Killer news

Regarding your article about Valery Fabrikant ["No cheerful earful," Jan. 25], why give press to the killer, especially when the victims are not named? This isn't news. For those of us who spend time in the news groups, Fabrikant's posts are a regular occurrence. There are still people around who write about his kook posts from before he went off and murdered those people. At least in the news group, you can be sure that someone will respond. I know I've posted the names of the murdered at least once.

Fabrikant is locked out of the press and with good reason, but he's found a way to get his message out using the Internet. Now Kristian Gravenor has given him the press he wants. Never mind that the piece is about how Fabrikant uses the Internet--you named him, printed his picture and talked about him.

So not only is his message getting out on the Internet, where at least people do speak against his posts (and why was there no mention of that?), but you've let it seep out into the traditional press, for all to see. I doubt many care to read about this killer; certainly if they haven't come across his posts in the news groups, they haven't lost much by not knowing about them.

There is news here though: the kooks have a better handle on the Internet than many groups who have useful information to share. The Chomsky-fuelled Left, with their visions of being locked out of the press, took years to get around to posting on the local news group mtl.general and even then they post but don't participate in the existing community, preferring to stay on their mailing list where they can talk among themselves.

I could go on about local groups with their trendy Web sites that lack substance. But ultimately, too many groups fail to get their news out and this phenomenon didn't start with the Internet. It is a shame, though, that Fabrikant is getting his message out while many others find reasons not to.

--Michael Black

Sympathy for the tenants

I am not able to understand how and why justice has been delayed or denied so much in the sorry case of the 30 tenants who were thrown out of their apartments at 1195-1201 Mackay last November ["Ousted Tenants down and out," Jan. 25]. If such a thing happened to me, I would be heart-broken. I am worried that if the two people who carried out the clearly illegal evictions get away with this, other unscrupulous landlords will follow their lead and do the same to their tenants.

As a tenant with a computer, I would be devastated if my computer was taken away by building employees. We live in a society that protects people's rights to occupy their homes until they are legally evicted. For heaven's sake, where is justice when people need it the most?

---Frederick Muster

Absinthe-soaked

Thank you for forecasting the fin-de-siècle absinthe chic ["Absinthe of malice," Jan. 25]. Absinthe was the opium of my literary idols and I especially enjoyed seeing the old labels that you printed. Speaking of the fin de siècle and opium, how about writing an exposé on the new $10 bill, which features the most delicate of flowers, the eternal poppy. We ought to plant more poppies and, indeed, lilacs. A serious depletion in lilac trees was noticed last summer in the Ahunstic and NDG areas once abundant in the Victorian puce palette.

Will the rise of opium dens be the next happening thing anytime soon--something akin to the lounge bars of the '90s with their exorbitant designer prices? And if so, Chinatown better get a head start. If this absinthe trend lasts, the Belle Époque should displace the Medieval capers and Druids of this city once and for all.

Seriously, according to my Euro-magazine (which, by the by, corroborates with the thujone effects), high dosages of absinthe can attack the nervous system and cause hallucinations, tremors and paralysis. Also, herbal absinthe is used for canine ticks. I hope I don't incur a slew of angry letters from any groups.

---Mirella Bontempo