The U.S. has become entirely powerless when it comes to dealing with China. This is the ugly truth and I think it is more of a driver here than the religious beliefs of the Uighurs. Imagine if they were Christians? What would/could the U.S. do. Nothing, I'm afraid.

In the face of countless abuses of its people, including but not limited to Uighurs, women and political dissidents, the U.S. and other western countries are powerless to pressure China in any meaningful way. Our politicians and our corporations (especially the latter) are beholden to China and can levy no criticism. Think back to the Olympics this time last year. No politician, sponsor or advertiser dared criticize the Chinese for human rights abuses. Think back a few years earlier to The Masters golf tournament. Sponsors dropped like flies because the event is hosted golf club that doesn't allow women to join. Many of those same sponsors proudly affiliated themselves with a sporting event hosted by a country that oppresses hundreds of millions of people. We have no leverage over China and that's a shame for the Uighurs and China's other victims.

Thank you Salon (and Michael Lind) for publishing a thoughtful and thought provoking piece. This article challenges conventional wisdom (in this case three conventional wisdoms) in a way that reminds me why I started reading Salon in the first place. As can be seen in the reader comments (mostly civil, thoughtful and intelligent with few expletives and no references to Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh) Salon readers like to think and be challenged. Please give us more of this.

How do we go about stripping Congress of the power to pass resolutions in honor of people and in recognition of events? Reading the text of the resolution it seems as if our representatives believe that Jackson's achievements require Congressional validation; that the achievements are meaningless without a resolution that documents their occurrence. For all his flaws, Micheal Jackson was certainly more talented and quite probably more honorable than 90% of the people in Congress.

The only consolation is that every minute our representatives spend wasting time on things like this is a minute not spent screwing up something important.

"My comment regarding the 'wise Latina' was a mistake. I regret saying it. Of course I believe that I reach better verdicts than the next guy or gal. That's why I became a judge and why I hope to serve on the Supreme Court. But I should have kept my opinions as to what makes me a good judge to myself. I am sorry if my comments from many years ago have upset the delicate sensibilities of some Americans, including some in this room."

Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comments are at the same time indefensible and completely harmless. She sounds silly trying to defend them as they are statements she should regret. Even Obama suggested that she shouldn't have put it quite that way. But they are also completely benign and hardly outweigh what appears to be a solid career as a litigator and judge.

It should also be said that Sotomayor is continuing in the long tradition of proving how pathetic our representatives (in this case the Senate Judiciary Committee) are. Say what you want about the Supreme Court selections by Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, etc., they reflect a far greater degree of intelligence, integrity, courtesy and decency than the people on the panel questioning them. Why can't we start electing people of comparable character? Fill Congress with a bunch of Sotomayors or Roberts, or Breyers or Scalias and the country would be much better off than with the rascals we've been electing.

It's amazing how many people see the "obvious solution" to the health care issue. Too bad they all see something different. That said, while there may be several decent solutions, Congress isn't going to find it. Obama is failing us (as he did with the budget and the stimulus earlier in the year) by ceding leadership on this to Congress. He was elected with a fairly strong mandate and has tremendous ability to lead and communicate with the American people. Yet he fails to trust his abilities. He should develop the plan he truly believes is right for America and then try to convince the country that it will work. That would be consistent with the man I thought I voted for. More importantly, it would be easier and more honest than his current approach which seems to be trying to convince the country that we should be supporting whatever Congress comes up with in the next couple weeks.

Perhaps he fears the Clinton outcome of excluding lawmakers from the process. But he neglects the fact that he's twice the leader Clinton was and Congress is twice as pathetic as it was even in the 90s.