Of course, had Thatcher accepted that Sands and co. were prisoners of war, then we might have seen a kind of Bushian policy develop, with the UK making military strikes on targets in the Republic of Ireland--another good reason to continue to address terrorism as crime.

Amerigo, what gobshite. You seem to think that carpet-bombing this letter section with lengthy Tory talking points from 1981 will pass as reasoned discourse. The Thatcher government already operated covertly in the Republic of Ireland during her government's tenure; in fact, it could be said that the British government and its proxies in Ireland engaged in "terrorism" themselves by your definition.

I've not read every comment here, but one aspect of the arresting officer's report struck me. How is that Gates could be charged for creating a disturbance in a public place when he was in his home at the time of the incident?

It should be noted that Roethlisberger's teammate, Jerome Bettis, was falsely accused of rape about six years ago by a Pittsburgh woman in cahoots with a male friend trying to extort money from the former Steeler star running back. The charge was dropped, of course.

Harding deserves a penalty flag here for her knee-jerk criticism of ESPN.

I won't use "stupid racists." How about "as dumb as a box of rocks"?

The movie referred to earlier is "Grace of My Heart," written and directed by Allison Anders. It does indeed star Illeana Douglas and blends fictionalized versions of the lives of Ellie Greenwich and Carole King with Eric Stoltz playing a role loosely based on Jeff Barry. John Turturro plays a version of Phil Spector. Readers may recall that Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello wrote the big finale "God Give Me Strength," credited in the film to Douglas's character, Denise Waverly.

And with apologies to R. Crumb, I'd like to address the commenter who ridiculed the reference to "do wah diddy" by quoting what Mr. Natural said to a woman who asked him what "diddy wah diddy" means:

"If you don't know by now, lady, don't mess with it."

Ellie Greenwich, da doo ron ron, do wah diddy, R.I.P.

Before I met my second and current wife at work, I was a single father for my daughter and son for several years. My former wife refused to pay court-ordered child support during that time, and the kids and I are still struggling to dig ourselves out of the financial and emotional hole their mom created.

I don't know what I detest more about this story: Heche's nationally televised comments or Mary Elizabeth Williams's globally published defense of same.

Sputum,

OK, we get it, you don't like the show. Give it a rest. No one is forcing you to watch it or to read the reviews and analysis.

The Internet's a big place. I'm sure there are Web sites out there with discussions on television programs that are more to your taste. NCIS, perhaps? Or maybe Wipeout?

PS: Very few of us share your disdain.