George,

I read with some befuddlement Will Lyster's reference to me as a "peace and love freak." Will and I have never spoken, as far as I know. He doesn't know my parents. I don't recognize the names of Augustus Stanley, Norman Morrison or Roger LaPorte, so it is unlikely that they are or have ever been "idols and icons" of mine.

I suppose that Will thinks he knows my views on war and peace from my talk at the VADP meeting, where I talked about the death penalty, not about war and peace. In my remarks, I stated my agreement with conservative Republican House of Delegates member Frank Hargrove, conservative Republican fundraiser Richard Viguerie, and conservative Republican Illinois Governor George Ryan in questioning the morality or efficiency of the death penalty. But Will took away from that the conclusion that I was a "peace and love freak."

This technique of political reasoning is known in Virginia as "Katzenism." You may remember that Jay Katzen took Tim Kaine's statement that he favored allowing some legal standing for homosexual relationships, and concluded from that that Tim wanted to ban the Boy Scouts from public schools. When "Crazy Jay" was told that Tim was a Boy Scout himself, and that he has children who are active in the Boy Scouts, he back-pedaled, saying, "I assumed" that Tim must want to kick the Boy Scouts out of the schools.

Will could not possibly know how I feel about our military action in Afghanistan. And under the circumstances, I am not going to tell him.

One last thing.

"America: Love it or Leave It" is what Will seems to claim as his motto. But those who look through George Loper's archives will find that his self-avowed life motto is in fact:

"Don't worry, don't analyze - decide quickly or just do it."

I envy someone who can come up with a motto and stick by it, and Will -- you're doing a hell of a job avoiding analysis. Certainly it doesn't seem to have taken up any of your time in the last few days.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, November 3, 2001).