BULLYING LEADERS

EDITOR: Among the allegedly outrageous quotes regarding Sept. 11 that you
printed in the Nov. 11 Forum was one by Gore Vidal that said, "We are not a
democracy."

In the same issue of Forum you also printed articles about Attorney General
John Ashcroft's efforts to override (i.e. subvert) the death-with-dignity
law passed twice by Oregon voters and Drug Enforcement Agency head Asa
Hutchinson's attack on the Los Angeles medical marijuana outlet, despite
California voter approval and support for the program by law enforcement.
Hutchinson's authority? A dubious ruling by the same Supreme Court that
deemed it unnecessary to recount votes in Florida last November.

Vidal is right: Democracy, U.S. style, is in too many ways a travesty.
What's truly outrageous is actions like the above by Ashcroft, Hutchinson
and others who want to bully all of us into living, and dying, as they see
fit.

J.B. GRANT

Sebastopol