I appreciate what little blue dot is saying, but what she and others like her in Appalachia and rural America need to understand is that those of us who live on the coasts and in urban areas are sick of being bashed as elite, effete, unpatriotic, unAmerican, unChristian, unSaved, etc, etc, etc. People in rural America need to stop acting as if somehow they're more authentically "American" than the rest of us. If you want to be treated civilly and not condescended to, then try treating your fellow Americans civilly and not condescending to us just because we live in cities or on the coasts. Remember, this country got its start in Boston and Philadelphia, not Appalachia. We've got just as much right to our patriotism as you do - maybe more!

Um, yes, we are and that IS the point - we have to stop kowtowing to the most backwards and reactionary segments of our society and stop letting our national progress be held hostage by these kooks. For all the handwringing, the fact is that we can and should marginalize them and move on without them. The time has come and we have the numbers. We will not let the ignorant minority call the shots anymore. If they resist, we will roll right over them. Yes we can.

But when it comes to name calling, most of it seems to come from angry "rural" people and it's directed at us horrible, horrible "coastal elites". Maybe we're all just sick of having to apologize for our progressive lifestyles and kowtow to a bunch of backwards, bitter racist hicks who cling to a bunch of bullshit and an unearned sense of superiority. Maybe you need to get your own shit together and try to catch up with the rest of us instead of dragging us back with your backwards bullshit. America is going to move on without you wether you like it or not.

Seriously. I don't give two shits about that damn place anymore. All I want is for the GOP to stop wasting our money in that shithole and spend it here, in America on Americans. We have too many problems at home that need fixing to be wasting our money on that stupid war.

Ever notice that Republicans can only take pleasure in hurting and denigrating others? They are sick, sad excuses for human beings.

He can go suck a dick. Nobody is buying what that crazy old man is selling.

I support whoever can beat McCain. Period.

Although I do think it's pretty weak to accuse everyone who doesn't support Hillary of being sexist - after all, she made plenty of blunders that have nothing to do with gender (lying about being under fire in Bosnia kind of tops that list for me).

Face it, kids, Hunter Thompson was mostly tedious and paranoid with a few flashes of genuine brilliance. Gonzo journalism and "new journalism" were, for the most part, a bunch of crap. A misguided self-indulgent, me-generation failure like Communes, Free Love and The Us Festival. People who think Thompson was some kind of "genius" are the same kind of people who think PJ O'Rourke is funny and insightful - lazy dullards who don't at an adult level - or much at all for that matter.

As for Taibbi, he's crass, unfunny (beaten by a clown shoe? please.), lazy and deeply unoriginal. The reason that no posters here have bothered to "engage his ideas" is that his "ideas" - and the thin premise of his book - are weak, secondhand and were already debated to death by at least 2004. Taibbi is a lame hack, figures he would write for a horrible, clueless mag like Rolling Stone.

You know what's funny about you dumb cons? You always put words into other people's mouths and then over-react to them. The reason that nobody takes your insane rants seriously anymore is that you constantly misattribute and misinterpret the ideas and beliefs of your political opponents and then go batshit crazy based on your own misunderstanding of reality. Good luck with that, son.

I really feel for poor Ann... Italians have been fleecing tourists for over 2,000 years. It's a wonderful, wonderful place, but kind of brutal for any novice travellers trying to stick to a budget. Rick Steves has led many a poor sucker astray by making it all look so easy...

Gonzo journalism? In 2008? Seriously? Ugh. Get a clue, Matt - you sucked when you wrote for the NYP (still the most derided and laughable rag in NYC) and you suck now. Your ideas are all secondhand and your writing is hacky, sensationalistic and weak, weak, weak. Do us all a favor and give it up already. The eXile was always a joke, too... too bad the joke's on you.

So if you're an Iraqi, you can get free healthcare, paid for by American tax dollars. But if you're an American taxpayer without insurance, you're shit out of luck. Fuck Iraq and all the Iraqis. Let them fix their own damn country. America is in trouble and we need to spend our money at home.

Except for the Vonnegut part... but I think Vonnegut teaches one how to be a decent human being... despite all the spacemen and time travel and stuff... Of course if you really want to read how to be a man, the best place to start is the autobiography of Klaus Kinski. Read it and you will be a very, very scary man.

Probably because Salon doesn't pay her not to be outraged about something... that's why she has to turn in fluff like this... Sometimes I get the impression even she doesn't much care about this stuff...

Guess what - you've just described the old British pre-war class system to a T. Sounds like a fucking nightmare to me. I'd rather see a bloodly socialist revolution in this country than be a slave to the rich like you are.