Media moguls decided that Ron Paul would be excluded from the pre-New Hampshire primary Republican forum on Faux news. ABC brass decided that Dennis Kucinich would be excluded from the televised debate. I am as disgusted with the candidates who were not excluded not objecting to these exclusions as I was to the exclusions themselves. If our media-designated leaders-to-be cannot demonstrate the integrity to insist on fairness in allowing approaches to problems that differ from the generally accepted to be discussed, how will we find our way forward to a better future? Instead of showing true leadership, all of these so-called wannabe leaders caved to the agendas of the neocon controlled media without a squeak of protest...again.

Patriot Act I, Patriot Act II, Authorization of unprovoked aggression against Iraq, Continuing support for occupation of a sovereign foreign nation.

Only one Democratic candidate has a record this bad. Only one Democratic candidate is fully beholden to the corporate culture that is the cancer eroding our liberties and concentrating an increasing amount of the world's wealth and resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Hillary Clinton is the neocon wolf in Democratic sheep clothing. She's the only Democratic candidate that will send my vote to a third party if nominated.

Biologists have long recognized that mutation of the genome, while risky for individual organisms, provides phenotypic variants in the population that may be preadapted to new environmental conditions that would challenge the survival and reproduction of their progenitors. Teratogenesis thus becomes the mechanism of adaptive change and life is perpetuated.

While living before the era of evolutionary biology, the Founders of our Republic must have recognized that in societies with strictures against heretical thought and speech, the intellectual straight jacket into which the people were constrained ultimately had a withering effect on their institutions, or more often, they were overthrown by more vigorous groups. Freedom of expression is not a luxury, but is part of the ongoing process of adaptive social, economic, and political change. The weird, unpopular, and outre' ideas of today may be our salvation tomorrow. We endure what may seem nutty and kooky in the hope that somewhere in the morass is a concept leading to a more successful future.

To limit the presidential debates to those candidates who currently enjoy high popularity is to radically reduce the degree of insight offered. We are likely to be continually subjected to junior-high level snipe-fests rather than consideration of real issues. Aside from the sheer boredom and disgust they engender, they in no way serve the public interest.

The American people deserve to hear Dennis Kucinich. He is knowledgeable and articulate and a fierce critic of the corporate culture that is trying to silence him.

These "debates" have degenerated into asinine nit picks. Well, what else do you expect when you exclude all the candidates except the media-anointed "front runners" (i.e., corporate-culture-approved shills and whores)? I had some faint hope that Edwards or Obama might at least mention the unfairness of the Kucinich exclusion, you know, show just a minute amount of leadership in what is supposed to be the Democratic party.

Sorry if one of the earlier writers finds Mr. Kucinich an embarrassment for making the effort to insure that results of an election were fairly counted. As a Democrat for over 50 years (but no longer), I find Edwards, Obama, and Clinton to be not only embarrassing, but downright repulsive. With Democrats like these, is there really any need for a Republican Party? Democrats, if you vote for any of these "front runners" and elect him/her, you can expect about what you got with the new "Democratic" Congress last year, selling the American people further down the river in exchange for corporate patronage.

In fact, he's number 4! Here are the combined vote totals for Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan:

Romney - 443,139 Total Votes

McCain - 361,546 Total Votes

Huckabee - 207,308 Total Votes

Paul - 84,554 Total Votes

Giuliani - 50,925 Total Votes

Thompson - 49,198 Total Votes

Hunter - 4,567 Total Votes

Salon was doing pretty well for a while giving Dr. Paul credit for having a viable campaign and being consistent in his advocacy of Constitutional rights and processes. Now your writers seem to be once again taking orders from their corporate masters to deep-six Ron Paul. I personally see nothing disreputable about a candidate who does not play fast and loose with our basic governmental rulebook, who promotes liberty, responsibility, and economy and will extricate our nation from the corporate-sponsored "free trade agreements".