A Miserable Sight
East Hampton
October 26, 1998

To The Editor,

The ongoing spectacle of a sleazy lying scoundrel occupying the White House is a sad and miserable sight for all Americans.

Sadder still are the brainless letters to The Star twisting and squirming to defend and rationalize the acts of "the big creep," as Monica Lewinsky so aptly labeled Clinton.

Here is a man entrusted with the highest office in the land and blessed with gifts that could have made him great. Instead, he chose to lie to his wife, his daughter, his friends, his Cabinet, his lawyers, his country, and his God.

He chose perjury for himself, may have suborned perjury in others, intimidated women who threatened to go public with his indiscretions, unleashed the Internal Revenue Service on political opponents, and probably committed treason by selling our most secret technology to Chinese Communists in return for campaign dollars.

Is the Democratic Party so dependent on Clinton's fund-raising efforts that it will continue to support a man who has tried to rewrite the Constitution and spat upon the Bible and the Ten Commandments?

James Madison, addressing the Virginia ratifying convention in 1787, said, "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will assure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea."

If you believe that virtuous behavior still counts in America, and that disgraceful, arrogant behavior should have consequences, send that message to Clinton when you vote on Nov. 3. Vote for every Republican you can find on the ballot. It's the only thing he cares about and the only way you can let him know that Americans still care about virtue.

Sincerely,

JERRY PREISER

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Stand Up, Speak Out
East Hampton
October 23, 1998

Dear Mrs. Rattray,

In 1968, in the then Republic of South Vietnam, I tried my first serious criminal case. A Marine had been accused of going AWOL from our battalion and assaulting an officer. I thought how unfair it was to have me, an officer but not a lawyer for many years to come, defending this Marine on such serious charges. I didn't realize then that I would leave the Marine Corps, go to law school, and specialize in criminal law.

Thirty years after that court martial in Vietnam, I'm still practicing criminal law. During this time I've practiced before many Federal and state grand juries. Grand jury proceedings are secret and revealing them, except for a witness disclosing his own testimony, is a crime. Thus it comes as highly unusual to witness the release of the President's grand jury testimony. It's not right and not fair.

People have lied under oath in civil and criminal cases and will continue to do so. Although some have been prosecuted, I've never had such a case and never heard of a person being prosecuted for lying under oath about sex. The President is being selectively persecuted by a prosecutor with unchecked power, unlimited funds, and unlimited manpower. It's not right and not fair.

I'm attempting to read the Starr report. It's nothing like any legal document I've ever seen or read. I believe any decent lawyer wouldn't write or proffer such a document.

According to the report, Linda Tripp is the person who suggested to Monica Lewinsky that Vernon Jordan become involved in the job hunt. This is important because Kenneth Starr claims that Vernon Jordan's involvement was similar to earlier allegations related to the Whitewater investigation and Webster L. Hubbell. Kenneth Starr used what he deemed similarities to expand his investigation into the sexual encounters of the President and Monica Lewinsky. Kenneth Starr used a false premise in his application to expand his investigation. His willingness to use false information demonstrates the length to which he will go to get the President.

On occasions a case or cases will be pursued for political reasons. When this occurs the focus turns from seeking justice to getting the target. The investigation of the President is politically driven. The end is to get the President by whatever means. Would anyone but this President be so relentlessly pursued?

Kenneth Starr has never been in the trenches either literally or figuratively. He got out of the draft by being classified 4F for having psoriasis. Many Marines in Vietnam suffered terribly from jungle rot but didn't use that as an excuse to get out of the field. Further, he has never prosecuted or defended a case at trial.

The investigation of the President has become an out-of-control prosecution fueled by political motives. Big Brother is after the President and it's time to stand up and speak out.

Semper Fi,

JOSEPH GIANNINI

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Milo Makes A Call
Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
October 22, 1998

Dear Mrs. Rattray,

I answered the phone on the first ring. "Yee-hah! Hoo-wee! Yippie-yi-oh! Hoo-hah-hah!" is what I heard. I knew right away that it was Milo. Milo A. Wildhead, that arch-conservative fisherman, restaurateur, and Montauk bon vivant whose opinions, although not my own, never ceased to delight me. How could one hope to further the causes of liberalism, tolerance, and individual freedoms without the opposition of people like Milo?

"Milo, please, hold it down. What are you so excited about?" I asked.

"Yee-hah-hah! I just read Addeo's letter in The Star and, man, did he give it to you, but good," Milo cried.

"Yes," I replied. "He's a remarkably aggressive guy. But I thought I told him that I would consider having the boxing match if he would agree to my 'civil-rights-test scoring system.' You know, where the winner of each round can forfeit the points earned in that round if he fails to correctly answer a question on the history of the civil rights movement. Do you suppose Addeo suffers from poor reading comprehension?" I wondered.

"What's that?" Milo asked.

