These are adapted from recent postings on the blog "Editor's Note" on thepilot.com.

Play It Again, Sam? -- I can't remember it ever happening before in the nearly 11 years that I have had the honor to serve as editor of The Pilot. How odd, then, that it would have happened not once but twice in the past month.

First one letter writer and then another, unrelated to each other and from separate towns, wrote to criticize different editorials on current issues -- and then went on to excoriate "Sam Ragan" in person for having written them.

Now, I knew Sam Ragan. Sam Ragan was a friend of mine. And, letter writers, the person who wrote those editorials was no Sam Ragan. That's because Sam, rest his soul, has been dead for lo these 12 years.

The cause of the confusion, I suppose, is the quote from Sam (quoting someone else about printing the news and raising hell) that appears above the editorial column. But it has always been there, and it clearly says: "Sam Ragan, Editor and Publisher, 1968-1996." Some people never get the word.

I'll leave the last comment on this subject to George Wilson of our Circulation Department. When I told him about the mixup the other day, he laughed and said, "Man. Talk about a ghostwriter!"

-- June 30

Hillary, Tim and Me: "Steverino, I have an extra bedroom if you need a place to hide out for a few days," recently wrote one of my favorite people, Bingo Barringer of Carthage. "Seems you have upset some ladies."

As always, Bingo signed his e-mail, "Keep the faith and eat more possum."

I replied: "Thanks. Nothing serious yet. Just a few superficial umbrella wounds."

Bingo was referring to the response to two perhaps overly cantankerous columns in a row that I wrote on June 11 and 18. The first was a bit critical of Hillary Clinton, and the second took issue with the media's seemingly endless coverage of the death of Tim Russert. There were some letters critical of each (one said nobody would attend my funeral) -- and a guest column by Ann Robson taking me to task for both.

A couple of Hillary responses berated me for doing a disservice to the women of America. Oddly, though, none of the women of American that I know of, including my wife, were very enamored of Hillary and her candidacy. My favorite comment on that subject was relayed to me from a woman at a local retirement community, who was quoted as saying during the height of the primary campaign, when Sen. Clinton was on the tube every night: "I'll never wear another damned pants suit for the rest of my life!"

So I stand by the Hillary thing.

As for the Russert thing, maybe I wish I had let it age in my computer for a few more weeks, and then tossed it out like an expired carton of yogurt.

I was not speaking ill of the dead. In fact, I went out of my way to express my respect for Russert. I did feel that the media went way overboard, including devoting the entire 30 minutes of the NBC Nightly News to the Russert death, which seemed excessive and self-indulgent at a time when there were little things like wars and floods going on here and there.

In fact, there have been numerous news stories and commentaries in which people complained about the Tim-Mania -- to the point that the president of NBC News had to go public with a statement defending his organization against accusations of wretched excess.

Still, if I had to do it over again, I might have chosen instead to write my July 18 column about something more innocuous and less controversial. Abortion, maybe. Or gun control.

-- June 26

Too Much to Ask: I wish Barack Obama would call John McCain (or vice versa) and say: "Make you a deal, buddy. We're both tired, and we've both made some dumb mistakes lately. If you'll disappear for a month and head to the beach or the mountains and not let your face be shown on TV for the next 30 days, I'll do the same."

They need a vacation. We need a vacation from them. Can't we all just take July off and think about other things until convention time draws near?

-- June 16

Steve Bouser is editor of The Pilot. Contact him at sbouser@thepilot.com.