failed production of Macbeth and a so-so production of Pinter's Old Times.

I recently produced my second play here in Los Angeles and received a great review and a recommendation from the LA Weekly, which gave us a sold out run … ah, the power of the media. Philadelphia critics are like Eagles fans; when the team is down you turn your backs. I know that LA critics are said to be "too easy" on actors and playwrights at times, but they are tough on us, yet encouraging. They want us to go on—we give them a job!

I look at the Philadelphia theater listings from time to time and yes, there are some really successful companies who do interesting, original work like Pig Iron and the Wilma, but not enough. Philadelphia is a great city and I hope its theater scene continues to thrive. A review like the one you gave True West can put a company under … ah, the power of the media.

OK, now for my confession. My sister is married to Tom Bazar and he is the father of my beautiful niece Isabel, but it's not about defending my family. My letter is about defending a form of art and expression that is dying. The Da Vinci Code was panned by critics and will probably make $100 million internationally this weekend, but theater doesn't have that luxury. Yes, Buried Child was a great production, but Hunger Theatre has done some other great work with Tom Bazar as actor and/or director. Why did you fail to mention States of Shock or any of the other successful runs? Tom Bazar came back to Philly because he believes it is still a city on the verge of greatness, a city where the arts thrive, and he wants to be a part of this exciting time.

Your critique was legitimate, but your comments will just shut down another small company. We may be obsessed with tummy tucks, face lifts, sunshine and shopping here in LA, but we support our theater, which is hard in a town obsessed with the movies. I understand why you hated the production, but what is it that you have against Tom Bazar? This letter may seem too personal to you, but your review just seemed a little too personal to me.

Michael Rex
Santa Monica, CA

I can't answer your question of why people shoot each other [Editor's Letter, "Hollowpoint," Duane Swierczynski, May 18, 2006], but the other day I got a glimpse into why young black men in Philadelphia are shooting each other.

My 16-year-old black male client and I were leaving family court after his truancy hearing when he and another young, black male got into an eye-contact standoff consisting of prolonged stares and verbal insults about each other's perceived sexuality. The viciousness was visceral. I figured they knew each other from the neighborhood and must've had some sort of ongoing beef. Not the case.

I asked my client what it was all about, did he know the boy? He said no; his dad said this kind of thing happens all the time on the streets. I asked my client could he have not made eye contact in the first place in order to avoid the trouble? No, he'd be a "punk" for doing so. Dad said if the other kid had a gun and they were on the streets he may have shot my client just for the heck of it. I was confounded, sickened by the stupidity of it.

What can I, a white female social worker, tell my black male clients? Stay in school and do your homework? How about, good luck and watch your back, it's only a matter of a prolonged stare at the wrong person on the wrong street. I don't know why people shoot each other. I don't know what to tell the kids I work with. I go home to Mt. Airy at night, I'm white, I avoid eye contact with strangers, I'll take being a punk over being dead—not that it matters, punks get killed too. Racism, poverty, lack of self-esteem and positive role models … our kids are dying every day in this city and no one cares! All I can do as an individual is try to show my clients that I do care whether they live or die. I'm just one person, I hope I can make a difference, but I'm watching my back too. After all, bullets don't discriminate.

Jodi Houlon
Mt. Airy

It's important to realize that your son will ask why do people shoot each other and not why do people kill each other. When's the last time you heard of a drive-by stabbing? Or reported on a "mob style" strangulation? Can you remember being outraged over a young student killed in the schoolyard by a stray fist? No, only guns offer us the chance to kill so easily without any risk to ourselves: great for war, not so great for our neighborhoods. Until people recognize guns as the most cowardly form of assault (in a street fight you might get a black eye even if you win), they will be used outside any reasonable parameters of the Constitution's intent, by people too afraid to "mix it up" up close. Real men and women settle their scores with their mouths or their fists, even their turned cheeks, and sometimes with their pens. Tell your son that.

