Remember the American left? Bless their pointy little heads, they organized over everything, coalitions and action groups for and against this and that. They were often laughable, yet they did call our attention to things that did indeed often require our notice.

But not lately. Confronted with a real, vast right-wing conspiracy — theocratic, monarchist, intolerant, religious fanaticism, suicidal terrorism, the worst imaginable abuse of women, even slave trading — they not only do not organize against it, they defend it. In the half-assed way that only the unchurched and totally ignorant of all religion can defend themselves when confronted with religious fanaticism. Against a totalitarian conspiracy, they defend the ideals they used to proclaim with ignorant parroting of some newspaper column or just embarassed silence.

Liberals used to drive little cars, modest cars — Austins, Hillmans, VW bugs. When Detroit finally went small, they bought compacts from Detroit . . . until someone convinced them that all small cars, beginning with Detroit's and working outward, were unsafe. So onward to the Volvo wagon, finally to the SUV. An overbuilt pickup truck is safer than a Neon? But no we hear no outcry from “Nader’s Raiders” on SUVs. SUVs are gas hogs . . . and there's the crux of the matter, you see?

Remember Ralph Nader, our best known Arab-American, the one who “didn't have a political agenda”? Well, he did seem to dislike fuel economy (and he got his people out of 25-mpg cars and into 9-mpg, top-heavy pickup trucks). And he did seem to oppose oil-drilling in this hemisphere. Add those to other related facts and out comes more dependence on the Middle East! Looks like an agenda to me! Nader even ran for President, which means he pretty much dictated who would win . . . our little Arab. . . .

It begins to look like we’ve been “had” big time, doesn't it?