A request to readers to keep your letters a tad shorter - and sweeter

Some of them are regulars.

True to his name, Tony Moschetti of High Point slices and dices anything liberal in sharp, snappy paragraphs.

Dr. John Bumgarner, 92, of Greensboro survived more than three years in a Japanese POW camp during World War II and faithfully has submitted one letter per month since I was a college freshman in 1973.

Recent Ragsdale High School graduate Ashish George is barely old enough to shave but contributes some of the most thoughtful words on these pages.

Still others are one-time visitors who are content to make their points and move on.

Either way, it's comforting to know that in this too-fast, too-busy day and age, some people still are moved or mad or delighted enough to take time to write us.

From school discipline to school choice, dueling deals for Dell to Greensboro 's slippery pact with a pro hockey team, you've kept those cards and letters coming.

Thus far this year, the News & Record has received 5,829 letters, of which
2,824 have been published. Even during a tensely fought presidential election year, that's a lot.

In 2003, the newspaper received 4,350 letters and published 2,270 of them.

During the last presidential election year in 2000, we received 4,624 letters, of which 2,501 appeared on these pages.

Even in this age of blogs and instant messages, many of you still make the effort to connect with us through the old-fashioned way. Some even type them, fold them, slip them into envelopes, stick stamps in the corner and put them in the mailbox.

Other letters come in more creative forms: on index cards, paper bags and even passionately scribbled on the offending articles that inspired them.

Yet most come as e-mails, a format that makes the transition to the printed page easier and faster.

We had wondered if you'd keep writing. There's much more competition for your attention, including the exciting new world of blogs (which also are coming soon to the editorial pages), Internet message boards and the News & Record's own Reader Advisory Network.

But the growing numbers do present a problem: We try to publish as many letters as we can. But there's only so much space in the paper. Even when we make room on the Second Opinion pages for spillover letters, some readers are not pleased; one of their favorite op-ed columnists might be pre-empted.

So we're making some changes that we hope will help ease the crunch.

For all letters submitted on or after Jan. 1, the maximum length will decrease from 250 to 200 words. This will allow more letters to be printed each day without infringing on the Second Opinion page. It also will allow for livelier, brisker letters columns that contain more voices and more variety day to day.

Some may blanch at the notion that we shortened the length of the readers'
voices in the paper while not touching the length of the newspaper's voice - the editorials in the left-hand column. But actually, we've already done that. We cut the length of our editorials in April 2001, when the newspaper converted to a slightly smaller format.

Another change we are contemplating is featuring overflow letters in the online version of the newspaper. This would allow for timelier publication during periods of heavy volume, especially election season. We'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, some frequently asked questions about letters:

Does the preface, "I dare you to print this," increase a letter's likelihood of publication?

In a word, no. As long as a letter meets our general guidelines for taste and length, it is likely to be published. We love variety.

Why do you publish plagiarized form letters? We don't do it knowingly. When we come across a suspicious letter we Google it for repeated words and phrases.
The Web site of the National Conference of Editorial Writers also shares alerts on astroturf, as these bogus letters are called. But it's impossible to catch them all. We'd appreciate your help.

Are there any drawbacks to e-mail letters?

More of them seem rushed. The grammar and spelling tend to be sloppier. Also, more and more letter writers are having changes of heart after submitting fiery missives for publication and then thinking better of it.

So more and more of you also are calling us later and saying, in the immortal words of "Saturday Night Live's" Emily Latella, "Never mind."

Instant reactions aren't always the best. Maybe that letter telling a county commissioner what he can do with his budget could be a little less, um, strident.

It might be worth counting to 10 before tapping the "Send" button.

Contact Allen Johnson at ajohnson@news-record.com

News & Record
December 12, 2004

School violence

Why all the hand-wringing, and gnashing of teeth over the continuing violence in our left wing indoctrination camps, mistakenly identified as public schools? It’s obvious the problems are due to lack of funding and lack of diversity, the two most important aspects of our comical education system today. Hey, these folks are simply prepping for a career in the NBA, another monument to the benefits of diversity. A possible short-term fix would be to appoint Ron Artest to head the conflict resolution experiment until the school board can go to court to sue for another five or ten million to pour down this endless black hole.

