Marty Beckerman, Worthless Waste of Space and Ink; Nicely Executed, Strausbaugh, and in a Goodly Way, Too; Your Country Salutes You, MUGGER; Great Steaming Gobs of "Daily Billboard" Commentary; They're Thankful for Taki; More

Someone needs to be held responsible for that worthless "Marty Beckerman Goes to College" piece (11/14). What the hell were you guys thinking? He violates every rule of good writing: don't fancy up half-assed musings with respectable quotes; don't waste the reader's time, even if he's on the toilet bowl; don't take cliches from hit tv shows; don't sign your name to a bag of wretched b.s. even if you think your shit don't stink. This is really bad stuff.

And what was the purpose of it all? Yet another investigation into frat life and college debauchery, only to write it off as youthful naivete. His biggest realization was that college girls go to frat parties to get laid just like frat boys. How could he not know that if he grew up in Arkansas? Shouldn't his role model be Bubba Clinton? The list of fouls goes on and on.

Nick P. Yulico, Hollywood, CA

We're Hanging Our Heads

In response to your article "Marty Beckerman Goes to College": What can be said about the gross misallocation of ink that is Mr. Beckerman's piece? I don't have the time or energy to pinpoint all that is wrong with this story, so I will just scold you for printing it instead. For shame, for shame, for shame.

D. Bonespan, Hollywood, CA

Got Fired After 9/11

Marty, Marty, Marty: I feel compelled to inform you, before some older-generation-type points it out, that there is a reason the mindless beefcake frat boys and sparkly sorority gals call themselves "Greeks." It has something to do with the higher-minded ideals of youth that you pine for in the closing paragraph, something we boozehound Colonials at the College of William and Mary knew all about. Those young, idealistic men who founded Phi Beta Kappa did so as a recreation of the School of Athens, as a roundtable for ideas and intellectual exchange. They took those funny-looking shapes that you see on the frat sweatshirts from the Greek alphabet. Don't you kids at the Press have an irony-checker?

Morgan Schulman, Manhattan

Maybe If He Shows Her the Article?

I would like to buy Marty Beckerman a drink and shake his hand. His portrayal of college life and fraternities couldn't have been more accurate. I understand the various scenarios he mentions, almost too well. As a former "frat boy" myself (something that I am by no means proud of) I quickly learned that fraternities and sororities are nothing more than breeding grounds for conformity and submoronic behavior led by fascist slaves, criminals and brainless cattle (by the way, cattle do look better sporting Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap and Old Navy, but not much better). What is even more disgusting to me is these people don't fucking change, remaining the same ignorant, shallow bastards they always were.

I've sometimes thought that maybe Greek life does have a good point to it in that it shows people's true colors and what they actually think. But when you look at the deaths from binge drinking and the overall one-track-minded sophomoric stupidity of the Greek system in general, I become hard-pressed to find any good qualities about it at all. It's a dirty and annoying job to deal with these sheep, but Mr. Beckerman came through in fine fashion. I only wish he could've gotten laid by that little 18-year-old as some sort of compensation for his hard work.

Will Northlich-Redmond, Brooklyn

Exactly

Thank you, Taki, for putting into words my thoughts about how the media has acted during this time of war (and toward GWB in general) ("Top Drawer," 11/14). I think the media is going to have a hard time trying to slant the story from Afghanistan given the tremendous accomplishments we have just seen over the past week or so. I would love to see a column from you as to why you think the media has joined the BAF (Blame America First) crowd. I just don't get it.

Dan Donato, Mundelein, IL

Welly Put

John Strausbaugh: I was struck with a great good deal of delight in reading the content with reference to the upcoming book Junk English ("Publishing," 11/7) and plan to review said content on a forward-moving basis ASAP. Where applicable, I hope it shall be of value, whether for self-corrective purposes or by way of influence modeling with respect to clearly informed workplace communications.

George Konetsky, Williamsburg

Grandma Muses

I was a great admirer of former President Bush. I am an even greater admirer of his son. He seems to me to be a man who is incapable of pretending to be something he is not. He strikes me as a friendly, outgoing, compassionate person. Every time I see him on television in a new situation, I like him more. (He is the only president my husband of 39 years has ever liked.)