"Never mind," I replied. "If the boxing match is the best thing to do, then I guess I had better start training now."

Milo started laughing so hard that he began wheezing and coughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"Well, of course it's not the best thing, you idiot!" Milo shrilled, his Yosemite Sam voice rising up in exasperation. "If you fight this guy," he continued, "only two things can happen and they're both bad. Either you lose, and you look like a dumbass. Or you win and you still look like a dumbass. Can't you see that, you dumbass? He wants to invite you down to his dunebilly level," Milo said.

"What's a dunebilly?" I said.

"It's like a hillbilly, but he lives near the beach," Milo replied.

"Besides," he continued, " you got everything to lose and he's got nothing to lose. Now, bein' an extremist, conservative hatemonger myself, I'd be tickled to see you two get it on. Why, that would be an event! The hope-to-die liberal puttin' on the pillows with Wild Bill, the Last American. It'd be blood. It'd be guts. It'd be violence! And us extremist, conservative hatemongers love violence. But I, sir, am not a liar. I am not a two-face. Milo A. Wildhead is not a phony. You ask me what I would do in your place and I wouldn't do the boxing match, because you got nothing to gain. Even if you win, us extremists will still hate your politics and think you're a liberal pansy-ass. No offense."

"No offense taken," I said. "What might be some other contest that Wild Bill and I could engage in, all to benefit charity? Perhaps another type of athletic event? A pentathlon? A foot race? We could make it something unusual and have judges who would declare the winner. A chili cooking contest? Floral arranging? A bake-off? What's something you think Wild Bill might naturally want to compete in?" I asked.

"Bartending, I reckon," Milo volunteered.

"Oh, well," I said. "Back to the drawing board. Perhaps Wild Bill and I can come up with some suitable contest before we're too old to remember why we held each other in the least amount of high regard."

"I've got it!" I said. "How about a poetry contest? We'll have Bill's ode to East Hampton. What do you think?"

"Bill never owed East Hampton a dime, far as I know. He pays his taxes," Milo replied.

"No, no. An ode. An epic poem. We try to capture the essence of why we love this area," I said.

"Can there be hatred and racism and violence in it?" Milo asked.

"I don't see why not," I said.

Milo paused a moment. "Then he just might go for it," Milo said, then Milo took off on another coughing fit. "I gotta go," he managed. And he hung up.

ALEC BALDWIN

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Why The Silence?
East Hampton
October 20, 1998

To The Editor,

Matthew Shepard, an openly gay young man, was killed in some respect and in various degrees by us all. Some of us by senseless and barbaric madness, some of us by bigotry expressed openly, some of us by more subtle acts that dehumanize and humiliate, some of us by telling jokes, others of us listening to those jokes that take for granted that we feel the same. Some of us are passionately devoted to, and work for, the politically correct issues, while we are emotionally and physically detached from the moral, legal, and legislative injustices that allow, and in fact encourage, the gay bashing and murders that have become endemic in our society.

This lynching of Mr. Shepard is part of the ongoing brutality directed against gays and lesbians. A sailor was stomped to death in a men's room by two crewmates. Others slashed and dumped into the waters off Staten Island, others dropped through a manhole to drown in a Boston sewer, others chased and stabbed to death in San Francisco and there are those who were strangled and burned in Florida. The list continues as gay men and lesbians are six times more likely to be physically attacked than Jews or Hispanics in America and twice as likely as African Americans.

The dramatically higher suicide rate for gay and lesbian youth of elementary and high school age is staggering. Unlike most children who suffer some form of prejudice or ridicule in their lives, gay and lesbian children very often have no place to turn. More often than not, they cannot go home to parents who will comfort them or understand their humiliation. Their sense of isolation and alienation is total.

The need for passage of "hate crime" bills is obvious. In 30 years of struggle to repeal state sodomy laws and win equal protection under the law, we have been told by the fundamentalist religious leaders and prominent conservative politicians that gays and lesbians are a danger and threat to our cherished "family values" and that "these people do not need and do not deserve any special consideration or protection."

What have we become as human beings and as a nation? Have we forgotten that among the first groups singled out for extermination by the Nazis in the very early 1930s was the gay community of Germany? There was no real public outcry then, nor is there one here now.

Why are the leaders of our community and nation so conspicuously silent on this issue? Where is the moral indignation of our religious leaders? To be silent now is to be a party to the past, present, and future genocide of our gay and lesbian children.

The next time you hear an anti-gay, so-called joke, focus on Matthew Shepard, age 21, tied to a fence, beaten, and left in a coma in the chill of the night. Then if you want to make a difference, tell your jokester friend that you do not think it funny, and that he or she should not assume that you do.

I will thank you, as will my gay son, Eric . . . or perhaps your son, or your neighbor's daughter, or some other special person in your life.

LARRY SMITH
Chairperson
East Hampton Town Anti-Bias
Task Force