I get my phone service from AT&T. It used to be SBC, and Ameritech before that. I haven't been happy doing business with any of these names, but the competition costs more. Back in the '90s Ameritech allowed a guy who worked in personnel at a former employer to take out phone service in my name, using my Social Security number as proof that he was me. He ordered the service by phone. The people at Ameritech were complete jerks about the whole thing, and weren't even going to tell me where the phone service in my name was connected. No law enforcement agency gave me any help, but the local Secret Service agent at least gave me the one straight answer I got: the U.S. Attorney wouldn't prosecute any case under $10,000. Mine was only $1100. Eventually it was the Credit Bureau that got on the case and straightened things out. (The criminal was in jail for other offenses when I found out who he was. Most likely he was given an offer he couldn't very well refuse, and was put to work as an informant, provocateur, or some such.)

Nothing in the lineage of AT&T would surprise me. Some Salon readers might remember the prophetic movie "The President's Analyst," starring James Coburn, with a number of humorous cameo appearances, most significantly Barry McGuire. The villain, in the end, turns out to be the phone company. A re-release would be timely.

Everything I have seen written about this case has focused on the violations of law and of the constitution. What is ignored is that unlimited domestic spying is part of the natural progression of a mass society. This is because by its very nature a mass system is a movement towards concentration. Concentration of power, of control, of decision-making are the logical trend and conclusion of a mass system. If we truly wish to live free of government and corporate intrusion, we first must recognize the need to demassify the way we live our lives.

Unfortunately, this much needed demassification will not happen by the will of the people. We will have to wait for events to overtake. And overtake they will, beginning with Global Warming. Or, maybe not beginning with Global Warming. A natural phenomenon like the San Andreas fault might be the catalyst. An accidental start of World War III might to the trick. Or an intentional start of World War III. We've come close a couple of times before, with vastly better leadership than we have now.

However the future plays out, the bad intentions of people in power will eventually be their undoing. They may succeed for a while in foisting their evil plans on the world, but the natural interplay of forces will work against them. What we need to ensure is that they don't take us and the rest of the planet down with them.

It is sometimes amazing and often gratifying that, in this critical time in history, Salon rises to the challenge consistently and tenaciously to provide journalism at the highest standard of excellence. It's the only news service I pay for, and I am a happy customer.

By the way, if anyone on the planet has the wherewithal to find a different picture of Zacharias Moussaui, I expect to see it first on Salon. It can't come too soon.

Maybe clarity is not always desirable, but I had trouble figuring out the point of this article. It seemed to be about Austin, with the "Prairie Home Companion" movie as the backdrop, but was probably intended to be the other way around.

Whatever it was about, it made me keep the movie in mind for future viewing. I met Garrison Keillor a couple of times, and have been to shortened versions of his show. He's the real deal, able to bring acting skills out of the most ordinary people, the same person in private as in public. He has done much to keep middle America from the grasp of the cultural/political straight-jacketeers of corporate America. That is probably what brought Robert Altman's attention.

Austin's great too, a good energy town. That it gave us Bush is not Austin's fault. Anyplace has the same vulnerability.

None of these three professional funny men were ever A grade, like Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, Ernie Kovacs, or even Steve Allen. I got some laughs from all three, but it didn't take long before they became redundant, formulaic, and tiresome.

Albert Brooks, of course, ran out of material first. Woody Allen's creepiness crept in around the time he became America's most notorious "short eyes." With Steve Martin, I think his biggest problem is his familiarity. He's a guy who tries to be funny, rather than actually being funny.

It's worth mentioning that Robin Williams is even more tiresome, a relentless ham who forces his humor in every situation. Jim Carrey is tiresome for the same reason. What this all points out is the great difficulty in being a comedian. I suspect that if one were to spend an evening filled with laughs, a night out with Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, or Jack Nicholson would be a hoot. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Nicholson and Warren Beatty were smoking it up in their younger days.