The debate over the intelligence surveillance program is disturbing in itself; the way it was started, run and still is underway.

I don't trust anyone in the government to tell the truth-and that means that whenever Gonzales, Bush, or whoever is the mouth of the day says that this or that program has been discontinued, I don't believe it for a second.

I suspect they're still running a very illegal (and undisclosed) program that they don't dare tell anyone about-the one that Ashcroft refused to sign off on-because shortly after he left the hospital, he resigned.

Who's to say they're not doing worse than what has been admitted publicly?

Who are we to question the integrity of the government, anyway? (very heavy sarcasm inserted here)

As for asking them to come forward to tell us the truth, who's been drinking the damn kool-aid again?

No, I'm not buying this, and I won't believe they're not up to their usual tricks and illegal activities, only because they don't know when to stop.

They've got us in a state of fear, and they know it. Calling or writing your Senator or representative is a waste of time, because most of them are not in the loop, either.

We're living in a nightmare of Orwellian proportions, but nobody seems to really care. Might as well go back to watching "Survivor" and ignore it all.

Senator Leahy is gutsy enough to do this, but I believe that this will end up in the same dust pile the others are in: "The President refused to allow his aides to testify due to executive privilege assertions."

In other words, nothing. Nice try.

The one way to stop the endless middle finger from the WH, I believe is a court-ordered subpoena, not a Congressional one-that is one they do pay attention to, and will obey, lest the SC gets pissed off at them.

Dick Cheney will not run for President in the next election, mostly because he's living on borrowed time as it is; he has a pacemaker, he's had two heart attacks so far, and I don't think Mrs. Cheney will stand for it.

He just can't afford to run. Let's see if he makes it out of the VP's office without getting impeached and removed first before casting him as a presidential hopeful.

I sincerely doubt that the Republicans are quite that stupid, too; to have the most hated man in the United States run for elected office is the dumbest thing that could ever happen.

As a frequent poster, I try to limit myself to one or perhaps two posts in any one topic. Anything more is overwriting, and pointless.

Unless someone has a valid and timely point on a topic, they should be limited to three posts per subject, and then ejected for excessive posting. "Shooter", "Tiberius" and others come to mind when this area comes up; "Anonymous" should be a one time use only if the poster fears that others might heckle him/her online or through email (which is not available for public consumption anyway, from registration).

There are very few really good posters here-but I will mention that "be-bop-o" should be made the literary editor and advisor to Salon-he (or is that she?) has a wonderful way with words and knows how to turn a phrase without denigrating other people.

I immensely dislike the trolling that goes on here-with the ad hominem attacks and written slanders that happen to populate certain topics.

If one has an opinion, that's one thing-but to abuse in writing others' opinions just because they don't agree with yours is just plain childish and shows the level of ignorance that seems to be rampant in some groups.

Sometimes it just feels like the teenagers have invaded the room and taken it over, with no adult supervision.

It makes sense to have a little control over the content you publish, too. Try it sometime-it will make Salon Letters a better place to post.

If Salon reads their posters notes ( what a bad play on words!) they will realize that perhaps once in a while Digby could stand in for Tim or Glenn when need arises.

It is like being a doctor or a pharmacist-a really good writer is hard to come by, and you don't let them go easily.

I think Salon will think of ways to have Digby contribute once in a while.

She might not like a full-time gig, but I'm sure she's got time for all of us Salonistas and our verbosity.