As justification for the Democrats running a pro-life candidate in this year's Senate race [Cover, "The Rickslayer," Doron Taussig, April. 13, 2006], you write that for "the past several years, the party of the donkey has been beaten like a mule." This just isn't true. The Democratic party in Pennsylvania has done quite well in statewide elections in the past several years, particularly when a pro-choice candidate runs. (Gore in 2000, Rendell in 2002, Kerry in 2004 and Max Baer for state Supreme Court in 2003.) When a pro-life Democrat runs statewide, such as Santorum's last two opponents, he loses. How are the state Democrats being so stupid this time that they think history won't repeat itself? Pro-choice Democrats win statewide because the moderate suburban Republicans switch parties and join the Democrats in Philadelphia, Allentown and Pittsburgh to form enough of a mass to defeat the Republican candidate. The formula doesn't bode well for Casey's chances this fall.

David S. Cohen
Queen Village

You got the bit about Bob Casey Sr. and the 1992 convention half right. There were a number of pro-life speakers; the New Republic debunked the canard that the Democrats were a "party that no longer permitted dissent about abortion." [They wrote], "a slew of pro-life Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Jr., Senators John Breaux and Howell Heflin, and five governors, did address the delegates in 1992. Though the speakers didn't dwell on abortion, party officials say they weren't barred from mentioning the issue."

Keith Staman
Lancaster

The state and national Democratic Party seem to have forgotten that we actually have a process for deciding who we as Democrats want to represent us—it's called a primary election. We pro-choice Democrats (and pro-stem cell research and pro-marriage equality and anti-Iraq War Democrats) are not going to compromise our beliefs because the party decides to pre-empt our views. Just because the Democratic Party is determined to forget the fact that every year since 1962 they have tried a conservative Dem for the Senate position and lost, doesn't mean that the voters have to roll over and play dead.

Sonia Pascal
Center City

There's nothing like a sharp crack on the butt to get people's attention, which is what we were doing to draw attention to the real beatings that take place behind the scenes at Ringling Bros. Circus [Paper Doll, "Whipped Senseless," Ashlea Halpern, April 13, 2006]. Big cats are routinely forced to perform stupid tricks under the threat of the whip. Elephants are hit on their sensitive ears and feet with bullhooks. Exotic animals belong in their natural homes on the other side of the planet, not locked in chains and cages and carted around from city to city like stage props.

What takes place behind closed doors of consenting adults is one thing. What takes place behind the scenes at Ringling Bros. to unwilling animals is cruel and insupportable.

Jennifer O'Connor

Animals in Entertainment Campaign People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

[Naked City, "The Real Rocky," Gary Large, April 6, 2006] is a ridiculous article [about the] most sloppy fight of my career. I broke my hand in Round 3 and I still would have knocked [Joey DeMalavez] out if it were a six-rounder, so who said DeMalavez should have won that fight? Name [the] so-called promoters! Get something better to write about.

Bill Brown
Cleveland, Ohio

It is not surprising that there is a residue of oppressive-minded individuals who have inherited the mind frame of racial superiority throughout the white-collar sector [News, "Eyes on Ameriprise," Rod L. Wilson, April 6, 2006]. But what is surprising is that we as African-Americans continue to ignore the history of the hard-fought opportunities we take for granted daily.

David Jackson
Lansdowne Park

I was given the URL to [Cover, "Battle of the Sexless," Ashlea Halpern, April 6, 2006] by a friend who is a eunuch, and I congratulate the author most heartily on its content, balance and angle. As a person with multiple impairments (which I consider life enhancements), [I believe] journalists like this are rare and should be treasured. Thank you for contributing so well to the international debate.

Kylee Maloney
Wellington, New Zealand

"Gary Taylor, Shakespearean scholar and author of Castration: An Abbreviated History of Western Manhood. …" OK, this is a serious article, but that is hilarious. Castration is an abbreviation. Never mind.

With this difficult subject, Halpern has crafted a thorough, well-explored piece, containing plenty of facts from plenty of sources. But also in moments where we need the journalist to think a little for us, she performs. That quality of opining when necessary is so difficult for most in media to master; the inability to do it is what makes hacks. Ashlea has succeeded in a fashion where some of her comments reveal her own personality and she also uses the natural gifts of observation to illuminate more of the fabric defining a situation. These efforts make the story feel like something more than an account ledger. Especially in an article where humanization is a goal, in part, Ashlea, with near empathy, makes us see [the] self, suffering the same human conditions, in what is at first a foreign and wretched concept. Any reader really paying attention will end the piece and say, "Oh, that makes sense, that is likely how it happens for this group."

Ashlea also gave me a hilarious epithet for an annoying woman/dangerous prospect: Burdizzo.

The most important thing Ashlea did with this work is show a truth in what is happening in humanity. Amazing work. Hands clap. I'm never coming to Philadelphia.

Phillip L. Kaplan
Toledo, Ohio