RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Episodes and reporters vary in quality- but "60 Minutes" to me has been given a second life as we've seen the decline of the media's courage and intelligence in the last eight years. The stories are still good, the reporting is usually up to the task, and the no-nonsense approach elevates the subject matter in ways other news outlets fail to achieve. Solid.

I usually only watch the show for the five minutes of Andy Rooney. Besides that the show seems to be very biased towards the Democratic Party

Has found its stride of late. Stories exposing things like the ease of getting semi automatic weapons, CIA war assessments contradicting the Bush line, the continued vulnerablility of our ports and chemical plants to terrorist attack, do a great public service.

One sided report on President Bush & the National Guard. They interviewed Col. Killians son & ex-wife who refudiated the documents but they didn't report that! They also didn't report that experts could not verify if the documents were in fact real or fake! John

(For all those still arguing that the major news media is unbiased! LOL) Dan Rather in his latest mendacious hatchet job has been unclothed for what he and all his other liberal cronies in the mainstream media are- the present day Goebbels wing of the Democratic Party. The Democrats have now resorted to forging documents and having them presented as substantiated objective news pieces by the willful leftists in the media all to try and steal the coming election. They have literally resorted now to out and out deception. The son of the dead Colonel in question states that his dad had nothing but kind things to say about George Bush and additionally had nothing but positive remarks regarding his performance as a guardsman. The daughter of the Democratic fundraiser that was on the CBS report states he-her FATHER- is lying to help Kerry! The DNC fundraiser employees are actually making calls and cancelling her appearances on shows without her knowing so she won't appear. The documents in question were obvious forgeries as the typewriters available at the time for guardsmen to use did could not perform many functions. The other officer mentioned as giving favorable treatment in the forged letter had actually been discharged over a year before the letter was dated. Thank God for the internet and FoxNews!

60 Minutes doesn't even pretend to be impartial anymore. It's sad watching these pathetic old men trying to pretend that they are still relevant anymore. Their day is long since over and they don't even know it. There are too many outlets for news now, guys. Your assertions and assumptions can be fact checked and scrutinized. You are no longer exclusive. You no longer decide what is important because you are no longer relevent. These old guys continue shuffling around with their fly's open, and people have been too polite to tell them so. Time to retire and move to Scottsdale AZ, boys. Tool around in your golf cart and enjoy whatever time you have left playing shuffleboard and taking naps.

Used to be the #1 place for investigative journalism but has fallen off. The anchors have gotten older and Rooney has fallen off his rocker.

Extreme liberal bias--several anti-Bush book authors have been on, but how many pro-Bush authors? None! Also, aside from Andy Rooney, the show is a real bore.

they are a bunch of anti-american left wing idealogs.

Phoney editing. Stupid non-objective writers and announcers. Ancient stars who are dull. Why the hell would anyone spend time - looking for another scnadal or invented crime against humnanity. This is Jerry Springer disguised as news. Crapola for 30 years.

Still alive & kick'n keep up the good stuff.

Once upon a time... 60 minutes used to be good (or so I thought), but now it stinks. It was the cream of the crop - the ultimate word with the complete story. But I think they (and others in media) came to realize how powerful they were and that they could not only report the news, but that they could create and control it and so, they did. They did it for years through selective reporting and one-sided opining, molding the 'facts" to suit their liberal mindset. Now, thanks to the Internet and some cable news outlets, we have the ability to get the facts making it ever so clear today how we were manipulated by this and other left-wing organizations. It's amazing how the power went to their heads. A little bit Saddam - wouldn't you say? Once upon a time 60 Minutes was the epitome of good journalism. Today it is has evolved into a left wing propanganda machine.

It's past the use by date...

Racist and liberal show that does little if any invesitgation into its stories. Has a tendency to completely misquote people.

The best news show, and one that you want to watch.

Crapy, don't watch it watch some other PROFESSIONAL news program!

Hello, Looking for anyone that can tape 60 minutes for me on a monthly basis. I am living in Japan. If you're interested please leave a message for details. thanks

I was shaking my head in disbelief when I watched the 60 Minutes program on Zimbabwe. I couldn't believe that 60 minutes would actually do a program that showed Whites being victimized by Blacks. Who let that program through the censors? I still don't believe it! 60 Minutes reported something that favored Whites!

The most liberal brainwahsing of an ignorant American public. Pople don't realize that this show is nothing but human subliminal programming. It should be part of the CNN, AOL, Time-Warner big-brother in the making.

