I wonder, is this the type of raw hatred emanating from Richie's inbox, or was that just his breakfast burritos clouding his perceptions?

Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 11:00:46 -0700 (PDT)

From: "Ron Barth, Jr."

Subject: "So Not Funny," Richard Cohen

To: "Washington Post Letters to the Editor"

CC: cohenr@washpost.com

Dear Sirs:

Since Mr. Cohen has chosen to fulminate on Stephen Colbert's comedic performance (and the rudeness thereof), I choose to respond.

First, contrary to Mr. Cohen, I found Colbert's performance brilliant. It was hysterically funny to those of us, unlike Mr. Cohen, who recognize the harm being done to this country by Bush and his cronies. For those of us who've recognized Emperor Bush's nudity since before his selection by the Supremes, it was immensely gratifying and hugely entertaining to see and hear someone speak the truths that Bush is an incompetent fool, and the press corps have served as stenographers for administration talking points. As soon as someone pays Mr. Cohen for being so funny -- as he so humbly describes himself -- I will consider his criticism of a professional's comedic performance relevant.

Regarding rudeness, I cannot imagine anything more rude than Mr. Bush's foray into comedy at the Radio and Television Correspondents event at which he unveiled the high hilarity of his "Where are the WMDs" skit. Never mind that thousands were dead -- and continue to die -- because of his administration's fabrications about the imminent danger posed by Saddam's fictional WMD stockpiles, the complicit press laughed along and lauded Bush for his genial simulacrum of bonhomie. That's rude.

And Colbert was hilarious.

Best,

Ron Barth, Jr.

I cannot claim authorship of this piece ( http://fraudbusterbob.com/blog/2006/06/05/manjoo-errs-in-fact-knows-very-little-about-ohio-election-law/#more-84 ) in rebuttal of Farhad Manjoo's denial of election theft in Ohio in '04 -- that's Bob Fitrakis' right and privilege -- but I am completely in accord with his sentiments, and find his evidence more persuasive than Manjoo's. I do wonder, though, why it is that Salon, to which I've subscribed for a few years now, continues to publish Mr. Manjoo's writing when he seems to generally support the right and its fanciful take on reality.

Thanks,

Ron Barth, Jr.

Something you guys didn't bring up, though: Dusty Baker was the only manager of the final four teams not to use starters out of the pen in the 2003 League Championship Series. Torre did, McKeon did, and Grady Little (?) did, but not Dusty. Why? Because he is the worst manager of a pitching staff I've ever seen, and whatever success he's enjoyed as a manager is largely attributable to a pair of steroid-pumped douchebags: Bonds, then Sosa. After the Bartman/Alou play, he should have dragged his lazy, toothpick-chewin' ass off the bench and had a talk with his pitcher and infielders just to settle everything down. Instead, Gonzales blows the likely double-play ball, Prior falls apart, and only after the damage is done does Dusty do anything.

In addition to what "Thor" has already said -- and excluding his ad hominem crack about hippies' anti-military bias -- about who's responsible for the Itaqi civil war, you might wish to consult a dictionary before attempting to appear smarter than you clearly are. It's s-y-p-h-i-l-i-s, not "syphillus"; "Ron" -- you can find it between retarded and sycophant in the dictionary.

As for R. Allen King, the REMF who states for the article that "we went to Iraq as a unified nation," there's nothing further from the truth. The American electorate was almost certainly more supportive of our initial engagement in Vetnam than they were for this debacle, and look how well that turned out, especially after the hidden truths came out. To claim America was unified on the eve of war in Iraq is absurd.

...who question Ms. Zacharek's ever-so-arch, hipper-than-thou dismissal of this film. I saw a sneak preview of it Wednesday night and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was good to see Will Ferrell playing an actual adult, with measured doses of humor, in an ultimately redemptive tale.

As a side note, I had the pleasure of meeting Maggie Gyllenhaal when they were shooting the movie here in Chicago, and I am a huge fan of her work (see "Sherrybaby" at the earliest opportunity)...and her look.

...to indulge your man-fantasies (mantasies?) in Salon, but I'm wondering if there will soon be a "Sexiest woman living" feature that will not be perceived as hopelessly sexist of Salon's male staffers in its enumeration. If so, and seeing as how the male chauvinist tag has been disqualified by the appearance of the ladies' fantasy men, I hereby nominate Maggie Gyllenhaal to any of you testosterone-dominant staffers who might be stuck coming up with the ideal combination of brains, beauty, talent and sensitivity to today's political winds.

He states that "(t)he deep mystery to (him) is that for years Scooter somehow managed to reconcile who he is with what his masters and mentors demanded of him." Well, the mystery is solved, Mr. Bromell: Scooter, an absurd nickname to carry into "adulthood," is a Bush administration bitch, a faithful water-carrier for policies he may rationally know to be wrong -- if he is not patently delusional as many in the administration would seem to be -- but his own ambition to climb that "cruel status ladder" of which you write blinded him to the consequences of his assistance.

He committed treason and should be punished appropriately, along with all the administration co-conspirators, in this scandal and in so many others.