Mailbag

Commentary:

Another Round?
From Billy Bub Gormley:
It's pretty clear that Hitchins suffers from Korsakoff's psychosis, a side effect terminal alcoholism.

Apple Dunking
From Richard Meyer, Chevy Chase, MD:--
Like Apple; loathe Hitchens.

Count-down
From Chaz Sedita, Charlottesville, VA:--
My dear friend, John Belmonte, who left behind a loving wife, Carol Gramer, also bequeathed to those who loved him a legacy of kindness. Known as 'The Count' at The Daily News, where he was real estate editor for some years, John was not only a talented journalist, but also a gifted freelance writer, who stylized his early years after famed fiction writer F.S. Fitzgerald.

I met John through my brother, Gene, who went to Saint Francis Prep with him. That was back when John was not only a passionate student of the cello, but also a devoted weightlifter. (He was not a 'bodybuilder.' John could 'press, clean-and-jerk and snatch' with the best of his Lost Batallion Hall class, in Rego Park, Queens; but he would cringe when someone referred to him as a bodybuilder!)

He and I had lost touch over the years after I moved to Paris. But his friendship with Gene brought us back together again in 2004, at which time I also met, electronically, his wife Carol. I will sorely miss his friendship, and, also, the fervent Christian faith that he exhibited over the evening bread we broke together last year in my Charlottesville, VA, home.

Vayas con Dios, Count.