I think Clinton has been cannier than you give her credit for. She didn't ever say that the Benghazi attack was motivated by the video. She said Benghazi was a brutal attack (true) and she said that our embassies were under attack because of outrage over the video (also true) and merely juxtaposed those two statements so closely that anyone other than a very careful listener would draw an incorrect connection between the two statements. At most you can accuse her of misleading the public. And she did preface her remarks about "free speech" by stating clearly that the video was free speech and no exercise of free speech could justify the murders and attacks. Given the false accusations about W being a "liar," I think conservatives need to be more careful about using the term and limit its use to direct and intentional lies. In this case, the "intentional" portion is pretty well proven, but the "direct" portion is iffier. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

The MFA is simply another way for state governments to grab citizens' money. And while it might seem fair to brick and mortar stores, it would confront on-line retailers, particularly small ones, with insurmountable obstacles in figuring out how to obey the laws -- nearly 10,000 taxing jurisdictions with differing rates and differing ideas of what should be taxable could be looking to them for money. The best solution is to eliminate sales taxes (and corporate taxes) and have citizens bear the full costs of government directly. Maybe if taxes were actually felt by those who ultimately must pay them, perhaps more voters would be voting for smaller government. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

Thanks. This needed saying. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

Good catch. This is similar to what pro national health advocates do with their studies on the quality or efficacy of various health care systems -- their rating systems largely ignore actual objective health measurements and focus on things like "integrated care" or "automated medical records" and other features that are common in national health systems but less common in our diverse health care system. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

Standards for combat duty should not be changed. If the standards are maintained, allowing women in combat roles must be supported unless, of course, one wishes to prevent women from advancing on their merits. Protective labor legislation kept black people and women out of well-paying jobs for decades. You recognize this in many of the things that you have written. Clear your head to see that this situation is similar. Treat people like individuals instead of plopping them into categories. This is what will allow us to have the fittest fighting forces which will include some women who are able to outperform their male peers. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

FINALLY. Thank you for this column. Right to work legislation is an infringement on the rights of workers and employers who wish to have a closed shop environment. A better solution to the dysfunctional union problem would be to repeal pro-union labor legislation (which grants many special favors to union organizers while tying the hands of management) and to ban public sector unions on the grounds that such unions would have legally sanctioned monopolies over public services. Your clarity is appreciated. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

I am no fan of unions having lived with their their thuggery and intimidation throughout my career but the proper response to this problem would be to abolish pro-union regulation to strengthen management's hand in negotiations and to prohibit public sector worker unions in order to eliminate their monopoly power over public services. Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts

This problem is being misunderstood and mis-analyzed by everyone. Firing a worker under typical union labor agreements (which have been agreed to by management) is difficult and time-consuming. Management in this case quite clearly did not follow the rules since the workers were promptly fired to avoid bad PR. Thus it appears that the arbitrator probably came to the correct decision in terms of contract enforcement. Management was simply lazy and/or stupid and/or trying to trade off short term gains for long-term damage. (continued in next post)

Having witnessed much union thuggery and intimidation over the years, I can certainly sympathize with rtw advocates. Unfortunately rtw is not a good or principled solution to the problem since it interferes with freedom of association in basic ways. An employer should have the right to enter into a contract to deal with all workers as a group and workers who prefer to work in a closed shop environment should not be prohibited from doing so. A much better response would be to repeal pro-union labor legislation which would strengthen management's hand in negotiating "security" clauses and other oftentimes counterproductive work rules and to prohibit public sector unions on the grounds of preventing monopolies. Lee Nason New Bedford, Mass

Scott Brown won't get votes from Southeastern Mass except for a few fisherman -- he has been on their side to allow more fishing although this alienates most of us who are concerned that our fisheries are being depleted too rapidly. While Elizabeth Warren's ancestry is an issue, contrary to what most voters around here think, Brown was dumb to push it as far as he has -- most voters simply do not understand the hiring and promotion advantages that minority designation confer. A smarter campaign would have focused more on Warren's actual work as researcher (shoddy) or consumer advocate (counterproductive). Lee Nason New Bedford, Massachusetts