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Hi Jan,

My name is Jay Glennie and I launch my project chronicling British Oscar Awardees next year, named Britannium. I have the full permission of A.M.P.A.S and have interviewed many Oscar recipients and their colleagues and family.
Your biography of William Wyler is a wonderful read and has been of great help within my research. To name but a few of William Wyler’s film that have contained British personal, The Letter, Mrs. Miniver, Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday, The Collector, The Heiress and Wuthering Heights.

Would it be at all possible if I could either chat with you regarding these films or use quotations from the book, with of course full credits for you?

I would be delighted to discuss further - Warmest regards Jay

You are fabulous. I love what you wrote about Shay's Rebellion. Too true. United States of Amnesia, as Gore Vidal once noted. Been meaning to send this for awhile. Regina Hackett

Dear Regina -- Awww gee, thnx. -- Jan

It was an ad hominem attack. That's how I mean it. And that's objectionable. Nader didn't have to call him an "Uncle Tom" to make his point. I'm willing to believe he got carried away with the cute sound of it: Uncle Sam vs. Uncle Tom. But given the opportunity to take back his remark, Nader refused. Criticism of Obama policy is not racist. But calling him an "Uncle Tom" is. The term is an insult reserved for an African American. That's not ambiguous. That's self-evident. Have you ever heard a white person called an Uncle Tom? If Obama were not black, Nader would not have used the term. That makes it racist.

You wrote “[Nader] should have offered some kind of apology for the personal nature of his attack on Obama, or at least said something to clarify what could be heard -- and doubtless was heard not just by Smith -- as a racist remark.”

What does “personal nature” mean as you used it? Why is “personal” criticism objectionable? How might Nader or anyone express that Obama is too beholden to corporate paymasters and insensitive to the plight of the oppressed (including blacks), in a manner that you would deem appropriate?

In what sense is the explanation Nader gave to Smith a failure to make it clear the criticism of Obama is not racist? Where exactly is the ambiguity concerning racism? In other words, what part of Nader’s explanation suggests racism?