Would be surprised if that poster had shit for brains? Well, I wouldn't.

Mwai Kabaki is president of Kenya, albeit the disputed president because it is widely believed that his re-election was rigged. Odinga is the opposition leader.

The tribal violence that broke out after the election was shocking and sickening, but it is highly illogical to blame Barack Obama for any of it.

On another subject, I have a request for Camille, if she's still reading this far down the letters post: What about an examination of the position of First Lady? Is it time to ditch it? Seems like a very old-fashioned post, kind of like a "Mrs. America" position.

Camille: Congratulations on producing two of the most lucid, sense-laden paragraphs about Iraq. (The third one isn't bad, either.)

We have not defeated the "Islamo-fascists" in Iraq; we have simply created more of them around the world by radicalizing an entire generation of young Muslims. There is no finite number of terrorists whom we can neutralize through conventional warfare or a humiliating occupation. Neither do I believe that a genuinely stable democracy is in the near future for Iraq. The murderous ethnic and religious rivalries will seethe on and on, as they have in that region for 5,000 years. Let's get our troops out of the way and back home where they belong.

Our military should not be misused for neighborhood policing -- particularly in a treacherous arena where so few of our soldiers speak the native language. If we pull out our ground forces, we can and should reserve the option of aerial bombardment. Satellite surveillance can read the label on a tin can, for heaven's sake. The Iraq debacle is not worth another American life. And the billions of dollars going down that rathole should be invested instead in American infrastructure, education and healthcare.

I do not minimize the larger danger to Western culture and liberty: I believe that our conflicts with radical jihadists will drag on intermittently for a century or more. But like mercury, which splatters into tiny particles when you hit it, today's terrorism is too elusive for the cumbersome and outdated military tactics employed by the shortsighted Bush administration in Iraq.

Yeah, I know, Camille bashers, this has all been said before by others, but Ms. Paglia has pulled it all together beautifully.

Let's give Camille her props, okay?

[We return you now to your regular program of Paglia bashing.]

I do so enjoy your letters columns. They seem to encapsulate some part of current events that pass over the heads of pundits.

The 4/9/08 piece reminded me of what makes me tired about our culture. One kid thinks it is a good idea to create his own celebrity by wearing sexuality like a clown costume and another kid thinks it is fine to just kill him for it.

Someone else thinks Madonna's fading looks are so important that they are curious what you think about it, and write to ask you.

A soldier in Iraq is wrestling with the knowledge that when he gets sent home life among the civilians he guards while they walk the streets is problably going to become a struggle just to get through a day without being shot to pieces by a neighbor.

And then the campaigns. Whatever else McCain is, he is more of the same. Whatever else Hillary does, she constructs her world in a manner more similiar to criminals than plumbers. Whatever Obama may say, he is the ultimate empty suit.

My forbears were exhausted at 50 by decades of hard work for little gain. I'm just feeling burned out at 50 by being saturated with information I don't care about regarding people I don't like or trust and it's being fed to me by people I don't respect, present company excluded.

Am I wrong to believe that the navel gazing of the past 4 decades has caused us to supplant the respectful simplicity of a short, life lived with decency, compassion, trustworthiness and self-sufficiency with something morally inferior and undignified?

It all reminds of a passage from the book "A Child's Garden of Grass". The story is told of a pothead who, while stoned, had a world changing epiphany and wrote it down so as not to forget it. The stoner awoke the next morning and eagerly searched out the note and saw the words he had written, "Something in here smells funny".

Dear Camille;

Your words are very Bold, but not substantiated. If you were one of the 30 generals that have endorsed clinton, I could understand your animosity, but your not, your a jounalist, with a bunch of Nasty, criticizing words (oh, I forgot, words are your job).

Being the qualified, competent, difficult, sympathetic, genuine, gifted, articulate, humorous individual that Senator Clinton is, feeling inadequate would be appropriate.

Ill-TEMPERED, that's a new one to add to the "hillary-haters list" ( you must of read it one of the HILL HATERS BIOGRAPHY'S)

Now me being a woman who belongs to the HILLARY "CULT", I would swear, you seethe with Jealousy. That's the typical, hateful emotions that emit from all BO supporters.

I'm not sure what bothers you most, your hatred for Hillary and the feeling of "inadequacy" you must feel, when compared to her, or the Fact that you were born a WOMAN who doesn't fit into our "CULT", and not a MAN. Maybe you'd like their cult better.

I'm curious.

Are the following male Hillary supporters rancid, asexual creampuffs too?

General Henry Hugh Shelton

General Wesley Clark

General John M. Shalikashvili

General Henry Hugh Shelton

General Johnnie E. Wilson

Admiral William Owens

Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard

Lt. Gen. Robert Gard

Lt. Gen. Donald L. Kerrick

Lt. Gen. Frederick E. Vollrath

Vice Admiral Joseph A. Sestak

Major General Roger R. Blunt

Major General George A. Buskirk, Jr.

Major General Edward L. Correa, Jr.

Major General Paul D. Eaton

Major General Paul D. Monroe, Jr.

Major General Antonio M. Taguba

Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman

Rear Admiral David Stone

Brigadier General Michael Dunn

Brigadier General Belisario Flores

Brigadier General Keith H. Kerr

Brigadier General Virgil A. Richard

Brigadier General Preston Taylor

Brigadier General John M. Watkins, Jr.

Brigadier General Jack Yeager