Bill Mchugh
Wyncote

Wow! A.D. really nailed it [Food, "Don't Forget Paris, May 18, 2006]. It's wonderful when something you've created is sincerely felt by someone else. I'm proud to do business in a city that has a publication such as yours, that appreciates the art of every day living.

Al Paris
Center City

On Sunday, a man who identified himself as "Jack Dracula" from the Graduate Hospital area (well, at least we hope he didn't mean he lived at the hospital itself), spent a good portion of his afternoon writing City Paper to tell us just how ridiculously liberal we are. Here, verbatim, are his e-mails, with timestamps so you can see just how proficient a reader he was. (He later identified himself as Dan Stechow.)

2:33:15 p.m.

Re: Loose Canon, "Sheriff Green's Disingenuous Genuflection," Bruce Schimmel, May 18, 2006

Wow! You're RIGHT! Those innocent people should NOT be evicted! They should get to send their kids to public schools, expect their trash to be picked up, expect the police to be strong and serve them… they should expect all of the same things that people who DO pay their taxes get. I mean, come on: Let's be realistic. We can all just increase our tax payments to cover those poor souls. As a matter of fact, I'm going to send in triple my real estate tax just to help two other families. You're a very smart person, thanks for being so smart and letting us all know about this terrible thing going on right under our noses!

2:39:08 p.m.

Re: Slant, "That'll Do, Donkey," Steve Conn, May 18, 2006

Yes! They ARE right! Don't forget, the Democrats also said there was going to be a draft, and look what happened! Those damn right-wingers stopped that draft! Oh, and don't forget about the Democrats saying it was a "war for oil." Yep. That's why our gas prices are so high! Oh! And don't forget about JOhn KErry's "vision.' Yep! He didn't have one!

The list is endless, but not as endless as your stupidity.

2:45:06 p.m.

Re: City Paper in general

I just wanted to thank you for making your paper the size that it is because it fits perfectly into the bottom of my bird cage. I haven't found it much good for anything else, but if I do I'll let you know.

2:55:00 p.m.

Re: Editor's Letter, "Hollowpoint," Duane Swierczynski, May 18, 2006

Yes, I do have an answer, and it's one word. Ya ready? You're not going to like it... but here it is: Democrats.

Yep. Let's look at that shooting specifically: Renee Hughes, judge of the Phila. Court of Common Pleas, let out Solomon Montgomery. Democrat.

How can we get judges to be accountable for their actions in the local courts? I've heard stories from the police that will make you crazy. Basically, it goes like this: we arrest, and arrest, and arrest, and arrest the SAME person on vicious, anti-community, anti safety charges, but they throw out all the gun charges, drop the drug charges down to misdemeanors, and don't hold them, so they don't ever show up for court and a bench warrant is issued, so that one in four people in Philly have a bench warrant.

So liberals folk, tell me how this is workin' for ya. Whose rights are served? Where is the evidence this this is efficacious? One of the biggest boosters of this pro-criminal process is the mayor… a Democrat mayor.

So, keep voting Democrat, and keep the shootings going!

3:14:14 p.m.

Re: Cover, "Young Guns," J.F. Pirro, May 18, 2006

Damn them! Those kids should be out hanging on street corners selling drugs, NOT going into the Army. Something needs to be done RIGHT AWAY! Those kids should be getting shot by gang members and in robberies, NOT shooting at the terrorists! This must be STOPPED! How dare they get health care, retirement packages and a good education from the Army, when they should be on welfare and having babies with unwed moms!

3:54:32 p.m.

Re: Philly Blunt, "Lethal Rejection," Brian Hickey, May 18, 2006

Hi: Just so you know, your article made it into the Philadelphia City Paper, which is a big LIEbral Demorat pinko publication, bent on destroying the USA. I think you're going to get a lot of hate mail from people like Philly Mayor Street and other Demorats who think that no one should be arrested regardless of the crime.

[Agenda, "Potter Mania," Molly Eichel, May 18, 2006] incorrectly identified the Potterdelphians' Yule Ball as an adults-only event. It is an all-ages event. City Paper regrets the error.