I'm not sure if it was the speech noted that I heard on NPR, but I vividly recall listening while Ritter laid out, point-by-point, exactly why it was impossible for Iraq to have WMD and next to impossible for them to have much capability of getting them.

The only way to get around the presentation he gave was to brand him an outright liar. Apparently yet another successful Cheney/Libby smear campaign succeeded.

Impeaching Bush is a non-starter for too many reasons, but I hope someday Cheney, more than anyone, is brought to account for all the damage he's done to our nation and the world.

Allow me to chime in on the value of both the 'net and bound books for cooking.

As many have noted, the value of a tried-and-true cookbook around the house cannot be overstated. I keep a few classic, all-purpose volumes and a few more devoted to one or two specialty cuisines. They are great ready-references, and also serve to remind me of great dishes made previously when I'm facing a special occasion meal.

Like many, I also consult the 'net for dishes when I'm looking for something to make with a more unusual ingredient. It's also handy to use the 'net to get a more useful copy of a recipe seen in a newspaper or magazine. (If I were more diligent, I would by now have a wonderful indexed database of recipes I've stumbled over, instead of printouts crammed into various nooks, crannies and other cookbooks throughout my kitchen.)

But leaving out all of the above, which apply to dishes you are intending to actually prepare, there is still the notion of cookbook as entertainment. I've come across many in bookstores (and bought a few over the years) that are simply fun reading, full of recipes I'll never make, but that may give me an inspiration nonetheless.

Here's a thought: the few remaining supporters of this President and his ill-conceived/poorly-planned war claim that withdrawing funding for it will show a lack of support for the troops. How 'bout, instead of withdrawing the funding, we just transfer all the funding to the VA? Three problems solved with one quick resolution!

Gosh, Ken, maybe you can still argue during the day and have a beer at night.

What you can't do, however, is stick a shiv in me, call be a traitor, lie about my military service, call me a coward and cheat me out of an election during the day and have a beer with me at night. I'm happy to meet you outside the bar, however. Around the corner, just inside the shadows of that dark alley.

In other words, I'd continue to watch my back if I were you, you sniveling little hypocrite.

I'm not talkin' political correctness, here, but probable cause. The same thing the cops have to have before they can search you (and a "search is, after all, what a drug test actually is).

An exception has been carved out for certain public safety circumstances. You can also consent in advance as part of your employment contract, which is how most workplace testing is done.

Unions all over the place have rolled over on the consent issue, and there's no reason that the players' association should get all "rights of the workers" indignant when your plumber has to piss in a cup to make sure you can piss in a "drug free" urinal. If the customers, the folks who ultimately make it possible for a sub-.200 utility infielder to cash a $1.2M a year paycheck, start to stop buying the product because they think everybody's a cheat, the players' noble stance on personal freedoms will start to crumble.

The issue for me is whether the government will be able to get ahold of the test results without having to jump through some pretty high hurdles.

I checked out the media kit for the Hall of Fame, and it appears that the purpose is "To honor the men and women who have made unique contributions to the energy and evolution of Rock and Roll."

That's pretty broad. Broad enough to encompass artists whose impact was solely predicated on huge record sales despite artistic shortcomings, as well as artists whose influence far exceeds their commerical popularity.

Under the circumstances, I can't argue much with who has been selected, but have to agree that there are many many worthwhile prospects who have yet to be (and may never be) inducted.

And a final note on Mr. Rotten: I'm not sure I'd place a bet on the irrefutability of his memory. My brain cells took a beating just being a fan, I can't imagine what his went through actually riding that beast!

I'm a liberal big-city lawyer who also happens to be a gun owner and long-time hunter and outdoorsman. For years I subscribed to Outdoor Life for its fine articles on -- imagine -- the outdoors.

I dropped my subscription after the flaming I got in their letters column after I had written in response to a small piece about liberal hunters. The jist of the article itself was that we were in fact out there, and my response was pretty much what Rinella and many posters here have noted: the NRA would better serve the vast majority of gun owners (hunters) by moving out of lockstep with the right, since it is liberals who are doing the most to protect against the greatest threats to hunting -- development and environmental damage. You'd have thought I was the guy that bought Atta and his pals their plane tickets from the way they came at me.

Interestingly, that made me feel a little sorry for Zumbo at the outset. When he went running back with his tail between his legs, that sympathy -- and any respect I once had for him as an outdoors writer -- evaporated.

Thank you for the fine article.