Oh, I appreciate Twain's poitical views/writings, and I do see similarities between the imperialism Twain saw in the late 19th century to the conflicts the U.S. has involved itself in the past quarter century. Remarks concerning how his essays relate to today's events are not what I'm referring to; it's those that say "Twain would side with Bush" or "Twain would be a Democrat" that I dread seeing as I feel it's a bit beside the point. Kind of like saying (and,I admit, this is an exaggerated analogy) which poitical party Jesus would belong to. (I am in no way trying to establish a claim for the divinity of Twain). Mike Williams