The Pulitzer is still quite prestigious, but to me they will always appear with a stain on their leg from giving Maureen Dowd an award.

It is almost indecent how much you enjoyed writing that.

Almost.

At the time this was started, the participants were highly confident that the time would never come (at least as much as it mattered) where the Republican party was no longer in power. They knew there was no power anywhere to hold them accountable -- certainly not the Democrats who were supine even before 9/11.

That is the other shameful part. Acting virtuous under scrutiny is no great virtue. What we got is what they were willing to do when they felt they were privileged to do anything.

It is good to see your Salon column cited by MSM more and more. The $20 I sent to Unclaimed Territory a few years back is probably the best donation I made since.

I remember when drug policy had its biggest shift. It was during the Nixon years when Meese was in charge. They succeeded at shifting it from a public health issue to a "morals" issue, and they did it mostly by scaring people about the idea of losing control of their kids unless they voted a certain way (Republican). It's the same tactics that they use to fight gay rights: if being gay is legal then your kid will be more likely to chose "gay" and then what would the neighbors think.

The tactic was so potent because white blue collar/middle class voters were so afraid of the hippies and the black panthers that even liberals were forced to sign on to this or be voted out of office. And so it continues to this day.

Will this glacier melt? I hope so, and until now I had given up hoping I would see it in my lifetime.

I can't be alone in being totally sick of how these so-called decent people can prattle on about how effective a particular kind of torture is or is not. If you took their story at face value that should be an argument against allowing it to used. Yet somehow that has become their most potent argument for it. Not only un-American, but idiots as well.

Has anyone else noted that the right wingers have been vigorously raising money to oppose Obama's supreme court pick without even knowing who the pick would be? They still don't know and nobody does.

The fact is they were going to come up with something. Anything. This article would have been written about anyone. I wouldn't be surprised if the copy was in place back in February or earlier, just waiting for some name to be filled in the blank. I bet they have another one handy in case a Muslim-related barrister popped up.

If I were running my company with that level of negligence my Board would have had me out of there in milliseconds. If my CFO gave answers like that he wold have been fried to a cinder. The excuses don't even qualify as lame excuses.

Any B.S. meter on the screen during that session would have blown out the right side of the TV. What the hell does that woman think her job is anyway?

Glenn appears to be too delicate and un-suspicious to suggest this, but I will. At this point I would question whether the "anonymous source" really exists at all. As a real person, I mean.

The system that we have now gives everyone everything that we need. Why change what ain't broke?

For anyone who takes this position, I would advise living through the following steps of experience.

1. Work hard for decades -- putting away as much as you can.

2. Pay for the best health insurance your employer(s) offer. Year after year. The premiums keep going up but so what? You may need it someday.

3. Get diagnosed with cancer.

4. Boy you're sure glad you have good private health insurance. Fight with the insurance company every step of the way to get the treatment you and your doctor think you need. But the accountants that are in the loop are always sure there is a cheaper option available and they want you to take it. After a lot of fighting you get through chemo. The doctor's office has a full time person on board that does nothing but argue with the insurance companies and hopefully free up enough of the doctor's time to practice medicine. BUT AT LEAST THEY AREN'T GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS.

5. Your present employer goes out of business. Nothing you can do about it the economy sucks. COBRA isn't available in this case. The insurance company dumps you -- and no insurance company will take you on at any price even if you get a new employer. The reason is your cancer has an 80% chance of coming back.

If you are thinking of paying for chemo out of your own pocket (remember you saved up in step 1) learn that it costs about $30K to $50K per treatment. The insurance company that was paying it pays less than half that because they have bargaining power. You don't.

OK, now tell me what's broke and what's not broke.