How many times will this White House get caught with its pants down before it gets the thrashing it so richly deserves? Another day. Another violation of the law. Another bit of hubris and brinksmanship. The more they do it, the more it gets reported (for which Salon deserves credit for promoting transparency), the more the real plans of these people are revealed. It turns out they don't care about terrorism; never did. The so-called "war on terror" is all smoke and mirrors to cover up a power grab and a money grab. Having said that, the stench of corruption hanging over this administration is so obvious that any prosecutor with a conscience will find it easy to charge these people with crimes. You don't even have to ask where the smoking gun is. There are more smoking guns here than in a Texas hunting trip. Let's see what they do to try to cover this up and maybe this will be the scandal that proves their undoing at last.

Fingers crossed.

I enjoyed "Diary of A Mad Black Woman" despite myself. Madea is a howl!

However, I was offended by the rather obvious Christian message and the sort of "come to Jesus" moment at the climax of the movie. Given how the message of Jesus is delivered in such heavy-handed, out of context fashion these days, the last thing I need is a church service pretending to be a movie. So that part was a bit much. The movie was slapstick but touching, and there were some very capable actors on hand like Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, and Kimberly Elise. To say the acting was terrible is to devalue the very good work these actors have done in other films and television. I think you could still get the core message across without all the church scenes and all the hollering, but that's just me. Having said that, this is a pretty fair representation of a slice of African American culture and it deserves more attention than it's gotten. Black people have a deep and profound sense of the spiritual, and it takes many forms, not just the Christian variety. My hope is that Tyler Perry will continue to grow as an artist and make plays and films that will show more of the human complexity of black people. As people begin to more fully understand our humanity, racism and the whole horrific legacy of slavery will become a distant memory as it should.

I actually find myself more in agreement with "janice78". I was not aware that patriarchy had ever actually left. So that some right-wing theorist states that conservative values will ultimately win out by reason of the breeding of people in so called "red states" seems intellectually dishonest. As is the wont of the current conservative movement, it leaves out some vital facts and trends. One, the basic feminist premise that WOMEN ARE HUMAN BEINGS, not property, not tools for the gratification of men, and not inferior to men, is a fact of our cultural consciousness. As I've said before, you cannot un-ring that bell. Another Pandora's box that won't close: the inherent HUMANITY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR and that, if some statistics are to be believed, there will be more of us in a short while than white people. Perhaps some will be more culturally conservative, but the fact that TECHNOLOGY allows us to connect to anyone, anywhere at anytime could make it pretty damned hard to isolate as these foaming-at-the-mouth "rightists" would have us think. I actually see something a bit different. The proliferation of technology, instant access, and the recognition of everyone's humanity will, over time make quaint notions of patriarchy a thing of the past. Something a few whack jobs way out there in outer Utah may practice, but nothing the mainstream of society is going to buy into en masse. Why? Because it'll be considered NUTS!

Will it be complicated? It already is. Will it be messy at times? You bet. It's messy now.

There will be some hard, uncomfortable questions to answer. But that's evolution for you. So let the Mormons and the Catholics reproduce, and may their children turn against such poppycock as "a woman's place is in the home barefoot and pregnant", or "it's a man's responsibility to be the sole provider for a family", or even"the divine right of kings to rule" and all the rest of this racist, sexist, homophobic, isolationist CRAP. There'll be a space for those kids here in the real world where the rest of us live.

The story above says that 85% percent of the troops stationed in Iraq believe they are there because of "Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks". Except Saddam had no role. Had nothing to do with the attacks against us. Had not even the technology or the capability to be any sort of credible threat. Yet these soldiers believe the Bush spin. Even though by now, it seems insane to stay in Iraq even to them, the brainwashing, the no-think, no-question, "just do it" dogma still holds. Even in the face of a civil war that no one seems able to stop, they still believe we are retaliating against Saddam for his part in that awful day.

At least they're coming to their senses albeit gradually. Even if you believe the lies and twisted logic, any objective observation, any correct military assessment is going to tell you that "the mission", such as it is, has failed miserably. The bad guys are beating us. Embarrassing us. Every day. This is a foolish venture. It's time to end it. These people will destroy their own country and hand us our collective ass in the process. LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!