i'm tired of idiots like ann coulter behaving as if this problem just popped up out of nowhere three months ago. "if we'd known the economy was going to be the issue, john mccain wouldn't have been the nominee." riiight. they had loads of people on the bench ready to tackle the economy.

but it's convenient to paint this picture, because it not only lets repubs off the hook, but positions obama as the sole fall guy in case the solutions don't work. meanwhile, the republican solution: do nothing.

what this really comes down to is an ideological debate that's been brewing for a generation. people are so unused to the idea of government intervention as a good thing that we don't even have a vocabulary to talk about it. nationalization -- socialism -- these are outdated words for what we're dealing with here. yet the right is using them to scare people, and wall st. is running from the very thing that could save the banks and thus restore capital.

i agree with previous posters; unfortunately we're going to have to wait till things get so bad that these anachronistic terms don't sound so bad. by then it may be too late.

yes, as the above poster states, the logic of "everyone was once a clump of cells" is taking things to the point of absurdity. follow it a bit further, and you quickly get to where you can't sneeze for fear of killing the unborn.

but in truth, i've always found this whole argument a bit problematic for the right and the left. trying to pinpoint when a fetus becomes a human being? impossible, i say. the left has been getting pummeled on this issue morally speaking, because they always sound like a bunch of cold-hearted numbers-crunchers as opposed to the simple, emotional appeals of the right.

so let's go at it this way: whether you conceive of these cells as human or just a clump of cells, they are most likely not going to be otherwise used and are going to "die" anyway. the potential for research and, hence, saving a greater number of human lives, is much higher if scientists are allowed access to them. that works for me. science has spoken. the majority has spoken.

it's time to move past these debates and join the rest of the world.

False argument, my friend. The fact is that we are talking about embryonic stem cell research. Comparing it to some hypothetical about people in comas is sloppy thinking at best, deliberately misleading at worst. (How far gone are these imaginary coma people? Am I to picture them with or without concerned parents / spouses at bedside?)

The bottom line, as another poster has stated most eloquently: there are enough embryos for both "snowflake babies" and research. Let's move forward.

for readerreader to jump in here and explain to us all why this isn't a story. Yes, the media feasted on the fact that Palin's teenage daughter was pregnant. But -- instead of following Obama's lead and declaring family off limits during the campaign -- what did she do? Put them front and center. Instead of allowing them to make decisions and live their lives in (semi)private, she used Bristol and Levi as talking points to moralize about the right to life and yadda yadda yadda.

You could practically see the shotgun in poor Levi's back as he sat there and grinned uncomfortably for the cameras. If it's true they've split, I say, good for them. And yes, all you Palinites, this IS a story... more precisely, the wholly predictable denouement to the one that your gal set it motion last fall.

Steele is one of the most refreshing politicians to come along in at least a dozen years -- I was going to say, "Republican," but check that; one of the most refreshing, period. When he explained his attack on Rush Limbaugh by saying "I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking" (exact quote), he probably didn't realize how accurate and honest he was being. Steele seems to tap right into the id and just spew out whatever's there. Awkward? Sure, but absolutely refreshing in a way that well-thought-out politicians' answers never are.

You're right, Joan, he won't be there much longer. Enjoy it while it lasts.

put down the coke and the rolled-up 100-dollar bills and listen to this:

I don't believe andrew or anyone else -- outside of a few kooky losers -- is really advocating that we become like china. only pointing out that the political will does exist in the world to deliver stimulus money in a somewhat efficient manner, where it's needed, at the same time building infrastructure and planning for the future. china is screwed in the long term, sure -- but so are we. so is capitalism. riddle me this: what happens when oil shoots back up -- or beyond -- where it was last summer? how is capitalism going to deal with the looming problems of health care, global warming/climate change, and affordable energy, all of which are going to require real sacrifice and forward-thinking that is not profit-based? (please don't prattle on about how the market fixes everything, cap-n-trade, etc. -- we're witnessing the massive failure of that ideology now.)

the fact is we've never actually adopted a keynesian approach to the economy. keynes advocated balance in the world economy, and the re-plowing of profits and surplus into areas where it was lacking, with the idea that everyone would eventually benefit. these ideas were crippled from the start by the self-interest of larger powers like the US, which wanted to ensure its own profit, the world be damned. capitalism depends on scarcity to function, and maximum profit = max scarcity -- for someone. again, that's what we're seeing now and it's not working. unfortunately it's going to take things getting much worse here to spark the all-out class war that will perhaps lead to change.