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It's how I work. Every month, to hold up my end of our conversation, I put a thousand-odd words onto the screen, then whittle away until - with luck - a coherent argument is revealed. That leaves a gazillion surplus ideas, refrains - even feelings, some of which I recycle below. (Also, as I write, I curse my limitations; watch out for that, too.)

Samuel Johnson famously said, in 1775, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." He was wrong. It's religion.

CEOs used to earn about 40 times what a line worker did. Now the multiple is 180. This, from a business source, doesn't upset me, because I understand that executives are statesmen and workers are undeserving. Only Commie-pinkos will disagree.

I meet intelligent folks who believe we can still win - whatever that means - in Iraq. Credit the White House; it's created an alternative reality.

A stage fanatic, I watched Larry Parker pull Albuquerque Little Theater out of artistic and financial doldrums, refurbish the WPA playhouse and add a vibrant children's theater. Perhaps ALT had reason to oust him, but he deserves an ovation.

Good news: Christians who doubt their Lord endorses torture have surfaced to debate those backing the president "because he's a Christian."

Bad news: Our national Church of Getting and Spending thrives.

My e-mail reveals growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left. Reasonable. Also, growing anti-Semitism. Disgusting.

Columnist Maureen Dowd is funny, but her great virtue is showing how personality, not rationality, drives policies.

Morality blinds us to systems. See Ken Lay and buddies as "bad," and you never notice that Enron promoted deregulation or that Wall Street banks financed its scams.

Alpert, you (expletive), shape up. Quit thinking horizontally - conservative, middle, liberal, blah, blah. Society is vertical. We live by hierarchy, and it lives in us. Those perched on top - ignorant, self-interested, whatever - wield power. Clear?

When, if ever, does the ignorance of the powerful become a criminal offense?

Something from Albert Camus' notebook comes to mind whenever I wonder about our leaders. It's roughly this: In the final analysis, all men are victims, not villains. But that is in the final analysis.

If you're ancient like me, you see history repeat itself, as in the Iraq fiasco - an Indo-Chinese theme with variations - and the senseless carnage festers in the pit of the stomach.

Oil, politics and spies intersect in ex-CIA agent Robert Baer's pugnacious history, "Sleeping with the Devil." Nelson DeMille's gripping "The Lion's Game" X-rayed terrorism in fiction.

Leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination are John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. The "values" crowd will, no doubt, explain why the Lord forgives some adultery.

If I were still teaching journalism, I'd assign comedian Stephen Colbert's brilliant speech at the White House correspondents' dinner. My favorite one-liner: "Reality has a liberal bias."

Please, stop prescribing better math and science education to cure our ills. Our problem isn't productivity; it's a lost soul. We Americans once connected to each other and to the higher aspirations of humanity. Maybe, if we explore mind and spirit through the humanities, we will find - somewhere over the rainbow and beyond the pot of gold - America the decent.

Alpert is a semi-retired newsman in Albuquerque. Reach him at ArthurAlpert@awcp.com. His column appears the fourth Thursday of the month.