There was a recent letter suggesting that Ellen Goodman's "inane" column be dropped from the paper, and another letter suggesting that her column is so ridiculous that perhaps Ellen is not a real person. Sadly, Ellen Goodman is a real person, and sadder still, her views represent those of a large segment of our population. The popularity of her views is supported by a recent letter to the editor by an individual "frightened" by the hostility expressed toward Ellen Goodman who says that her "ultra liberal opinion speaks for many of us."

      I have no hostility toward Ellen Goodman. From what she writes, I suspect she is a caring and intelligent individual. She has no doubt been influenced by the media and by an educational system that not only promotes her viewpoints but promotes conformity to them by discouraging free-thinking, critical thinking, and reason.

      You cannot find a columnist who intelligently and rationally defends many of Ellen's popular views. No intelligent defense exists for such things as the right to kill unborn children and the rewriting of history to promote perversion of the intention of "separation of church and state" and the First Amendment to our Constitution.

      Sorry to say, Ellen Goodman, with all her irrationality, is probably as good as it gets.

Annie Bukacek MD