USA, USA
Re: Patrick Hynes’s Murder Most Modern:

I know it has been buried for the most part on USA network, but how on earth can the author and editors of “Murder Most Modern” not know about the Emmy award-winning Monk?!??!?!?!?!?!?!

Monk is the obsessive-compulsive detective that portrays the best of this genre in an updated format. It is very true to its characters and their development and some might say that Mr. Monk could give the “bumbling genius” a run for his money.

If you haven’t seen Monk, please do yourself a favor and watch on USA Friday at 10 p.m.

BTW I am not a USA network shill, but I love Monk and Tony Shaloub. Actually most of the rest of USAN’s programming stinks.
— Rex Tarpey
Apex, North Carolina

Unfortunately Mr. Hynes forgot one of the best modern mystery shows around — Monk — where the show is truly all about Monk, his idiosyncrasies and his foibles. There still is some glimmer of hope for the old mysteries.

And while I adore Jessica, Perry, Matlock, Lord Peter, and all the others, I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Hynes’s dislike of our modern mystery shows. While it’s all about the science, how on earth can you NOT say that CSI is all about Gil Grissom, or that L&O: Criminal Intent is all about Vincent D’Onofrio’s character? There’s still a glimmer of hope for you yet, Mr. Hynes. You just have to get through all of the medical and scientific jargon.
— Sarah R. Palmer
California

SUPER BOWL X-RATED
Re: Reid Collins’s Toiletbowl XXXVIII:

Thanks to Mr. Collins for providing a summary of what we viewers from foreign lands obviously missed. H.L. Mencken possibly said it best: “Nobody ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public.”

An American in Vienna,
— Bill M.

I completely agree with Reid Collins’s assessments of the TV fare wrapped around a Super Bowl game. I would further suggest that there was coarseness to the spots, and they weren’t funny if you apply any level of sophistication to your judgment. There is only a shock value and comedy that only a prepubescent kid would appreciate. Justin Timberlake can leave any time, as well. His show is way over.
— John Wilson
Chicago, Illinois

Kudos to Reid Collins. After high school, I entered the Air Force and my service included a tour with the 377th Combat Support Group at Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Vietnam. When I came home I went to college and acquired a BA in Journalism.

Reid Collins was my hero. CBS set the benchmark, and his reports heard over KNX in Los Angeles (the CBS affiliate where I grew up) were pure gold to my young ears.

A service-related disability cut my career short, but what a blessing it is that we can still learn from him at the Spectator.

Yes, that half-time show made many of us feel like we needed a bath, but Reid Collins’ wisdom, institutional memory, and pure common sense refreshed us all.

Move over, Andy Rooney!
— Robert McArthur
Mar Vista, California

I agree that the half-time show at the Bowl, which incidentally was shown world wide, left little for people to wonder about America. I cannot believe that CBS, the NFL and MTV would option to allow this mess on television for the world to see, much less some of the offending ads. Many were good, funny and some simply below the belt. I thought I had better things to do with my time, and it is a shame this had to put a damper on a pretty good game.
— J. McCallister
Washougal, Washington.

Reid Collins got it right. Super Bowl XXXVIII was right from the toilet thanks to the tasteless and degenerate half-time show. I’d like to know what the likes of “P. Diddy,” “Nelly,” “Kid Rock,” Justin Timberlake, and Janet Jackson have to do with the sport of football. The NFL should get back to marching bands for the half-time entertainment. If I had wanted to watch a mob of degenerate scum jumping around and attempting to sing, I would have skipped the Super Bowl and tuned in MTV. Janet Jackson’s manufactured breasts belong on the cover of a supermarket tabloid, not on a nationally televised football game. What’s next? Will Super Bowl XXXIX feature dwarf-tossing and alligator wrestling? I can hardly wait!
— Tillman Jeffrey
Manteca, California

It’s capitalism, Reid, remember that?… Capitalists advertise to sell their products and advertisers aim at the lowest common denominator…
— Ted Schurch
Memphis, Tennessee

BUSH COMES TO SHOVE
Re: Jed Babbin’s Kerrying On Regardless:

I am one of the strong Bush 43 supporters Mr. Babbin refers to who is planning on staying home this November due to the president’s insulting immigration policy; I have already written letters to all my congressmen and the president informing them of this. I don’t want Kerry to win for the very reasons Babbin mentions; but if we’re talking about security of the U.S., will Kerry’s misdirected ideas really be any more dangerous to us than the president’s ideas concerning illegal immigration? I don’t think so.
— Stan Kennedy
Kansas

The only thing which is ever going to wake up the American people to the dangers of terrorism is ANOTHER attack comparable to, or worse than, 9-11. If a Democrat is occupying the White House when it happens, after publicly declaring that terrorism is a matter of cultural disadvantage, and a problem for law enforcement only, then it is conceivable Hillary would decide never to run for President, and certainly, it might be difficult for the Democratic Party to survive.

