BOB GARFIELD:
This is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
And I'm Brooke Gladstone. We've been reading your emails, and we have something to correct. Last week in a segment about car culture, Bob mentioned that the A Team drove a Camaro. Turns out they drove a van.

As Evan wrote to us, “How would you fit an entire team from the Los Angeles underground in a Camaro?” Good point.
BOB GARFIELD:
Our discussion of victim impact statements, short videos sometimes scored with music to convey for a jury the human impact of a crime, prompted this response from Eric Williams in Omaha.

“Last year my best friend and roommate was killed by a drunk driver. During the court case, people suggested that I write a victim’s impact statement specifically to be used against the driver in his trial. The loss of my friend was more painful than anything I've ever experienced.”

But Williams says that he opposes such statements because they place value judgments on the lives of the victims rather than the severity of the crime. Quote, “If a homeless person were the victim instead, who would write the victim impact statement? Why should that offender receive a lesser punishment than the driver who took my friend? Manipulating the emotions of the court to achieve vengeance doesn't improve the judicial system or provide emotional healing for the victim’s family and friends.”
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
On a different subject, David Gramling of Berkeley wrote in with this. “I'm delighted, among the other things I'm delighted about with OTM, that Garfield keeps imitating his wife on the air. It’s bold, humane, groundbreaking. Don't let anyone tell you different.”
BOB GARFIELD:
Charles Cates also wrote, wondering if my wife knows that I make her sound like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle. Well, she does, although I played her one of the cartoons and she said [IN RUSSIAN ACCENT] “Garfield, why it is that moose sounds so ridiculous?”
[MUSIC UP AND UNDER]
BROOKE GLADSTONE:
Keep the emails coming to onthemedia@wnyc.org, and if the spirit moves you phone us at 646 829 4590 to leave a message about why you listen to the show. If you do, we may use your voice in an on air promo. If you didn't catch the number, you can find it, along with free transcripts and MP3 downloads, at Onthemedia.org. And thanks for the good word — if you have one.
[MUSIC UP AND UNDER]