Biting cartoon paints accurate picture

Regarding the Sept. 14 letter writer who said that it's time to put the “America-basher” Doonesbury in the recycle bin: Sir, with all respect to you, America is all about free speech, and free speech really means “critical speech” — an example of which is your own letter to the editor. Far from bashing America, Garry Trudeau is totally pro-America. What he is bashing is the lowering of our American standards of government, education and medical care, to cite just some issues. What he is pointing out is that our government has dropped to a level of incompetence never seen before. Yes, there are, in fact, institutions that accept students on the basis of their parents' fame and money, not scholastic quality. There are, in fact, more than 40 million people in the United States without adequate or, all too often, any medical or dental care. And as for putting an amputee from the Iraq war in our faces? Yes, we are, in fact, in a blundering, ill-thought-out war that was irrelevant to Sept. 11 or to any of the other pretexts cited. This war has turned into a deadly swamp for our soldiers, contributed to the destabilization of the whole region and cost the United States respect everywhere in the world. If Trudeau does not put the amputee in our faces, who will? Our government forbids photographs of our returning military dead. Maybe they think we won't notice. If what America is now is your ideal of “our way of life,” let me assure you that it is not that for the majority of us. Yes, Doonesbury portrays President Bush as a fool, and a tragic fool is what he is. I am sorry if that stings you; it stings me, too. His entire two terms are like a bad dream we need to wake up from; this cannot really have happened. As to whether Doonesbury is funny, I recommend some study of the nature of humor, which more often than not has its roots in hostility and tragedy, not in Blondie. Alan Kligerman, CEO, AkPharma Inc, Pleasantville - Published in the Atlantic City Press, September 20, 2006