I noticed something about him yesterday when he was on television with Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela has aged somewhat and has become a little feeble. When they walked out together to talk to the press, they had to walk down about two steps. Mr. Mandela was having difficulty with them and President Bush took his hand and helped him and they walked down slowly together. For some reason I cannot really explain, I found it touching. Here is the most powerful man in the world and he slows his steps to aid an older, less agile, man.

Mr. Bush is totally lacking in arrogance. He is just a person who is very comfortable with who he is (that has been said over and over, but it is true) and feels no need for pretense.

I enjoy reading MUGGER's column because he seems to respect the President and we mostly agree politically. Being a mother and a grandmother of two young boys, I also enjoy reading about the family.

Martha G. Hamby, Dallas

Once a Democrat...

It appears that Russ Smith sees his job as being the shill and cheerleader for the resident White House bum George W. Bush. First Mr. Smith praises Bush's homeland security speech ("MUGGER," 11/14), although the speech was more appropriate for a high school football rally. Then he says that the news consortium said Bush won, when in fact the consortium said that if you counted all the votes Gore wins. Which means that Bush has no legitimacy as president and should be evicted from the White House, where he has been squatting for the past 10 months.

Then Smith has the nerve to say that Clinton's presidency will be looked upon as a failure that was sandwiched in between the two Bush presidencies. However, the Clinton years were golden years for Americans, with unprecedented peace and prosperity. And that is why Clinton is the greatest president since FDR, while the presidencies of Bushes 41 and 43 will be remembered as failures because of their wars, recessions and overall bleak conditions.

Reba Shimansky, Brooklyn

Sad but True

MUGGER: Contrary to popular belief, you can't get good ribs in Harlem. Or anywhere in this city for that matter.

Greg Joseph, Manhattan

Flushed

MUGGER: I just read your excellent essays "Bush Standing Firm" and "Clinton Can't Shut Up" (11/14). I am touched by your support of President Bush, and I am continually amazed that such exists in the Godforsaken region that swarmed for Hillary Clinton as flies to shit. Yes, he's a bit of all right after the traitor-rapist, and we're surely glad we got him instead of that godson of Armand Hammer.

As to the groans of the climbers in the newsrooms over the Best Hope for Survival of the Republic's "cornpone," let me add this reply for them: You groaners are lining my trash and forbidden from my bandwidth. Ain't too proud to know when to flush with pride, or to flush the toilet.

Regarding the remarks of the Arkansas Boys Stater who rushed to shake JFK's hand, the ones where he advances from "I well recall the black churches burning in the Arkansas of my youth" to the evil condemnation of America for whacking slaves and redskins and touting its comeuppance with hijackers wrecking thousands of lives with plastic knives and expensive lessons in how to turn off transponders: No, he's not drinking. I stipulate on fact and belief that it's his soulless nature inflamed by the silver train running up his nose on the pocket watch of the devil himself. Take blood and test it: that turkey is positive for Class-A narcotics. He took a thousand conehead cousins on a nine-day, 55 million-dollar junket with 16 planes and 50 automobiles to watch topless dancers and grovel for the failings of an America he never knew and never fails to betray. What's one more sorry for the sorriest president of the Republic? God watches over the families such as yours who pursue decency in the darkest hours.

Phil Dragoo, Santa Fe

Lovely Dress, JD

Russ Smith: I don't know when Clinton began drinking ("MUGGER," 11/14), but I'd wager it was prior to that stupid Georgetown speech. Remember when Yeltsin, the red-faced drunk, was meeting with Clinton at Hyde Park and the two came out to meet the press? Yeltsin was belligerent to the reporters and Clinton was doubled up in laughter. If he wasn't blotto then, I'm J. Edgar Hoover.

Regarding that speech: So much of what passes for "progressive" these days is actually primitive?based on race, bloodlines and blind revenge.

JD King, Stuyvesant Falls, NY

Whining Every Other Week

Ah, there goes Alexander Cockburn with the other self-dramatizing leftists. Whether he knows it or not, Cockburn is doing a public service in that we can discount reports of harassment of dissenting voices in the middle of this war all the more. His tales of a "Green activist" spoiling for a confrontation at an airport in Maine ("Wild Justice," 11/7), or a Pakistani in London being put through the wringer for?get this?having a book on Marx in his baggage, are almost parodies of what wannabe-dissidents might say. Whine on.

