To the Editor:

Paul Krugman ("Kansas on My Mind," column, Feb. 25) mentions that at a town hall meeting, college Republicans started chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, Social Security's got to go!" Well, at least they are being honest about their real aim, scrapping Social Security.

Still, I can't help but be furious thinking about this. We have a deadly, very expensive war going on. The dollar is sliding. Education needs a lot of work. But all these students can think of is that they want to scrap Social Security. And they seem happy about it. Don't they have any shame? Don't they have grandparents? Don't they care about the elderly?

This has got to be the coldest, most callous thing I have ever seen.

Aaron Dellutri
Chicago, Feb. 25, 2005

My first response was:

The new Republican Party: It's a religion, not a political movement!

Good stuff from the ACT UP web site, courtesy of James Wentzy: DIVA TV (Damned Interfering Video Activists) netcasts!

They include a speech by Vito Russo and part of a David Wojnarowicz reading.

I was reading an article on a new luxury hotel to open March 1 in Berchtesgaden, site of Adolf Hitler's Alpine retreat. I was struck by this part:

The decision to build a hotel on the site above the German Alp town of Berchtesgaden angered many Jewish groups. Officials have tried to address their concerns with a documentation center opened in 1999 to detail the area's Nazi past. In addition, the state of Bavaria kept ownership of the land and set the condition that the hotel be designed for affluent tourists -- precautions designed to help keep out neo-Nazis.

Using wealth restrictions to keep out people with far-right beliefs? Wouldn't work here!