Since I've actually known Ron Powers for a decade, can I offer a little
speculation as to his intentions?  Ron is a professional writer.  I expect
his main intention was to make some money. He made a boatload off of Flags
of Our Fathers.  Like every other writer, he wants people to actually read
what he writes. Like everyone who is on this list, he fancies himself a bit
of a Twain. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  He is a complex
person.  He grew up in Hannibal and has a natural affinity to Twain.  You
cannot live here without being irradiated by Twain.  Lastly, and I apologize
for the utilitarian nature of this analysis, but Vicki and I think his
editors asked him to do it.
    P.S. to David: "Borat-like"?  You bitchslap Powers for popular cultural
references then all you can come up with is the present number-one movie at
the box office by an MTV comedian?  Even a sophomore engineering student
could have come up with Swiftian. As my mother used to holler down the
basement in 1970, "You kids quit smoking that stuff. It'll make you crazy."

Terrell