As do many milatary families, they chose the Rocky Mt. Corridor for their last posted duty and bought a new house in a suburb with good schools. They didn't know Littleton CO had the 4th highest teen suicide rate. Two years later their son had killed himself and 14 others. This does not excuse the son, but implicates the troubled community whose chemical composition was explosive, given the right added ingredient. As a military brat, I understand how hard it is to make friends. They don't want to waste time on you since you will be leaving soon. A spirit of inclusion would foster a less threatening school community. Not coincidentally, a predominantly fundamentalist Christian community shares the same exclusiveness: "I'm a Christian and you're not." Blaming one kid is a bit simplistic!

I actually want to rate 60 minutes II. I was watching it tonight on 4/17/01. I would just like to remind people that LOTS of people were responsible for what happened at Columbine High School. And that Columbine is not an isolated incident. As the daughter of a public school teacher, I worry about my mom being injured or killed every day that she goes to work. I do not think the problem is going to change unless some DRASTIC overhauls on how schools are viewed. We do not provide what the schools need, and we let this kind of incident become a blame game instead of searching for a real solution. Suing the school district and the families of the two killers is not going to solve the problem. its just going to waste money that should be used to SOLVE the problem. People do not view schools as a place of respect and learning--the schools are babysitters who will watch your kids for seven hours a day because they have to. And people like my mom, who go to their jobs everyday with the intention of trying to teach kids who don't want to be taught, and who know that the possibility of violence is very real, continue to do so because they believe its important. My mom is a wonderful teacher, devoted to her kids and her job. The payment she gets?? Her school had a shooting threat a couple weeks ago. What is wrong with this scenario?? and how do we fix it? I am not sure i know, but there should be something done. I think the 60 Minutes II segment was informative and interesting, but it was nothing new.

Your piece on the Boy Scouts was a hatchet job. It was so biased I don't blame the organization for refusing to respond. Your stories are predictable. Your self righteous and amoral reporters have a basic contempt for the intelligence of your audience. I can barely watch but a few minutes of your program before I switch channels in disgust. And Morely Safer maybe the silliest man ever to broadcast with Leslie S. a close second. Mr. Wallace and Mr. Bradley seem reasonbly competent, and Mr. Croft acts as if he's constipated. I find it hard to believe that Americans are so ignorant not to see through your biased stories. Ten years from now historians will look back at 60 Minutes as an example of what can happen to a group of ego maniacs who are full of themselves.

Dear 60 minutes: My commments are regarding the segment on black reparation. The idea that the US government and the people of this great country in any way owe the black people for back wages prior to the civil war and any other time period is ridicuious. The current condition or situation of the black people is not the fault of current taxpayers. The blacks continue to have their hand out and keep telling us how much we owe them because of the slavery of their ancestors. This country has tried to make amends and has given and continues to give the black community opportunities to improve the conditions through free housing, welfare, education and even reverse discrimination through affirmative action. The time has come for everyone to be responsible for their own actions including their ability to be a success or failure and quit asking for handouts. This country has been built on the sweat and labor from many different races and is based on capitalism not on socialism. Let us all continue to work together towards a better future for all rather than remain in the past and placing blame or making excuses. Sincerely, Aileen Milton

make it short and to the point do not belabor a subject, i am not for anything that mentions reparations or apologies for black slavery, if it doesn't include yellow slavery (chinese) white slavery (irish molly maguires) mexican slavery or indian slavery they have all been used as slaves over the years, why are the black people so rascist they are the most rascist group in the United States and they are tearing it apart. lets have some of that racial equality in basketball, and baseball and football, where are the white players. come on open your eyes, now there is black miss america. black spring break, you don't call this rascist, ha, no this is ethnic expression, but if you have a white spring break it is rascist. or a white anything it is rascist, but you can have a black anything even a NEGRO college fund, nothing can be negro unless it is giving to the black people. if you give them money and provide for them you can call them n rs that is what they call themselves. Even OPRAH gets down and jives when she gets 3 blacks on her show. she is as rascist as they come.

I have been watching the segment on reparations for African Americans and personnaly I believe that it's too vauge. If it were just for the wages to be paid back for slavery then women should be getting reparations too for their years and years of being grossly underpayed compaired to men. I am not for the reparations of African Americans.

