My arthritis has been giving me Hell, and I'm in a Bipolar slump, so my external life is a bit out of control. I won't bore you or alarm you the details. Suffice it to say, that is why my responses to personal contacts have been a bit slow and terse. I'm not being aloof, just seriously distracted.

Those who have noted my comments in the discussions can see that I am largely concerned with the Iraq war, parallels with the insanity of Viet Nam, and the attendant abuses of legal rights.

Suggested reading on the subject of War:

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

And a current update on the theme:

http://www.counterpunch.org/white01092003.html

On a lighter note, I also suggest:

Generation of Vipers
Criticism and Other Nonfiction
- Philip Wylie
Dalkey Archive Press (reprint)
September 1996
331 pages, 8.5 x 5.5 paperback
ISBN 1-56478-146-1

Written in 1942, originally published in 1943. I have a couple of very frayed, yellowed and spine-broken 1954 edition paperbacks. Rather than revising, Wylie added equally spicy footnote comments.

Available online from Amazon.com (and others, no doubt), and direct from the publisher.

Here's a little taste:

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Wylie