Letters to the Editor

Orange County Weekly, January 22, 1999
© Copyright 1999 Orange County Weekly, Inc.

Final Judgment Day

Unfortunately, Matt Coker's recent report about my speaking engagement in Arlington, Virginia-based on an account published by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-repeated some falsehoods by the SPLC (A Clockwork Orange, Dec. 25).

First, I did not get "progressively angrier" as I discussed "the Jews he says control Hollywood." In fact, as I pointed out to the audience, I was getting progressively angier as I discussed certain self-styled "JFK assassination researchers" (including Orange County's Debra Conway of the JFK-Lancer group) who have attempted to suppress my book Final Judgment. I even pointed out that I didn't really object to the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) denunciations of the book because that is what the ADL is supposed to do: defend the interests of Israel.

Second, in reference to the subject of Hollywood, what I did point out was that Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, who financed Oliver Stone's film JFK, has been described in the liberal magazine Nation as being perhaps "Israel's largest arms dealer." When an audience member commented that there are many persons in the film industry who are Jewish, I responded that film critic Neal Gabler has written the book An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. Then I dismissed the subject and moved on. Yet the SPLC gave this passing comment a vile twist for its own purposes, and now the OC Weekly has repeated the lie.

As far as the Holocaust goes, I pointed out to the audience that because of all the publicity that the proposed JFK assassination seminar in the South Orange County Community College District generated, including the ADL's allegation that I was a "Holocaust denier," that I was tired of hearing about the Holocaust (which is true), that I find the subject B-O-R-I-N-G (which I do), and that the numbers of those who died, whether 6 million or 7 million (the numbers seem to fluctuate), are irrelevant to me as an American whose father and three uncles fought in World War II to save the Jews from Hitler. The SPLC did not report this.

I hate to ruin your fun, but those are the facts.

Michael Collins Piper
Washington, D.C.

H., We Hardly Knew Ye

Many thanks for the article regarding the elusive-or should I say reclusive?-H. Millard (Wyn Hilty's "Local H.," Dec. 25). His letters, which invariably deal with ethnic or immigration themes, are so highly charged as to be troubling. Hence, it is no surprise that he is a top dog in the campaigns of the misleadingly named Council of Conservative Citizens.

I wonder, however, if there even is an H. Millard. Isn't it possible that there are several persons sounding off on a rotating basis regarding ethnic groups and immigration using a single name? In any case, I endorse your suggestion that he (or they) come forward so that we might learn more about him (or them). Many of us look forward to learning whether your efforts to coax him (or them) out of hibernation will be successful.

Donald B. Delano
Orange