For many years now I have sent letters and Email messages to various news services concerning my opinion of the inflation statistics that the United States government spews out to the American public. It appears to me that since President Reagan had to deal with an extremely high inflation rate near the very beginning of his reign as President, the equation for determining the true inflation rate has been changed so as to make it look a lot better than it really is. What I am saying here is that government of the United States has been knowingly lying for over 16 years (at least) to the American public about what the actual inflation it really is. After sending out all of these letters and Emails to these various news services concerning this dangerous practice by the government, none of them had the guts enough to respond with the sole exception of one of the anchor people of the Night Business Report who begrudgingly agreed with what I had to say in their own way. When you consider the actual increase in the cost of everyday survival, the cost of housing, the cost of energy, the cost of medical care and medical insurance, the cost of a college education, the price of automobiles, and the cost of food, to say that we have had, on average, only 3% inflation per year (or less) is not rediculous, it is ludicrous. The interest rate that the FRB sets is no longer based on the truth of what inflation really is, but is based on protecting the health of the financial markets. In 1997, when the DOW dipped down to just above 7000 (from a level of somewhere over 9000), the FRB lowered the interest rate. Coincidence? I don't think so. The bottom line to all of this is that the Feds are no regulating the intereset rate based on inflation, but to protect the investment community and the special interest groups. They say that the economy has slowed down. People aren't spending as much money as they used to. The problem is very simple really. Inflation over many years has been a minimum of 10% per year (on average, if not more) when you consider the survival cost of daily living, while salaries have not kept pace (based on the lie that the average inflation rate has only been approximately 3% per year. The vast majority of the new jobs that were created over the years have been low wage positions, between minimum wage and perhaps $15/hr. The reason why the economy has slowed down is that people can no longer afford to buy the services they need on a daily basis, they can no longer afford to buy cars, houses, and (yes) even food. More and more people are having problems paying their rent, their utility bills. They are having greater difficulty paying for medicine and medical care. The Feds should not be lowering interest rates. If anything, they should be maintaining the status quo or raising them based on the true inflation rate. The solution to getting the economy going would be to lower the prices on all goods and services, prices that have gone through the stratasphere in the past 15 years (or so), so that people can once again afford to buy what they can no longer afford to buy. By maintaining low interest rates, the government is exacerbating the inflation problem, not controlling it. The reason I have written such a long comment concerning the inflation rate statistic is because I feel that the news media, including the financial news media such as the Nightly Business Report, are being controlled either by the government, or by the wealthy individuals and corporations. Why hasn't anyone asked the question? Are these numbers we get from the Federal government for real, or are they simply telling us what we want to hear? Why do military personal have to apply for food stamps? Why do they have to receive food baskets if the cost of living has not gone up as the government keeps on telling us? Why haven't I seen 60 Minutes investigate these figures the government keeps on putting out for public consumption? Is 60 Minutes also putting their heads in the sand like Orstriches and simply accepting these numbers without questioning them, or do you just selectively choose safe topics to talk about? People are getting hurt because of these lies. The elderly retired folk especially are getting hurt because of these lies since they are forced to live on fixed incomes. The COLA increases in Social Security are sorely inadequate based on these lies. More and more elderly are losing their medical insurance because can no longer afford to pay for it. Medicare does not adequately protect the elderly in terms of medical care, and each year it gets worse. Why don't you (60 Minutes) do a series on this problem? The Americam people need a hero. They need someone in a position of influence, like 60 Minutes, to bring out the truth, to protect them. I hope that you have the huevos to actually respond to my comment, and I hope that you will respond in a very straightforward manner. Thank you. Harold Mencher A Concern US Citizen

I think Andy Rooney is such a cutie patootie! I wonder if there any dolls of him out there. Imagine, poke his tummy (like the Pillsbury Dough Boy) and hear him say things like, "There's a time for melons and a time to forget melons." or, "I don't want chocolate candies for breakfast!". Sigh. I can't wait.

RE: Boy Scouts I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for marital unfaithfulness and marries another woman commits adultery. Matthew 19:9. I would love to see public reaction if the Boy Scouts, for moral reasons, determined one could not participate if they had divorced and remarried. I mean that hits the big top ten "Thou shalt not commit adultery". If we are going to impose moral ascendancy then lets start at the top. Ask not for whom the bell tolls America. Shame on anyone who allows their son to join the Boy Scouts; a Nazi wielding a gun or a bible is still a Nazi. I believe my son will learn how to tie a knot without becoming a bigot.

60 Minutes is so, so boring! They never have anything interesting on this. It's always about politics and the stock market. The reporters are ok, but they don't dig up the dirt like Barbra Walters does.

