European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 28 2007 stars and stripes Iff o Pace 13 Coulters column comedy or calumnies ombudsman David Mazzarella do you love Ann Coulter i have just the shirt for you Ann Coulter for president or do you hate her How about this bumper sticker Ann Coulter eats Chil Dren and puppies those and dozens of other Coulter messages pro and con can be found on More than 28qo products offered for Sale on cafe pres com a web site peddling All sorts of items for people who feel the need to Tell the world what they think one item for Sale is a thong believe it or not written on the front who Doest hate Ann its All an indication How divided people Are Over the conservative Ladys pronounce ments on to in speeches and in a syndicated column run by about 100 newspapers one of those newspapers is stars and stripes and that fact has enlivened the let  pages since january of last year the paper has published 23 letters from people who despise Coulter among the things Treyve called Hen ignorant hateful racially biased divisive disrespectful elitist abrasive and callous one letter writer a civilian in Kuwait claimed she was out of step with what we soldiers sailors airmen marines and other great americans Are trying to achieve in the Central command area of responsibility but the ant Coulter crowd Hast had the letters pages All to itself in the same period 17 people wrote in with Strong defences of the outspoken Coulter they praised her common sense and eloquent words one proclaimed that girls got Back Bone another called her a master of sat ire not of calumny the prize for first sen tence attention grabbing goes to a master sergeant in Iraq whose letter began mama Araann people get a grip before praising her extremely valid Points some of the letters blamed intolerant liberals for the attacks on Coulter As to the charge that Coulter is out of step with service members a chief warrant officer also from Kuwait retorted you do not speak for me please do not indiscriminately Lump everybody together with your beliefs the Coulter debate by now a nation wide phenomenon reached a Crescendo after a speech she gave to a conservative group on March 2 wherein she implied that democratic sen John Edwards a campaigner for president was a Faggot criticism of her for that slur was heaped onto web Sites blogs radio and television stations and news papers Coulter did get a break that briefly diverted attention from her on the same Day co median and political commentator Bill Maher on his Hob show seemed to express regret that an insurgents bomb at an Afghanistan base Dick Cheney was staying in did not kill the vice president Cou Terback ers immediately claimed liberals were hypo crites for excoriating their heroine for her re Marks and ignoring mailers still some newspapers found the Faggot comment objectionable enough to cancel Coulters column the Trade publication editor publisher said about a dozen had done so a spokesman for the sponsoring univer Sal press Syndicate said four As of last week should stars and stripes drop her too Coulters column began running in the paper in october 2005 approved by me Ann Coulters column runs in about 100 newspapers including stars and stripes when i was editorial director from the be ginning it was decided to publish the conservatives column next to one by a Liberal commentator Arianna Huffington Coulter is decidedly More caustic than Huffington Lead ing me and the editors to excise some of her More gratuitous comments she is not with out some detractors on the but Coulter supporters insist her oped rival is just As far out on the left opinions among stripes letter writers vary All the Coulter fans want her column to remain most of the Coulter opponents want the paper to deep six it As one wrote but not All some cite Coulters right to free Dom of expression and some say with apparent glee that her extreme views will push More people toward liberalism a re tired major in Texas wrote that the column should continue first because of Coulters first amendment rights but also because the Viler and More vitriolic her rhetoric be comes the better americans get to under stand the mentality of such fringes whats the papers official position she is not just political commentary said executive editor Robb Grindstaff Shes Politi Cal humor sometimes biting humor by packaging Coulter Side beside with huffing ton every monday readers of All political persuasions can be equally informed entertained and irritated our readers can handle insurgents i think they can handle Ann and Arianna so Coulter and Huffington will remain its a decision with which i would not quibble for a newspaper whose very existence depends on recognition of its free speech it would be unseemly to take it away from a columnist and she has a definite fan base among the papers military readers More than 40 percent of the letter writers on the subject say they like her a lot love her or hate her youll still be seeing Coulters column if youre a fan youll be Reading her because you think she Speaks for you if youre not a fan but Are still drawn to her you May be agreeing with Armando g Granados who wrote from Iraq the Only reason i believe she has a Job is be cause her articles Are so ignorant and off the Wall that people actually read got a question or suggestion for the ombudsman on what appears or should appear in stars and stripes Send an email to or phone 2027610945 in the states Bow global co speak is a devolution of language by Silvio Laccetti and Dan Taylor in George Orwell powerful work 1984 totalitarianism enlists a new kind of language newspeak to control thought today we see an even More chilling situation words without meaning without associations devoid of emotional Content through our computers instant messaging and cell phone text speak we Are developing co speak digitized words that Arent really words for the vast majority of humanity thought depends on words for its expression newspeak creates new words from which meaning and emotion Are removed As Orwell sees it newspeak also greatly reduces the number of words to the Point that speech thought is simply a staccato sound expressing one clearly understood concept if you can stand the noise just Lis ten to radio and to new stalk shows for examples like any language newspeak requires Mastery in order to use it for example a parallel May be found in Nadrat the unorthodox language of teens in a clockwork Orange one cant read the first chapter of the Book without learning something of the language but even this language has its derivative slavic roots imagery and associations full thought is still possible should the Young droogs choose to use their brains co speak is More efficient than news Peak and easier to learn than Nadrat co speak destroys words altogether along with their associations and meanings be cause of its simplicity co speak does not require our brains to use a lot of Energy to get messages across when delivered these messages Are Al ways simpleminded capable of Only one meaning or Singi Terp As examples con Sider b4ugoimme before you go instant message me or Culvr though in its infancy co speak terms Are already found in glossaries on Wikipedia org or Nolan com and other Sites new zealand where the student author of this piece was raised has accepted text speak for use on Scholastic achievement exams co speak is not an evolution of Lan Guage As some Mist Ink but a devolution we authors Are perhaps the Only two adults under age 65 in America who dont have their own cell phones on the inter net we use longhand English we believe that when using instant messaging Short hand people begin to think in a very simpleminded fashion reducing creativity As co speak conquers the developed world we May Well be cd in the global future most people will not have to think hard or Long creativity and critical thought already in Short Supply will rest solely with knowledge tend ers the computer has unlocked the key to All knowledge the philosophers Stone has been found the alchemists dream has come True and All heavens Angels Are dancing on a Pinhead the Cosmos is based on two things Only the number 1 and Zero knowledge is infinitely extended in their combinations but thought is restricted to its expression in ones and zeroes in future knowledge tenders chief function will be to create consumable Consumers and nondurable durables the great threat to individuality will not rest on brute Force As in the Bronze age not on totalitarian Power As in the age of steel or on Universal Zed paranoia As in the atomic age instead that threat will come in forms that Are simple Safe easy useful pleasant and fatal to individual free Dom there will be no prophets poets or philosophers to voice complaints the words will not be there any More still there just May be someone to throw the first Stone Silvio Laccetti is a professor of social sciences at Stevens Institute of technology in Hoboken no Dan Taylor is a student at Stevens they wrote this column for Mcclatchy Tribune news service prickly City by Scott Stantis