How did we end with a society where the schoolhouse is one of the most dangerous places you can leave your children? How can an institution with continually increasing funding be such an abject failure? Why are forced, because of political correctness, and total gutlessness of politicians, and school administrators, to put up with the never- ending violence of on small segment of our society? What in the name of heaven is wrong with these people? Are they genetically disposed to violence, or is it a total lack of any kind of decent rearing? This hip-hop culture is dragging our country into the gutter. They can’t even have a televised awards show without violence. It is about time that the so-called leaders of this community stops looking for racism around every corner, and begins addressing the serious problems in their own community.

Butch Davis recently criticized Steve Arnold for a tongue in cheek slap at the problems at the Andrews Correctional facility. Mr. Davis needs to spend more time trying to solve this violence problem, and less time criticizing the one person with the courage to speak out on this ridiculous issue.

Tony Moschetti
High Point, NC

December 3, 2004

Letter writer wrong in assessment of Iraq

Regarding the letter from Tony Moschetti (Oct. 13): He should try living in the current Iraq if he believes that some cities in the United States are far more dangerous places. I doubt if our troops, construction workers, aid workers or journalists share his opinion.

Shame on Tony Moschetti for blaming the "liberal" press for not putting a happy face on such a tragic situation. Sen. Kerry is right on point in his assessment of the existing quagmire in Iraq; however, it appears that Mr. Moschetti is in dire need of a reality check.

Lorraine A. Gail
Greensboro

News & Record
October 26, 2004

Civilian and military war dead are significant

Readers of the News & Record won't be surprised to see Tony Moschetti sinking to a new low of warped Republican demagoguery (letter, Oct. 13).

Moschetti claims that the significance of the deaths of more than 1,000 Americans is exaggerated by the "liberal media" since last year 1,695 Americans were killed in "three of our more famous 'blue' cities, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles."

Moschetti, of course, overlooks the fact that Bush sent Americans killed in Iraq into harm's way based on false, ever-changing premises and without an exit strategy or any understanding of the chaos he would be creating.

Moschetti is, of course, totally unconcerned with the fact that our "crusade for freedom" in Iraq has resulted in the deaths of many thousand Iraqis, mostly innocent men, women and children - numbers that go unreported in the elite media and especially on Fox News.

At least seven more Americans have been killed in Iraq since Moschetti's letter was published.

Keith Cushman
Greensboro

News & Record
October 21, 2004

Letter on Iraq 'safety' absurd in the extreme

As a subscriber to the News & Record, I have read many letters from Tony Moschetti. Most of his diatribes are partisan and petty and hardly even merit a response. The letter published Oct. 13, however, is so offensive that it would be irresponsible to leave his charges unanswered.

He asserts that "it appears to be safer in Iraq" than in "blue" America. This ridiculous claim is based on a specious comparison of homicide rates in three large American cities and U.S. military casualties in Iraq.

In the interest of brevity let me simply point out that he takes a very selective look at casualties in Iraq. In addition to military personnel killed in the war, almost 10,000 U.S. military personnel have been treated at Landstahl Regional Medical Center in Germany after being evacuated from Iraq due to injuries or mental health problems. Most of those young men and women will survive, but many of them will suffer permanent life-altering disabilities.

He also ignores hundreds of coalition military and civilian contractor casualties, and he fails to mention that bombings and kidnappings are everyday occurrences. Most egregiously, he totally ignores Iraqi civilian casualties, conservatively estimated at 13,000-15,000. (See www.iraqbodycount.net and http://icasualties.org/oif/ )

The human cost of this war has been very high indeed. Mr. Moschetti might do well to ask ordinary Iraqi civilians whether they think they would be safer in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles than in the cities of their war-torn homeland.

Julie V. Brown
Greensboro

News & Record
October 18, 2004

Iraqi streets safer than the streets of America?

Rarely does a day pass without the daily recitation of the number of Americans killed in Iraq in the last year. The liberals and their lapdog shills in the elite media went orgasmic when they could tell us that 1,000 Americans had been killed. A great day for the liberals. One newspaper had a gigantic headline saying only, "1,000."

Let's put that number in some sort of perspective. Last year, in three of our more famous "blue" cities, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, 1,695 Americans were killed. They were not killed by terrorists or insurgents or enemy combatants, but by their fellow Americans, in civilized "blue" America. "Blue"

America must be one of the two Americas of which John Edwards constantly speaks.
Despite the constant barrage of negative media reporting by the liberal media, and the endless demagoguery of the Kerry campaign concerning the dangerous conditions in Iraq, it appears to be safer in Iraq than in "blue" America.

