As part of the Atonement Movement, all registered voters will take a mandatory polygraph. Close to half the country voted Republican so we need to weed out the liars who'll deny the affiliation.

Then, all Republicans will be stripped of their citizenship for, say, 2 presidential terms, and otherwise treated as felons. Perhaps we'll see the rise of new political parties to fill the void.

For this eight-year period, all disenfranchised Republicans will be required to wear cardigan sweaters which will bear large yellow "R"s on the breast, back and sleeves so they can be easily identified from a distance. These sweaters will be ill-fitting and made of scratchy acrylic with the buttons and buttonholes purposely misaligned.

Two times per year, middle-class Republicans of proscribed incomes will be required to go door-to-door within their circumscribed neighborhoods and apologize to the rest of us. The rest of us will be required not to be smug or contemptuous but say, in response to the apology, "You poor thing".

Wealthy Republicans will be required to don sackcloth and ashes or striped convict uniforms similar to those featured in Mack Sennett comedies and stand in groups of 5 at major intersections or in downtown areas holding placards saying "What was I thinking?". Hurling rotten produce at these clumps of people will be a ticketable offense.

At the end of the eight-year period, most rights of citizenship will be restored but voting rights will only constitute half a vote which will be a permanent penalty.

At the end of this social experiment it is expected that Democrats will take the place of these shamed Republicans. This may prove otherwise but if past performance is any indication, it is highly doubtful.

What's wrong with minivans, exactly? They are built on auto chassis and are better in most ways.

The mambo is a glorious afro-carribean dance and an anagram of Obama. And these are, after all, politicians under discussion.

Get a life. A real one.

The term "prick teaser" comes to mind.

Someone who wants to play but remain a virgin has an immature grasp of the nature of sexual intercourse. The LW is young, of course, so this is understandable, but the whole "saving myself" trope is a total bore.

One doesn't need to lose one's cherry at the end of a line of empty shot glasses but sex is too heavily freighted in our culture.

Find a nice guy, make a friend, get spanked, get laid, live life.

Please, before you do damage to undeserving men.

Instead of this half-assed interpretation. And the quarter-assed responses which are posters reacting to the original article through a half-assed interpretation.

You wrote:

"It's tanking because people who make $40k/year insisted on buying $30k cars. It's tanking because people who make less than $100k insisted on buying $600k homes. It's tanking because people put the $2000 flat screen TV on their credit card instead of paying for cash."

As generalities, those are all lies. I think you're spewing right-wing propaganda to take the heat off of the real underminers of our economy, the rich. There are examples of all you say as there are examples of everything in the world. That doesn't make them dominate nor the real reason. Spendthrift behavior by the lower classes is severely circumscribed by their own circumstance. "ARM"-type provisions that allow borrowing beyond means are almost nonexistent, really.

All lies. You're a liar or simply a deluded person with really bad intentions.

All snakes, every one of them. Insincere, mean people beholden to their corporate overlords, just like the Democrats.

No credence should be given to a word they say, no allowance granted to any of their desires. It is their time in the wilderness.

I agree that Armey treated Walsh shamefully and it isn't the first time I've seen him evince paleolithic behavior...

...but this kind of material for a follow-up story does no one any good: vague, or non-existent memories, hearsay...

No good, Salon.

I'm high now. Yay.

Under what kind of poverty of soul and mind do you suffer?

To raise ourselves up, we must also raise up those less fortunate no matter how or why our fortunes differ.

It is our duty, our obligation, always.

This is the world I want.

I loved Brian Bolland's work on Judge Dredd, which led me to "A Killing Joke" and Alan Moore. A friend then introduced me to Watchmen and I couldn't believe that a comic could be so well-written.

I've seen the movies "League.." and "V for..." and they're trite and the scripts cumbersome. Now I know why.

Regarding comic book movies, I saw the Dark Knight yesterday and it wasn't very good, not even Heath Ledger's performance, which is adequate but waaay over-hyped.

I'm now interested to read Mr. Moore's work in pure prose. I can't imagine it's less than enthralling.

Save the condescension for the little disempowered people you and your ilk love to rain shit upon. I am not a Democrat nor "liberal" but I vilify and condemn everything, everything for which the right wing and it's Republican component stand.

There is nothing, nothing you contribute to the national dialogue and certainly no contribution to the health and well-being of our nation.

Why is that, Fladad? It must be difficult for you to face your own complicity in the ruinous outcomes Republicans have wrought.

Are you an insane person? You wrote:

"Nobody other than a few zealots even remember Bush anymore."

Are they not regulating your meds correctly? Bush was the president for 8 years up until, um, about 7 weeks ago.

I really can't take this kind of inanity anymore. Why don't you get together with your pal, NorbitBoy.

Christ.

"...the enemy am us!"

RIP Walt.