nothing educates men about sexism quite like having a daughter/

When I was a kid, I wanted to have a paper route and to join Little League, two things my male cousins did without a second thought. They told me I was "stupid" and "crazy" to want such things, because everybody knew girls couldn't be "paper boys" and that nobody wants a girl on their Little League team. Then I said I wanted to be a boy. I was called a dyke.

Today my male cousins have daughters. Some of those girls have been members of school sports teams and two of them won athletic scholarships to college. When I remind my male cousins that they told me I was stupid and crazy for having the audacity to want to play sports and deliver newspapers, they claim they said no such things. "You were just weird" they say. And they still harbor suspicions I'm a "dyke" even though I'm married to a man. In fact, they suspect my husband may be gay since he doesn't drink beer, follow sports, own a gun or a boat and he is a liberal Democrat who reads poetry. And he's a Jew.

I sometimes think prejudices are hardwired into much of the population.

About Imus having daughters. Howard Stern does too and he says some pretty sexist things. Hell, my own father was so disappointed at my sister and I for not being boys that he barely spoke to us our entire lives. Not all men become immune to sexist words or actions when they have daughters. Those who care about their daughters may remain sexist simply because they exempt their daughters from the world of bitches and hos out of a self-satisfied sense of accomplishment, i.e., "but I raised MY daughter the right way.. not like everyone else!"

I'm smart and I have common sense and a sense of decency. I have a desire to do the best I can and to solve problems quickly, cleanly and fairly. I empathize with others (to a point) and I don't expect others to do my work for me or take my blame for me.

That's not elite. The elites are the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Beltway nobodies who got where they are today either through inherited wealth or through their connections to people who have inherited wealth (Brownie, eg).

They are both elite and mediocre.

It is a pretty common phenomenon. It's where the term "a gentleman's C" comes from.

I forgot to mention him in my previous letter. Pat Robertson is the son of a senator and a distant relative of the 9th US President, William Henry Harrison, as well as his grandson, the 23rd US President, Benjamin Harrison.

"Norah, what do you have against the rule of law? We have laws in this country to keep us civilized. What's wrong with investigating wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing, within the limits of law, in order to see if laws have been broken? Would you like it if someone committed a crime against you, and the police decided they wouldn't investigate him because he said he didn't do it?"

The only reason people like Norah O'Donnell are vehemently protesting Karl Rove being placed under oath is because they know they managed to get Clinton on a perjury charge completely unrelated to an on-going investigation. They know Scooter Libby perjured himself in order to protect Cheney. They know Karl Rove will be asked questions where he will have a chance to perjure himself to protect his bosses (or himself). They don't want that. They want Rove to get away. Why does Norah O'Donnell want Rove to get away? Beats the hell out of me, but clearly she wants Rove to be immune to laws that govern the rest of us.

Maybe she's incredibly stupid. She may be so intellectually challenged that she does not know what to do besides parrot Rovian spew about "partisan witch hunts." Sure, she's stupid, that's obvious. But how stupid is she? It would be interesting to find out.

You admitted you don't even know what kind of website Media Matters is. Since you're too lazy to find out, I'll tell you.

Media Matters documents instances of lying and distortion in the news media. They let us know what lie has been told, then give us a link to the real truth, so we can check it out ourselves. They support the constitution of the United States and have educated many people as to what the constitution says. They supported you when you were fired by ABC. They document when the news media people parrot Rovian talking points without thinking about them for 2 seconds. They report flagrant instances of newsreaders and pundits pretending there are "two sides to every story" when one of those sides is common sense and the other side is blithering idiocy.

I am thankful for Media Matters, even if you are not. I have no media contacts; I'm not pals with people like Ann Coulter. I am a regular mope who listens and fumes when "news" people let blatant lies go unquestioned or when they blindly parrot Bush administration talking points, taking those of us in the audience for idiots. I admire the courage of the people who run Media Matters. They don't smile and wink and say "Aw, you GUYS!" and let all the lies pass by. It's not easy to do what Media Matters does -- they come under attack all the time from pundits who don't like that their cushy relationships with those in power are being scrutinized by lowlives like... shudder.. the American public!

You really lost my respect. I understand your job is to make jokes, but -- funnily enough, all joking aside -- the truth matters.