A Lone Cabal Defender; Nash Is No Sohn; Kramer's Right; Good MUGGER, But Where's the Ball Talk?; Taki Brings Out the Clinton Defenders, and Sucks, Too; Can't Caldwell Just Get Along with McCain?; More

I say, I was most entertained by the many responses in your "Mail" column last week castigating Mr. Alan Cabal for his opinions about the Clyde Beatty circus. Surely these folk, if they are Christians, have forgotten that God gave men dominion over the wild beasts, to do with what we desire, be it food source, sport or entertainment. These animals certainly experience fear, pain and the ubiquitous "stress," but who among us doesn't? Compare them to the Thai child prostitute, the dispossessed and slaughtered Sudanese who find themselves in the path of a multinational petrol concern, or your American literature and art history graduates who are suddenly discovering that employment at call centers is being farmed out to Delhi, where the young girls are taught to identify themselves as "Crystal" or "Tiffany," and to memorize the scores of the latest U.S. games.

There was a time, years ago, when I hunted, and with my closest friend, Smedley Rathbone, faced down many a rogue bull and ravenous large cat. In those days, the "eye of the tiger" connoted much more than an unshaven nancy in a pastel-colored undershirt. We faced those animals with nothing but a bolt-action Express and steady hand, and the trophies we carried home were testaments to both our bravery and the ascendance of men over the natural world.

John Carroll, Richmond, VA

Bet He Gets Laid a Lot

Letter-writer Brian Drier ("The Mail," 8/8) confirms what I've always suspected. No one is as smug and self-righteous as a boy feminist.

Joe Dessereau, Brooklyn

DuCharmed, We're Sure

I love your paper. I am addicted to Jim Knipfel and MUGGER (we disagree on almost everything, but damn, you make me laugh!). Why are you letting Carolyn Nash continue to write food reviews? Can't you let her take over for Amy Sohn? Clearly, she's got a problem not being the coolest, sexiest chick in the Village. Seems like Amy worked all that crap out on these very pages.

For the record, it's called mignonette sauce, dear. It's traditionally served with oysters. They do this all over town, not just at ike ("Food," 8/1). Your waiter was astute when he told you what the ingredients were, but I'd be awfully wary if I was served a greenish mignonette.

Nicole DuCharme, Brooklyn

Grants Doom

I wholeheartedly concur with Mimi Kramer's thoughts on "The New Sardoodledom" ("Theater," 8/1). There are too many playwrights who are standing on soapboxes, wielding their self-stroking issues like medieval axes, winning all kinds of honoraria. They can't write, but their issues are fundable. Today, a simple, human, heartfelt play like Marty by Paddy Chayefsky would still find an audience, but it would most likely be deemed unworthy of funds and grants.

Zanne Hall, Manhattan

A Once-Great Newspaper Town

MUGGER: That was an excellent piece on The New York Times and its dumping of Gore and continuing attack on Bush (8/8). The President's position on stem cell research was widely praised, yet a Friday Times editorial read, "President Bush Waffles."

More disturbing, however, is the Times' anti-Israel slant. Israel is the bad guy. In the face of increasing terrorism, Israel is supposed to sit back and wait for its citizens to be murdered. This is disgraceful. New York is a city with a large Jewish population and its leading liberal newspaper supports murderers of Jews. There is a movement among Jewish friends of mine to cancel subscriptions to the Times for the high holy days.

Fortunately for the Times, it has no competition in the New York City newspapers. The New York Post just fell off a cliff. The recent Gabriel Snyder take in The New York Observer outlines the horror pretty well, but misses some key points. Yes, the Post's circulation is "up" slightly, but the newspaper slashed its price to 25 cents. Also not mentioned is the ridiculous hiring of columnist Victoria Gotti. New York City used to be a town with several great newspapers. Now we don't even have one.

