Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

This is why we love the Commonwealth. Below is a letter to the Editor of today's New York Times:

To the Editor:

Thomas L. Friedman (column, May 16) correctly identifies the common characteristics of the Shiite and the Israeli extremist movements as "religious messianism, and a willingness to sacrifice their followers and others for absolutist visions, along with a certain disdain for man-made laws, as opposed to those from God."

Sounds a lot like the Bush administration to me.

MAUREEN RATIGAN
Natick, Mass., May 16, 2004

And here is the text of 201k's letter to the Times, which they did not publish:

To the Editors,

Thomas Friedman may be correct, as far as he goes, that both Israel and Iraq are suffering under the tyranny of minorities that "combine religious messianism, and a willingness to sacrifice their followers and others for absolutist visions, along with a certain disdain for man-made laws, as opposed to those from God".

But there is a third country, omitted by Friedman, that is also currently in thrall to "a zealous, religious and messianic minority". The United States.

Regards, 201k

Way to go, Maureen from Flutie-ville.