She couldn't not have him on the show. Agreed. But did she have to bring out the whip and leave permanent scars? She made me pity Frey, despite how much I hate what he did, and I'm sure that wasn't the audience reaction The Big O was hoping for.

And what about forgiveness? It seems to me a little forgiveness might have left everyone's dignity intact, particularly Oprah's.

As a final note, why wasn't Al Franken on the show? As the author of 'Lying Liars and the Liars Who Tell Them', I think he might have had something to say on this issue. He even dedicated one of his books to Oprah, calling her a "class act". Do you think he still feels that way? I sure don't.

Apologies, for some reason the body of my previous letter was not published, only the subject heading and my signature. Strange, and I have no idea how to fix it, so I'll just attempt to post the same letter again. Here goes...

We practice physical excercise daily to stay in shape, but clearly not everyone remembers to practice the emotional excercises of tolerance, curiousity about others, patience, empathy, grace, humour, or common decency. I wonder which kind of sloth, physical or emotional, is more damaging to us.

I almost didn't write this letter, because it talks about reader reaction to the piece, rather than the piece itself, but after witnessing the level of intolerance spewed out by Salon readers, readers who I thought were above this kind of thing, I had to say something. To not speak up would have been akin to clamming up when your buddy tells a racist joke. Cowardice is just as ugly as intolerance. I had to say something, or else I'm just as guilty.

"Nobody in the legal community in Tulsa or Northern Oklahoma is probably going to care," said lawyer David Blades. "Tulsa's a small town, by national standards. We all know each other, we all know the judges and go to the same bar meetings, and it's just not going to make a difference."

Is it just me or does this little gem of a quote just smack of Old Boy's Club. Well, it's not just Tulsa that's a

small town Blades, the entire Republican administration is small town, and Dubya makes a fine Boss Hog.

K. Elle Clarke