This is an interesting little article. I hope Julie stays a liberal and doesn't feel she is disliked or worse, distrusted, because of her name. If she is just herself and is able to look beyond a person's reaction to her name, she will soon find out that people will accept her for herself rather than be put off by her family connections. That's the beauty of getting to know someone...prejudices simply float away!

I dunno about this article. In the first place, is graft the culprit? What laws were broken? This writer makes it sound like everybody on Wall Street got rich and are still rich. That's not the case, though there are some exceptions, I'm sure. If and when there are no new regulations put on the financial markets, then I'll get concerned and will be thoroughly disappointed in Obama. Thus far, I am pleased and, furthermore, I want stocks to go up. That will help millions and millions of small fry like me who have a little in the stock market... as well as stabilize the market place.

Graft and bribery can not be both legal and illegal. Besides, business and industry will benefit from a rising market as well as everyone else. Leaving the lack of financial regulation in place which caused the bubble will create another bubble, obviously. I was all for spending more stimulus dollars to create jobs but all that got gutted out of the stimulus package by the Republicans and conservative Democrats.

I am delighted!!! I hope nothing goes wrong or that something unforeseen stops Franken from being seated right away!

I hope Hutchison and Perry annihilate each other and a Democrat sneaks in.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that America would regress into fundamentalism the way it has done in the last twenty or thirty years. Of course, I was young and naive when I believed that this nation would march forward under rational principals and would become a mecca of freedom, tolerance, and liberty. Not only has our country gone backward but we have even had a president who promoted water torture without one bit of shame and who wanted creationism to be taught in the schools. I suppose it is never too late for a mighty country to go off course.

In one sense, America has demonstrated its greatness...it elected a black man to be president..something I didn't believe would ever happen in my lifetime. In spite of this, there is an undercurrent of provincialism and isolationism still rampant in America, plus a harsh and cruel cynicism toward justice and the rule of law. I cannot be comfortable with such a large number of people just barely civilized and who are perfectly willing to wink at the shenanigans in Abu Graib and Guantanamo and who insist that capital punishment is the best means to deal with our violent criminals. It is so incredible that these are the people who are the most vocal in their Christian dogma. The hypocrisy which rankled me in my youth still makes me boil. The forces of enlightenment and rationality are in the barest majority. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if people actually lived by Christian precepts or Muslim, or Buddhist and all the rest, but what comes out of all the religiosity is intolerance. Religion can be a dark force and I'm afraid that's what we've got here and elsewhere.

It goes without saying that the Bush Administration's policy on torture was appalling...despicable...un-American! There is no excuse for the atrocities of his Administration...he and Cheney were rogues dressed up as sincere patriots. On the other hand, to embroil the country in an internecine war over it is not my idea of productive leadership. Should we undertake the prosecution of these culprits, America would probably gain international praise but fall into endless bickering at a time when we need to be addressing rising unemployment and financial instability.

The parallels with Clinton's impeachment come to mind... though a reckless dalliance with an intern hardly compares to the failures of Bush, not only on torture but his embarkation into the senseless, even illegal, war with Iraq. Bush, Cheney, all them, are reprehensible villains ... and I would relish bringing them to trial, but I do not want the country to waste its energy on bygones. Obama is correct and if anything should be done about it, it should come from the insistence of a huge majority of Americans which I don't think exists. Besides, from a legal standpoint, it is not at all clear whether it is advisable to impeach attorneys for rendering a legal position, or try to punish Bush and Cheney who would surely claim that they were only following the advice of legal council. It is a catch 22 actually, and to get into this nightmare is terribly risky!

I knew the Bush Administration was slimy, but to condone torture so that they could establish a connection between Iraq and Al-Qaida is more egregious and appalling than I had imagined, especially when they were specifically informed about the unreliability of intelligence gained through the technique... Bush and Cheney ran a rogue administration and they deserve our vocal and loud renunciation so that the world will understand that America came under the leadership of an unprincipled, uncritical, and dangerous man who never should have been elected and who, in reality, may not have even been elected were it not decreed by the courts.

The media is giving Cheney so much play as if he really has anything relevant to say after the last eight years. It's so transparent what the GOP is up to! The Republicans are still following their plan we saw put into play during the entirety of the Bush regime...keep repeating sound bites over and over again until the public gets hypnotized and accepts the screed as fact. Unfortunately, the media is dutifully falling into line repeating their drone. What enablers!