The success of every Ponzi/Pyramid scheme depends on the greed of "investors" who are prepared to suspend belief in return for yields higher than that of the going average. Blame friends, experts, or religious affinity, but if Mr. Madoff was paying 3% instead of 10% you would have pulled out long ago.

I mean putting ALL of your money into a scheme where you still did not have a clue how dividends were paid out (even after Richard "explained" things), nor could you access the account online, tells me all I need to know.

I am sure that there were times a little voice in the back of your head told you that this "investment" was too good to be true, and you thought of shifting your savings out, but in the end it was the promised 10% rerurn that just you and others "in the know" were getting that kept you in until the end.

Good luck with the future.

I have read this exact thesis before, even with the same title about America being on the verge of a Fourth Republic several years ago written by Sterling Newberry. Did you colaborate with him on him when he wrote his origional paper (I think it was at BOP News)then?

Watching FOX report the election returns was sheer joy for me after these long 8 years. My favorite moment was when Fred Barnes said that those citizens who took advantage of early voting were "lazy" because they did not want to wait in long lines on election day.

Me, I was one of those lazy voters who cast my ballot for Obama at 0905 on the first day of early voting here in Illinois. It is the best thing ever.

My parents are Republicans, too. When crazy, foaming at the mouth, anti Gay Alan Keyes was running against Barack Obama for US Senator, I told my parents that if they voted for him, neither my partner or I would ever have anything else to do them ever again. Both made a point of telling us how they voted for Obama after the election.

The Republicans make their anti Gay agenda personal. Sometimes you have to get personal with their supporters.

I guess you would have to be an 8 or 9 year old boy in the late 60's with Gay feelings to understand this article. Mr. Bayard put into words an analysis that I have long thought about these past 40 years. By the way, I never missed an episode of the show, and I always liked how the last image before a commercial break was put into a mosaic which was completed at the end.

Just regigned

Write them off like a bad debt. Their behavoir was unforgivable. The prospect of death is a sobering experience for those staring it in the face. Cary is right. It would be different if the parents were making some sort of attempt to correct their stupidity, but they are not.

Have no regrets and have no guilt. You can not change the person you love. It is up to others, including parents and family members to accept this reality.

We saw this movie the first weekend it was released here in Chicago. I had read the short story and some of the reviews from the critics in New York and San Francisco beforehand, so I was really exited about finally seeing Brokeback Mountain. Some parts were exteamly moving and brought me to tears. But afterwards, I sarted to feel like a skunk at a garden party, because I realized that this watershed film had a void inside of it that you could run a freight train through: there was an absolute paucity of emotional and physical intimacy that all couples, at least those that go on for 20 years, have.

When i read Stephanie's review, I thought she captured my thoughts and feelings exactly.