"Now that the country has industrialization and prosperity, it has joined the ranks of evil."

Huh???

The points that I was trying to make were:

1. China has historically been able to - and has - turned on a dime in terms of policy. Jared Diamond said this, only better, in Collapse. The results have not always been good.
2. Now that China is practicing "classic capitalism" - that is, near-total laissez-faire - we're seeing the usual outcomes of this system on a colossal scale, due to China's size.

There's nothing in there about any need for some kind of neo-fascist dictator, much less PBS.

In fact, if you look at recent history, the US and what we typically refer to as "the developed world" have all managed to tame capitalism with democratically-enacted reforms. After all, people don't like to be poisoned, or have their surroundings degraded, or their children's futures mortgaged. And people vote, and communicate with their elected officials. And organize. At least they do in democracies.

Upon rare occasions, a dictator has been able to accomplish this. But generally, dictatorships turn out badly, and I have never recommended them.

Reportedly, after Herbert Walker surrendered the White House to the Clinton administration, the Clintons discovered a substantial amount of petty vandalism, most likely coordinated by Junior. The apocryphal damage described by Junior Bush's spokesmen after the Clintons departed echoed what had actually been done to the Clintons.

Mr Bush has acted as if he were a "former" for the last two months, maybe longer. Will he even bother show up for the inauguration? It's not like it's about him.

I'm hoping he receives the 500-shoe salute when he exits the stage.

... Americans hate poetry and won't read "litrichoor." Why couldn't the Inauguration Committee have picked up one of any number of Poetry Slam winners, find someone who could get the crowd's blood moving, get people's spirits up? I've heard better "poems" from local high school students ... who've competed in "slams."

What!?! You didn't take your daughter?

... thank Ms. Havrilesky for watching all these ultimately repetitive, derivative new shows so the rest of us don't have to. And here's hoping she'll come across a few more gems, because she deserves it.

¡Gracias!

and he's a big poetry fan, often features poets on his radio program "A Prairie Home Companion", and reads a selected poem every day in his "Writer's Almanac" on NPR.

Check out his personal account of the inauguration, posted today!

... I'm going to contact my (ALL NEW! DEMOCRATIC!!) congresspersons to let them know how I feel about torture and Guantanamo.

Many of you might wish to do likewise? I suspect Mr. Greenwald would have wanted it that way.

The American Congress has shown near-unanimous, unconditional support for anything the government of Israel does. To cut off aid, to impose any conditions to aid, that has to change.

People wanting change need to contact their Congresspeople and Senators and explain it to them. Otherwise, the only ones they hear from are the radical Zionists of AIPAC.

Democracy - it's not just for other countries anymore.

kreoth asks "When did the first Jews come into this continent?" and speculates it was the 19th century. Wrong!

Jews were among the earliest Spanish explorers and settlers in the 1500s. Throughout the 1500s and 1600s, many Jews migrated from Spain to the New World to try to escape the Inquisition.

They're still here in the Southwest US. Most had hidden so well that their descendants think they are Catholics. Google "crypto-Jews" for a lot more interesting information.

"This summer, [Limbaugh] speculated that Obama would have to announce her pregnancy during her speech at the Democratic National Convention..."

That was what - five months ago? Six? Seven? You'd think there would be more to see by now, wouldn't you?

be able to cure morbid Clinton-phobia?

Okay, I hate it when people post just to nit-pick some little throwaway line, but here I am doing it:

"... this is her teacher calling to say that the child scored 96 on the spelling test. The child's instant reward is the phone call home and the words of praise. She sits at her desk pretending not to listen, basking in the acclaim."

Tell me I'm wrong here, but was the teacher actually calling from the classroom in front of the other students to single out one of them for praise? The rest being shamed by implication?

It doesn't sound very Minnesota to me.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I'm sorry for Mr. Updike's death - his work has built a monument for himself that mere stone will never match.

Thanks! I needed that.

Most "boomer" women have already been through menopause. Years ago. Somehow, the rest of us have been spared their fond reminiscences. This may be the only thing we've been spared of their overly-publicized, infinitely self-scrutinized lives.

Sure, Norquist is finally revealed as an idiot. But the GOP has moved on. Now, their great economist is ... Joe the Plumber!, as played by "reporter" Samuel Wurzelbacher.

And he doesn't pay his taxes, either.

"the thought of spending 789,000 million dollars makes me sick to my stomach."

Maybe so, but somebody's got to pay for all the fun we had under the Bush administration. Like the boy said, "Elections have consequences."

Is Mr. Gregg reclaiming his Senate seat from his governor's Republican appointee, or will he just charge through the revolving door to lobbying riches, like everybody else?