I have no doubt that he did lie, has lied, and will continue to lie. This administration hit the street lying, and has never for a minute stopped. Why would it/should it? I'm aware of no one with the spine to at least reframe the lies in some attempt to counteract them -- let alone seek sanctions of some sort to punish them for the willful malevolence.

Our so-called political campaigns are wearying enough in any guise. That political flailing such as this is orchestrated as early as this confirms the desperation of the television punditocracy to gin up its version of buzz. I watched long enough to be embarrassed by the posturing & platitudes aplenty. There may have been some substance somehow, but only those at Soldier's Field would know this, and it would have been off-camera. MSNBC's treatment was properly mindless & insipid, even moreso when I checked back after the time frame, and the reprehensible Chris Matthews got involved after all the blather with his own version of the same (no talk of any issues that might have surfaced, few that I suspect they were, only his asinine handicapping the horserace mantra.) I was sorry to see that Olbermann took on his role since he is generally the only corporate TV "news" persona I will bother watching. I can't help but be curious as to why such a production would be mounted again on the heels of other such candidate bombasts. Apparently the various TV masterminds think this is what we want. If it is, and we are that dumbed down, and that many people actually want to watch such crap, then we deserve what they assume of us and aim in our direction.

Herewith a copy of a letter to those who ostensibly represent me in D.C., three in number. Response: One "Dear Friend" letter with strained reference to diplomatic solutions in Iran along with rhetoric about that country's misdeeds. No reference whatever to impeachment. No response from the other two. All in all a verification of the rot that seems to have set in.

Senator/Congressman - I have increasingly heard & seen references to the state of readiness within the military establishment and the intentions of the administration to attack Iran. Bush's recent speech to The American Legion is a case study in sabre rattling, to put it mildly. Is it reasonable to imagine that this possibility concerns you & your office? I certainly hope that such an outrageous but utterly unsurprising act by the claque in and around the upper reaches of the administration is a matter of utmost concern to you. The prospect of such a war is horrifying. What is your stance in the matter?

As for impeachment of the President & Vice-President, all the parsing, nuancing & equivocating in the world serves to confirm the invertebrate nature of the Democratic Congress, as has been suggested. If, for no other reason, impeachment is not taken up with these two who have committed impeachable acts, then you and yours are establishing precedent for even more egregious misdeeds with future incumbents. The aversion to impeachment, when considered in the context of recent history, is ever more inexcusable.

As a registered democrat, I am weary of the onslaught of fund raising surveys sent in my direction. I don't need to be surveyed; I need to be persuaded that the party holds values by which it will act to counteract the relentless lying of the two-term oligarchy. Anything less than this suggests to me that you are members of the loyal opposition more interested in remaining in office and symbolically jousting than representing my concerns. It would be refreshing to be proven wrong.

Brooks is bad enough, let alone Friedman, but the Kristol gambit did it for me. I had hung on to the Sunday edition delivery as a creature of habit who grew up relishing the time given to Sundays, culminated by the puzzle. This in spite of my fury about the lies of Iraq. But now I'm done. What's happened at this ostensibly august institution is at the very least disappointing. In a time where the NYT might have been a bastion against the media rot embodied by Murdoch, its so-called brain trust takes on its own form of rot. I am now confined to the internet, satellite radio and satellite television for news.

I was recently reminded of G.G.'s take on bipartisanship when writing to my democratic (non) representatives about impeachment. Not so much as a word in return. To impeach these evil bastards is to impeach themselves. Now, even Kucinich seems to be laying off. All are complicit; all are corrupted.

One letter today refers to democratic constituents as people and wealthy donors. Someone else suggests better democrats are needed. My sense of the present state of political affairs is that our corporate/media "citizens" revel in the idiocy and stasis that is bipartisanship. Their political action monies ensure the profanity and immorality of political action in D.C. irrespective of any so called party's imprint.

Sanders & Feingold are anomolies and accordingly irrelevant, no matter their heroics & rectitude. And, remember that Sanders at least shed his party trappings.

Only fitting that the NYT in its self-tied gordian knot now assign that ace prevaricator Kristol to editorialize about that intrepid provocateur Risen.