Joseph Blalock, Manhattan

But the French Age So Well

So Andrey Slivka frets that America's "often objectionable culture...rightfully sometimes offends Europeans?who mysteriously remain free, democratic and wealthy" ("Daily Billboard," 11/12). Yeah, but not as wealthy, not as democratic, not as free. The analogy he gives isn't very good, either. The Man in the Moon (non-Americans) don't refuse to drink the Coke America shoves at them. No: first they drink it, then they knock America over the head with the empty bottle. What else would you call Godard's use of cinema?an American export?to criticize America for its exports? And while we're on the subject of the French... Oh, never mind. Suffice it to say, for the French (as, on an entirely crazier level, for the Muslim terrorists), a spiteful anti-Americanism is the last crutch of their culture's weak, nasty, fruitless old age.

Isaac Meyers, Jerusalem

You and Condoleezza Both

In his "Daily Billboard" piece "Picture, Perfect" (11/12), Andrey Slivka makes an excellent assessment of our country's naive enthusiasm. But he made one crucial error toward the end: "It's this combination of aggression and innocence in the service of an often objectionable culture that rightfully sometimes offends Europeans?who mysteriously remain free, democratic and wealthy despite their refusal to do things exactly as we do."

There's not much "mysterious" about that?Europeans remain free (of course, half of them have "remained free" for only a decade) because America has been saving their asses from tyranny for years and years. God. I know things are bad in the world when I start sounding like some Reagan-era Cabinet member.

Matthew Holm, Queens

One Shred

What is it with the neocon brat pack anyway? Since 9/11 they've all devolved before our eyes, Altered States-style, into smug fratboy keyboard kommandos who aren't remotely as clever as they're convinced they are. You can now predict how their columns will read and, sadly, bat a thousand.

I get hives reading MUGGER these days, as he blithely juggles calls for escalating the war with doting anecdotes of Junior's latest foibles; and Chris Caldwell's assertion that the current action in Afghanistan is different from past wars because "there's not a shred of important opposition to it in any corner of American society. There's not even a shred of potential opposition to it" is just delusional, and almost as noxious as quarantining all dissenters to the Kumbaya Ward. What Caldwell, I think, is actually saying is that there isn't a shred of opposition among his fellow media pundits on the Beltway's fast track. (That explains the "important.")

But kudos for carrying George Szamuely and Scott McConnell, who at least give you something substantive to chew on these days.

Lou Manzato, Manhattan

Equal-Opportunity Worms

I'm not usually one to leap to The New York Times' defense, but C.J. Sullivan's "Wormy Times" ("Daily Billboard," 11/14) left an unfair impression. As I recall it, the piece on Breezy Point as the whitest neighborhood in the city was part of a large census package that also noted the city's other neighborhoods of racial extremes. So, it's not true that the Times wouldn't write about the blackest neighborhood in the city. I don't recall if it was Brownsville, but the blackest neighborhood was noted, along with the most Asian and the most Hispanic.

John Edwards, Brooklyn Heights

La Difference

After reading Tim Hall's 11/14 "Daily Billboard," it seems strange that after a rudder, a vertical stabilizer and both engines fall off of an airliner, there's no mention of the FAA either grounding American Airlines' entire fleet for immediate inspection, or at least AA's Airbus jets for maintenance or structural failures.

Has the FAA done so? Or do they, as Hall suggests, already have the answers? As we know, after the Concorde disaster last year, all of the Concordes were immediately pulled from service and given thorough overhauls before being returned to flight status. I haven't read even a peep from Airbus concerning this latest incident.

Mark Plasko, Chapel Hill

He's Very Fit, Too

I love Taki's columns. I read him religiously. He has such wit and an abundance of charm?and a keen eye for the truth. His irreverence for what most of us take way too seriously is refreshing. He is candid where others take pains to be politically correct. Don't put that pen down, Taki?long may you rule.

Jelena Stevanovic, Chicago

Was the Bird Hamas or Islamic Jihad?

