Jerry, Dismissive and condescending remarks greeted many of Twain's outbursts, particularly later in his life. I believe they were meant to censor discussion of crucial issues and often succeeded in doing just that. He's crazed with grief and that's why he opposes mass murder in the Philippines! I agree with Twain's assessment about how the general public is far too emotional in choosing a president. "I just feel safer with Dick Cheney around." Well, I don't and I'm not even a hunter. And "Who would you rather have a beer with?" really shouldn't have been an important question in the last presidential race. (By the way, not one person came up with the right answer: I'd rather have a beer with the guy who can still drink a beer.) But come on, emotion wasn't foreign to the man with "a pen warmed up in hell." And having spent time in both a war zone and a lot of VA hospitals, I do get emotional when I think of so many people suffering so terribly for such a discredited cause. Fortunately I was neither a soldier nor patient but I have seen the results and realities of war and they do provoke serious emotions. There is no segregating them from any truthful remarks I have to offer at such a moment and I offer absolutely no apologies for them. Barry Crimmins