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	Thanks for the informative article on alternatives to disposable tampons and pads. I hope that you will inform your readers about one important correction. The author stated that packaging and applicators, especially cardboard, are recyclable. This is not true. Recycling tampon applicators could cause harm to workers that sort recyclables by exposing them to blood and blood-borne pathogens on the applicators. Neither cardboard nor plastic applicators are recyclable -- they should be thrown in the trash. That said, some communities may recycle the boxes from cereal, potato chips, etc. The boxes that tampons are packaged in could be recycled with these boxboard items. The best bet is to check with your city or county for recycling guidelines in your community. -- Brenda Gassman
_______________UNSPUN: DEMOCRACY ON LIFE SUPPORT BY STEVE ERICKSON (11/25/98)
	I don't mean to pick on Steve Erickson, since I generally found his "Unspun" column on Kenneth Starr to be on the money. But Erickson comes close to repeating what the Clinton-hating pundits on "Rivera Live" and elsewhere now commonly assert as irrefutable fact: The president committed perjury before the grand jury. I know Starr thinks Clinton did, but then Starr has demonstrated an inability to understand the law when it reaches conclusions he dislikes. Disturbing in a former federal appellate judge, and downright terrifying in a prosecutor, but a reality nonetheless. What I would really like someone to show, though, is what exactly did Clinton say before the grand jury that is perjury? I watched most of his testimony, and maybe I missed something, but I sure as hell didn't see any clear perjury. Obfuscation, evasion, anger, sure, but no outright perjury. Because of the pundits and the Republicans, we have undergone a sort of brainwashing about Clinton's character. Whenever he was discussed, before Starr's testimony, the Ann Coulters and Joe DiGenovas would say how we all knew Clinton had a shady character. After all, wasn't there Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, etc.? Well, as it turns out, there wasn't Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, etc. None of it added up to anything. Erickson and I shared the same astonishment that the media ignored this the day after Starr testified. Though we shouldn't be surprised, since the media would then have to admit that they have slandered and libeled the president and his wife for years now with no good reason. As the "pundits" repeat their mantra that the president committed perjury before the grand jury (because Starr says he did), we are again being conditioned to accept the unproven as gospel truth. Didn't we learn anything from all of this? -- Jeff Ryan SALON | Dec. 7, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| UNCLE ANDREW'S CABIN BY PETER KURTH

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