April Fool Day was an appropriate date for Leslie's blasting of the Boy Scouts. No decent parent would knowingly send their son off on a week-end camp-out with a QUEER leader. Have you people lost all sense of decency? Those warped women who seem to have no problem with their sons sleeping with a queer should have their children taken away from them!I cannot believe that morality has decended to such depths in America. After watching your outrageous disreguard for morality, the only reason I will watch your show is to boycott any products or services of sponsors who advertise on show.However, I do appriciate your exposing the United Way in their treatment of the Boy Scouts; I will certainly NOT be giving them any more money!

I'm glad that attention is being paid to what the Boy Scouts are doing. I think it is terrible the way they are teaching children to have predjudice towards anyone in this world. Banning homosexuals from their organization simply shows their lack of character and dedication to making these young men be of sound moral character. Furthermore, it looks even worse when they deny interveiws and discourage memebers from giving interviews to reputable shows like 60 Minutes. However, I don't think that these young men should have to suffer. Organizatoins like Camp Fire Boys and Girls of America are very similar to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for that matter, and they do not discriminate. Parents should look into organizations like these for their children. The times are changing and the Boy Scouts can't deal with that. .. they need to realize it's sink or swim.

Too much time spent on the middle east and Israel.

Thkank God for Amdy Rooney!! His sincerity and nifty timing make us all hang our heads in shame for our failure to stand up and speak out against present day society's abuse of our beauiful English language. His Sunday night 3-25 editorial on 60 Minutes was worthy of an "Oscar" of its own for calling the attention of millions of viewers to the extent of vulgarity promoted by words spoken in movies. Bravo, courageous Andy. Keep telling them!

In regards to Dillard's segment. I would much rather have an off duty officer in a store than a "Rent a Cop". they can cause more damage to a company. Dillard's are not the bad guys. I see Off duty police officers doing security all over the place. Rock concerts, grocery stores, liquor stores, Office buildings. The question you should be asking is why should our Police Officers who serve and protect have to get a 2nd job? The answer....they are not paid enough to be a police officer to make a living. That is a shame...They put themsleves on the line everyday and make less than some sales associates in the department stores they are protecting from people doing crimes...like shoplifting. We should see what good our officers are doing versus finding 2 situations that if we the public new both sides we could determine what the situations that occurred was all about...2 sides to all stories

Re: EPA Commando Raids (March 25). I hope new EPA head Christine Whitman was watching; or maybe you could ask for her comments on this story. I am concerned that misconduct by her subordinates will be covered up, as was the situation in New Jersey regarding racial profiling and a health insurance fiasco.

Thank you Andy Rooney for the comment on the movie "Traffic" tonight, March 25,2001. There are few movies worth spending a buck on because the is nothing but filth for dialog. No plot, no substance, just empty-headed ramblings, produced as you say, because they have nothing else to say. Like the adults in the children's story, "The Emperor's New Clothes", we are being lead to believe that bad manners and bad language are the norm and are acceptable. Thank you Andy Rooney.

Reference your program pertaining to Dillard's Dept store and the store associate who called in about a suspecious black man walking around the store. Dont you people think that she had cause to call in about some one who was just walking around their store for a long period of time and about whom she knew nothing?? Wake up, she had a perfect right to question his motive..

In your special on Mad Cow you kept saying that there haven't been any cases of mad cow disease identified in the US. There was an article in our local newspaper, the Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio dated 3/18/01) that talks about an alledged case here in Niles, Ohio. Just thought it was interesting and disturbing and that you might want to see if it has any marit. It was a front page item. I Love your shows and know you keep a lot of people honest.

