Idiots

AGAIN THIS WEEK, Michael Vick proved that he can catch more headlines than President Obama, or even Gov. Rendell. In a statement notable for its seismic stupidity, conservative talking head Tucker Carlson said on a cable-TV show that Vick deserved to be executed for torturing and killing dogs. The statement was made worse with Carlson, by way of some lefthanded, inverted exoneration, describing himself as a Christian. Let's take that part first. First, his religion is immaterial.

I WAS tempted to begin by using the phrase "It takes a village. " Better, I decided, would be "Village idiots. " Every year at this time there are PC battles across the nation over how and where to recognize the holidays. This year, the most ridiculous of them all was at City Hall. How else to explain the city's decision to replace "Christmas" with "Holiday" on the sign marking the entrance to what is obviously a Christmas village, and then to remove the sign altogether - before the mayor finally changed his mind?

MEMBERS OF the flash-mob set may be idiots and misfits, but I don't believe they are overly stupid. The mayor, police commissioner and district attorney advertise that they - along with neighbors of the Queen Village and Bella Vista area - were going to walk along South Street to prove that it would be safe that night. Hello, it would take outright idiots to try something knowing that all these officials were going to be there that night. That makes no sense to me. What were they thinking when they advertised it?

I FOR ONE have had it. I'm sick and tired of a bunch of idiots foaming at the mouth regarding President-elect Obama having no experience. Unless I've lost my mind, neither did Ronald Reagan. He was a Hollywood actor. Need I say more? Ann Townson Philadelphia

Radio personality Don Imus' first response to criticism of his racist, misogynist description of the Rutgers University women's basketball team was that people shouldn't get worked up about "some idiot comment meant to be amusing. " His indifference predictably set off the antennae of civil rights leaders always on the lookout for racism in America. (Not a difficult job, unfortunately.) But they weren't the only ones bothered by the shock jock's remarks. Indeed, anyone amused by Imus' self-described idiocy must have a warped sense of humor.

Anthony Morelli has learned to hide behind the protective facade that widely criticized athletes often construct for themselves. The Penn State quarterback peers out from behind it during interviews. His body language doesn't just suggest caution, it shouts it. His rote answers come in rapid-fire bursts. He seldom smiles. He rarely jokes. He doesn't engage with reporters the way his media-savvy predecessor, Michael Robinson, did. That's what happens when you're the quarterback of a Penn State team that lost four games, when you get blamed for the defeats, when you've been called dumb and disappointing, when your performances haven't matched your physical gifts.

As collapses go, what Phil Mickelson did yesterday on the final hole of the U.S. Open ranks up there with Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie. How else to describe it? Not since the swaggering Frenchman blew the 1999 British Open in spectacular fashion with a dunderheaded triple bogey has anyone managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like Mickelson did yesterday. "I am such an idiot," said Mickelson, stunned and embarrassed over his final-round 74 and the most ill-timed and costly double bogey of his life.

ISEE THAT Pepsi has a new patriotic can with a picture of the Empire State Building and the Pledge of Allegiance on it. But Pepsi decided that "they didn't want to offend anyone" by putting the words "under God" on the can. Well, I'm offended that they left it off. This is yet another case of hypocrisy in this world of ungodly creatures. Money, which is all anyone cares about, has a big four-word phrase on every single piece of currency that says "In God We Trust. " America: The country of idiots.

RE CHRISTINE Flowers' op-ed on the generals: I usually don't spend time writing to idiots, but in your case I'll make an exception. A necessary war? The only thing necessary about it was to get boy George re-elected. Perhaps you've heard of an internal memo for the re-election strategy titled "All Iraq All the Time. " That's the only reason we are there. We had to take down a brutal tyrant? If that is the case, we should be attacking dozens of other countries throughout the world.

Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams broke his silence yesterday morning after the latest shot from departed slugger Frank Thomas, now with Oakland. "He's an idiot," Williams said in a profanity-laced, 6 1/2-minute diatribe. "He's selfish. That's why we don't miss him . . . I've got something to say directly to him. And I'm holding back as much as I can because, unlike him, I'll say it man-to-man, face-to-face. " Williams was angered by a recent story in the suburban Daily Southtown in which Thomas reiterated his disappointment with the White Sox for the way his departure this offseason was handled after the team signed Jim Thome.