Anger

The wife of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) reached a deal Wednesday to avoid prosecution on a misdemeanor assault charge that stemmed from an altercation with another woman in a garden center parking lot. Under the deal, Wanda Baucus, 56, will enter a program for first-time offenders. It was expected to include some type of anger management training. Her attorney said that once she completed the program, the charges would be dropped.

I do not know and have never met Reza Abdoh, but I would venture to say that he has a good deal of anger on certain issues, based on reading "Theater on the Edge" (Aug. 25) and viewing a performance of "Bogeyman." Based on letters in The Times (Sept. 8) and a Counterpunch piece the next day, I'd say the authors of those pieces also have some real anger. Personally, I find nothing wrong or offensive about anger: It can be protecting, inspiring and even funny. I do, however, find offensive ignorance, arrogance and intolerance.

"There are things we learn about growing up," Paul Linke said, "and there are some things that we never talk about. Death is one of them. Why? It's the real f-word, the biggest four-letter word: Fear." Fear is just one of the many emotions the actor deals with in "Time Flies When You're Alive" (Wednesdays at the Powerhouse), a one-man, partially scripted reminiscence of the cancer death of his wife, Francesca (Chex) Draper. "In January, 1986, we learned she was going to die," he said.

Robert Cowan's commentary ("Human Solution Is Needed to End Senseless Border Deaths," Aug. 12) expressed my feelings about death at the San Onofre checkpoint. However, my anger is toward the Mexican government and the Mexican people and culture, not the U.S. government. My anger is about Mexican policy that demonstrates apparent and "wanton disrespect for human life." My anger is about a country, a culture, in 20th-Century North America that so poorly provides basic shelter, food and education for its citizens that tens of thousands of its people can be described as desperate to escape and ignorant of the harm rendered by vehicles traveling at 60 m.p.h.

Re "Iraq: 4,000 U.S. military deaths," March 24 The real anger in the tragedy of the Iraq war will come later when we see the aftermath in the U.S. -- the thousands of maimed young men and women who will have to cope with changed lives. We will see this anger with families that will be going to grave sites to visit their children and spouses instead of visiting offices and newborn nurseries. There will be families that will live emotional lives of creating a "forced approval" for President Bush's war to justify the loss of their loved ones.

Re "The Business of America Is Out of Control," Commentary, June 5: I think the people of this country have plenty to be upset about, with a Republican administration in blatant collusion with a corrupt corporate oligarchy and the Democrats mounting only feeble opposition. But there's no denying President Bush's high approval ratings. Until they start taking out their anger in the polls and at the ballot box, rather than in the shopping aisles, the people will get the government they deserve.

Bantamweight Frankie Duarte has been in the news often lately. He couldn't have picked a better time. You remember Frankie Duarte, the man who overcame drug and alcohol addiction, climbed back into society and then back into the ring to win the North American Boxing Federation bantamweight title? His story should be told, and retold until every kid tempted to experiment with drugs or alcohol gets the message.

This is the first time I've written a letter like this. After reading Dianne Klein's column about Linda Williamson ("Battered Wife Can't Count on the System," March 17), I realized I must write you. You said there were many points of view and many places to spread blame in a tragic story like this. One observation was "not enough people who give a damn." To me, that is the worst tragedy, and why I write. I read this article feeling outrage at a system full of human error, that fails to protect people like Linda.