Dear Bill---and I do find you a dear man, sir---the last time I commented on anything controversial here on the board (an innocent enough question about a certain elderly autograph hound), all posts were mysteriously missing the next time I looked at the thread. It was as if the CHFB had suddenly transformed into Pravda---mysteriously controlled by the KGB---a dark and dangerous world in which questions became non-questions and answers became non-answers, all buried in an unmarked grave. So I don't think I want to make any comments here about the ills of American society, especially while I'm keeping an eye on Game 3 of the Fall Classic. The midnight EZBoard train may come and take me away, and I'll never know if the Cards won.

Kidding aside, Bill, I believe you when you say Verhoeven's a charming man. But I've known several charming people who were insincere, so what does that prove? I'm judging his work solely on what I've seen, not by how many times he's hugged my wife. I find his films contemptuous and often contemptible.

The mess he made of a classic Heinlein novel can be ignored, liked, or disliked. I can't ignore it, because I made the mistake of seeing it. And I sure don't like it.

So that leaves my third choice. I dislike it.

Okay?