Cal Thomas- Clown faced humorist

The pundit's picture if it correlated with the seriousness of his columns...

Dear Editor;

I’m sure that many of your readers fail to realize that you run Cal Thomas’ column as a humor piece. As a public service, might I suggest you point out that when Mr. Thomas writes that great progress is being made in Iraq he is using a form of irony, and that he doesn’t intend his words to be taken at face value. Likewise, his humorous, tongue in cheek column titled “Global Warming is All Hot Air” must have been designed to alleviate some of the stress caused by the repeated news stories about massive hurricanes headed towards the Gulf of Mexico and Texas, record setting heat waves (the same day his column ran the projected highs for the next five days in Albany were all 100 degrees), drought in the Southeast, and deadly floods in the Southwest.

Mr. Thomas’ delights in poking lighthearted fun at “global warming fanatics” who want cleaner air, more fuel efficient cars, and fewer deaths from environmental carcinogens, pollutants, and killer heat waves. Of course it is all in jest, but since Mr. Thomas lacks the panache of, say, a Dave Barry, some readers may be confused and think he is seriously criticizing the 99 percent of climatologists (not counting the 3 or 4 paid off by oil and coal companies to confuse the issue) who want to end the melting of the polar ice sheets and see earth’s climate remain livable for our grandchildren. Perhaps you could alert your readers to the level of gravitas earned by Thomas and put a clown nose and Groucho glasses and moustache on the pundit's picture?

James Finkelstein