In 1900, Jean Sibelius completed the symphonic poem Finlandia, which contains a hymn-like section popularly known as the Finlandia Hymn, which Sibelius later published separately. It is often played on public occasions in Finland, but is not the Finnish national anthem.

In 1934, Lloyd Stone wrote A Song of Peace, setting his verse to the Sibelius melody. A Song of Peace has been popular with church groups for many years, and appears for example in the hymnal published by Friends General Conference. Yes, Quakers sing. One Quaker who sings is Joan Baez, who has had A Song of Peace in her repertoire for years.

As it happens, I already knew these facts when I read Ms. Zacharek's snarky crack. But I can assure you that, by simply using the Google, a person who read that sentence and said to herself, "Why the hell would anybody not terminally silly sing the Finnish national anthem at an American political rally?" could discover most if not all of them in under ten minutes. Ms. Zacharek didn't ask that question, one presumes, because it was already an article of her faith that Joan Baez is an ass.

Who's silly now?

Friday afternoon, Ms. Zacharek referred to Joan Baez "warbling her way through the Finnish--yes, Finnish--national anthem." I sent you, and you posted, a fairly long and I trust reasonably cogent letter explaining that what Ms. Baez was in fact "warbling" was the rather well-known hymn A Song of Peace, whose melody is taken from Finlandia, which is not "the Finnish national anthem." On Monday, poor Joan is still, in Ms. Zacharek's copy at least, confused about what country she's in.

Put simply, on Friday that was an error. Today, it's just a lie.

Cianci is a fairly common surname in Providence. (Indeed, one of Providence's better-known mayors was named Cianci.) Unfortunately for her, a young woman with that surname who graduated from my high school a few years before me had the otherwise quite conventional name Nancy Ann.

Can be a good attack dog and hammer John McCain.

Offers a working-class, rank-and-file appeal to those parts of the coalition with whom Hillary Clinton thrived.

Potentially delivers a state.

Is strong in policy areas where Obama is not.

Even if he formally took himself out, the person who best fits this set of criteria is Webb.

It has been impossible for any literate person beyond the generations of toadies and lick-spittles Martin Peretz has hired over the years to take The New Republic seriously for at least the last quarter-century.

Leaving aside the Adamses, Harrisons, and Roosevelts, consider a single woman--still alive at this writing--Bethine Clark Church. Her husband, father, uncle, and cousin were all at one time or another Governor of or Senator from Idaho, and if her older son hadn't decided to finish his seminary studies (as he tells in his recent memoir) he might have been a Congressman from Nebraska. Gore Vidal says somewhere that before he was injudicious enough to publish The City and the Pillar, the wires were being pulled for him to follow his grandfather into Congress.

Still, I admit that one thing that persuaded me to support Obama was the grim notion of an unbroken 24 or 28 year period when the names of the President were Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. That's no way to run a republic.

Some pinhead asks "By what legal means" Barack Obama gets to call himself Barack Obama.

Well, let's see. I get to call myself Jim Tourtelott because my father, Jim Tourtelott, named me Jim Tourtelott.

It's really that simple. Honest. No need for a Grassy Knoll, or 15 foot tall extraterrestrial lizards, or the Elders of Zion. If your dad's named Barack Obama, he can name you Barack Obama, and that's your name.