Reading the Oct. 1 editorial, "So This Is What You Call 'Country First,'" put me immediately in mind of the scene from "Blazing Saddles," in which the secretary to Gov. Le Petomane (played by the incomparable Mel Brooks) reads a telegram sent by the distraught citizens of Rock Ridge, who were beset by a marauding gang bent on destroying their town.

What's in the telegram is shocking, but no worse than the sentiments that flooded into the offices of every elected official in the country over the last week: "We're scared, we're not able to protect ourselves, this is a big problem and we elected you to understand and deal with big problems like this, so get to work on it "

Gov. Le Petomane's reaction is: "Holy underwear! We've got to protect our phony-baloney jobs!"

That's what we've got, a whole bunch of people who say they are "giving back" service to the people and country they love; that it's not a job, it's a calling. Well, my response is to "relieve" them. Let them go back to the hog farm, or law firm if that is what they call it, and take calls from folks who need to negotiate bankruptcy.

I hope the legal advice they give (pro bono, of course) is more helpful than the service they just performed for their country.

Bob Bramwell

Pinehurst