Like virtually everyone who writes about politics, Todd Gitlin falls into the trap of thinking that the political world is a reality unto itself, transcendent of other realities. Indeed, Washington, D.C. is treated as a special entity, a repository of omnipotence, omniscience, and if not omnipresence, the only presence. A ripoff of Vedanta, and an attitude due for a great surprise.

The dominance of the criminal Republican party depends on numerous external realities. The most important is the adequate functioning of the economic system. The economic system depends on a number of factors, but the chief one is the bounty provided by the planet in the form of clean air and water, fertile land, healthy waterways and oceans, and a supportive climate. Another factor is the freedom from uncontrollable diseases. Still another factor is the mutual trust and cooperation of the other nations of the world. All of these factors must work together to generate economic growth infinitely into the future.

Of course, this can't happen, regardless of who is President of the United States. What the Bush gang is doing is speeding up the process of d�nouement. In other words, events will overtake. The one thing we must do, though, is make life difficult for the Bush criminal organization, in order to be ready for change when the time comes. These are not strong men, not smart men, and not competent men. They will fail whether resisted or not, but resist them we must. By helping them fail, we will be better able to know what to do when the time comes.

I only watched "The West Wing" a few times, but found it pretentious and depicting more honor and decency than exists in the White House, regardless of who occupies it. I had a hard time accepting Martin Sheen as president, but an even harder time accepting Rob Lowe as an aide. He seems more real as an aide to Arnold Swarzenegger. Truth, though stranger than fiction, does better casting. Life imitating art can be great entertainment as well as tragedy.

"The West Wing" is still probably better than 99% of the shows out there. That still isn't good enough. I tend to watch only PBS, which, though a mixed bag, offers high quality drama and public affairs programming. Now, back to "Marley and me."

I only watched "The West Wing" a few times, but found it pretentious and depicting more honor and decency than exists in the White House, regardless of who occupies it. I had a hard time accepting Martin Sheen as president, but an even harder time accepting Rob Lowe as an aide. He seems more real as an aide to Arnold Swarzenegger. Truth, though stranger than fiction, does better casting. Life imitating art can be great entertainment as well as tragedy.

"The West Wing" is still probably better than 99% of the shows out there. That still isn't good enough. I tend to watch only PBS, which, though a mixed bag, offers high quality drama and public affairs programming. Now, back to "Marley and me."

I only watched "The West Wing" a few times, but found it pretentious and depicting more honor and decency than exists in the White House, regardless of who occupies it. I had a hard time accepting Martin Sheen as president, but an even harder time accepting Rob Lowe as an aide. He seems more real as an aide to Arnold Swarzenegger. Truth, though stranger than fiction, does better casting. Life imitating art can be great entertainment as well as tragedy.

"The West Wing" is still probably better than 99% of the shows out there. That still isn't good enough. I tend to watch only PBS, which, though a mixed bag, offers high quality drama and public affairs programming. Now, back to "Marley and me."

It's kind of silly to say any "generation" is "better" than any other "generation." Tom Brokaw, a man without a "generation," started all this stupidity. Germany and Japan were defeated in a two theater war, nice job. It would have been nicer if the war hadn't happened in the first place, but no "generation" seems to have learned that little skill yet. It also would have been nice if the men who came home from that war had been better fathers.

Born in 1945, I somehow don't qualify as a "baby-boomer," being born one year too soon. I both served in the Army and opposed the war, and partook of the cultural richness of the late 60s to mid 70s. It almost killed me.

Rather than comparing the supposed greatness of any generation, we would do well to try to ensure a future for the generations to come. Maybe one of them could approach true greatness.

It is worth mentioning that one legacy of the time when I was young is worthy of praise, and that is the search for higher consciousness. Though many attempts were excessive and had horrendous results, the various methods used to raise one's level of being made the clearest break from the materialist, industrialist, consumerist, mass culturist, sleaze authoritarian straight jacket that defines American life. Future generations, if there are any, will likely be most thankful for the effort.