Barry Popik, Manhattan

Mudhoney Were Gods

While Joe S. Harrington's attempt to spare himself and his thirtysomething peers from the tarring brush of "Generation X" is understandable (and perhaps commendable), it's more or less impossible ("Music," 8/8). The "lost" generation he refers to is really just the overlap of the boomers and the X-ers. From what I understand, anyone born between 1961 and 1981 is, technically, a member of "Generation X."

As someone born in 1976, I remember discovering in the early 1990s the works of Messrs. Coupland and Linklater (both born in year zero, '61), at the time being heralded as the brilliant chroniclers of this "Generation X." I remember jealously watching twentysomethings soaking up the "Slacker/Generation X" lifestyle, and arguing with high school friends whether Mudhoney sucked or was just too cool for us non-Seattlers to understand. I wore shorts with long underwear underneath, cultivated a taste for coffee and a distaste for authority, began a persistent cigarette habit, started resenting hippies and boomers, and eagerly awaited each new transmission from Planet "X," musical, literary, filmic...whatever. In short, I joined the "X" army.

Thankfully, I do none of these things anymore, except smoke (damn you, teenage nihilism), and even that's not a generationally specific habit. The point is, yes, "Generation X" is an embarrassing cultural remnant, like an old yearbook photo. But if you were born after 1961 (graduated high school from 1978 or '79 onward) it's yours. All the bands in Our Band Could Be Your Life are great, seminal bands (Mudhoney?); thirtysomethings, congratulations on your exemplary taste in music. Sadly, today's 20-year-olds (your generational peers) listen to Limp Bizkit.

I've grown out of defiantly wearing the badge of my generation, and I'm working on growing out of being ashamed of my generation. I wish there was a lost generation, and that I could be part of it, though I suppose I'd be too young. I, too, find the "Jason" phenomenon lamentable. But tastes do not a generation make. "Generation X" is, for better or for worse, ours to be ashamed of. Happy 40th, Coupland and Linklater. And to those of you born in 1960: Don't think you're lucky. You're boomers.

John Robertson, Manhattan

Pinch Yourself

Am I dreaming? I just finished tapping out my own film review of The Deep End, flipped open New York Press to read Armond White's take on it ("Film," 8/8)?and actually found myself agreeing with him! Just thought I'd give credit where credit is due. His drowning of The Deep End is surprisingly insightful?and well deserved.

Lauren Wissot, Manhattan

Do It for the Children

Re Tim Hall's "Ire $" ("Daily Billboard," 8/6). Gee, Tim, you don't want your $300 check from the IRS? Then tear it up! Nobody said you have to cash it. For that matter, if $300 doesn't mean anything to you, send a $300 check to the U.S. Treasury for debt retirement. Heck, send $3000. You don't want to do this? Then shut the fuck up about the $300 they're sending you.

So what if the refund isn't enough to cover cable tv for a year. The refund won't change my life either. But collectively, these billions of dollars just might be better spent by the public instead of the government (just maybe). Might the financial health of the macro-economy be more enhanced if the refund goes to reduce onerous credit card debt rather than the national debt? Think globally, act locally, Tim. Do it for the children. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy some tv.

Greg Chaudoin, Chicago

Lucianne or Rube?

Hey MUGGER, you're as funny as Goldberg today (8/8). Good work.

Michael Mattei, Missoula, MT

Standard Barer

MUGGER: Did I miss a column? You say that you "usually" agree with The Weekly Standard's rotating editorialists (8/8), but stop to take issue with David Brooks' criticism of Bush's effectiveness. Have you been reading Kristol and Kagan urging Don Rumsfeld to resign? They're writing that Bush is betraying the number-one duty of a president, national defense. As they give defense passing lip service, the military is deteriorating at a faster and faster pace, thanks to the tax cut. True, this is an inherited problem from Clinton (Les Aspin introduced the idea that we might have to go from a "two war" military to a "win-hold-win"). Dubya has betrayed his promises. Even Rumsfeld can barely get through gritted-teeth press-conference appearances to defend his administration.