If a bird should fall from the sky in the Middle East Scott McConnell would find some way to blame Israel ("Taki's Top Drawer," 11/7). It is truly amazing how McConnell blasts a tiny democracy undergoing a Holocaust-by-installment by jihad-driven Muslims. And how he defends Egyptian serial killer Arafat and his gang who are?like Arafat?mostly migrants who want to take the Holy Land for Allah. What's more, Arab-lover McConnell lies about Israelis using American tanks to defend themselves. They use only Israeli-designed and -built Merkava tanks. Get your facts straight.

George Rubin, Manhattan

It May Just Be You

Is it just me, or did the whole of the country let out a huge sigh of relief when we were informed that the anthrax killer is probably a nerdy-looking white guy who took his gift for chemistry and his hate of the media a little too far? Even though the experts reckon one of the letters had enough anthrax to wipe out a million sniffers, it's somehow reassuring that he's one of our own and not a dastardly Arab biological wizard. All of a sudden anthrax doesn't seem as scary anymore. I suppose it's a case of better the devil you know than the one you don't.

John O'Connor, Sunnyside

Mile-High Praise

Re Taki on the media elite ("Top Drawer," 11/14): Fine, fine article! I have never read a description as clear and concise. Beautiful.

Bruce Myers, Denver

Windy Praise

Wonderful article by Taki?every word was so true?been saying it for years?keep up the good work.

Ann Coggeshall, Chicago

You Can Pith as Much As You Like

Mr. Smith: I, too, as a former news journalist, with our mandatory and pseudo-intellectual mindset, heard the groans at "Let's roll," but I didn't groan. All this has touched me where I live?in the soft parts where the remnants of my broken heart work daily to knit themselves together. As a plain, feeling, alive person I need to hear conviction?not shouted from a pulpit, but a certain determination (sans bombast), that "right" will prevail.

I have seen the flag a million times since Sept. 11. I hope I never tire of seeing it or hearing "America the Beautiful." I don't want to be jaded, that's the easy way out. Cynicism is a luxury I cannot afford anymore. I took two flights on Southwest Airlines on business this week. I could have driven, but I chose to fly because it was my personal declaration of no fear. Also, growing up in Texas, I didn't know until I went to college that "damn Yankee" was two words. If nothing else, the WTC has shown a nation that we are all the same. This sameness is echoed in "Let's roll." Common denominators make us uncommon people. Perhaps all this is what Bill O'Reilly calls "pithy comments," but when belief is the most important thing you have, and faith is no longer an option but a necessity to get out of bed every day, a portion of pith has got to be okay.

Hollis Hood, Beaumont, TX

Harley (Almost) in The Spotlight

Russ: Okay, I'm still reeling from the Series?Rivera fields the second bunt, throws to third, now Brosius will complete the double play to first, oops, he didn't do a damn thing and...hey, wait till next year, right? (Cedeno, Floyd and a set-up man are on my wish list.) As for the war, well, I'm heartened by its progress and have come to appreciate the way Bush is navigating his way through a circumstance unlike any other?no more stupid jokes, and what was the point anyway?

Fox News called last week and asked if I'd like to come on to comment on Rove's visit out here, which shows you how desperate they were for someone to say something, no matter how irrelevant, on the subject. But I passed, if only because it seemed so beside the point. Does anyone really care about Hollywood at a time like this? You're right about the recount; well, you're wrong too?the media boys, including your beloved New York Times, pretty much punted on this. But again, it's hard to get het up about it these days. And as for Bloomberg, big surprise, a Democrat won in New York (though not the Dem people were predicting).

Harley Peyton, Santa Monica

NYP in the Classroom

New York Press: I am grateful for your timely thoughts and regularly tell my students to check the "right side" at your website.

David Foster, Medina, OH

Liberals and Moderates

Mr. Smith: In your 11/14 column, you said, "And despite [Al] Hunt's dated reference to the President's 'kind of "Republican,"' there's no doubt that Bush is now an 'I Love New York' chief executive, demonstrated by his four visits here as well as close association with social moderates like Gov. Pataki, Giuliani, Bloomberg, Tom Ridge and Rep. Chris Shays."

These five people you listed are all pro-abortion and pro-gay rights (which is an amorphous term, I realize). How are they "social moderates"? What would be your definition of a social liberal? Pro-euthanasia? Just curious.

