American People

I'm not a bumper-sticker kind of girl. My car fenders are pristinely blank; no cute knick-knacks hang from my rearview mirror; my T-shirts are expanses of solid color unmarred by logos or humorous sayings. I look disdainfully on my neighbor for hanging on his house a sign decorated with chipmunks (chipmunks?!) that declares "The Waterfords Live Here."

SEATTLE -- While the debate over guns -- who can buy them, who can carry them -- is playing out on a grand scale across the national stage, its most emotional skirmishes are often fought in smaller venues, those most people never hear about,  in communities across the country. Witness the town of Oak Harbor, Wash., where a city council member recently walked out of a council meeting when he learned a spectator -- a disabled veteran who served five years in Afghanistan -- was carrying a concealed weapon.

I invited the American People over for dinner the other night. Now, you know how swamped the American People have been, what with advising President Clinton on how they feel about Monica and Iraq and the Indonesian monetary crisis, and confessing to Steve Forbes how terrorized they are by the tax code. The American People are everywhere.

Hussein must be laughing his head off at President Bush who is trying to scare him without scaring the American people. ROBERT A. MITCHELL Joshua Tree

Probably the most overused phrase I have heard since Sept. 11 is "the American people." I cannot count the times our president has used it. On a recent talk show on CNBC, "what the American people want" was used eight times. I have never been asked what I want. I wonder how many other people were asked this question. Leonard Fritsche La Crescenta

WASHINGTON -- Entertainer Bill Cosby defended President Obama on Sunday, saying that his critics do not acknowledge the obstacles he has faced in office. “I'm disappointed at people who don't look at the woes and the trouble given to this man,” Cosby told CNN's Candy Crowley, referring to allies on the left who have complained about the administration. “People blatantly speaking out against his color, wasting time, starting up new stories about whether or not he was born here, saying things that they can't prove.” The actor and comedian said he feels sometimes that opponents want to make Obama's job like “the one that Sisyphus had.” "When you see that he made promises and said things and the people who were supposed to be working with him didn't.

As a Cabinet member in the hoped-for Democratic Administration, Jesse Jackson could accomplish more for this country, and the American people than if he were vice president. Is there any doubt that George Bush is blocked in many directions to prove his loyalty to his boss? Jackson is too vigorous to be satisfied with that job. He has so much to offer and should have the opportunity to use his valuable expertise to the American people. JACKIE SAMENOW Los Angeles

Mullah Mohammed Omar, who heads the ruling Taliban movement, appealed to the American people to "use your sense" rather than blindly follow the government's policy to attack Afghanistan. The appeal was made in a message addressed to the American people and faxed to the Reuters news agency from Omar's headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. "You accept everything your government says, whether it is true or false," the message said, referring to the U.S.