Crossfire types can't see that politics is reverting from the 1960s liberal vs. conservative battle lines to the 1930s isolationist vs. internationalist battle lines, and we aren't talking globalization here. The former don't want to expend the energy to be a megapower and extend a Pax Americana?they prefer to spend those resources at home (give tax breaks, don't put human rights ahead of business interests when it comes to foreign affairs, etc.). Any problems this may cause with the emergence of new hostile superpowers are decades down the line, or if they come up, these folks will argue that this is "Europe's problem" or "Asia's problem." Compare that to the hair-splitting between the competing patients' bills of rights.

Cheer the tax cut as a political accomplishment if you'd like, but don't ignore the consequences?especially if you're going to bring in The Weekly Standard.

Jonathan Krit, Chicago

Lovecraft in NJ

Andrey Slivka's evocative comments about Innsmouth ("Culture," 8/8) reminded me of my favorite Lovecraft quote, regarding a woman who became so debased "...that even the most jaded sophisticates blanched at her enormities." As a onetime denizen of Philly-South Jersey I appreciate the accurate, vivid description of the region.

Lionel Libson, via Internet

Brazilian Waxing Nostalgic

Sorry, but a trip down the Jersey Shore is not complete without a stopover in Wildwood. And if you want weird, try the Pennsauken Mart.

Margarita Palatnik, São Paulo, Brazil

Ball: For

MUGGER: Your column dated 8/8, while replete with excellent political commentary, sucked. You didn't get in even one decent baseball take. Did the Red Sox perish in a train wreck? C'mon, you can do better than that. It's August, so mix in a hit and run, or a 5-to-4-to-3 double play, or an extra base hit. "Baseball is life. All the rest is details." I only wish I had said it first.

Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX

A Time to Heal

Christopher Caldwell: I was wondering when this "hate McCain" thing is supposed to reach critical mass ("Hill of Beans," 8/8). When is it going to be over? McCain does something that leans to the left and all we conservatives are supposed to hate him. McCain takes a conservative position, and lo and behold, here's an editorial explaining to conservative readers why we should hate those actions as well. Why not just end this game and write an article explaining that Republicans should hate all things McCain simply "because."

This entire "hate" campaign is one of the most unfair political exercises I've seen in quite some time. President Bush and Sen. McCain both have high favorability ratings. What a wonderful opportunity for the GOP?unless we're too busy fueling the fires of hatred to think of the larger picture and how the Republican Party might benefit from having two of the most popular politicians in this country in our ranks.

Republicans who write these types of articles are not representing the GOP very well, and are doing nothing to assist the President in his efforts to "change the tone" of Americans' political debate. Other than encouraging your readers to hate, I'm not sure what you think you are accomplishing. I believe you think it's a game.

Gina M. Coleman, Indianapolis

Conspiracy, Scandal & A Cellphone

I just read Russ Smith's review of the Tina Brown bio in The Wall Street Journal and I must say that was one of the best book reviews I have read in a very long time. Bravo. Also, I may be reading too much Ira Stoll, but perhaps MUGGER noticed something odd about a photo in last Sunday's New York Times of the Bush Cabinet ostentatiously praying before a meeting. The picture is angled to hide the female Secretary of the Interior behind someone else's face. The result is a bunch of middle-age Christian men piously praying.

Regarding "Taki's Top Drawer," is this Claus Von Bulow the same one I vaguely remember being defended by Dershowitz when I was very young? I think it is. He's an excellent writer, but I always assumed he was guilty because of his attorney's reputation. Did he do it? Was he hired for reasons of frisson? If so, that would be interesting.

Recently, I was reading a collection of essays by Auberon Waugh and I learned that Taki did time for coke in London. Is this true? Is "Top Drawer" a tough crowd? I don't wish to spread scandal; I apologized to Taki for spreading that malicious lie about him wearing a fanny pack with a cellphone. West of Charing Cross and east of Catalina Island I haven't heard the end of the blowback from that nasty deed.

Tom Phillips, Manhattan

The editors reply: Yes, it is the very same Von Bulow. And yes, Taki did some time in a UK prison after being busted for coke.