Matt Franzese, Hoffman, MN

Russ Smith replies: By "social moderates," I mean those people who are pro-choice but against late-term abortions; people who favor adoption by gays, but don't approve of gay marriages.

The Former First Toker

Thanks for the column, Mr. Smith. It was very insightful and I only wish I'd been reading it sooner. And I'm glad someone else thought Clinton had been drinking?though actually, it more resembled pot use.

Brad Adams, Roseville, CA

The Longest of Long Shots

Dear MUGGER: You get better and better. The next thing you know (this is a long shot, I know, but I still love my old neighborhood) they will start taking you for real in the Slope?especially about Bush. Thanks.

Pat Kinsella, via Internet

Dubious Intelligence

MUGGER: Compared to the vitriol spouted on sites such as David Horowitz's, your mild disapproval of the Georgetown speech (11/14) looks like high praise. Since Clinton's dilution of the FBI and CIA was so egregious, do you have perhaps some mild criticism for the eight months of the current administration where there was no concerted effort to change this policy? They were of course able to move very fast to reverse environmental protections and worker health enhancement. Did President Bush ever even read the Senate reports on the certainty of a terrorist attack while he was whacking the weeds in this ranch this summer? When you card-carrying conservatives show the inclination to evaluate actions of both parties with a modicum of objectivity, your message will become much more effective.

Al Rodbell, San Diego

Best and Worst

MUGGER: The most acute, levelheaded American media voice belongs to you, so keep up the phenomenal work. We need it in the post-9/11 climate more than ever. Even at my worst, when I was disengaged from society and on the streets for a while, I still read your free columns with great interest. Thanks.

M.C. Malone, Brookhaven, NY

Blow and Tell

Michael Bloomberg's victory (thanks to Giuliani and Mark Green's failure) amounted to an even bigger defeat for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and The New York Times, who all strongly endorsed him. It was especially heartening that the Clintons' support for Green did not work. Just recently the Clintons seemed to own New York voters. Could it be that we are finally wising up to those two?

I am convinced that had Green said thanks but no thanks to Bill Clinton, he could have won support from both sides. After all, why should he choose to align himself with a serial adulterer who lied under oath and obstructed justice? Mr. Clinton should be reminded that his daughter (b. 2/27/80) is now the same age as Monica Lewinsky was when she fellated him 38 or 39 times (Miss Lewinsky's count, not mine) in the Oval Office. It is sad to say that we had an immoral and stupid president for eight years. Not even his staunchest supporters can deny that he is immoral. As for stupid, any president?and we are talking about the president of the United States of America, not the CEO of Kmart?who would think a 21-year-old intern would keep more than three dozen blowjobs their little secret is stupid.

David Powers, Manhattan

Our Errant Ways

Oh, give me a break, MUGGER. Kosovo was an achievement? To almost bomb into oblivion a nation that had done nothing to us, a Christian nation at that, to support the drug-running, drug-smuggling Albanians run by bin Laden and his merry men? That's the truth, whether you like it or not. This unconscionable act was urged on by Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton (bomb some more) in spite of the fact that even at that time there were clear ties to bin Laden among the Albanians. The whole thing was a gigantic press setup.

Now the USA is rethinking, because the land is under the control of the Albanians and they are showing themselves as the terrorists they really are. First we overthrow a friendly government in Cuba for "freedom fighting" Castro?then the friendly Shah of Persia for the Ayatollah Khomeini?(thank the State Dept. for that)?now we lost a good friend in the Balkans. How dopey can we be? As if that were not criminal enough, we bombed the Serbs with depleted uranium bombs. The whole thing was so infamous, I still burn at the thought of it.

Jean Van Etten, Port St. Lucie, FL

MUGGER Sizzles

Great writing! Took a chance on MUGGER when I cruised the Drudge Report. Keep up the hot insights and I'll be back.

Tim Fening, Terrace Park, OH

Was She the Worst of It?

MUGGER: I enjoyed your column today (as usual), although I would have gone into Trinity Church and prayed, despite any complaints from impatient children (11/14). (I think that they would have remembered that brief visit many years from now, in fact?I recall a lot of things that my father forced me to experience in the city?such as the Cloisters, the Museum of Modern Art and quite a few other "experiences" that I did not appreciate at the time, but do now.)

