Fellow Twaniacs --
    While we're seesawing over matters of accuracy, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Da
Ali G Show" is/was on HBO, not MTV.
    And one of the reasons I'm still happy NOT to be a copy editor for a
woefully mediocre newspaper anymore is because the level of nitpicking was
deranged. Precious time near deadline was used looking up middle initials,
changing
"kid" to "youth," "like" to "such as" and "over" to "more than."
    I liked Powers' bio a lot. With any undertaking so massive there are
bound to be mistakes. Cut him some slack, please.
    And Powers isn't a "TV journalist." His roots are, like (oops! as were!)
Sam's, in newspapers.
    In conclusion — and worth pondering — is Sam's mentor from "Life on
the
Mississippi," who would interject foul language into his declamations of
Shakespeare while trying to navigate. I thought it a hilarious when I was
12.
Forty-two years later, the passages still make me laugh.
    Surely Sam himself wasn't always accurate, yanno.
    I rest my case.

Kathy O'Connell
still at liberty