We Was Rose Up Wrong, Hon

Just saw my wife's letter in your "Mail" section (8/8). So the most "intelligent" response to an intelligently written letter you could come up with was to give it an insulting, elementary-school-caliber headline: "Another Baltimoron Who Doesn't Like Us." Anyone seeing the letter and seeing your headline will have absolutely no doubt who the moron is.

David Adam, Baltimore

Remotely Plausible

Alexander Cockburn, in his most recent column ("Wild Justice," 8/8), has copied almost verbatim?the original used "urinated" and dashes instead of parentheses?the following sentence: "In retaliation against sabotage in the plant (prisoners would piss on electrical equipment, causing spectacular malfunctions) Richkey would hang them 12 at a time from factory cranes, with wooden sticks shoved into their mouths to muffle their cries."

This was copied from the Project Freedom website. The site, by the way, purports to be, and here I'm pasting: an exposé on the use of Remote Mind Control Weapons by the Intelligence Agencies against Humanity. Remotely Operated Neuro-Electromagnetic Weapons, Using Microwave, ELF and Acoustic Frequency are being used to attack innocent individuals and society en-masse toward: REMOTE MIND CONTROL EXPERIMENTATION TOWARD SOCIAL CONTROL ASSASSINATION.

You catch the drift. I would have expected better from Cockburn, whose work I have long admired.

John Verity, South Orange, NJ

Alexander Cockburn replies: If John Verity takes another glance at the relevant Project Freedom Web page he'll see that the entire passage is attributed to "Paperclip." In fact this is the title of a chapter from Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press, a very fine book by Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn. Perhaps I should have further reworded the sentence I wrote with Jeffrey three years ago, but there aren't too many variants to describe Richkey's preferred mode of execution. Verity should suggest to the Project Freedom folks that they offer more information than a mere chapter heading about the material they're using.

Barriers and Barrios

Allow me to give my highest compliments to George Szamuely's column on our economic relationship with Mexico ("Taki's Top Drawer," 8/8). It's a relief to find a progressive journalist who can acknowledge that our current immigration policies are no more than an insidious form of corporate welfare. As a former Immigration Inspector with the INS, I can say firsthand that our government accepts illegal immigration as a given fact and tailors our immigration laws to benefit the interests of wealthy individuals and large corporations.

Immigration is good and necessary for any country, and should be kept alive and well in the U.S., but not in its current form. Sadly, the very progressive institutions that should fight this fight (such as organized labor and civil rights groups) have been doing the bidding of corporate tycoons by calling for amnesty and seeking to unionize illegal immigrants. This leaves the opposition to our current immigration situation in the hands of fringe, right-wing groups.

Matthew Sheahan, Manhattan

Fey Dodos

I want to thank New York Press for Carol Iannone. She is a remarkably gifted and insightful writer. In this particular piece ("Taki's Top Drawer," 7/25) she tells the open secret: that women want dominant men, naturally dominant men. Not little boys. The tragedy is there is a dearth of truly dominant men. They are as easy to find as nailing jello to a tree. There is only one Taki and he can't service all of us, for God's sake. "Taki's Top Drawer" is my favorite spot at the paper.

Linda Young, Salt Lake City

Insights on Immigration

I want to thank Scott McConnell for noticing in print the treason of the elite in his review of Barbara Ehrenreich ("Taki's Top Drawer, 8/8), who seems to have stumbled onto some of the dots but is constitutionally blind to the connections in the immigration catastrophe.

Jamie Kelso, Santa Monica

Coach Til You Drop

MUGGER: I love your column, and the entire New York Press is a public service to New York as far as I'm concerned, but let's slow down with the attacks on Don Zimmer (8/1). In the fateful Bucky Dent year, how many at-bats did he get? How many relief appearances? I'm sure you've been over this ground before, but tell your boys the truth?Don Zimmer is a font of baseball knowledge that Torre has tapped to good effect over the Yanks' recent run. Zimmer is living history and the last person I'd expect you to trash on "partisan" grounds.

