I am old enough to remember the Nixon campaign and the "dirty tricks" employed by the Republican Party. I did not approve of those actions. I can understand how Dan Savage can be upset by Gary Bauer's position on homosexuality and feel a need to obtain firsthand information about Gary through involvement in his campaign at his headquarters in Iowa. I applaud his ethical action regarding the manner in which he handled most of the calls that he received while working at the headquarters. I was repulsed, however, by the actions which he took to spread his flu to Gary and other members of Gary's staff. Such germ warfare has been outlawed by the Geneva Convention, shouldn't it be outlawed by Salon?

-- Ronald J. Miros

Dan Savage is a sick, demented freak to try to deliberately infect others with his diseases. And Salon is just as sick to even print his article. Is it any wonder people consider homosexuals as perverts and deviants when they have people like Savage running around doing things like this.

-- Vann Clark

I laughed out loud when I read Dan Savage's account of infiltrating the Bauer campaign. I then thought about it for a bit, and I realized it wasn't all that funny. If I were to commit voter fraud, election tampering and biological terrorism, I certainly wouldn't publish it -- is Savage insane? I can't support these actions, no matter how much I disagree with Bauer's political opinions.

-- Bill Ravdin

I couldn't keep from laughing as I read Dan's column. Although I was a little disgusted at his biowar campaign, his insight into the hard right of the Republican Party and the Bauer campaign was wickedly on-target. It was an exceptionally well-written column.

-- Chris Tharrington

Southern governors declare war on divorce
BY LISA MORICOLI LATHAM
(01/24/00)

What this article doesn't mention, but what probably plays a part in the divorce rates here in Oklahoma, is that this state has staggeringly high rates of child and spousal abuse, poverty and illiteracy. Figure in an educational system that is often nothing more than a political pawn and you begin to get the picture. It is far easier for "Papa" Keating to gently lecture his children about morals than to take any real action and risk the cozy Cabinet position he envisions for himself in Washington.

-- Dyrinda Tyson

This article is a diatribe against an attempt to stop painful family breakups. What is the motivation for such a negative attack? I'm a lifelong democrat, Catholic, liberal, married 45 years, who has prepared 2,000 San Francisco yuppie couples in weekend and evening "workshops" over the last 25 years. We get 90 percent positive feedback (and it's all unpaid volunteer work).

The sociology professors quoted in your article have done diddly shit about preventing family breakdown. The class argument in the article that it's the poor who get divorced is news to the Bay Area dot.coms. Try Retrouvaille for a nonprofit marriage saver and stop the ideological fighting while watching families self-destruct all around you. A hurting family has no politics.

-- Ed Gleason

When we lived in the Bible Belt, we noticed a very high divorce rate. Recent statistics by the CDC have confirmed this. We noticed men left their old wives for younger ones and started a whole new family. Many were very strict church-going folks.

Not only are these Bible Belt states guilty of not practicing what they preach, they are still trying to break up the president's marriage. Yet it's OK to have an affair and divorce if you are ex-President Reagan, ex-Sen. Dole, ex-Speaker of the House Gingrich, etc. The Republican Party should clean up its own house first before telling the rest of us Americans how to live.

-- J. Stevens

While I agree that Govs. Keating and Huckabee are being overly simplistic in approaching this problem, I want to point out that encouraging chastity until later in life, when a couple can enter into a committed relationship (whether marriage or long-term cohabitation, etc.) is a valid means to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Additionally, one of the "solutions" Salon's writer presents as a more viable alternative is "no-cost marriage workshops or financial workshops in economically depressed areas." This is exactly what Marriage Savers is advocating, and the author herself acknowledges this (although she does so in a very cynical tone) when she writes about Marriage Covenants and Marriage Mentors in the later part of her article.

Keating and Huckabee may be narrow-minded in their approach to the problem of divorce and the broader issues of pregnancy and family responsibilities. Marriage Savers should certainly not be the only program implemented in addressing these issues. But credit must be given to their efforts to enact a positive change in one aspect of a very complex societal problem.

-- Nathan Johnson

Worst episode ever
BY JAIME J. WEINMAN
(01/24/00)

Your article about "The Simpsons" inspired me to pull out my tape collection and compare the older and newer episodes -- sadly, the newsgroup junkies are right. While the increased brutality was unpleasant, more alarming was the "dumbing-down" -- a general slowing of pace, the awkward set-ups for the gags, and the numbing narration. (Homer never just slips on a banana peel anymore, he now has to yell, "I slipped on a banana peel!" Apparently we're expected to miss it otherwise.)

It's sad that the writers can respond to the criticism only with pompous anger. But saddest of all is, the critics are right -- "The Simpsons" is still far better than virtually anything else on the tube.

-- Alan Badger

I've never been on alt.tv.simpsons, but it's good to know that my friends and I are not alone: "The Simpsons" has clearly been declining, specifically over the last two seasons. Anyone who can't see that hasn't been paying attention. The characters have been consistently betrayed and, contrary to what critics apparently think, satire has actually been missing for quite some time. (See "Futurama" for some actual satire these days.)

The focus on Homer as the "main" character has been disastrous. He gets more offensive by the episode. And the writers appear to have little idea what the rest of the characters are for.

I used to routinely say that "The Simpsons" is the best show on TV ever. Now, unfortunately, I must use the past tense. By the way, the idea that the writers of a show know more about its characters than do longtime viewers is just obnoxious arrogance.

-- Richard Crary

Dissing the King
BY LEE HUBBARD
(01/24/00)

Thanks for your piece on martinlutherking.org. I very much admire the earthly works of MLK and Mohandas Gandhi. But I am also aware that these two giants of the 20th century were human, with complex personalities, who evidenced minor flaws as well as demonstrating the characteristics of greatness.

Many of the accounts of King's life that I've read speak only to his accomplishments and strengths. My children are given sugarcoated stories at school about King, stories that completely gloss over his triumphs (he did not single-handedly carry the Civil Rights movement) and failures. To some extent this has to do with the audience, wanting to keep things simple for children, but it also seems to represent a public need to make King into something he was not.

I doubt that King would have accepted the saintly crown that we have, in retrospect, asked him to bear. I believe that presenting a richer, fuller picture of King, showing the warts as well as the crown, will be a healthy step forward in our public understanding of this heroic American. And it would tend to defuse the impact of sites such as martinlutherking.org., for it would allow that King, although not perfect, played ball in the major leagues.

-- Bernardo Guzman