You know what’s fun? Talking back to the letters to the editor of my local newspaper. Here’s what I mean, using three letters from Saturday’s News & Observer as examples:

As the turmoil unfolds, I have heard and read many descriptions of what has caused the meltdown in the financial world. I can’t help, though, but to offer one more comparison to the world of nature.

When a species exists in an environment of readily available sustenance and no natural predators, the population explodes with the inevitable onset of decline and disease. As brutal as it may seem, the plague that attacks this species is nature’s way of restoring order and balance to one that has grown beyond the limits of its intended purpose. Whether it be physics, biology, nature or, in this case, finance, Mother Nature will always win in the end over the hubris of man.

As far as the financial world goes, I’m not sure which “population” has exploded and what “plague” has attacked it. Are the mortgage-backed securities at the root of the current crisis the exploded species or the plague? Somebody help me out here. Furthermore, I never knew that securities regulation was included in Mother Nature’s vast portfolio of responsibilities. When did she take on that burden?

The best political humorists lampoon politicians of all affiliations, with insightful or amusing results regardless of the target. The comic strip “Mallard Fillmore,” which is neither funny nor clever, attacks only liberals — until Sept. 18.

That strip, in which a man says he’ll vote for the candidate with the nicest smile, is obviously aimed at Republican strategists’ favorite voters — those who base their decisions on emotion instead of reason. Republicans woo this bloc by saying that opponents who demonstrate intelligence and thought are elitists.

In 2004, analysts tried to explain why college towns were overwhelmingly “blue,” even those deep within “red” states. I think it’s because higher education teaches critical thinking skills. Our schoolchildren are too often taught not to think for themselves but to take things on faith. Faith is great in religious matters, but when it comes to the government, we need to be more analytical and not believe something just because someone said so.

In a recent example, John McCain claimed that Barack Obama favored comprehensive sex education for kindergartners. Many believed this story, even though readily available sources show the bill was actually about protecting children from sexual predators. The moral: Before you vote, think — it’s patriotic!

Let me get this straight: College towns are overwhelmingly liberal because their inhabitants are taught “critical thinking skills” and thus have the ability to think for themselves — which is to say, not be unduly swayed by others. But if the people in college towns are thinking for themselves, how is it that the overwhelming majority of them arrive at the same political conclusions? Boy, with all those professors allegedly exhorting their students to be independent-minded, I’m confused as to how those students end up thinking just like … their professors.

Aren’t these oil companies that are profiteering from Hurricane Ike miseries the same companies that some people think will sell us cheap gas if they’re allowed to drill in public land and waters?

That kind of naivete will cost our grandchildren dearly. Meanwhile, a Japanese automaker, subsidized by a forward-thinking government, will build a moderately priced electric car and make the whole topic moot, while reaping its own healthy profits. We’ll scramble to buy those cars and oil will be nil, baby, nil.

This one actually makes my head hurt. I’ve read it countless times and still can’t follow the logic. Let me try again: (1) Price gouging occurred after Hurricane Ike. (2) Oil companies want to drill “in public lands and waters” (which they do already). (3) Later generations will suffer financially because of that. (4) Japan produces electric cars profitably. (5) Americans will enthusiastically buy those cars, and (6) the result will be the end of oil dependence.

Uh, wouldn’t that be a good thing?

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