All the best to your family, and good luck (but not too much) to the Sox, from a lifetime Yankees fan.

Noelle Blanc, Yonkers

Frank About Beans

Re: Kelly McMasters' "Close Shaves" ("First Person," 7/25). As a man devoid of pubic hair, I take exception to the author's friends who would deem the shaving of my genitalia weird or perverted. As Ms. McMasters points out, shaved vulvae scarcely raise an eyebrow, but for my girlfriend and me what's sauce for the goose...

Aside from being a harmless antidote to teenage ennui, being bald "down there" adds greatly to the lubricious contact during intercourse, and makes oral sex more rewarding for both. It also makes for smashing photos in the family album. For the record, the girl who first prevailed on me to shave was from eastern Long Island and was perverted and weird.

Name Withheld, Bronx

Blessed Bubba

Taki is full of shit as a Texas turkey. If he don't like Clinton he ought to say so right up front ("Top Drawer, 8/8). Every time I read how Clinton is costing the taxpayers more money, I cheer. God Bless Bill Clinton. He knows how to piss off a conservative and he has my blessings. Love to read this kind of stuff. Proves to me that America is a lively place.

Gotta stop here and go to the bank and cash my Social Security check, then over to the church for a free supper?after that, maybe I can get someone to buy me an ice cream cone.

Norm Walker, North Augusta, SC

Taki's Piling On

Taki: Whether I love or hate Clinton is irrelevant to what I'm about to say (for the record, think of everything you think about Clinton, then reverse it. That's me). What concerns me is the despicable lie you told in last week's New York Press ("Top Drawer," 8/8), accusing Clinton of telling a despicable lie.

You claim that Clinton lied about church burnings. Although you did not make it clear exactly which lie you referred to, I'm assuming you meant one of the two lies that ignorant right-wingers have consistently accused him of. The most common lie that idiot righties continue to spew is that Clinton lied when he claimed to remember churches burning in Arkansas in his youth. On Dec. 22, 1963, in Hot Springs, AR, where Clinton was attending high school, the Roanoke Baptist Church burned just days after the pastor (the local NAACP leader) made a public appeal to President Johnson to desegregate the nearby national park facilities. The fire made a brief mention in The New York Times. Earlier that year a church near Pine Bluff, AR, also a center of local civil rights agitation, was dynamited. During the infamous Central High integration crisis in Little Rock, AR, in September of 1957, the Negro Baptist Seminary was firebombed.

It's barely possible that you meant something else when you accused Clinton of lying?that his claim that racism was the cause of the fires was a lie. The only problem with that is that the very church at which Clinton made the speech, in Greenville, SC, was burned by a former Ku Klux Klan member?the man was convicted of that and half a dozen other black church burnings ranging as far as Indiana. Explicit racialist motives for at least some of the burnings have been established in law.

Honestly, Clinton lied about so much (I'm a supporter, remember), why do you feel the need to lie about something he didn't lie about?

Jack F.X. Gillis, Lafayette, LA

Discos of Days Gone By

In answer to Andrey Slivka's question, "Why Asbury?" as the site for NJ Gay Pride ("Culture," 8/8), I assume it's because Asbury Park has historically had a gay and lesbian scene. One phone call to the organizers would have answered this.

I can understand how this ruined spot would seem a puzzling choice to a straight guy writing a missionary summer piece on the Jersey Shore. A little history: in the 70s, the M&K disco, a gigantic gay & lesbian club/hotel in Asbury Park, attracted men and women from all over the state. The M&K was a legendary club, like the Stone Pony or the Saint. I have great memories of dancing there with male friends long gone to that disco in the sky. I also recall seeing the Doors and other classic rock groups at Convention Hall. When we spilled out of the shows onto the boardwalk, it was alive with youthful energy. Today, it saddens me to see such utter desolation in a once vibrant place. But believe it or not, gay men are buying up houses in Asbury; a number of shop owners are gay and a great restaurant just relocated there from Ocean Grove. I hope gay men can revive a town where others have tried and failed.

