So the American war hero finally comes face to face with his ultimate counterpart — a pathetic poser with counterfeit cred. Well worth waiting for through two weeks of reruns!

I reread Catch-22 a few months ago, and was surprised at how well it holds up. Bush as Cathcart, Cheney as Korn. Minderbender in charge of the world in which we live today. Sunday's strip about pledges and oaths was right out of Catch-22, when the squadron was forced to sign Capt. Black's loyalty oaths and pledges on a daily basis. Yossarian lives!

Regarding today's strip: Well said. Since when have elected representatives stopped representing their constituents and started cowtowing to special interest groups? It seems they are now more fearful of offending the money than the electorate, and that's sad.

The spectacles! Whilst the message always carries the punch in the strip, it is usually the attention paid to the brilliant artwork that knocks me out and lifts me up. In today's strip the way the spectacles on Mike's face, which seem to be magically aloft, dropped and rose frame to frame, did not go unnoticed.

I'm 61. I'm female, and the whitest person on the face of the earth: I burn, peel, and go back to white. And I'm sitting here in one of my hoodies, typing this comment. I own three; this one's a sweatshirt I picked up in the airport in Seattle, to warm up as I waited the three hours of my layover.

Hoodies. What's not to love? They have a hand warmer pocket, so you can hold your kleenex, and keep your fingers warm. The hood raises the neckline, so, even down, it keeps your neck warm. My daughter still has the one she appropriated from her stepdad. Back in the 70's, it was his outdoor concert hoodie. Warm enough to sit on the grass? It was a blanket. Cool? It was a sweatshirt. Raining? It kept his head dry.

Geraldo Rivera is so out of touch with the culture that he doesn't realize that even 61-year-old white women wear hoodies. Bless our children, especially the ones who look "dangerous" just because they exist.

Most NFL fans know that hoodie wearers (on the sidelines, anyway) cannot be trusted! Specifically, Bill Bellichick and Josh McDaniels. On the other hand, hoodies are just about unbeatable on a damp morning when you're out for a walk or a jog.

I frequently wear my hoodie that touts the branch of America's military service both my sons are enlisted in. I double dog dare anyone to try and prohibit me from wearing it.

I would like to comment on your latest Straw Poll. Once again, it would appear that politicians and the media have drawn a bullseye on the American Farmer. My God, it’s bad enough that we battle rising fuel prices and competition from South America, but must we also be demonized for what we wear to work? Oh yes, long before the hip-hop community or even the NCAA made the “hoodie” popular with urban youth, this garment was a staple on every single farm in the US. Films and television might portray the iconic farmer dressed in bib overalls and a flannel shirt, but on most farms, the dark blue or green hooded sweatshirt -- complete with Similac stains and hay-lined pockets -- is a virtual uniform.

From the time I was a young child, I would be rousted out of bed at 4:00 each morning, and shrug into my so-called “hoodie” before I went to the barn to do my chores. The hood kept the pre-twilight chill off my head and neck, but could be quickly brushed aside once exertion and the butane barn heater made this feature of the sweatshirt unnecessary. Most adolescent farming kids wear their hooded sweatshirts several sizes too large, but that isn’t so they appear to be thugs. Nay: the purchase of oversized garments is the idea of their parents, who understand the value of a dollar, and opt to buy clothing their children can “grow into."  (Plus, the extra room makes it possible to smuggle barn cat kittens into the house, so they’ll stay warm overnight.)

And now, because of one cowardly attempt to cover up a homicide, the American public is up in arms, and ready to ban this important piece of agricultural equipment? For shame! What’s next, I wonder: putting 4-H Clubs on the FBI’s list of known street gangs? I sing the Hoodie Electric, and I’ll wear Daisy Dukes to church in December before I allow the knee-jerk reaction of some self-serving, city slickers to make me get my next hooded sweatshirt from behind the locked glass case where they keep the spray paint and single malt Scotch!

Could we de-escalate the "hoodie" fears by using the Saskatchewan name for the garment? In Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw and Biggar, you don't wear a hoodie, you wear a "bunnyhug."

Interesting Straw Poll. I don't like hoodies because I find them ugly to look at and uncomfortable to wear (the weight pulls at the neckline, unless worn hood up.) That said, my sister was mugged by a guy with a hoodie a few years back. He made the mistake of saying, "Let me have it." Turns out a hoodie makes a terrific catcher for a faceful of pepper spray.

The calm supposedly comes before the storm. But after real storms there is often this strange quiet when even the birds are still in hiding.

I've been reading Doonesbury since I was in grade school in the mid-70s. I really don't think there's been a "low" era in this strip; it's always relevant and cuts to the quick and I just love it. Thanks so much for last week's comics on women's health care. We need more sane voices on this topic!

This is The Way of the Trudeau -- blast us with icy cold controversy one week, then warm us with familiar character drama the next. He has given us something to think about, now he gives us space to think about it. But there was an issue being advocated this week as well, albeit one so familiar to long-term readers that it seems like an old friend: marijuana legalization. A needed change from the stressful previous week, but by no means less important.

When pot comes in from the cold, the tobacco companies will surely cut it with carcinogens. Keep growing pure, Zonk!

I just want to tell you how much I enjoyed today's strip. It really brought back memories of how I was reading Doonesbury to my younger sister and cracking up to "What do I know? I'm only a begonia!" Thanks for the smile.

How cool! Now Zonker is a raving conservative. Bill Buckley, arch conservative, also held the view that weed should be legalized. Birds of a feather.

How simply charming that the "budding" farmer Zonk would think of meeting a future wife at a "square" dance. GBT, you're the right kind of romantic.

Last week: Controversial, news-making comic. This week: GBT "on vacation." Coincidence? I think not. Mayhaps underground research on a political figure? Co-espionage with the Red Rascal? Will stay tuned...

Your Sunday strip posits the question as to whether those who hate bigots are cut from the same cloth as, or possess attributes similar to those of the conservative mind as described by the Professor. While the Professor seemed stumped, I believe the question is easily answered.