LOVE THE SAVAGE PODCAST

DEAR DAN: I've been reading your paper online for a while now (initially spurred when I saw it in your column via the Village Voice) and wish we had more weeklies like yours (i.e., that cover actual news).

Your election coverage was great (I loved the article on Jon Tester ["Left in the West," Eli Sanders, Nov 2]), and I appreciated the story "Pumpkin Smashing" [Kevin O'Brien, Oct 26].

I also recently downloaded your Savage Love podcast. I was apprehensive about how I would feel about it, but enjoyed it very much. I will continue to listen as long as you make podcasts. I have always appreciated your frankness and healthy approach to sexuality.

Dianna St. Onge

C'MON LIBS, GET MEAN

EDITOR: In this week's Savage Love ["Make a Joyful Noise," Nov 16], two writers pose the question of whether we should feel just a little bit bad for Ted Haggard and Rick Santorum—or at least their families. Savage, in his reply, rightfully but respectfully declines the invitation to attend a right-wing pity party.

People, are you kidding? This is a political war, folks—a war over civil rights and self-determination over our bodies and whether religion or science is going to triumph in the public arena, and on and on. Mark Foley and Santorum and Haggard are all just casualties of a war they started. To hell with them.

Please stop being nice, kind, caring liberals. And please don't spend any more time worrying (or worse, writing) about right-wingers' ruined lives or their families' ruined lives. Think of them as a (politically) disposable group of pernicious, feckless bigots. Stab them in the (political) heart, enjoy the moment, and then go register some new fucking voters for '08.

Amy Lu

LAME LEG OF THE 8

DEAR ERICA C. BARNETT: This might seem like an insignificant oversight, but in the Burbs section of In Other News [Nov 16], you mentioned that the number 8 bus serves Queen Anne through Capitol Hill, which is true on weeknights and weekends, but what you folks living on your ivory hill might not realize is that on weekdays in the daytime, the 8 continues through said hill, serving Martin Luther King Jr. Way from East Madison Street to South Walden Street. As someone who rides this portion of the 8 when it is available, I can only hope that Metro's improvements to this route will start by extending regular service to the lesser-known southern portion.

Sam Smith

ERICA C. BARNETT RESPONDS: I am aware that the 8 goes to MLK. However, the portion of the line that will be enhanced under Transit Now is the segment running from Queen Anne to Capitol Hill, as I reported.

ASININE ADVENTURES

STRANGER: Slow news week? Considering everything going on in the (pick one) universe, world, nation, state, city, this piece of, in my opinion, softcore fluff ["Urban Adventures," Leslie Ogden, Nov 16] is better suited to Playboy Letters or Penthouse Forum. You know, slick, glossy paper, car ads, make-believe? Sad indeed!

Charles

SONICS ARE A SCAM

EDITOR: Sherman Alexie is a fucking blowhard crybaby ["Net Profit," Nov 9]. That's from someone who has loved the SuperSonics more than he does. I spent my middle-school years pushing wheelchairs in exchange for two tickets to see the X-Man, Dale Ellis, Shawn Kemp, and Gary Payton. My father took me to a double-overtime playoff game against the Houston Rockets that the Sonics somehow won, and I loved him for it. It's sad all around, but I'm proud of Seattle for standing up to the scam, for saying, Fuck you, billionaire owner—your industry lies and cheats and steals, and even if you control a section of the daily papers and the hearts and minds of at least American men, we won't wipe your ass just because you say it's good for us.

Sam Dodge

B-O-R-I-N-G

DEAR EDITOR: Sherman Alexie's obsession with basketball rivals his own self-obsession. Both are basically boring. As a writer, he needs to expand his horizons. Maybe he should get out of Seattle, see a bit of the larger world, sample some real coffee, and discover that basketball and, alas, Sherman Alexie are no big deal.

Robert Miskimon

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: In Film Shorts in the November 16 issue, the author of the nonfiction work on which the movie Let's Go to Prison is based was incorrectly identified as an ex-convict. In fact, Jim Hogshire is a writer whose other books include Opium for the Masses: A Practical Guide to Growing Poppies and Making Opium and Pills-A-Go-Go: A Fiendish Investigation into Pill Marketing, Art, History & Consumption.

Also, in November 16's Craftwork pullout, it was implied that the logo on the Stitch & Swash bag was that of the National Rifle Association, when in fact it was that of the National Recovery Administration, part of the New Deal. We regret the error and hope that Franklin Delano Roosevelt will now cease spinning in his grave.