Kathleen Cooney, via Internet

Good Book Reviews

MUGGER: I see you must be as delusional as that arrogant fool, George W. Bush. His tax cut is a win (8/8)? Really? There is no surplus. He has to borrow money to pay for his tax cut. Goodbye tax breaks for big oil and the rest of his corporate friends. And to pay for his antimissile defense system, Secretary Rumsfeld wants to cut our armed forces. Remember Bush's bashing of Clinton's military? Well, I believe the Joint Chiefs wish the ex-president were back in office now.

Bush's win on the Patients' Bill of Rights only shows how hypocritical Republican conservatives are. This version overrides protections in his own state's patients' bill of rights, but he never supported that one anyway. To show you what I mean by "delusional," Bush comes out claiming his agreement shows his success at bipartisanship. Yeah, he only talked to Norwood, a Republican, and he only got five of 210 House Democrats to vote for the bill. You wonder why Gephardt is mad as hell. What are both of you drinking?

Jay Finkelstein, Manhattan

So There!

Taki: Please do not confuse the liberalista world press with "the public" ("Top Drawer," 8/8). Certainly the aforementioned have their socialist noses buried in Clinton's ass. Indeed, they run the globe with their lips pasted onto any asshole claiming that political thieves confiscating and spending the Earth's paychecks is "liberty, equality and justice for all," so long as the tyrants are liberal and supported by the liberal media-indoctrinated majority. But the grotesque liberal brownnosing of The Washington Post doesn't actually transfer shit to the rest of us.

Judy Helton, Nashville

Why, Oh Why?

Mr. Smith: Your comments on Maureen Dowd were great (8/8). When I occasionally read her column, I wonder why the whole world does not recognize that she is pathetic. Thanks for an excellent article.

Gus Doering, Cedar Park, TX

Big One

MUGGER: You crack me up. At least you are not an everyday New Yorker. You have a brain.

Pamela Pendleton, N. Myrtle Beach, SC

Eggs on a Sidewalk

MUGGER: You're sizzling this week (8/8), better than you ever have. Hotter than August. Thanks.

John Bensink, Sewickley, PA

No Time for the Times

MUGGER: I look forward to your column each week. I don't read the Times (not a big deal out West), but do follow the real news on the Net. I also follow baseball and hope the Red Sox beat those damn Yankees. Cubbies vs. Boston, now that would be a series to start the millennium. By the way, Mike Barnicle is a sanctimonious pimp. He now does commentary for MSNBC.

Raymond T. Hatch, Las Vegas

Moderation in Everything

MUGGER: I watched Dick Gephardt's performance in the House (8/8) and all I could think of was Edward G. Robinson screaming, "Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?" Now we will have to bite our tongues and let Bush come back from vacation and sound moderate while he guides his conservative administration to 2004 and reelection.

Name Withheld, Dayton, NJ

MUGGER in Pearls

After reading several issues of New York Press, I have only this to say: Russ Smith is Barbara Bush in drag. Only W's mother could see what's going on and put a positive spin on it. Or perhaps he has found a source for some most excellent drugs, which have rendered him completely delusional. If that's the case please let me know how I can get some for myself.

I read MUGGER every week because it amuses me so much. The spin is at times so ludicrous that I can't help but laugh until my sides are aching. Thank you; I wish more columnists had your sense of humor. After all, this is just comedy, isn't it?

Sonia Martinez, Santa Monica

Mo Needs a Stiff One

MUGGER: As always, a great column (8/8). Thank you. I wait each week for your thoughts and will add that poor Maureen Dowd has never met a man she could like, including the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. There she is, picking on Bill and Newt who we all know are dead in the water. She should try a real man, she might like it.

Mike Kelly could be good if he moved away from the influence of 60s guys and really went with his gut feelings, but he is afraid.

Name Withheld, via Internet

No Class

MUGGER: Your accusation that the Democrats were engaging in "class warfare" last November is amusing. If only! The reason they remain in the minority in the House is precisely because they truly lack the commitment (or stomach) for class warfare. Consequently, they have lost the hearts and minds of the once solidly Democratic-voting white blue-collar masses of the South and the Midwest (who find social liberalism repugnant and consequently vote Republican).

