I'm with Glenn 100% on this issue, but what makes anyone think that his ironclad logic and legal reasoning will make any difference? It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Constitution is of value only as a relic worthy of veneration, but not as a guide for the conduct of government or public policy. Constitutional provisions are routinely ignored if inconvenient to the ends of the ruling oligarchs, and this one will be not different.

We saw in the last election cycle the oligarchy-directed mainstream media ignoring and/or trashing candidates like Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, whose political philosophies stem from respect for the Constitution as an authoritative document. Until we can somehow reclaim a truly free press in this country, I think the prospects of attaining anti-oligarch leadership that will restore our Constitutional Republic are dim.

I'm goin' out to the dog yard and find sumpthin' to step in.

unless there is a synchronous successful effort to curb population growth and eventually reduce world population to some small fraction of its current value. Reducing each person's ecological impact "footprint" alone will not succeed in achieving global climatic stability as long as we keep adding more "feet".

The alternative to investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by political leaders is tyranny: if the leadership does it, it cannot be a crime. All of our vaunted system of rule of law, checks and balances in government, and individual rights goes right out the window and we become subject to the whims of the political leadership. Sure, we'll continue to venerate the Constitution, safely buried in its climate-controlled crypt, but it will have lost its relevance to the conduct of practical affairs in government.

1. Republicans should distance themselves from the Bush legacy by becoming the foremost advocates for investigation and prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and their companions in crime.

2. Start referencing their actions to Constitutional provisions, helping to repeal the odious "Patriot Act" and other anti-American, anti-personal liberty legislation.

3. Recognize that inclusion and empowerment are historical and Constitutional imperatives and ride the wave on issues of expanding rights and opportunities for women, gays, and oppressed ethnic groups. Stop the futile attempt to run the social clock backwards toward feudalism.

4. Prove they are conservatives by working to conserve a few things, like natural resources and wild areas. Promote recycling.

5. Stop being the tool of big corporations in securing legislation favoring the "fat cats" at the expense of everyone else. Start looking at the issues from the perspective of the poor and the middle class. Thanks in part to previous Republican actions, these now make up by far the majority of young voters.

Now if you think I'm saying the Republicans ought to become Greens, you're close to right. However, I think that their innate reluctance to spend public funds is of value to the nation, especially when the pockets of the next seven generations are being picked to provide the current blizzard of cash, much of which seems to be going directly into the coffers of the super-rich whose bad behavior seems to be largely responsible for our current economic woes.

"We can't send a message to the American people that we've got two sets of rules -- one for prominent people and one for ordinary people." President Barak Obama

Now that the President has officially declared himself opposed to America's hypocritical double standard legal system favoring the rich and well-connected, he can have little choice in investigating the serious crimes that were perpetrated by his predecessor. Criminal activity by those who have been entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing the law is especially disturbing and needs to be dealt with promptly and severely.

All politicians promise "hope" and "change". Some have more talent at seducing the American people with these vagaries that serve as a screen upon which each person projects his or her fears and aspirations. If we can ever get past this state of being subject to primitive psychological manipulation, we may wake up and start voting for politicians who present well considered programs to address specific issues. This would go a long way toward gaining some assurance about what the candidate would ACTUALLY do in office.

Never vote for an empty-suit lackey of the corporate globalist oligarchy mouthing equally empty slogans about "hope" and "change". You are bound to be sorely disappointed when he or she continues down the same road to tyranny followed by his or her predecessors. Save your vote for the candidate who speaks explicitly on the issues and tells exactly what he or she will do to correct currently failing policies and unethical practices. That candidate will undoubtedly be ignored or dismissed by the mainstream media and will thus not stand the proverbial snowflake's chance in Hell of being elected, but at least you will have your conscience clear for not having accelerated the decline of accountability and diminution of liberty in the American body politic. That's worth a whole lot more than fellowship in a cult of personality.

I'm glad to see so many letter writers acknowledging the EVOLUTIONARY changes in Lincoln's thinking on issues over his political career. Unethical and impractical ideas must be recognized as such and be diminished in competition with more ethical and practical ideas, even to the point of extinction. Once one accepts the idea that ideas themselves, sometimes referred to as memes, have origins, perhaps as mutated versions of previous ideas, must compete with other ideas, and, depending on their merits, propagate or are eliminated according to merit, then one can appreciate the genius of our nation's founders, who accommodated both the need for social continuity and the opportunity for change in the face of new circumstances. For instance, protecting the rights of the minority against a tyranny of the majority is a way of allowing potentially useful new ideas to survive and develop, allowing for new "truths" to be available to society as needed.