Letters.(Letter to the Editor)

--I usually enjoy Ramesh Ponnuru's articles, but one statement in "This Will Hurt" (Feb. 24) inflamed me: Without citing any statistics or sources, he asserts, off the top of his head, that "the average elderly American spent more every year dining out than getting drugs."

This is the kind of bald, quasi-witty statement that gives us conservatives the false reputation of being "mean-spirited."

Sam Woods

Los Angeles, Calif.

--Ramesh Ponnuru replies: My source is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2001. Average annual expenditure for consumers 65 and over on "food away from home": $1,314. Equivalent number for "drugs": $884.

-- John J. Miller's March 10 portrait of Gov. Bob Taft ("'Governor Tax'") is as distorted as the accompanying cartoon caricature of the governor.

Mr. Miller plays spokesman for a conservative legislative faction that has refused to resolve Ohio's budget deficit by any form of revenue enhancement. Mandated by law to balance the budget, the governor had no choice but to slash spending and he has done so, while supporting revenue increases to maintain educational services. His grandfather would have been proud of his courage.