Joe, as usual, misses the point. Pelosi is not just any member of Congress. She is second in line to the presidency and titular head of the opposition party in Congress.

She proved herself to be a useful idiot in her ass-kissing of Assad, who wants nothing more than to drive a wedge between the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and Congress, between Democrats and Republicans. He got his way.

Pelosi is a fool of the highest order.

... who allowed herself to be used by a tyrant. Yeah, she's a "strong, powerful woman." Too bad she perpetuates the air-head cliche of the clueless woman fawning before a powerful man.

What you said is so obvious I don't why it needed saying, but thanks anyway. I guess "obvious" is beyond most Salon readers.

If I'm half-white and half-black and say that, am I only half racist?

Reminds me of a great line from "The Simpsons": Krusty the Klown finds out he's not really Jewish because he never had a bar mitzvah. He says, "And here all this time I thought I was just a self-hating Jew. Now I find out I'm really an anti-semite!"

or a purple people eater

I've always wondered whether this means it's a purple thing that eats people or a thing that eats only purple people. I mean, this is really important, because if it's the former, well, watch out for giant purple things! But if it's the latter, well then I feel quite safe, seeing as I'm not personally purple.

But it's soooo confusing!

For heaven's sake, please learn to use some punctuation to make yourself clear!

There, I feel better now.

The murder rate (and crime rate generally) has nothing to do with who's president and everything to do with demographic trends. The rate fell into the 1990s because there was a demographic dip in the number of young males (the prime perpetrators of crime) in the 18-34 demographic.

But if you insist on playing politics, it fell dramatically in New York City during the years Rudy Guiliani was mayor.

Yes, I'm familiar with what that book says. The numbers work: Roe v. Wade in 1973, and beginning 18 years later the crime rate begins to go down.

I realize correlation does not prove causation, but I find the argument pretty compelling myself.

I know I found myself thinking what I'd do in this situation, and in my Hollywood-ized fantasies I storm the gunman and win the day. But indeed I wasn't in that situation, so I really have no idea what I'd have done. And for all we know, some of those dead people did try to take the guy down and died for their efforts.

Let's just wait and hear as the stories emerge and feel tragic sorrow in the meantime.

Don't forget that U.S. Army Special Forces types were also involved in advising Reno and the FBI at Waco. Why there's not more outrage over that, I don't know.

I do know one teen who has had a vasectomy. No laws that he have to notify his parents! Gasp!

I doubt this. Most states won't allow a teen to get a piercing or a tattoo without a parent's permission, much less an aspirin at school.

The other problem with your reasoning is that a vasectomy is a form of birth control, but it doesn't actually destroy anything. It can, in theory, be reversed, too.

Can you say the same thing about an abortion, and do you favor abortion as a form of birth control?

Huh!? What in the world are you talking about? I mentioned no statute. Get over yourself and get over your anger.

Oh, and daffydog is your real name? Get real. Everyone on this site is anonymous.

But I'll go ahead and use my "real" login name just to satisfy you. I, by the way, have served my country in uniform. I was a Marine grunt for many years. I happen to know a little bit about what I'm talking about, too.

I stand by my assertion: Reid is a chickenshit loser who is aiding and comforting the enemy, and Grieve is just a perpetual whiner and complainer. He'd have gotten a severe ass-whooping in my unit just for being such a wuss.

... is that anybody can join the Army, but not just anybody can join the Marines.

And tell me how Reid is not giving aid and comfort to the enemy. They're just laughing and biding their time, knowing that the surrender-crats want to cut and run and hand over Iraq to them. Um, this would be the same surrender-crats who doomed several generations of South Vietnamese to the tender mercies of the communists when a bit of simple air support in spring 1975 would have staved off the NVA invasion.

"We're going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war." --Sen. Harry Reid, April 18, 2007

That is the definition of craven political calculation overriding troop morale, strategic considerations, and all else.

That is why Harry Reid is a traitor.

... but stating the obvious is not always the correct thing to do. Do you mention every time you smell a stinky fart at a dinner party? No, unless you're a 12-year-old boy.

As a wise man once said, "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks," and the fullness of Harry Reid's heart is politcal gain, not the correct course of action in a dangerous world.

In short, he showed that he cares first about political gain, since that's what he chose to speak about first. And that, plain and simple, is treasonous. He puts his own and his party's politcal gain ahead of geopolitical considerations, troop morale, etc.

... if you reported with equal outrage the Dems silly refusal to participate in a televised debate on Fox News.

The hypocrisy around here is just stinkin' up the place!