Mike Scherer's take on "the Colbert bomb" is just perfect. Right on target with no Maggies Drawers. My wife sometimes gets fuzzed when I snarl at television news or take a fish knife to print news. But we both share the same horror at the rot at the top (and bottom) of the MSM.

Colbert's autopsy was immaculate. And the MSM's ignoring him is the most telling thing they could have done to expose their feckless behavior.

After a lifetime of journalism I'm seldom moved to write anything anymore (If I get a notion it's throttled). But Scherer was inspiring enough to move me to thank him for the insight.

Larry Van Goethem

As an elderly ex-reporter, and once a Marine, I was appalled to see "Flags of Our Fathers" disappear down the national memory hole. I haven't seen it yet; my bladder doesn't tolerate cinemas so I wait for the dvd. But it was clear from reading the reviews that the new century's Standard Narrative would not tolerate an honest look at John Bradley (who really raised hell with me when I wanted to do a piece on him) and his buddys' sacrifice. This is why I enjoyed Ms. Zacharek's review; she sensed the operating Zeitgeist and smoked out its flaw. Well, I saw Iwo Jima, nine years afterward, when our division went ashore.For God's sake it's a smoking landscape.We marveled at the grit of the 1945 invaders. The Japanese have it now, but it's sacred ground. The operative word for such battles is sacrifice, the one Lincoln used so well. Those jarheads went to ground in a war they didn't seek. The redemption, as only grunts understand, is contained in the sacrifice. As for the behavior of Japanese solders, find some books, like Eugene Sledge's personal account, read them and weep.

Larry Van Goethem

Wait a minute! Rinella says Zumbo is no martyr.

True, but his first rant was on the money. I haven't hunted since high school but it seems to me that there is no place in the woods today for automatic or semi-automatic weapons.

If hunters like Rinella are serious about their ideals then they should ban anything but bolt action rifles and lever-action carbines from the hunt. In an era when most wild game is managed like cattle (biologists refer commonly to "the herd") returning to pump action shotguns, or even single shot rifles, makes sense. That is, if anyone really pretends to be a sportsman.

Larry Van Goethem

It's simple. The ABC item is not a story but a memo to a reporter about a possible story. We see such runt news all the time on television. Newsrooms used to have a spike where failed stories were, of course, SPIKED. Don't they kill stories that don't make it anymore? Guess not. I've even killed scoops from other publications because they failed the sniff test. As Walker Percy said, it needs a nose for merde. Every newsperson is accustomed to checking out tips or rumors that are deemed too shakey to see print. Unfortunately, in an era of instant news, nobody wants to be left behind.

I wish that you were my neighbor, Mr. Greenwald, because we're ringed here in the Wisconsin lake country, by masses of Republicans. Great post on the Klein piece; would there were many more Salons and hundreds of Greenwalds. But you erred in your id of the commander; his name is really Gen. William Westmorland.

Memo to Rebecca, and all the other cool, smart and sneering writers out there: Yeah, I like Dennis Kucinich too.But was it impossible to transmit the message without the dose of ridicule? I speak from the vantage point of seven plus decades; if I want to ruin my day all I have to do is read my old stories. Sometimes, reading today's liberals, I cringe at the sneering and snickering awash like blood in their clever words. Does anyone ever care about the sensibilities of their targets? (uh .... except Bush from this caveat). Reminds me of the time I ended up in intensive care and the nurse doing my IV shunt tore my hand up while telling me she was the wife of a politician I had recently taken a nasty poke at. Finally, to the end of the rant: I believe in UFOs. Don't know what they are. Have seen only one. A scientist once postulated robots! Hope we find out before I die. No rational human being can discount the obvious truth that we are a tiny apotheosis of dirt in an endless universe. Do we really believe there are no big stories left to write? I hope not but we're not going to find them with the wrong attitude.

Barack Obama's comments about the anger of heartland Americans is spot on. I live in rural America,having quit a newspaper job 35 years ago. I am glad I made the move but we did not live happier ever after. Nor did we prosper. We are content but notice that few people live well in smalltown America Those who do are the economic superstructure--bankers, insurance or real estate agents, key merchants and, umm, undertakers.

We've noticed a certain expression become rather commonplace in recent years. It's accompanied by a shrug, a grimace and a sigh of disgust: "What a country huuh!" It occurs to me that Obama's statement will help, not hurt, him. The only people excited about his words were the chattering classes. They, of course, own the fire, and Obama, like Promotheus, threatens to make it his. And ours. So now this good man has become the blue plate special for the cultural elite? Yes, yes, yes. And fie on journalists so lacking in insight they miss the point. It has always been this way. I am a liberal, but when I read Ms. Walsh's thought process it's easy to understand why the Obamas of our world are usually dispatched to the mountain top for re-education.