MCKINNEY

A so-called political leaderette has made some idiotic and contemptible comments asserting that Bush may have known about September 11 before it happened. It is amazing how much people will put up with from elected representatives. Look at the Arab and even Communist members of the Knesset and what they're allowed to say and do in the middle of a terrible war for the survival of Israel. I suppose, though, that it's just as well Cynthia McKinney's comments are spread around as widely as possible. She is convicted out of her own mouth of breathtaking stupidity. But will she suffer any political injury? If she doesn't, the so-called party she's associated with certainly will.

“LOOPS”-ed!

I have been trying, off and on, to figure out the diagram scheme of the March Atlantic puzzle “Loops”. Can’t do it. It seems totally ambiguous, unless I’m missing something. I have solved most of the clues, but can’t for the life of me figure how to fit the loops of words together. There just seem to be too many possible ways to do it. There’s no rule on how the loops have to be shaped. If you consider all possible loop shapes, not just squares, it seems one would need a supercomputer to fit the words together. I’ll keep trying. Sometimes these “impossible” puzzles are the most educational, although I’ve got a sinking feeling there’s either a flaw somewhere or something very simple I'm overlooking. I’ll report.