Kudos to “60 Minutes II,” and we hope you get thousands more letters like this from grateful consumers for your timely report (March 20th) on the epidemic of Mad Cow Disease now sweeping Europe. (“Need Americans be concerned?”)* Unlike “20/20,” whose John Stossel white washes serious issues by comments from ill informed spokespeople in favor of big industry (Stossel recently told viewers organic produce is not only unnecessary it could prove harmful, if not fatal), “60 Minutes” presented an objective and balanced report from which its viewers can learn and become better informed. As a former world traveler, reporter/editor and Health Educator with a major metropolitan hospital, I have had access to world authorities on health. I thought I had an “edge”until a close bout with death woke me to the mass of misinformation we are fed via the vested interests of our food and medical industries. My spouse and I, who had his own bout with serious sinus, heart, and prostate problems, spent nearly 15 years re-educating ourselves from the handful of healthcare luminaries who practice true health. We soon came to realize the wisdom in the axiom: “You are what you eat.” Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reported some years ago that the majority of our diseases can be eliminated and/or reversed through simple life style changes. (Note: Thanks to the powerful Cattle & Dairy industries, Koop soon got relieved of his post.) Realizing that TRUE wealth is health, we wanted to surround ourselves with “wealthy” people. In order to help accomplish that-- and give back to our community-- we lead a free monthly class and support group at the regional library called: HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES: Disease-Free-Living Through Nutrition & Fitness. Thanks again, “60 Minutes,” for siding with the public, which after all, is how it should be. Even those whose jobs are at stake must come to realize sooner or later they should not ask “…For whom the bells toll?” We’re all in this together. Gerry and Ray Coffey “Health is (TRUE) Wealth” www.all-creatures.org/cb/ * May we suggest you do an in-depth follow up report with one of America’s foremost authorities: former cattle baron, Howard Lyman, author of “Mad Cowboy” and President of EarthSave International, a non-profit educational organization. (Co-defendant, with Oprah Winfrey, in the “Veggie Libel” suit brought by Texas Cattlemen.)

Generally I like 60 minutes and have since its inception. Having said that, Don Hewitt should not particpate in gun control advocacy. As a member of the NEWS production business he should report the NEWS not BE the news. Andy what happened to you lately?(smile some okay?)

I was just watching your program on US and International parents. Subject children of divorced parents. This is a very painful subject for me. After coming to the USA with my first husband in 1959, we ran into some difficult times and I was forced by the Imigrattion dept to return to my homeland England leaving my two year old son here because he was born a US citizen. I was pregnant at the time with my second child which was born in England and died a few months later. The seperation from my husband ended in divorce, my son was still in the USA and I was still in England. Several years later I eventually made my way back to the USA only to find that I had no rights to my son. It took over 20 years before we were finally reunited after he was an adult with a wife and two children of his own. There definitely needs to be some law that can settle this situation for everyone involved.

I had always thought that Andy Rooney was thought-provoking and interesting albeit a bit quirky. That is until last night (18 February 2001). How does Mr. Rooney feel qualified to critique a system he has not been in for 50 years? Yes there are poor teachers. There are poor performers in every profession, journalists included. There are great one's as well. Yes teachers deserve better salary. We did go into this profession, however, knowing its limitations. Yes too, we must do a better job of respecting our aging population. I do not agree, however, that their presense in the classroom as teachers would do anything but frustrate all parties involved. Being in front of a class of 28 students requires stamina and talents that must be developed over years. We could and should use their life experiences in other ways. They can bring a wealth of experience to the classroom but calling on them to be teachers would first require at least a year of training for certification. How many of them after all would want to come out of retirement??? Mr. Rooney's assessment that the school year should incoporate more days in rediculous. Perhaps he had all the money he needed from the beginning to pay for his degree. Students these days need the summers to earn money to ultimately be positive contributors to society. I would urge Mr. Rooney to visit these schools that you want to "impove" BEFORE telling us how.

RE: Your Abner Louima segment. Swarz was walking Louima down the hall when an officer whom Swarz knew had been assaulted by Louima, stopped him and said " I'll take him ". Where was Swarz's precinct---in OZ? In my opinion when he turned him over he should have known something would happen which makes him an accomplice.

On Andy Rooney and his commentary on the high cost of everything. Instead of complaining, why doesn't he talk about the cause of inflation which is the government constantly increasing the money supply beyond the amount of available goods and services. Then government spends the new money first leaving the rest of us with devalued currency.

one of the most informative shows on tv today.please keep the good work.you should all be congratulated for a job very well done!!!!! ps.maybe you could do a segment on people who are outspoken on one or two topics.if you can help me in this matter IREALLY GOT A GOOD SUBJECT FOR YOU WHY NOBODY WANTED TO HELP MY MOM LAYING IN APARKING LOT DYING FROM A HEART ATTACK

Your show on Joe Arpaio was disgraceful. Donna Ham (?) thinks that the humiliation in Joe's tent city will cause prisoners to attack little old ladies in Safeway parking lots. Nonsense!! ACLU hates him...surprise, surprise. We have personal knowledge of an alcoholic neighbor who was arrested for a dui, hit and run and leaving the scene (parked car) who spent two nights in Sherrif Joe's tent city and has not gotten behind the wheel under in the influence for over 2 years. You bet it's a deterrence. Your choice of interviewees were the usual suspects....A cartoonist, a liberal columnist, and whoever this Donna person is. We know Joe's methods work....we appreciate the amount of money he has saved us....and we're not surprised that you don't like him and would present a one-sided view of his success.

