You've got Thoreau wrong in the Walt Whitman description

[dcrouch]

Mahatma Gandhi cited Thoreau's essay on "Civil Disobedience" as one of his inspirations for his nonviolent protests (and Martin Luther King Jr. cited Gandhi as one of his inspirations). And I think you should remove Emerson in your thumbs-down category as well. These guys were two of the original "free thinkers" in U.S. history, and I think they would have appreciated The Dude's countercultural stances--especially Thoreau, the father of American counterculture. Take for example his quote, "Why must we always be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?"  Read "Walden Pond," and you'll see that he's right on, even if he doesn't always make perfect sense!  Dan Crouch, Lafayette, CA