Letter to the Editor

Australia got convicts; we got Puritans

To the editor:

At the height of the Clinton impeachment brouhaha, when the moralistic right were rolling their eyes and drooling at every fresh revelation of Bill Clinton's debauchery, an Australian newspaper published a letter to the editor that contained the following memorable line: Thank God that we got the convicts and the United States got the Puritans.

Now that John Ashcroft is taking it upon himself to cloth the scantily clad statuary in the Department of Justice headquarters, I repeat the sentiment of the perspicuous Aussie, altered to reflect that I am of the United States: "Too bad that Australia got the convicts and we got the Puritans.

How that poor man must have been suffering with his unwelcome tumescence every time he passed those statues.

DONN S. MILLER

Tamms, Ill.