the Mail.(Letter to the Editor)

I enjoyed Blake Hurst's "Left-wing Trash Talk" (March). It made me recall some of my own experiences.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I moved from the Denver area to Idaho. When we announced our intention to (liberal) friends, we were met with predictable reactions, but one in particular stuck out. A friend with impeccable liberal credentials got a horrified look on his face and exclaimed, "Idaho! But ... but, there's Mormons out there!" He was dead serious. I've often wondered whether, had we announced plans to move to, say, New York City, he would have said, "But ... but, there's Jews living there!" I think not.

Two years later, my wife found a job teaching at the University of Idaho. The university does a good deal of hand-wringing about diversity, and I can't really fault that, for Idaho just isn't a very diverse place by today's standards. Yet the liberals who preach diversity often seem willing to take potshots at Mormons, a fairly significant religious "minority" at the university. Because of their conservatism and strong religious ,and family values, Mormons are perceived as part of the Yahoo Nation Mr. Hurst described.

Michael J. O'Neal Moscow, Idaho

In her list of self-inflicted wounds that have characterized U.S. energy policy over the past several years, Diana Furchtgott-Roth correctly includes the Kyoto Protocol (ECONOMIST, April/May).

With the nation facing an energy shortage that will soon become an energy crisis, America is going to have to build hundreds of new power plants and dozens of new refineries in the years just ahead. The nation's energy needs are completely at odds with the Kyoto Protocol's mandated reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. No one can seriously believe that the United States will be anywhere near meeting its targets under Kyoto by 2008-2012. But as long as the United States remains a party to the treaty, it will be used like a club by global warming advocates to beat the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases into fulfilling its "commitments."

Now that President Bush has wisely decided not to ...