Phoniness Dept.

My main request is always that the puppets of the lit-world start behaving like real people. (That Galley Cat tell us, for instance, that she's not going to issue a correction to her false statements-- instead of continually promising Jeff Potter-- falsely-- that she will.)

These are people who have never discovered how NOT to be fake.

Case in point: Not so long ago, in her various "Gawker" and "Kicker" incarnations, Elizabeth Spiers was applauding the Will Ratblood-designed ULA t-shirt I sent her, or posting, "Wenclas?"-- inviting me to publicly comment about something she said. When she went to work for MediaBistro (she sure hops around climbing that ladder, doesn't she?) the political winds changed. Suddenly she was denouncing me from the MediaBistro pulpit for "barraging" her with mail (two zeens-- one of which she reviewed!-- and a t-shirt). One could say about her, "The completely mutable lit-world flunkie, as pliable as Gumby."

(They should put ads for such people on MediaBistro with just such statement, along with the additional note: "Order Yours Today!" What's that you say? They display those ads on their site-- every day? I'm sorry. My apologies.)

Judging by her photo on the MediaBistro site, I'd say Ms. Spiers is troubled. Note the worried expression, sign of someone who has to always be on the correct side. She's unsure what stand now to take. She's thinking, "Are we at war with Eurasia, or Eastasia, this week?"
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Look carefully at all the MediaBistro photos. Look very closely, and you'll see, scarcely visible but there, the marionette strings attached to every one of them, from Head Puppet Laurel Touby on down. Do you see them?