Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

US 'greatest war criminal'

I agree 100% with you article on the "war against terrorism" [The Coming Police State, October 2001] and would like to add that the United States of America has not yet apologised, not only to Japan, but to the world for having been the first nation to use nuclear weapons. The Japanese were already losing the war and there was no necessity to have dropped The Gadget and Fat Boy (lovely names) on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs were dropped in revenge for Pearl Harbour. Americans danced in the streets of their cities when the news reached them.

T

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he United States will remain the greatest terrorist in our world's history and the greatest threat to world peace while it refuses to apologise for the greatest war crime in the history of the world and continues to use its killing machine without a thought for the many thousands innocents that will die.

Stephen Ch'in
Montreal, Quebec

Mark Twain would appreciate comic potential

You are in desperate need of a real Spanish translator for the articles on display (at www.guidemag.com). What I've just read is not Spanish, not even Spanglish, it is completely impossible to read!

cnph@conaculta.gob.mx

We ran your letter thru an on-line translator, first from English to Spanish, then those results from Spanish back to English: "You this in desperate necessity of a true translator espanol of the articles on the visualization. That I have read is not Spanglish, does not uniform, is totally impossible to read!" This mangled double-translation underscores your point, but at least provides a sense of your intent. On-the-fly machine translations remain less-than-perfect, but, we hope, better than nothing. If you know of a better on-line translation option, please let us know.

Looking for female shit players

Appreciated your article on scat eating with males [Coprophilia: A Lot to Digest]. Any info on eating from females? Is it different from eating from males? What is the difference? Is from eating female assholes more sexually exciting? Less exciting? Any articles on such items?

via the internet
Our informants were all men playing with men, but a search of internet sites reveals many sites dedicated to female/male scat and piss play. Perhaps some of the philosophical insights provided by our article will translate to the hetero imagery you can find elsewhere....

First timer

Thanks, guys, for such a great magazine. I've really enjoyed reading it, and planned many trips by it. The ads are also a treat to read. This is a first for me, answering an overseas ad. Wish me luck on this one, okay?

R. B.
Dallas, Texas

Searching in Africa

I thank you very much for your kindly cooperation and it has make me happy to know more about your company, but please I beg your pardon try to fulfill my request to get my own partner.

Sir, I have been search all over the world for friends and possibly for fun-loving, but found no one, so this is an opportunity for me to meet someone special through your help by forwarding these letters to the owners. I hope you will not disappoint me through your kindly and maximum cooperation. Thank you.

E.A.
Sunyani, Brong Ahafo
Ghana

Appreciates humor and smut

As an anarcho-queer and an old Fag Rag reader, I always find it a great pleasure to pick up The Guide and find that special mix of intelligent leftist opinion, humor, and smut that is so lacking in the rest of the national gay press. Thanks!

Alex Jeavons (Al Eingang)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Grouchy in Florida

You keep asking me to renew my ad with you. I've spent a lot of money advertising in your magazine with little results and I truly resent you splitting the copy of my ad into two columns when I notice lots of smaller ads that could have been put in that space instead. Frankly your layout person is doing a shitty job laying out these ads. I notice a lot of prisoners who advertise for free and don't get their ads split and it just pisses me off. I just thought you might like to know why I'm not happy with The Guide and won't be renewing my ad because your ad copy man doesn't do my ad placement justice and I resent it being split into two columns and who the hell cares, right? Thanks for nothing.

R.B.
Fort Pierce, Florida

Sorry you've not gotten a good response (it's hard to see why; you sound so delightful...). Readers know to go from the bottom of one column to the top of the next, so your address hasn't been overlooked. And, prisoners pay for their ads like everyone else.

Prisoners: Love 'em...

Got your very informative magazine in a shop in Hamburg, Germany. I see that there is a personals section (Male Box). Many prisoners have ads there.

My penfriend and love is also a prisoner in Ely State Prison. It's an highly regulated prison in Nevada. We are writing hot love letters since August 2000. In April 2002 he will be released into freedom. I'll be visiting him at X-mas, but I've never seen a picture of him before. So is there a possibility for you to contact an agency that will go into a prison to make a photo of a prisoner and send it via e-mail to me?

M.I.

Hamburg, Germany

We are not able to help you with your request. In many prisons, though, prisoners themselves can get photos taken of them by a photographer who works in the prison, usually in the visiting room. You might ask your pen-friend if he can get you a photo this way. Some US states also show pictures of all their prisoners on the Web. We couldn't find such a resource for Nevada, but you might want to e-mail Nevada prisons director Jackie Crawford at ndopinfo@govmail.state.nv.us. Good luck!

Thanks to you guys, I found one very special guy in the pen pal section of your publication. However, I'd like to help another inmate if I can till Tony comes home to me, but to get the ads I'll have buy the mag since they're not on-line.

I have the Web sites for inmate info so I can check to see if there is a real need or if it's a scam. I spoke to a stranger recently who had been conned by the same dude who claimed to be a cute 21-year-old when in fact he was 41 and doing 30 years. I think that inmates should be made aware of the fact that while they're locked up that the prison info is available to the public.

fgr2748@webtv.net

Glad you've found a loyal penpal. Those writing prisoners in Florida might want to check out http://www.dc.state.fl.us/activeinmates/inmatesearch.asp to see info (including a photo) about their prospective penpals. States provide varying degrees of info about their prison systems and inmates on-line.

... or leave 'em?

I've received several letters from prisoners that ask for money, others that have bought my letter from another that had so many replies, and even stranger ones from lifers that need my help because their family and "friends" will not help them. Maybe your responsibility should be to your readers and not to the cons that prey on your readers. Maybe limit them to one ad every six months; this way, those that are sincere will take more care.

a Canadian reader
be-brief@sympatico.ca

We can't tell what anyone who has an ad (prisoner or not) will do once he enters in correspondence with those who've answered his ad; it's up to each individual to decide whether sending food, money, photos, etc., is worth the risk that the recipient isn't who he claims to be. We are not interested in discriminating against prisoners as a class; not all prisoners are cons, and not all cons are prisoners. We do not allow solicitations in ads themselves; what people do on their own isn't for us to dictate nor arbitrate.

"I was only writing a paper..."

The "Protection of Children Act" talks of "taking or making images or pseudo images of children under the age of 16 years" and prohibits this and of distributing such images. It is not necessary to have a "child" under the age of 16 involved to run afoul of this law.

Once brought into a court of law there is absolutely no defense for such a crime; the only option is to plead guilty.

I was the victim of such a situation recently. I was a lecturer in human sexuality at a national College of Medicine. I had an interest in the uses and abuses of pornography. I decided to make an Internet search on child pornography with the intention of publishing an article on what I found.

I volunteered this information to the local police. They raided my home, taking my computer, and a lap-top that did not belong to me, may cameras, photographs, diaries, address books, etc.

Because of the law I could not plead "not guilty" nor even "guilty with mitigating circumstances" as research into the area of child pornography is not allowed. I was of course found guilty.

I had not had contact with any child or other adult. I merely viewed and discarded the images, and because I was civil minded enough to ask the police for some information, my life has been ruined. I lost my job and my pension, and am living on minimum benefits and will likely lose my house.

Child pornography is insidious, it is harmful to the child, and it has no moral defense, but blocking any kind of research or inquiry into this problem is no solution to the problem.

via the Internet

What happened to you is undoubtedly tragically unjust, but why in the world did you volunteer your "research" to the cops? Your evident conviction that child pornography is inherently insidious and that cops can be trusted to be fair with such issues marks you as naive beyond belief.