Hey, there's more to life than Vanagons!  It's unfortunate that someone was 
stupid enough to post that here.

But since there are always two sides to every story, it is only fair that I 
post a link to my brief letter to Mr. Okrent at the NYT.  I will not be 
posting anything else and ask that no one bother sending me hate 
mail.  I'll never get to read it and have gotten so much already i'm immune 
to it!

http://www.syncro.org/Okrent_Open_Letter.html

Also, Okrent only quoted one sentence out of my e-mail.  This grossly 
distorted what I said.

The rest of the e-mail, the 99% that they did not quote, elicited a 
response from Nagourney stating that he would check with the editors to 
determine whether a correction was warranted. It was legitimate criticism 
of the reporting at issue. Nagourney would not have written back the way he 
did if that were not the case.
The only reason I can come up with for Okrent going so far over the top 
himself is is that Nagourney thinks I am behind the 
http://www.adamnagourney.com/ website.   And Somerby recently wrote a 
scathing piece on Okrent. 
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh091304.shtml   Nagourney has also been caught 
in recent months making a string or errors that brought swift responses 
from the blogs. It appears that they were both looking for a way to strike 
back at the bloggers. I just happened to be an easy target with my angry 
statement in the e-mail. And they went for it with a vengeance. But they 
have probably inflicted as much or more damage upon themselves as they did 
upon me.
________________________

"In closing, let�s note the part of this piece that has come to define 
Okrent�s work for the Times. That is the open tone of derision he takes 
toward readers who bother him with their e-mails. As usual, Okrent takes 
sidelong shots at these �irate readers� and their reasons for disputing his 
judgments (see below). Okrent began displaying this tone in his fourth 
column (1/18/04), and the tone has been present from that day to this. By 
the way: Was there something he might have learned from the �hundreds of 
messages� he received about the Swift Vets? There is, of course, no way to 
know�Okrent brags that he has ignored them! Indeed, he hasn�t even read 
�every word� of the coverage in the Times! Nobody does that, he says.
"Dickens invented characters like Okrent, as he strove to describe a world 
in which idle, privileged, insolent people felt unvarnished contempt for 
their social inferiors. Okrent strolls straight outta those novels. But 
make no mistake�powdered people like Daniel Okrent are now in control of 
American discourse. Lazy, pampered, self-indulgent and stupid, they�ve made 
a sick joke of your interests for years. At some point, the public will 
have to find ways to end their control of our discourse."
"http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh091304.shtml