George W. Bush, The Unexamined Man

I thought the article was just about right; but you left out the something important: the Texas tax that Bush pushed through to help fund his baseball team. Bush pretty much financially failed in his oil deals over the long term, but it was the profit from the quick sale of his baseball venture, mostly financed by the taxpayers, that really made our President financially.

Brian Miller

Media Shares Blame For Election 2000 Fraud

As your article of voter fraud hints, this election was a bloodless coup d'etat. Bush is far closer in style and policies to Pinochet (friendly fascism) than he is to President Harding (an earlier Monitor article). Like Pinochet, Bush and those around him will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. The only difference is that he didn't have to bludgeon Gore to death, as Pinochet disposed of Allende. Far easier to use voter fraud tactics in Florida and other states.

Robert Leverant

Condit/Levy: We Do It All For You

Wonderful article; I have been e-mailing every media address I can find, along the same lines. My major problem is "WHAT ARE THESE 'QUESTIONS' THAT THEY WANT HIM TO ANSWER?" I will scream if I hear them say that again. Please ask them what the exact questions are. I also wonder why they are so upset that Condit allegedly did not confirm that they were having an affair. Mrs. Levy herself said that after the gardener/minister told her about his daughter's affair/non-affair, she immediately called her daughter (why?) and that her daughter called her back and said she had checked, and "that everything was ok." (What did she mean?) Also, the aunt said that she had known all along -- her niece had confided in her. When she was missing, didn't the aunt tell Chandra's mother?

"RFC"

It deserves to be kept on the front burner -- sweeping under carpet and moving on is not right.

Storrs Warinner

Are You Being Watched By Your Cell Phone?

While there are things one can do in the "Internet world" to provide anonymity from all but the hacker level (most data collection companies can be fooled), the cell phone architecture, as a matter of function, must know where the handset is. Notice I did not say, "person."

The concept of "long distance" is rapidly giving way to a phone call being just a phone call. The long distance structure that dates to the old AT&T pre-divestiture days will go away. Until they do something about it, myself and two other friends with national "a phone call is a phone call" plans have simply switched phones. We all pay the same so we pay "each other's" bill when it arrives. The system may know where my handset is, but only I know where I am.

Noel Field

The Great White Myth of Kennewick Man

In the recent article about the Kenniwick man, the author blithely describes the Asatru Folk Assembly as a "Northwest neo-pagan group associated with white supremicists." These words are clearly an epithet in today's world and should not be used lightly.

Being a member of another, unrelated neo-pagan organization, I was very concerned that such a racist group should exist. I researched this group through their website and it was clear that they are not "white supremicists" in the same meaning as the KKK or the Christian Identity Movement. They are merely interested in exploring their pre-Christian cultural and ethnic heritage. If it is "racist" to do this for Northern European-Americans, then surely it is "racist" for U.S. blacks to explore African roots, or Chicanos to explore pre-Columbian Meso-American cultural roots. Mr. Berger should be censured for using accusations of racism so lightly.

Kay Brown

Letters to America

I recently subscribed to the Monitor and believe the stated intentions of the site are very worthwhile. I never take what I read to be truth, and seek to find an ulterior motive that may be behind the subject. To this end I want to question the validity of the letter by Tutu' Ahmad Khan in your "Letters from America" section.

There are a variety of things that make me question it -- not the references to race, neighborhoods not to enter, or ridiculous questions asked of people of a visable non-caucasian race, those I find highly plausible -- but other references in this letter I find hard to swallow from a first-time visitor to the U.S,. even one who had spent six months here. The first thing that brought question to my mind was the reference to people as "African Americans." I have travelled fairly extensively (albeit not to Pakistan) and have spoken with people from many different cultures. The only people I've found, for better or worse, that are so politically correct are Americans.

If this indeed is a fabrication, I would expect to see your site acknowledge that.

Tim Kiefer

Ahmar Mustikhan is indeed a real person; he's written for us twice before, most recently a feature on Pakistan's infamous Malir dump. He is currently working on an article exploring why the Arab world hates and distrusts the U.S.

Ahmar's first version of the essay was not in the form of a letter to his brother. Rather, I asked him for a rewrite using that theme once I saw the similarities between his observations and Alexis de Toquville's Democracy in America. He added a new intro and a few connective passages to personalize it, and I edited the final work. References to "African Americans" are indeed his and can be found in the first draft.

Ahmar currently lives in Ohio, and was recently badly beaten in an apparently racially-motivated attack.   -- Editor

Enviros Under Attack By Right-Wing Coalition

Rainforest Action Network is doing a job that needs to be done and we support them for what they have been able to accomplish. Boise Cascade Corporation is typical of a big corporation's thinking. We all need to pull together and show these corp's that we're not going to put up with this type of behavior anymore.

"Buzznmimi"

N Carolina Tribe Evolved Unique Native-English Hybrid

I am married to a Lumbee Indian, and yes, they do have a dialect of their own. I call it Lumbonics. The Lumbee children in public schools are being told it's bad english and penalized by having to take a speech class. Their language is so misunderstood. We need more teachers who can realize that there are other cultures with different pronunciations.

Cheryl Jacobs

Ronnie D. Freeman

Police Corruption Scandals Spread Nationwide

I think this is a great site to gather information on the widespread problem of police corruption, and how it is invisible to the American public. Here in our city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the police continously run amok with no accountablity. The accusations range from intimidation, false arrest, beatings, deaths,racism, murder, humiliation. They are even smug, since nothing is ever done about it. These incidents will decrease in time when the public is alerted and demands more accountability

"nopostal4u"

GOP Will Never Say Die In Pursuit Of Clintons

You got one thing right. Tie the can to Clinton's ass and never say die. And that goes double for that communist grifter wife of his.

Ray Evans