Clapton's 1976 on-stage rant in Birmingham about keeping Britain white, deporting "wogs" and "coons," and supporting Enoch Powell, inspired not just Rock Against Racism, but also much of Pink Floyd's THE WALL. The ironic concert-within-an-album in THE WALL (side 4 of the original LP) takes on Clapton in Birmingham: "That one looks Jewish / And that one's a coon / Who let all this riff-raff / Into this room?" and "Would you like to send our colored cousins home again / My friend? / All you have to do is follow the worm."

Clapton did apologize after the Birmingham incident - sort of. He said he was drunk, and that he was angry because "an Arab" had groped his (Clapton's) wife's ass. A few years later, however, he reiterated his admiration for Enoch Powell - presumably while sober, and without any ass-groping provocation.

What's depressing about this sort of thing is that it feels like being bitten by your own dog. I suppose we could call it the Jews-and-Wagner syndrome. I happen to like "White Room" and "Cocaine," but I won't buy Clapton CDs to replace the vinyl. My sister used to be a huge Guns & Roses fan in high school until I drew her attention to the lyrics, and I know quite a few people (myself included) who were once fans of The Smiths but can no longer bring themselves to play their old records, having discovered Morrissey's solo work a little too late.

Maybe in some. What HRC generates in me is a sick resignation that if I don't want to see Giuliani become the next president, I will have to "hold my nose" and vote for her. What's even more disappointing is that she knows it, and it's good enough for her.

I wish somebody would explain to me just why she wants to be the president. There is no ideology in her platform, no real agenda for change or even conservation - indeed, there is no platform other than wanting power for its own sake. I find this deeply demoralizing, rather than hateful or hopeful.

What HRC and the Democratic Party seem not to understand is that by hedging their bets on war with Iran, they may also be ceding the election. If the election becomes a contest between two sets of irrational hawks, the GOP will out-hawk the Democrats without breaking a sweat. By virtue of its place in American political (and popular) culture, the Republican Party is much better positioned to exploit jingoism and fear. If, on the other hand, the Democrats take a firm and articulate stand against attacking Iran, and make this an election about the follies of warmongering, they might win.

Singapore Airlines unveiled those pretty double-bed cabins on its A380s, only to announce (with a typically Singaporean, have-fun-and-we'll-cane-you-and-not-in-a-nice-way perspective on life) that passengers are not allowed to fool around. What a gift for Richard Branson! This all but ensures that Virgin Atlantic will place a condom on the pillow on board its aircraft to seize the competitive advantage.

Uh, in defense of Patrick, some of us DO care about what a plane looks like on the outside. It's no different, really, than caring about what a ship or a car or a motorcycle looks like. Besides, aesthetic appreciation is about the only thing left to an airplane geek now that the actual experience of flying is, more often than not, something to dread rather than enjoy. For those of us who spent our childhoods doodling airplanes in the margins of chemistry textbooks, the five best-looking jetliners of all time are (in descending order of prettiness) -

Boeing 747

McDonnell Douglas MD-11

Vickers VC-10

Boeing 707

Hawker Siddeley Trident

Honorable mentions: Airbus A340, Tupolev Tu-154, Lockheed Tristar

The ugliest are -

Douglas DC-8

Airbus A380

Douglas DC-9 (and its derivatives)

Airbus A320

Ilyushin IL-96

You wouldn't think so, judging by this list. Or does the inclusion of Tony Leung take care of those "others"? People in Japan, China, India, the Middle East, Africa and Russia would probably include a few Europeans and Americans on their lists of Sexiest/Smartest/Silliest Whatever. How sadly provincial that you lot can't manage to reciprocate.

We'll have two Kingfishers, the fried okra, and the Indian baby?

It's very sad, the way that Salon has degenerated into an e-rag for narcissistic women who see the world as their shopping catalog. I became a subscriber after 9/11, when there was a need to support alternative journalism. Now the only "alternatives" in Salon are self-congratulation and minor guilt, both of the First-World upper-class navel-gazing variety.

This article sums up everything that is irritating about JSUWW, uh, Salon.

There are plenty of "Eastern Muslims" who oppose this sort of thing quite vocally, except that you haven't taken the trouble to become aware of it or even to entertain the possibility. It's really not all up to the West (including "Western Muslims").

I recall John McCain's habit of casually referring to Vietnamese people - and by extension, Asians - as "gooks" a couple of campaigns ago. When it was pointed out to him that the term was racist, he persisted. ("But they tortured me!") His adopted daughter will, in all likelihood, grow up to be one fucked-up woman.