Larry,

I appreciate the insight here.  The Twain list can be remarkably staid --
and silent -- so the interjection of current crisis is welcome, and very
pertinent to Twain, and we should be able to disagree and argue.  For
example, I am drawing up a panel presentation at a rhetoric conference that
in part examines Twain's strategies of opposition to the American war of
conquest in the Philippines, the notion that there are two Americas, one
that liberates and the other that conquers and steals, plus his rejection
of patriotism, as very pertinent for an ethos of dissent today.  Remember,
also, that Twain preferred to be regarded as a traitor rather than "merely"
as a humorist -- and he suffered scorn similar to the way Hollywood
celebrities are ridiculed because they dare to speak out.  Consider Michael
Moore.

There is no question in my mind that Twain would be disgusted by this war,
not only because war is inherently disgusting but because there is such
obvious dissembling, flimflam, and flapdoodle going on that it would put
the King and the Duke to shame.  We been sold!

Hilton Obenzinger
Associate Director for Honors Writing, Undergraduate Research Programs
Stanford University