Haven't answered the mail lately. I'm beginning to think e-mail is a curse:

Question: Thanks for sharing your health concerns. I have also had trouble with staph after open heart surgery. What do you think?

Answer: Anthrax is nothing compared to staph. Staph hasn't been in the headlines lately. They would just as soon you not know about it. No one wants to talk about it. It is a hidden killer. There is no fault, no apologies, no nothing. The bottom line is, just deal with it. How many people end up dying from staph is a good question. No one has an answer because no one wants to know. I'd make a mission out of it, but the whole damn thing is too upsetting. I think it all stinks. I hope that helps you, it sure did me.

Question: I'm one of those persons you write about who has no health insurance. My health care plan is to not get sick. Any suggestions?

Answer: My answer is universal heath care. It's the only way. Unfortunately, none of our elected officials want to upset the health care industry. You know, what with donations and all. So in the meantime, if anything should happen to you, march into the emergency room, hold your head up high, and say here I am, fix me. Tell them to send the bill to W. George, or work out a plan to pay $5 per month for the rest of your life. They may threaten to sue you, which is fine. Suing people they just saved will zap the life out of them, should they have had any to begin with. If it develops into a story, send it to me, I'll be glad to print it. We have to stand up to this health care foolishness. It is incredibly naive of us to think that anyone is going to do anything to help us but ourselves.

Question: You don't seem too happy about America bombing Afghanistan? Since you're so bright, what would you do? America is the best country in the world. Love it or leave it. God bless America.

Answer: I do agree with you on one of your points. However, I'm not sure we are the best country in the world. I haven't ever lived in any other country so I'm going to have to speculate. Canada seems like a pretty nice place, although the winters are awfully long. Fox news thinks Canada is a terrible, socialist country. That helps me score it pretty high. I've read a lot about France. I like French students, they tend to raise a lot of hell. One of my life goals is to visit Paris. I'm going to eat in every restaurant in the city. And maybe drink some wine. I don't know if I'll want to settle there or not. You can only take so much fun. England wouldn't be too bad, but I'm not much into queens, and Tony Blair strikes me as being very Bush-like. There are definitely places I wouldn't like to live, like Siberia, Iceland, Iraq, Texas. Afghanistan wouldn't be high on my list. The United States doesn't hold any special promise of happiness, justice, freedom, equality, community. These things can be found in many places. As for God, I agree, She needs to bless Americans. As for love it or leave it, that's yesterday's rubbish.

Question: What do you think about the President giving assassins the green light to kill bin Laden?

Answer:I think it is wrong. It invites terrorism. It is terrorism.

Question: What do you think about the anti-terrorism bill?

Answer: Anything that John Ashcroft has to do with is something I am leery of. This guy is just about half scary. If you put John Ashcroft and a terrorist in a room, how could you tell the difference?

Question: $100 billion dollars to stimulate the economy. How about that?

Answer: Even during a crisis, it's not above Republicans to give themselves money. Tax benefits in this wonderful plan give Ford Motor Co. a $2.3 billion dollar break, $1.4 billion to IBM, $832 million to General Motors, $102 million to Kmart, $9 million to Kroger. You talk about stimulating. Hopefully the Senate will attempt to correct the corporate welfare provisions in this bill, but I wouldn't count on it. The Senate Democrats are acting awfully Republican these days.

Question: Have you ever thought about the County Board doing something useful with our money?

Answer: Yes, briefly. The County is very fiscally conservative. We put your money in the bank and tell ourselves how well we're doing. I would like to see us make some bold moves forward, but there are obviously risks. Most board members still believe it's a risk putting money in a bank.

Question: I have often wondered what you think about God? You seem to often hedge your faith?

Answer: I never waver in my belief in a power greater than myself, whatever name you would chose to put to that power. I do, however, get nervous at the way numerous Christians interpret the Bible and some of the conclusions they come to. I like to look directly at Christ's life for direction. A relatively straightforward life emerges, as it does when one looks at Buddha or Mohammed. You see this overwhelming compassion, a losing of the self to something greater, an unending and incessant desire to help the poor, to try and make things better. When I see anything other than the complete desire to be kind, forgiving, considerate, understanding and open-hearted coming from Christians, my faith wavers. I would expect it to.