Your report on Sheriff Joe was not very well researched. If you had gone around and asked a percentage of people living here, you would of found out that the lawabiding citizens are the ones who keep voting him back. We are proud to finally have crimminals treated the way they should be. Quit babying and kid gloving these lawbreakers. That is what the sheriff is doing.

Sheriff Arpaio has been chastized,made to look the baffoon,and publicity hound but this bias,ir- risponsible "news" report is digusting.What,no mention of his creating a mounted posse to help roundup "deadbeat dads".Or their use in the shop- ping malls to keep shoppers safe while exiting the stores after dark? Or the basic principle that inmates will not live better than taxpayers who pay for their confinment.Your liberal's showing. Mary Fancher, Cottonwood, AZ.

The only TV we watch is 60 minutes....(Dan Rather blew it with the election....) I couldn't believe the bad story on the Sheriff of Maricopa County. Let him be a publicity hound, who cares? At least he's taking criminals off the street instead of glamorizing crime. If you're going to do a piece on the effectiveness of his form of "justice", .....why not show both sides of the criminal justice story? How about the putrid inmates like Richard Speck? Was the lavish lifesyle he enjoyed in a conventional prison after savagely murdering seven young nurses more appropriate than the discomfort experienced by those sentenced to the Maricopa "Tent City" prison? If you want to show one side, have the professional integrity to show the other. I'd vote for "The Sheriff" not because I like him as a person, I don't like what so many other penal institutions do.....reward crime! To hell with their color TV's, air conditioned cells, law libraries and weight rooms. What are the recidivism rates of the posh prisons at the other end of the scale? CBS, you blew it! And Morley Saefer, you did too. Shame on both of you for your liberal, sloppy, one-sided journalism. I'm done with 60 Minutes....

2-6-01 Dear Andy Rooney: your Sunday Feb. 4 remarks hit it on the head. What really upsets me , is the habit of all tjhose bible toting people who run to the church thanking god for saving their lives after a tornado rips through the community. If there is a lord, the dummies don't seem to realize that "he who giveth, also taketh away", and there would be no reason to go to the church to thank anyone if the lord had not sent the devastating tornado in the first place. Pat Robertson shold be called in to divert any storm that might appear. Keep up the good work, perhaps peopple will realize, sometime, that humans are here to take care of themselves, no spirit floating in the ether much gives a damn about us people. Keep up the good work, SDuncan@aol.com (206)289-0452 2400 Aurora Ave. N> #209 Seattle, WA 98109

Just watch your show 60 min. tonight and have to tell you "GOD BLESS ANDY ROONEY"... No, really I mean it!!!! Tonight was one of his best. I always think Andy is "right on" but tonight just really hit it on target so much I had to respond to you Andy. I agree. Politicians should change the wording. Your segment tonight was one of the best. God Bless you, Andy Rooney with many more years of letting us all see the light! Sandra in Simi

Regarding your piece on Feb 4 about the Alaska National Wildelife Refuge and drilling for oil. You failed to mention that the pipeline was built primarily by SOHIO who was partially and then completely bought out by British Petroleum. Then in the late 1980's the Prudhoe Bay crude was being exported to Japan. One more natural resource of the colonies exploited by the British. So now we're going to drill ANWAR for who's benefit? The oil will go to the highest bidder and not necessarily the US consumer. Please, I beg you to check out the facts. The people of Alaska receive oil revenue checks every year to keep them molified. We're talking about a natural resource that belongs to all Americans. Why drill for oil that will wind up being exported. At the very least, that oil should not be exported. I have been a Captain of oil tankers for years. I know where the skeletons are buried and can prove it. I can be reached at 360-798-8414 in Vancouver, WA. Best regards, John M. Withers

Upon learning that Andy Rooney voted for Clinton TWICE I decided his intelligence is suspect. If one cannot learn from his mistakes it is clear he has nothing important to say, therefore I always turn him off now. I used to look forward to his part of the show. I've been watching "60 Minutes" from its beginning. I can't remember a Sunday that I wasn't looking forward to the show. However this past Sunday, 12/17/00, seeing promos of who was going to be on the show, an actor, I didn't even turn it on. Turned on "Sound Of Music".

More international issues should be covered.