(MONEY Magazine) – Choose sides, then duck. May's Editor's Notes reported that House Ways and Means chairman Dan Rostenkowski had reacted negatively to your letters urging repeal of the new 20% withholding tax on certain lump-sum retirement payouts: That's not viable, he said, unless someone can suggest a way to raise the $2 billion in taxes the withholding will generate this year. So, MONEY suggested following the Congressional Budget Office's recommendations for trimming the federal government's generous pensions. Dozens of letters have supported MONEY's idea, and dozens, mostly from federal employees, have attacked it. One federal worker vehemently contended that his pension and benefits were hardly "bountiful," and he could prove it in great detail except that he had to catch a plane "for my annual three weeks in Aruba." He said he'd send us a postcard. We thought he was kidding. But as you can see, he did.