Rather than distinguishing themselves from their Republican colleagues by speaking the truth about the evils of corporate America and how working families are bled dry, the Democrats forsake support of the white working class for the sake of their corporate masters. Until they have the guts to actually use class warfare, they will not reclaim their traditional status as the majority party.

Adrian Di Lollo, Manhattan

God's in There, Too

MUGGER: I am sure there is a point hidden in there (8/8), but it is very well concealed in the disconnected detail.

Adrian Redlich, Manhattan

MUGGER's No Mall Rat

MUGGER: I don't know what the people in malls look like where you live, but Michael Kelly was dead-on about the boomers being fat (8/8). The article had me laughing all the way through it. Maybe it's you who doesn't have a sense of humor.

Lucille McClure, San Jose, CA

Once Again...

I notice reading Jeffrey St. Clair's account of meeting Putin before he became president that "Putin and son" did such-and-such ("Wild Justice," 6/27). Putin does not have a son.

Chris Doss, via Internet

Alexander Cockburn replies: On the account of the river guides escorting Putin and offspring, the youth was introduced by Putin to the company as his natural son, and they were also given to understand that the boy's mother is now a U.S. resident. This is not part of the official bio.

Don't Be Dissing Ashley & Mary-Kate

MUGGER: Along with you there are several columnists in New York Press whom I really enjoy reading, particularly Jim Knipfel. However, Taki was never on that list. I usually just click on to make sure he's writing about one of his normally useless subjects like the bad service he got last week in Geneva. I have to say, though, that his 8/8 column on Clinton's comeback was dead-on. The left-leaning press, stoked by The New York Times and Washington Post, will forever keep Clinton before the public in the most flattering manner possible.

I am within a couple months of the same age as Clinton. I have somberly resigned myself to the fact that he will never go away in my lifetime. I found it incredible that Chris Matthews, who is usually level-headed, although way too loud, actually proposed that the 22nd Amendment be repealed so Clinton could run for president again. Matthews' reasoning: the people want him, just look at that outpouring when he opened his offices. Well, Chris, Harlem may want him, since about 90 percent of the black vote went to him, but I don't believe anywhere near the majority of the country would want him back. That sure won't keep Matthews, the Gray Lady and the rest of the liberal media from incessantly whining about how great it would be to have him again.

I agree with "The Mail" contributors who echo your assessment that Maureen Dowd has just flat lost it. There is also little doubt that Gail Collins is an airhead. Her columns during the campaign were so insightful that they read as though written by the Olsen twins.

Steve Hume, Canton, MI

Jeremiah Says We're Not Tough Enough

I wonder who's paying you faggots to write this pathetic bullshit straight out of the paranoid collection of right-wing fairytales. You pale-faced, devil-faced liars lack originality and even the promise of greatness. You dare to think that hiding behind weak pseudonyms like "MUGGER" and "Taki" lends some air of hardcore extremism to your laughable attempts at wannabe neofascism. Like Nero, your weak rhetoric "fiddles" while the right-wing house of cards not only teeters but begins to burn before your very eyes.

There is nothing you or your diseased kind can do to escape the coming slaughter. For as the great Prophets warned, you shall suffer the sins of your arrogant fathers. You shall be stripped naked and paraded through the great assembly exposed and humiliated for all to see. For your crimes have become a Stench to God and Lady Wisdom knows you not. Therefore, we shall bathe our feet in the blood of the arrogant. Sleep well, "Taki." Sweet dreams, "MUGGER." For if it is hatred and intolerance that you seek, then like William Tecumseh Sherman, I will bring you so much war you shall never seek it again. Perhaps you should consider hiring people who can actually write. Although you will never be ready for what I bring, should you dare to challenge my position, you better come with something a bit stronger and harder than what you've shown so far.

Name Withheld, via Internet