THE DEAD HAND OF MR. SS

Another Straight Up visitor, citing Schwartz's unfortunate initials "SS," writes of his article: "I love the part where SS trashes Burroughs & Ginsberg as irrelevant to any time but their own. Obviously he hasn't read them recently. They have never been more relevant than right now. We are seeing their visions come to life in front of our eyes."

The item also drew a response from a reader about another Standard article by columnist Wesley J. Smith, which dealt with Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning flick "Million Dollar Baby":

I am intrigued by how fiercely the conservative media are orchestrating attacks on [it], apparently because it presents a case for euthanasia at the end. In this article -- "A Million Dollar Miss" -- they actually give away the story's ending, probably to dissuade people from bothering to see it. The intent seems to be to sabotage it as much as possible. That, apparently, is how they deal with things that are not in accord with their beliefs. It reminds me of the zealous religious police in countries like Saudi Arabia."

Point taken. But in fact, many reviewers have given away the ending of Eastwood's flick, sometimes warning of spoilers and sometimes not. More to the point is this: The Standard columnist paints the picture as Nazi-style propaganda by drawing a specious parallel between "Million Dollar Baby" and the 1939 German movie "I Accuse" ("Ich Klage An").

"It is striking and disturbing how similar the plotline of "Million Dollar Baby" is to the voluntary euthanasia story in "I Accuse," Smith wrote, while noting that "I Accuse" had "Goebbles's blessing" and "promoted voluntary euthanasia as well as the propriety of killing disabled infants."