Fictitious journalism?

In the last issue of the Mirror, you mention that the Maison du Parc has a lawsuit against RG Magazine and you go so far as to mention a fictitious complaint by Mr. Le Clerc (CCGLM), a complaint which, to this day, does not exist. Is it your role to make yourselves the spokespeople for these threats?

Had you had a bit more time to devote to this story, you might have discovered that RG has its own $195,000 lawsuit against Maison du Parc, that the Press Council has received our complaint against Michael Hendricks of the Magazine Village, as well as another complaint against Richard Burnett for having placed himself in a severe position of conflict of interest in his treatment of this story in Hour.

When you pretend to inform the population, you should not silence half the facts. RG has always successfully defended itself against such complaints and your readers should be made aware.

Roger-Luc Chayer

RG Magazine

No better than the rest of them

You cannot claim to be an alternative paper anymore, I mean if we really think that an alternative newspaper is one that offers a view different from that of the big chains.

And I am sorry because I met some of the people who started the paper in 1985; in fact I was a contributor in those early days too, and certainly at that time the purpose of the paper was to provide a voice to those who didn't have one.

Your recent acquisition by Pierre Péladeau makes you no more alternative than The Gazette--you are also owned by big business and by a right-wing press tycoon no different from Conrad Black.

Too bad for the Mirror that it ended up in the hands of a guy who has made his fortune by feeding sensationalism to the uneducated and unsophisticated, just to make them accept the prevailing conditions of social injustice. And I can't see how you would manage not to become similar in the final goal of diverting the people's attention from their real problems.

Sergio Martinez

We want Howard!

Re: Alastair Sutherland's comments in Media Circus [March 13] concerning Howard Stern's likely success on Montreal's airwaves: I vigorously concur. Pathetically, Ted and Terry seem cut off from the sensibilities of more prescient listeners, resulting in pollyanish pablum that, remarkably, retains a lock on FM English-language radio ratings. I, for one, predict that CKGM, in its endless quest to nail down a winning formula will alas adopt Stern into their lineup and scoop the other has-beens currently dominating the airwaves. I am a 33-year-old childless lawyer (could there be a better demographic?) and I would drop Ted & Terry, George Balcan, Aaron & Tasso, Andrew Carter et al. for Howard in a heartbeat.

Steven Richards

Sovereignist power grab

I particularly enjoyed your article "The Wallpaper Party" [March 6]. I would also like to point out the sovereignists' negative effect on economic security, the high deficit, the high unemployment rate and poor economy.

It would be great if the sovereignists put as much energy into reducing the deficit, unemployment, taxes, waste, pollution, the high-school drop-out rate and all other problems. There would be a lot less to worry about because they would be working to find solutions to our problems.

I am both anglo and franco and do believe that Quebec is a distinct society. Except I believe this sovereignist debate is a struggle for power and not sovereignty.

If the sovereignists were to begin to run the province of Quebec in a more efficient and democratic manner, I would be one of the first to vote separatist.

Bigger is not necessarily better. In Quebec there is a lot government: federal, provincial, municipal and educational. Quebec should start by reducing the oversized, unproductive, redundant sections of the civil service.

Paul Morin

Monkey business

As a keen observer of animals and amateur biologist I feel compelled to point out a key error in your story "Humans are from Mars, Monkeys are from Venus" [March 20]. Same-sex behaviour has previously been observed in many of the higher primates, such as chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as other mammals such as dolphins. Thus the fact that animals occasionally carouse with each other in such a manner is hardly big news. Secondly, U de M doctoral student Paul Vasey's implication that this behaviour is a matter of choice on the part of the female macaque monkey is mere supposition, not to mention highly anthropomorphic. Human value systems, be they gay, straight or whatever, cannot be applied to non-human species. There is a plethora of reasons why female monkeys would engage in sex with each other--unsuitable male companions, avoiding unwanted pregnancy because more babies would endanger the entire group, etc. It is indeed "activist" science to suggest that a preference for homosexuality is at the top of the list. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story--you should have more science stories in the Mirror--and am certainly interested in hearing more about Vasey's research.

Timothy Dickens