I have a serious question, though?you referred to Clinton's Cabinet as being "One of the worst in American history." I have seen this exact formulation elsewhere for years?after all, they were a sorry bunch of losers, weren't they? But I have to ask, why only "one of the worst"? I defy you to go back in American history and find a bigger collection of losers, incompetents, vicious bastards and numbnuts than were assembled under William Jefferson Clinton. (I know that you will respond "Grant" or "Harding"?but really, think about it.) Perhaps you could run a poll on this, but respondents must be prepared to give reasons why their choices were at least marginally worse than Clinton's choices. I mean, come on, Janet Reno for attorney general?

Jack Gold, Prudhoe Bay, AK

Tough Love

The United States has given more hope and a better life to more people than any other country in the history of the world. That's jingoism and I'm proud of it. MUGGER, your sons are learning?as I did during WWII, as I watched my uncles and cousins go to war and fight?that life isn't a beach. Tough, but better than what passed for the American way of life for the past several decades. Your boys will be stronger for it, and better men. They sound like terrific kids and you are understandably proud of them. As for Bill Clinton, I wouldn't dare tell you what I think of him, but jackass is a word in my vocabulary.

Judith Willms, Omaha

Go West, MUGGER

Russ Smith: Great baseball and from the Left Coast, I'm a happy fan. It was exciting. As much as you love the city it is time to think about coming out here where you have a lot more space and you can drive your family to the ballpark and not use cabs.

I can tell you that life here is much the same as it was before 9/11. It is a reminder that this is a big country. Life moves on and the city will eventually be back to a norm when the cleanup is complete and the smoke stops rising and new construction begins. I do envy your fish dinner ("MUGGER," 11/14); fish tacos are not the same thing.

Hillary has Bill's disease?foot-in-mouth. She is going to be the first one-term senator in the history of the state, provided that she lasts a whole term. There are still things out there that can doom her and we can only hope. Being a vigilant parent does have its little rewards, but the biggest determiner in anybody's life is not whether they get A's but whether they have persistence and determination. Doggedness is a factor that is not taught, but one that can be nurtured. For a nice spring break, bring your kids to the Grand Canyon and enjoy the splendor. It would be good for the nation's economy and for the mental health of your family. It is a sight that takes your breath away, in a good way.

Alan White, Phoenix

Us and Them

Now, more than ever before, we need your voice. All the small-mindedness that is flowing out of Washington, DC, is poison. I, for one, am very unwilling to give up any of my civil rights. These are rights that have been fought for and paid for in blood. The people taking your rights away from you are not trying to help you. The point of view these people have is that the way you and I use our rights is wrong. They will always want to take as many away as possible. They feel this birthright to control. So, piece by piece, they will figure out ways to make your rights disappear.

The new "antiterrorism" laws that have been passed, well, the very publication I am writing to and you are reading will be looked at more closely. They will be looking for their chance to leap on "unpatriotic" points of view. Your rights limit their power. Did you volunteer for fewer freedoms? I gave no one permission, I do not recall signing anything to that effect. I feel I have been robbed. Let me ask: Do you really feel any safer with a 100 percent increase in police in your neighborhood? Well, here is the difference. These people do, because they have the same mindset as the very people who are paid to enforce their laws and rules.

I tend to call this way of believing and living "right wing." But this rings false for two reasons. One, in order to have a "wing," there must be more than one faction. These days, it is a witch hunt, the 1950s all over again. Trust me, you will see blacklists printed in the corporate newspapers next. Secondly, they are anything but "right," in any sense of the word. They are small-minded. Limited. Cruel and fearful of questions. But perhaps the most dangerous aspect of these people is this: this conviction that they are right. What is that great line from an old Public Enemy song: "Never played the fool, just made the rules."

Now, they worship the word democracy. Here is what my dictionary says: "Government by the people; esp.; rule of the majority." Majority? Look at how many people vote. The majority do not. So those voted into power have been placed there by a very selected few. If you do not think there is a monarchy in these United States then just check out the names that have held places of authority and power. The same ones appear again and again. I am saddened and frightened by what I hear. Resist. Never let them into your heart. In my mind, asking questions is a good and healthy thing. For them, asking questions and not submitting blindly is unpatriotic. That is a dead man's way of thinking. It's as poisoned as mistaking patriotism for militarism.

