He doesn't want to take the job because Eddie keeps on stiffing him his money.

At deeper levels, the reality might be the reverse: the stiffing of Nixon in order to defend the forces behind the break-in and the scandal.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plan penalizes New York City riders more ("Stiffing Straphangers," editorial, Aug. 5)?

"The world is turned inside out, and the world and its people are seen to be made out of a grotesque stiffing, trash and old paper and pieces of wood.

To place the stiffing of New York in context, you need to realize that when it comes to tax cuts and military spending, the Bush administration's budget is an exercise in unrestrained self-indulgence.

Instead, officials plan to target only high-income neighborhoods, to make examples of a few privileged New Yorkers who have not paid their bills - all bills average roughly $600 a year per household - and who would be in no position to complain if they were caught stiffing the system.

Imagine if instead of stiffing the U.N. and U.S. by issuing a report that he had no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam had simply said: "Oh my gosh, we just found eight Scud missiles and four barrels of chemicals hidden under some blankets in the basement.