This country is engaged in a war for survival, but the current crop of Democratic Presidential candidates, save Joe Lieberman, all would have qualified as traitors in an earlier era in this country.

In my lifetime of nearly 65 years, I am constantly amazed and chagrined by the downward spiral of culture in this country. The first few months after 9-11, I was hopeful the country would actually be shocked enough to go in the right direction again. I no longer have those hopes.

Current politicians should be ashamed. There isn’t a single patriot among them.
— R. Goodson
Vero Beach, Florida

You bet we are rightly angry with Bush for not controlling his drunken sailor spending or securing the borders. I see no reason to vote for something that is leftist evil no matter whose name you put on it. We aren’t better off with Bush, period. I refuse to vote for a man who refuses to do his constitutional duty and defend the borders or spends like a Democrat. I refuse to vote for evil.
— Richard L. Hardison
Stockport, Ohio

Sen. Kerry explained his flip-flopping on the war as having a “nuanced position.” I don’t want the security of my family in the hands of anyone with a “nuanced position.”
— unsigned

IT’S IN THE AIR
Re: Wlady Pleszczynski’s The Brady Bunch:

“But the geniuses who run things for the NFL and CBS were reportedly afraid of a possible thunder storm (in February?).”

Welcome to Texas.
— Nathan Zook
Austin, Texas

“It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a ship appeared on the horizon. Meanwhile a boy was growing up in Kansas.”

It was, in fact, a dark and stormy night, but not until some time after the game was over. The good people at Weather.com had been insistent on “pm storms” all day, so the NFL’s decision to keep the roof closed was not out of line. But what is embarrassing for me as a co-host of the event (solely by virtue of my living here and nothing more) is that the stifling heat you describe occurred in a stadium whose naming rights were purchased for no small sum by our local electric utility: you would think that these guys could keep the building properly chilled. Perhaps, in anticipation of Janet Jackson’s moment in the sun… No, perhaps not.

Not being a football fan to begin with, and not having, as some say down here, “a dog in that fight” (although we were more than happy to rent out the kennel), I tuned in for the commercials, which turned out to be mostly quite lame, but stayed for the game, which New England and Carolina made more than merely interesting.

Otherwise, we’re all patting ourselves on the back down here for getting through this with a minimum of destruction. Several arrests were made, but only one person was shot. All in all, not a bad weekend. Let’s do it again some time, yes?
— Stephen Foulard
Houston, Texas

IT’S OVER
Re: David Hogberg’s Deficit Demons:

George Bush’s wild domestic spending spree and amnesty for illegal aliens advocacy will cause this voter to sit the next election out. As a Republican who did not vote for Bush in 2000 but who eagerly planned to vote for him after watching his brave, measured stance against terrorism, all my enthusiasm drained away after seeing his nationalized education plan, socialized medicine plan and illegal alien advocacy. These negatives outweigh the positives because they jeopardize our country. Although the Bush camp probably wrote off California, anyway, and so doesn’t care about my vote, I will not contribute to any Republican cause or mailer for money after seeing Bush’s dismal domestic policies.
— Caroline Miranda
North Hollywood, California

AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICH’S
Re: George Neumayr’s The Latest Temptation of Frank Rich:

I am extremely grateful to George Neumayr for writing his article on Mr. Rich and to the Spectator for publishing it. Mr. Rich’s smear campaign against Mel Gibson and his movie has been destructive and hateful from the start. His hypocrisy is so blatant (as Mr. Neumayr so skillfully depicts in his piece), that Frank Rich must be completely deluded to not see it himself. It is a shame that the editors at the New York Times do not see it, for if they did, I don’t think they would want him to continue embarrassing himself in such a public manner.
— Brian Getman
Bellingham, Washington

BUMMER
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Silent on Rush, Reader Mail’s Rush to Rush’s Side, and Reader Mail’s Battle Stations:

Poor Rush! He’s been spending too much time in his private jet at 30,000 feet breathing oxygen depleted air. Let him come down to flyover country and spend time in a boarding line at an airport trying to get on a plane! That’s real government harassment!
— Bob Keiser
Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania

NEW VERMONT
Re: C. Kelleher’s letter (“Do Fence Me In”) in Reader Mail’s Battle Stations:

I enjoyed Mr. Kelleher’s letter in that it described exactly what has happened in Vermont also, except in our case, it’s the NYC crowd. He’s right. We, too, have our share of third world immigrants who are hard working, law abiding , and on the way to becoming good citizens. We also have the other type…. Unlike N.H., we have an over abundance of “government services” but that doesn’t matter. The “Yorkers” cry for more. They also want a state subsidized “Long Island “type train like they left behind, which in our case up here carried three people back and forth each day. I am native to Burlington and remember when it was a fine city, “almost like Vermont” then also. Like our sister state in N.H., we are fast becoming a suburb to the bigger cities and with that we are losing our character to the urbanization by the liberals. That is the sad part.
— Pete Chagnon