Drew Feurer, Coxsackie, NY

Taki Makes His Mark

Taki is an absolute gem. His last two columns have been brilliant, succinct and howlingly funny. He deserves a raise and you need to get your green boxes out here in Queens (where we use the Times to potty train our dogs).

Howard Ende, Jackson Heights

Smokin' J

Taki's right. The worst and dumbest go to J-school.

John Morzenti, Devon, PA

Taki's Too Restrained

Taki's recent article "The Media Elite" ("Top Drawer," 11/14) does not go far enough. When Clinton and his mass murderers bombed Serbia, not only were they attacking a weak and unpopular country, they were allying themselves with Osama bin Laden through the Kosovo Liberation Army against Orthodox Christianity. The media elite aren't about to report that.

Charles Lapo, Denver

Freedom of the Word Processor

The following statement is taken from a person (me) who is part of the vast right-wing conspiracy (whatever the hell that is). The media elite, along with the many blind leftists who follow their lead, want gun control. The pen is mightier (hence, more dangerous) than the sword. Nobody says anything about pen control. Think about it.

John Shelkop, Marietta, GA

America First

Taki's got it right again. I was horrified with what we did to Belgrade. I'm an air war veteran of Vietnam and have seen the horrors of this stuff close up. I wonder if Clinton, Albright or Biden has. We are absolutely right with our action in Afghanistan. But I don't want Richard Perle or his crowd deciding which additional countries we have to take out! We need a president who will act in America's interest only.

R.T. Carpenter, Panama City, FL

Which Country?

Just got around to reading Taki's "Media Elite." On behalf of the media elite I would like to point out that many of them have spent more time in war zones (e.g., Dan Rather) than a certain presidential "draft dodger," a president who joined the National Guard but was a no-show or his vice president who had "higher priorities" than participating in the Vietnam War. As a veteran, I would also like to know if Taki's priorities allowed him to serve his country on active duty in one of the services?

Bill Vogt, Lorton, VA

Chuckles the Clinton

"Friends of Osama" ("Top Drawer," 11/7) was one of the best pieces I have ever read about the clown who was called president. I am looking forward to reading more from this writer. Thanks so much for saying what so many of us could not put into words. Keep it up please!

Ronald Sharland, East Weymouth, MA

A+

Taki's "Friends of Osama": Outstanding!

Doug Sewall, Orono, ME

Bitter's Just the Beginning

Taki took the words right out of my mouth in this excellent article. What a cancer are Bill and Hillary Clinton! What shame on our country they have caused, what damage we will suffer for years to come because of their greed, lies and hatred of all people and things decent and honest. Bill Clinton just makes a fool of himself; he pops up like an insignificant hanger-on joke everywhere there is a photo-op or a dollar to be had. Neither of the Clintons has a conscience or any class, no matter how much money they steal, coerce or grab.

Taki's article is the truth about what America is truly feeling these days?just as the dear FDNY and NYPD heroes expressed at Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago?the whole nation boos both Clintons because we realize that this terrorism horror and the mass murder of thousands of innocent Americans would never have occurred if Bill Clinton had any courage, any foreign policy knowledge or if he had any real love of America. Way back in 1993 when those Army Rangers were slaughtered in Somalia and dragged through the streets, bin Laden's terrorists were even involved then. But Clinton is a fool, a coward and was too busy getting laid, stealing money and covering his tracks to care about mere American lives. He is a sorry excuse of a man and a worse excuse of a president.

Our country will pay for decades for the damage the socialist Clintons have caused. Their lifetime pensions and Secret Service security should be stripped away immediately. They and their child have been totally supported by government dollars for decades; they repaid free housing, security and millions of dollars of perks by allowing thousands of our citizens to be vaporized in just an hour's time. Pray for our nation. Pray that Bill Clinton wises up, realizes no one cares about him anymore and fades away. If I sound bitter, it is because I and millions like me are bitter about the past eight years of decay caused by Bill and Hillary Clinton and their enablers and accomplices, i.e., Peter Jennings, Paul Begala, James Carville, Barbra Streisand, Denise Rich, Al Gore, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, CNN, David Kendall. Thank you, Taki, for your courage to write the truth.

June Ingram, Pensacola, FL