Perhaps the supreme irony is that Higgins himself adopts (apparently unconsciously) the trappings of the left he purports to warn us against. He dutifully evinces the obligatory horror at liberalism's totemic evil, "Racism," and he adopts the language of political correctness by referring to Indians as "Native Americans." Finally, he quotes with apparent approval Roger Ebert's condemnation of Ethan that at the film's end "there is no indication that [Ethan] thinks any differently about Indians." (At least Ebert didn't call them Native Americans.) Ebert's observation that Ethan's views on Indians and race relations (and presumably other matters) have not morphed into liberal pieties is undoubtedly accurate. It is his (and evidently Higgins') sense of outrage at Ethan's failure to undergo what liberal's like to call "growth" (and the rest of us recognize as confusion) that is wrong-headed. I for one have no qualms about Ethan's preference for his own kin and culture over renegade Comanches and their savagery. I take no offense at his single-minded pursuit of revenge against them for their murder and mayhem. p>I only wish Ethan Edwards was on the trail of Osama Bin Laden. br> -- Mark Bender br> Columbia, South Carolina /p> The only thing wrong with you article is stating The Searchers is one of the top 4 or 5 movies. I'd put it the top one or two. Or even the best ever. Great and long overdue article. I'm passing this site on to my John Wayne chat list. p>Again thank you. br> -- Terry R. Rush Must we politicize everything? Even 50-year-old movies? I'm a political and social conservative (same as "The Duke"). The Searchers in one of my top five favorites because of superior performances by the actors, the story itself, the scenery, the humor (yes, there was plenty) and the outcome. Can't you just believe in the power of forgiveness and redemption, and leave it at that? p>Still, an interesting commentary. br> -- Cheri Pogeler br> Encinitas, California /p> p> ELECTRIC COMPANY br> Re: William Tucker's Liberals Find Their Groove , Reader Mail's Battery Juice , and the "Generating Electricity" letters in Reader Mail's Let's all agree that Rep. Mark Foley did some very bad things by sending sexually suggestive and explicit e-mails to young male pages. Let's all agree that the House GOP leadership should have kept a much closer eye on Rep. Foley, an apparent pedophile or something that looks a lot like a pedophile to me. May I make a few additional observations? Hasn't anyone noticed a certain pervasive sexualizing of children in America today and for the past decades? Children in sexual situations in movies, on TV, in music, in advertisements, especially for clothing? Hasn't anyone noticed that sexualizing young girls (and to a lesser extent boys) is largely what modern Hollywood is about? Is it maybe time to ask if this is a good thing? Is it good to teach young people that they are primarily valued for their sexual allure and performance and availability? Maybe some good can come of the Foley scandal if we start to ask ourselves if we really want to teach our young people -- or permit them to teach themselves -- that their sex attributes are the bottom line of what counts about them? If you spend much time watching certain TV channels that appeal to young people, you get to suspect that this a pedophile nation and whether this is inevitable or whether it needs to be examined and challenged.