i've been skeptical of anyone who attempts the harper's notebook column after lewis lapham stepped down, but this month's essay by ben metcalf, on simple human decency, is both smart and playful. he lobbies for the right of anyone to say in print, "I would like to hunt down George W. Bush, the president of the United States, and kill him with my bare hands," toying all the while with the possibility that he really means it.