What kind of medication is this guy Douthat on? When have Bush/Cheney EVER shown that they care a hoot about protecting the American people? During Katrina? When sending soldiers to Iraq without the protective armor the Pentagon KNEW they needed? Or how about when wounded vets were put in moldy, vermin-infested hospitals or when wounded soldiers were asked to pay back part of their signing bonuses because they "hadn't completed theri tours of duty"? Or when Bush shoved through laws that allow corporations to pollute or use unsafe practices and then pushes through more laws that make it impossible for the average person to sue them? Or maybe during that last F-U from Bush, ramming through that bank bailout with the added lines about permitting bonuses to be paid? It boggles the mind that people can be so incredibly blind about this administration.

I wrote on another of your blogs about your appearance on Bill Moyers, saying that the only false note for me was when you seemed to overlook the motivation people who commit violent acts might have...not the justification necessarily but the motivation...because to deny motivation is to imply these people are all crazy. Maybe some of them are. But the denial of most Americans about what the evil their country does is truly staggering and that needs to change. We might see less terrorism as a result. And the frustration level that many of us are personally feeling as we watch Cheney on tv just gloat over his apparent untouchability--one can see why some people are driven to desparate measures.

I don't find this letter ugly at all--I think it's very dignified and the writer is totally right to call Obama on what he promised and what he is now delivering and ask for their money back--Obama got the contribution on false premises. Shame on Obama for this.

A few questions:

Re the establishment of Israel in 1948: what about the terrorist acts committed by Zionists at that time, perhaps, most famously the King David Hotel bombing? A Christian friend of my father's, who was born in the region and lived there at the time has told my family of many, many terrorist acts committed by Zionists before their state was "established." Why do you and other supporters of Israel continue to act as if this negative history didn't happen? When the state of Israel was "established," what happened to the other people living there? They were murdered, pushed out. Your account of things completely whitewashes these facts.

Israel continues to build illegal settlements, stealing land from Palestians. Right wing Israeli settlers have increased violent attacks, yet I don't see them being labeled as terrorists, I don't see them being shot at, I don't see their homes being bulldozed--why the double standard? I have noticed that those who defend Israel's actions have pretty much ceased to mention these settlements and their continuing expansion, when they are one of the chief reasons for the continued violence in the region.

Does the double standard come from the racism often stated by many Israelis and Jews,attesting to a belief that Arabs are not fully human? Israelis would never "welcome" Palestinians--they want to ethnically cleanse the state of Israel of Arab-Israelis who already live as somewhat marginalized citizens. You can easily Google some of the uglier racist statements made by Israeli leaders. And spare me any response referencing the statements of Iran's president, mistranslated in a manipulative fashion to increase their inflammatory aspects and clung to and trotted out by every defender of Israel.

Do you really believe this fairy tale account of Israel after all evidence to the contrary--the blockades, the contant humiliation of Palestinians, the 2006 invasion of Lebanon which killed thousands? It's taken a long time, but many Americans have had their eyes opened, undeterred by the manipulative accusations of anti-Semitism flung at us by those who refues to face the reality of what Israel has done and continues to do.

Lawrence Langer has written a great book on memory and the Holocaust called Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory--it's a wonderful read not only for the historical aspects but also for showing how memory can be a means of healing and integration. I agree that especially in the US, people seem to have a propensity for the happy ending and a very low tolerance for the more tragic aspects of life. Raphael's ideas about how Rosenblat could have incorporated fiction into his account are very interesting. But I can't for the life of me understand how Oprah and these book editors don't have a higher standard for investigating the veracity of their authors, after Frey and that woman with the south central LA "memoir" have been shown up--it's just embarassing. Yes, people fantasize, embellish etc. but when you publish this as truth, it's fraud. I had heard about Frey but not seen or read his book when he came on the Oprah show to be raked over the coals. It took me about ten seconds to see through him--anyone who believed this guy's story of being a bad-ass druggie has ZERO ability to read people.

that Mr. Rosenblat stood to make a good deal of money from his "memoir." One can have sympathy/empathy for his suffering but I doubt that his only motive in putting out his story was to make the world a happier place. It's a display of the same kind of unproductive sentimentality whether it has to do with giving him a pass or whether it's about writing /publishing /promoting the book in the first place.

I'm manning the phones here at work and between the column and the responses to it, I can't stop laughing when I answer calls - a bit awkward--all this stuff is very entertaining. Agree totally about Top Chef. I hear the criticism about Gordon Ramsey but he makes me laugh so much I don't care how much of a swearing blowhard he is.