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Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

ACCUSED OF TREASON, BUT KEEP IT UP

May 8, 2004 by cmackie

We get e-mails. Here is one:



Dear Jan: I’ve felt like more than a fan with you and your writings in the past.
And I have been critical and judgmental of the tone and absolute leftness of your views. Now, in
the past week, you’ve resorted to profanity and vilifying our President.


Someone sent me a memo stating that it would be unthinkable for the press to have subjected
President Roosevelt to the abject criticism of Pearl Harbor. The career bureaucrats, I believe,
make it impossible for any administration to make real progress to adequately service the citizens
of our country, but the sitting president, according to today’s press, must take the hit. I’m sorry.
Truisms are lame excuses at best.


During WWI, you would have been prosecuted for your vilification of Mr. Bush. Probably
imprisoned. I think that’s where you and all the others belong. You have demonstrated that free
speech has no limits, but you have committed TREASON in helping this country’s enemies. A
public apology for your actions would be your next step, sir.


— Dr. Richard P. McGuir



Dear Dr. McGuir: Treason? You’ve got to be kidding.


Here is another e-mail:



Jan: I’ve been reading your blogs all week and I hope you keep going with
them. People need to take a hard look at what’s happening here and I applaud your efforts to keep
us informed.


A disturbing thought occurs to me and that is that much of the world, including many in the
Arab world, thinks that Americans are basically decent people — it’s just our government that’s
horrible.


What is the world going to think if the majority of all of these basically decent American
people rally behind this Administration and re-elect George W. Bush in November? What’s our
excuse then?


The President talks about the recent scandal regarding the torture of prisoners as “a stain on
our country’s honor.” When is someone going to stand up and say that our honor was
permanently stained the day we invaded Iraq? It was stained forever the moment the first bomb
fell.


— Joan Daniels



Dear Joan Daniels: Great point about why our Maximum Leader, aka “the little
fucker,” has to go.

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Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
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