_______________MAIL ROOM DISPATCH ...
	Salon readers clearly have a penchant for pundits who blast other pundits. Last week letters poured in to praise Gary Kamiya's "Gone with the windbags." This week many thanked Salon columnist James Poniewozik for his withering assessment of network talking heads' coverage of last weekend's showdown with Iraq. We've published a selection of these letters below. Slate editor Michael Kinsley made his first appearance in Salon's pages with his denouncement of Salon columnist Susan Lehman's journalistic methods. She responded, he wrote back (see below) and the saga continues. Salon's newest feature, Brilliant Careers, struck an up note with readers, who were mostly pleased with our first two profiles of Phil Spector and Pete Townshend. On the other hand, Salon's new partnership with online bookseller Barnes and Noble raised more than a few skeptical eyebrows. Finally, Marc Cooper's Nov. 12 piece on the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet elicited many sympathetic responses, including one lengthy argument for how the former dictator should have been arrested. It's worth a read.
_______________PUNDITS TO SADDAM: YOUR EVIL DERRIÈRE IS OURS! BY JAMES PONIEWOZIK (11/17/98)
	Congratulations to James Poniewozik for his latest critique of the American media's Saddam-mania. The mainstream media consistently shy away from criticizing their own government's foreign policy, except of course when it's not being tough enough. They don't mind scandals, but that's another story. Thanks, Poniewozik, and thank you Salon. It's about time somebody from the mainstream, albeit a left-of-center leaning publication, cream the sociopaths from "This Week with the Munsters" and the rest of the maniacal media strike force. -- Joe Delaney New York If Poniewozik is not the sanest person (I'll not sully his name by using the title "pundit") writing in the media today, he's the most entertaining. He's the brightest addition to Salon's lineup since Annie Lamott. -- Lizbette R. Cox Finally someone in the press nails Sam Donaldson, the biggest buffoon in the business. I can't understand why U.S. network pundits are so hungry for death, scandal, explosions and murder. Meanwhile, international journalists are denouncing the bombing of Iraq because they understand what Donaldson refuses to acknowledge: that poor women, men and children will be murdered in the name of "Showdown with Saddam." No wonder the U.S. has a reputation for being Bully of the World. Thank you, James Poniewozik, for speaking my mind. -- Jacqueline Marcus James Poniewozik's column on the media's presentation of the most recent Iraq confrontation was insightful, humorous and right on target (and not just because I agree with him). Please do whatever it takes to keep him watching television and writing down his thoughts. -- Mark S. Kowal
_______________A CLEAN SLATE AT THE MICROSOFT TRIAL BY SUSAN LEHMAN (11/12/98)
	Given that Jonathan Broder is no longer "filing occasionally" from Washington, D.C., is Salon in any position to question Michael Lewis' lack of occasional filing in Slate? -- Sid Jayawardena, New York
_______________TARGET: SADDAM BY JEFF STEIN (11/06/98)
	According to David Kay, hysteric nuclear technician and foreign policy analyst wannabe, the goal of an attack on Iraq would be to bring down President Hussein. Although he is not honest enough to say so, what Kay is talking about is U.S. terrorism -- the use of violence to achieve political ends. -- Paul Tracy Oceanside, Calif.
_______________HIS GENERATION BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK (11/17/98)
	Stephanie Zacharek's assessment of Pete Townshend: Zowie! Typists (usually of the hyperventilating Rolling Stone ilk) have used five times as many words to say one third as much. Brilliantly observed and evaluated. -- David J Swift Jackson, Wyo. I discovered Pete Townshend late. I loved the Beatles, knew the Stones, adored the Kinks, but the Who never lit my fire. Of course all these guys were practically oldies by the mid-'70s when I came of teen-age, but I have to remind myself not to vilify kids who think "You Really Got Me" is a Van Halen song by remembering I once thought "Pinball Wizard" was Elton John. "Empty Glass" was the first newfangled CD I bought, and it was brilliant. The line in "Jools and Jim" that knocked me over was "Your hearts are melting in pools of gin," but I still haven't figured out why it ends in "Oklahoma! Oklahoma! OK!" But I really got to like Townshend himself with his appearances on Letterman. He'd knock us all out with whatever song off the new album he was promoting, and then with barely a nod to Dave, he'd burst into a classic, just for the studio audience, during the commercial break. And I thought to myself, this guy is all about putting on a show. Love the Brilliant Career series. Let's have Ray Davies soon, OK? -- William R. Jones SALON | Nov. 20, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| PROFILES IN CLUELESSNESS BY SCOTT ROSENBERG

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