Our current crop of politicians act as though they are on some weird drug that makes them talk backwards -- and act like nobody notices. They talk about family values while they put families at risk. They want to dictate how you should live your life when their own lives are screwed up. They talk about respect for human dignity and don't see how rude they are themselves.

    Believe it or not, we tried to lighten up this month. We were only marginally successful -- there was too much we couldn't leave unsaid. The story on hate crime legislation, for instance, holds some of the proposed bills up to the light, exposing their inherent contradictions. By the time the legislature takes action on the bills we expect they will have had a chance to hear from you.

    This month we huffed and puffed at canned living in South Carolina. It is, we've been told, "the Decade of Manufactured Housing," and the statistics back the industry's claim. More than a quarter of homeowners in this state live in mobile homes, and the numbers are rising. Lest you think we're casting stones at tin houses, that is the author's home on the cover.

    This month, Jill Carroll debuts as our fiction editor. The College of Charleston graduate has been working at POINT for several months, and we hope she never gets a real job. She is soliciting short stories from South Carolina writers. Send them to: PO Box 8325, Columbia, SC 29202 or send them to us by e-mail at scpoint@mindspring.com.

    Finally, we appreciate the letters we've received from places far away. But it would be nice to hear from you kids closer to home, too. This is, after all, your newspaper.