Thank you, jmg11. Without the capability of reading and comprehending the written word, how is it possible to learn anything else in the world? How to appreciate history? Geometry? Or anything else? Would there have been a moon-landing without the ability to read? I don't think so.

My own English teachers would turn over in their graves if they could hear what is being taught in elementary school today. High school, too, for that matter. What is not being taught are the elements of speech; the diagramming of sentences, and, generally, English usage and English composition. My understanding is that these days it's not unusual for a high school graduate to be incapable of completing an employment application. We were taught to think for ourselves; we were not taught to be automatons. Still, we knew it was in poor form to butcher the King's English.

Charles: I try to simplify, simplify. Can one gather from your piece here that Democrats are, well, like mosquitos? Or, carried a little further, that those who depend most upon them are the mosquitos?

The guy ought to put his money where his mouth is -- or vice-versa. Or sit on his fist and "rare" back on his thumb. Or something like that.

He's the original flim-flam man.

Chevrolet (the company) can crawl on its hands and knees and beg me to buy one of its productions. However, I wouldn't touch one of those things with a ten-foot pole. We have two Ford products that are performing quite well, thank you, and they have been for a number of years. There is no way I would quit now. Well, now, if Chevrolet wants to GIVE me one of their products, I might take it on the QT, but you may be assured I would sell the thing for whatever I could get, hoping it won't explode as the new owners drive it away.

Some were duped; many knew him for the imposter he was. We just didn't know all the ways in which he posed.

Amen, doc.

It was because of Sen. Lugar's support of LOST -- and many other "lost" causes too many to mention -- that he lost his bid to run as a Republican in the November election. Ms. Schlafly's column a number of years ago on the Law of the Sea Treaty aroused a sense of urgency to urge our lawmakers not to support that treaty. No matter how much entreaty there was, Sen. Lugar's mind was made up: he supported the treaty. I could no longer support him. Thank you, Ms. Schlafly, for your wisdom.

How can somebody be born when they were hatched?