Last week John Mellencamp, formerly John Couger Mellencamp, formerly John Couger, formerly Johnny Ray ( I'm kidding ) ... gave a concert for wounded G.I.s at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He invited Joan Baez to sing at the concert, but the army said nyet.

She's " objectionable, " the brass said.

The ghost of Al Capp is loitering in the shadows cast by that other war, the one that ended 32 years ago. We always fight the last war. Who sang those lyrics?

Al Capp? Doesn't ring a bell? Look him up. Google his appearances on the old Tonight Show. Not the most likable guy in the world at that time. He created a world, a cartoon world: Dog Patch. L'il Abner and Daisy May inhabited that world. Remember them?