Do Wildmon and Dobson have any lives at all? I'm certain that if extraterrestrials were to promise to visit our planet and bring all kinds of solutions to war, disease, famine, etc., these paranoid nut cases would tell Bush, "Don't let them in if they're gay."

By the way, I'm sure that Wells Fargo really misses Focus on the Family's big account of $100 plus change.

Do we actually know how much sex and intimacy is shown in the film? Hollywood has been squeamish before in showing male intimacy; this movie may have nothing more than one or two scenes with them lying in bed (or in the haystack) with their shirts off. But Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are such babes, and I especially like Gyllenhaal's acting (and he seems to be a really terrific person), that I will definitely go see the movie.

Secondly, Robert Knight needs to come out of the closet.

Sorry Mrs. Alito, but I worry about the women who have lost husbands, boyfriends, sons and grandsons in this brutal, unethical war.

And why is is that the wives and girlfriends of these radical right male a*holes never see their husbands and boyfriends' stupidity, hypocrisy and cruelty?

The Fix (or Salon in general) could follow up on this piece to see how the film is playing *all over* conservative America. That, I think, would be much more interesting.

I agree with tadpaul's suggestion. Let's see how the movie is playing in Alabama or Missouri, for instance.

How long is the press going to continue to tolerate this administration's abuse of power?

As long as they continue to get high salaries and plenty of perks and identify themselves with the powerful and not with the ordinary people who are adversely affected by the powerful, they don't give a damn. Russert, Matthews, Roberts, Brooks, Miller, Woodward, Blitzer - they all sold their souls some time ago.

And O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter and others never had them to begin with.

Dave, in your otherwise thoughtful letter you make the same mistake as Ballsee, in concluding that the word "gay" was originally used to denote a lifestyle or culture, which is the same gross mistake that homophobes make today (among others). The word "gay" was originally adopted by same-sex individuals to denote a person who was perfectly fine with his or her attraction to their own gender and even liked it, a definition which I'm perfectly happy to accept.

The point is, if you and Ballsee really believe that there is a gay culture and that most gays feel threatened if a gay person doesn't immerse himself in and promote said culture, then you need to meet more gay people from all walks of life and stop jumping to conclusions.

Kamiya's article is very well written. However, many of the letters that are highly critical of the Boomers are way off base, both objectively and subjectively speaking. To quote the simpleminded words of David White, "The main way in which the World War II generation 'dropped the ball' was by raising the pampered, overindulged, self-involved, narcissistic Baby Boom generation." It's a mystery to me how you can equate fighting for civil rights for others and trying to stop a war which was ruthlessly killing young men as self-involved and narcissistic. As far as pampered and overindulged, you and the other letter-writers who made this gross error really need to study the economy during that period of time. There were many people who were lower middle-class and working class who also participated in the struggles mentioned above.

And as other more clear-headed letter writers point out, contrary to nerdnam's bullshit, it is a big mistake to conflate the boomers with liberalism or with the 60s and 70s. The Baby Boom generation, the 60s and liberalism are and were too complex to be summed up by any book or movie, and you cannot by any logical means point to complex events and situations and say that these were the fault of the boomers or of liberalism or of the 60s mentality.

Finally, as a baby boomer I have never compared my generation to any other generation, and I know of no baby boomer who does that. Contrary to what one letter writer claimed, that we're trying to "craft our legacy," my generation was no better or worse than any other generation, and the baby boomers I know feel the same way. Many of us boomers are now trying to stop the onslaught of neoconservatism which was created by other boomers, and we're not doing it in order to achieve greatness or to be remembered fondly, but because if the neoconservatives win all the generations are up shit creek.

Tonia, your letter is full of nothing but cliches and absurd, illogical conclusions.

Get over yourself.

"Islam is rejected as irrational by the folks worldwide five hundred years from today." And when is Christianity going to be rejected as irrational? Do you really think that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson are logical, thinking people?

"George and his crew will bring the West safely through the Islamic nonsense." How will Bush and his thugs do that while they're destroying the Constitution, demolishing civil liberties, transferring more money from the poor and middle-class to the undeserving rich, and attacking science, which is one of the major accomplishments of the West?

Really, Hanson, why don't you go back to listening to Limbaugh, Gallagher, Hannity and O'Reilly and delude yourself that you're intelligent and well-informed.

I just can't figure out why Salon is so fascinated with Jennifer Aniston. Wasn't it just a month or two ago that Salon was publishing Rebecca Traister's paean to The Jennifer?

I think she's an OK actress, even good at times, but she certainly doesn't deserve all this attention.