The article detailing the 1,695 deaths was a small, four-paragraph story buried inside the newspaper. We didn't get a running total each day. There was no blaring headline at 1,000 killed. Never saw a report on the evening news. I wonder why the huge difference in reporting the deaths of Americans in Iraq and in "blue" America. I wonder why Sen. John F. Fonda, or his girlie boy running mate, never brought it up during the debates. I guess I'm just naive.

Tony Moschetti
High Point

News & Record
October 13, 2004

Liberal Moore's movie ignorant propaganda

Michael Moore is the perfect poster boy for liberalism and today's Democratic Party. To be a liberal one must be ignorant, dishonest, or both. Moore is both, therefore, the quintessential liberal. His propaganda piece, "Fahrenheit 9/11," incorrectly labeled a documentary, proves him to be both dishonest and ignorant.

A documentary is defined as "portraying an interpreting an actual event in factual, usually dramatic form." Both Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair and Michael Issikoff of Newsweek have shown to be false most of the premises of the film, removing the necessary factual requirement.

The myth that Bush went to Afghanistan to help UNOCAL build an oil pipeline was debunked in 1998. There neither was, nor is, such a pipeline.

Another known lie concerned Bush permitting the Bin Laden family leave the country after 9/11 while the air traffic system was shut down. Richard Clarke okayed the departure after checking out the passengers, and after the system was operating normally. Clarke said this in an interview prior to movie being made, so Moore knew this was a lie. Read the Newsweek article, and the commentary by Hitchens, and you will see that there is little factual material provided, and much of that is distorted.

This then, rather than being a documentary, is partisan propaganda (information or ideas methodically spread to promote or injure a cause, group or nation) hit piece by a seriously disturbed Bush hater. I hope to see Moore with the Kerry campaign.

Tony Moschetti
High Point

News & Record
July 10, 2004

Offer constructive criticism, solutions

Thank God our Founding Fathers created the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and a free press so every 30 days people like Tony Moschetti (letter, April 8) can write vacuous arguments against the nefarious liberal establishment. Oh boy.

Tell us something new, Mr. Moschetti. Give us some better alternatives instead of ad hominem attacks. I am conservative on some issues, liberal on others and moderate on most, however, I try to see value on both sides of the issue. I think most Americans do.

When I listen to or read conservative pundits, there is a consistent underlying contempt for any opinion not in line with their own. There always seems to be the childish need for name-calling. They believe they can easily identify the problem but never seem to offer a better solution.

Let's have some positive discussions about the issues that affect our nation.
Let's do it with compassion and understanding without the animosity and personal attacks. I challenge Moschetti next month to write a letter that offers constructive improvements to both national and world issues.

I would not be surprised if, after careful reflection, he found himself leaning a little to the left.

Donald B. Conrad
Greensboro

News & Record
April 25, 2004

Editorial types live in liberal fantasy world

I could only chuckle as I read your laughable explanations of the operation of the editorial department (Dec. 28). Let's begin with the "frequently asked questions" explanation. Why are you so liberal (conservative)? Conservative? I assume that it was someone to the left of the Unabomber who asked that ridiculous question.

Political endorsements? According to a recent Gallup poll a mere 18 percent admitted being liberal. Yet you liberals think that you are the majority. Well, in college classrooms, and media newsrooms that 18 percent becomes 80 percent.
Outside those bastions of liberalism the 18 percent shrinks considerably. How, therefore, can you possibly claim to know how the newspaper "as a whole" would vote? You assume they would vote as you would vote.

You remind me of the New Yorker book reviewer 30 years ago who couldn't understand how Nixon could possibly have won the election since she didn't know a single person who voted for him! You need to revisit the last electoral map, the red vs. blue states, counties, and cities. The map is covered in red. Remove the mindless lemming vote and the last election was a landslide.

You editorial types live in a fantasy world. You represent only your own biases. Have you ever endorsed a conservative? Have you ever opposed the continuing expansion of government, except when it interfered with the rights of terrorists? Your daily "brainstorming" sessions must be rather brief. How long can it take to reprint the DNC talking points?

Tony Moschetti
High Point

News & Record
January 2, 2004