I’d like to thank and commend Adam Reilly for writing about the journalists arrested covering the Republican convention in St. Paul. I am only now hearing about this. How outrageous! Mr. Reilly did a nice job exploring the whole episode and showing how ridiculous it is for the news media to downplay this.
A First Amendment Partisan from the Mainstream Media,
Robert McClure
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Most of what Adam Reilly says regarding the Republican National Convention is spot-on. But why should we journalists have more rights than the people who were demonstrating?
As in New York four years ago, so it appears in St. Paul: scores of people were arrested, and some roughed up in the process, for exercising their constitutional rights. In New York, the police were found to have lied in arrest reports and affidavits. And the authorities have admitted that they infiltrated anti-war organizations — as if being against the war and wanting to say so publicly is somehow dangerous and unlawful.
So, yes, we should be outraged that reporters have been such timid watchdogs. But we should also be outraged at the larger issue: that speaking out has been turned into a criminal offense.
Robert Neuwirth
Brooklyn, New York
Jumping the bailout
My response to your recent text question “Will the Wall Street Bailout Benefit You?” is “absolutely no.”
This bailout will hurt me, my family, and most of my friends. Help the housing market? We don’t own homes. Help the credit industry? We don’t borrow money. Help the economy? My personal economy is better than ever.
People need to stop panicking, and start paying off their debts.
Michael J. Meiners
Gardner
Underwhelming feedback
This might seem like a petty complaint considering the financial collapse of the country’s economic system, the ridiculous back-and-forth communications about nothingness, and a presidential ticket that features an old Republican who is confused and a young Republican who believes man lived with dinosaurs 6000 years ago.
Yet I have to take Ryan Stewart to task for his review of the Meat Puppets/Dinosaur Jr./Built to Spill show. Mr. Stewart has every right to his opinion, but obviously needs his entertainment quick and as settled as the MTV generation is accustomed to.
This is the reunion of the original Dinosaur Jr., which I doubt from his review Mr. Stewart even saw in its prime. That Lou Barlow blabbed like a fool is a given. Yes, “The Wagon,” “Out There,” and “Feel the Pain” are great songs, but what was great about the three first Dinosaur albums was the orchestration, the start and stop, the big blob of noise and feedback, and most especially the guitar solos J Mascis brought back to rock. Underrated? Sounds like a pop baby or crybaby needing instant entertainment.
Denis Mahoney
Boston
Correction
In the October 10 article “Suburban Mozart That Swings” (Arts), we misidentified the tenor-trombone soloist in the beginning of “Tuba Mirum.” That solo was performed by Wes Hopper, a freelance artist in the Greater Boston area. We regret the error.
Text of the Week
In a recent editorial, we referred to Pat Buchanan as a champion of stone-age political views. One of our readers disagreed. Here’s what he had to say:
No less a figure than Norman Mailer lauded Pat Buchanan’s “American Conservative” magazine for its robustly contrarian views. Was Pat Buchanan’s absolute and vocal opposition to the invasion of Iraq an example of his “stone-age” politics?
