Your direct and insightful comments in support of Ron Paul mirror the attitudes and abilities of the candidate himself. Dr. Paul is not interested in denigrating his fellow candidates, much as some of them might deserve to be knocked down a couple of notches, but instead addresses the issues directly. This shows the kind of respect for the American voters so lacking in the other candidates' often ludicrous posturing.

As far as defending the our national sovereignty is concerned, anyone familiar with the provisions of NAFTA knows that it is already seriously compromised and most of the other candidates of both parties promote an increase in transnational globalism rather than a return to the self-reliance once considered a national virtue.

At the core, I suspect the real motives for failing to impeach Bush and Cheney lie in the coziness and alliances within of this elite ruling class running our government...

I have promoted impeachment for several months now, writing letters, circulating a petition, and demonstrating. I personally despair of having this happen, even though the polls show that a majority of the American people favor impeachment of Mr. Cheney if not Mr. Bush. The failure lies in the disconnect between the interests of the ruling corporate elite and the American people. There few thousand individuals making up this elite shuttle back and forth between public office, elective and appointive, and membership on corporate boards of directors. They've never had a president as useful as Mr. Bush, who is so bereft of insightful thinking that he appears to take his marching orders from conduits like Cheney and Rove without question. The last thing they would want to do is see him seriously embarrassed or removed from office, as he has been an extremely useful tool for advancing their agenda. So we see every kind of roadblock put up to frustrate the will of the people and the mandates of our Constitution, the document that they treat with contempt.

Daniel Day-Lewis may be a fine actor, but I prefer Christopher Walken, who says he never turns down a role and is always ready to test and extend his limits in either comedy or drama. Walken has had over a hundred roles since beginning his career in the late '60s, while Day-Lewis has only had 25 or so since his career really got underway in the early '80s.

mmckinl is right. I'm old enough to remember the projections of "Famine 1975", which, of course, did not happen. What did occur was the "Green Revolution", the increase in crop yields by use of new strains of more productive crops (often through hybridization), the mechanization of agriculture, and the application of artificial fertilizers, all allowing world population to soar from 4 billion to the current 6.5 billion. However, the downside of this near-miracle is that the mechanization (involving plowing, planting, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, processing, and distributing) and the fertilizing (not to mention the application of pesticides)all have been accomplished with an intensive use of fossil fuel energy. Typically, for every food calorie on your dinner plate, 10 calories of fossil fuel energy has been expended.

Two or three years ago it started to be OK to recognize publicly the problem of global warming consequent to the burning of coal and petroleum without being labeled a nut case. Now the fact that we have reached the maximum rate of fossil fuel extraction ("peak oil") is likewise beginning to seep into the public consciousness and become a socially acceptable concern. Yet the oil companies have known what is coming for fifty years. I was told about it by my father, an oil company worker, forty years ago. And yet no comprehensive plan has been developed in all that time to deal with this challenge. The Green Revolution, which at the time seemed to be a blessing, may turn out to be the greatest curse in history, as it allowed human populations to far exceed sustainable levels.

The next few decades are sure to be a rough ride for Homo sapiens and the fewer passengers we put aboard this old rust-bucket Earth during that time, the less overall suffering will occur. On most political issues I am a libertarian, but on the issue of population increase, count me as among the most draconian of the Malthusians.

"Writing is the visible evidence of thought." -- The Wall Street Journal

I often use this little quote to support the necessity of clear writing to my high school level students. An idea that can be expressed in a straightforward original declarative sentence is one that can be examined, critiqued, and associated with other ideas in a rational manner. Those who must deal with large quantities of information quickly and effectively, as Mr. Bush testifies is required of a President, of necessity need a even higher order skill than writing clear prose. Any person in this position absolutely must have the ability to conceptualize and express complex ideas and associations of ideas verbally with a very high degree of fluency.

In the past I have proposed that Presidential candidates be required to take examinations on history, geography, economics, and natural sciences, and that their answers be made publicly available for assessing their fitness for office. Now I would further advocate that each candidate submit to giving a televised four minute impromptu speech, so the voters may more easily distinguish among among the mentally organized and verbally competent, the muddleheaded bumblers, and the bloviated, flatulent windbags.