Speaking of unsavory faces Joe, your readers should note that Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, FOX News Senior Judicial Analyst, volunteered without regret that he too was a supporter of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton - his undergrad alma mater. I heard it come from his mouth but once. Perhaps he was silenced. Do you think there exists a smidgen of "political correctness" deep within the bowels of FOX News, their shameless cheerleading for all that smacks of executive power and corruption notwithstanding?

Tom Palmersheim

Seattle, WA

I was thinking along the lines of, "Was that letter written by a twelve-year-old?"

That's what a friend of mine calls "shit-in-the-hair crazy."

Liberals tend to think that they love everybody, except everybody, and consertatives are judgemental and close-minded... AND ARE NOT OPEN TO BEING WRONG ABOUT THIS-

So, who, really, is open minded? You? Oh really? Are you also open minded to the possibility that you might be wrong about how close-minded conservatives are? Hm. Didn't think so.

Fact is, no one is open-minded. Everyone has a strong opinion about every major question of life. Gay marriage, abortion, capital punishment. If you're even reading this letter, it's a sure bet you've mind is locked closed about these subjects. Your mind is made up. You are certain about how you feel about this-

And that reveals the most glaring falacy of liberalism. Liberals are no more open-minded than conservatives, they just believe different things. If you are for gay marriage or against it, if you are for abortion or against it, and if you are part of an organization that protects the rights of one group or another, you are expressing your right to free speech, free association- all that.

So... what's the real problem with Alito for you? The REAL problem is that YOU think he's WRONG and you are right and so you are eager to label HIM a bigot and small-thinker and all that- when in fact, we ALL discriminate. We ALL decide who we like and don't like. And we all have people you don't like. For you, it's conservatives, or maybe you got a big thing against people like me who say they love God.

I'm okay with that. You and I are exactly alike. You and Alito are exactly alike- we all have stuff and people and ice cream we like and don't like. We all discriminate.

Some of us are more honest about that. Some are overly self-righteous about that.

How about you? You feeling supperior because you got black friends and gay friends and straight friends and all the rainbow? Don't.

God himself taught us to love everyone. It's Biblical teaching, not some New Age, Northern California invention. Everyone needs and deserves love. You, all your friends, everyone in the Haight, everyone on Castro, everyone on Nob Hill, everyone on Capital Hill. Not just Hillary, but George Bush and Atila the Hun too. Everyone deserves love- but what then? How do we communicate? How do we grow? How do we get along? By what STANDARD do we decide? If you go by the Bible, and I go by the Koran, and we both are faithful to our teachings, we will NOT agree. If you are REALLY a good Bhuddist, you'll try to reach Nirvana- which literally means extinquishing a flame- flat-line on the brain wave... how do you reconcile that with Greenpeace activity? You CAN'T.

That's the real problem. It's all fine and good you mouth platitudes about welcoming all and being loving to all- but do you do that?

While you busily JUDGE people like Alito for his minutae, what does that make you?

I read an API article at about the same time I read this piece. The API article said:

"I do not see a likelihood of a filibuster," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "This might be a man I disagree with, but it doesn't mean he shouldn't be on the court."

I am appalled that the honorable Senator from my district would say such a thing. Education and training are not the only measure of qualification for this lifetime appointment. As Mr. Conason rightfully pointed out in his article, in deffense of his being a member of CAP, Mr. Alito said he did it to defend the right of ROTC to remain at Princeton and that he does not remember the sexist, racist and gay bashng that CAP participated in; and that ROTC returned to the Princeton campus well before Mr. Alito joined, so the rationale for joining that he gave to the judiciary was false. In my opinion, Mr. Alito told a lie to get confirmed. I also agree with Mr. Conason that Alito's inability to remembr what CAP did is just not credible.

I believe one critical qualification for being on the SCOTUS is not lying during your confirmation hearing. Indeed, that is more important to me than the ABA's qualification finding and worth a filibuster. Senator Feinstein should be highlighting this in her statments to the press insead of undermining fellow democrats like me, who beleive lying during the confirmation process is an automatic disqualification.

Jim Cady

Carmel Valley, CA

The lead in Conason's story says it all. When conservatives are at their most indignantly defensive, that's when you know you are onto something really substantive. The unusually high number of critical letters from conservatives on this article underscores that point. Most of those letters are also written by people who missed, or didn't understand, many of Conason's most important points. To dismiss his arguments as "grasping at straws," etc., is weak and highly irresponsible.

If conservatives want racists on the Supreme Court--which obviously seems to be the case here--they should own up to it instead of whining, obfuscating and misrepresenting the facts.

I am sure that Shelby Cullen Davis,Princeton Class of 1930, had many happy memories of an all-male Princeton but he could not have had such memories about "an era when the Ivy League admitted no women."

Cornell was founded in 1865 with the motto "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Cornell never had a policy of not admitting women. The first woman student was admitted to Cornell in 1870. In 1872, sixteen women students were admitted. Cornell has continued to be an Ivy League school where women can get an excellent education ever since.

My mother, who is a member of Cornell's Class of 1951, graduated more than twenty years before Princeton joined the modern world and began admitting women. When I (Class of 1979) was attending Cornell in the late 1970's no one ever suggested that women did not belong there. So please, don't attribute the sexist policies of some schools to the entire Ivy League.