Is there any proof, anywhere, that criminalization reduces, or even controls, the use of "recreational" drugs?

These drugs are freely available in almost any town in the USA today and it is apparent that drug enforcement has failed miserably. All we have done is to create a vast industry of lawyers and incarceration operating a revolving door of arrest, prosecution, and prison.

How does our per capita drug use compare with Europe's? Before drugs were made illegal around 1900, 1.3 percent of the US population was addicted to hard drugs. When Nixon declared war on drugs in 1970, one trillion dollars spent and millions arrested and imprisoned, today the percentage of Americans addicted to hard drugs is roughly...1.3 percent. Meanwhile, American prisons are crammed with non-violent drug-users (800,000 arrests annually, 90 percent for simple possession, 80,000 people in prison today on marijuana offenses), incarcerated for years at a time at taxpayer expense. And after all that, marijuana use per capita is actually less in Europe (overall) than in the USA.

What with Spellchecker and Grammarchecker software Bush may pull it off but he should avoid Truthchecker.

Resignation is the only honorable alternative. We cannot have less-than-perfect presidents. Every move, utterance, bodily function, facial expression, choice of white house pet(s), schooling for kids, wife's dress, etc. must be thoroughly analyzed and commented upon ad nauseum.

I will make an exception for George W. Bush, however. In his case, his shortcomings, gaffes and failure to comprehend the meaning of the Constitution merit the most blistering criticism possible.

And I will make an even more forceful exception for Dick Cheney who is still lying about the lack of security under Obama when his own version of "security" resulted in over 5,000 dead Americans and thousands more wounded in the needless Iraq war. This not to diminish the suffering and deaths of the Iraqis, for theirs is far greater than we can imagine.

All else is useless blather.

All of the good people have left the room, and what is left is anger and calls for justice that are heard by only by the people responsible for the problem in the first place.

Congress seems to be nothing more than a bunch of conflicted people expressing whatever "outrage" they think their base wants.

If all of this does not result in a complete overhaul of our political and financial systems all will be lost.

What are the odds of that happening?

Nobody really knows what to do. All of the overpaid, bonus-laden idiots cannot fix this house of cards.

If AIG truly is "too big to fail" we have lost control of the financial foundations of our country. What kind of a system allows such a condition in the first place? The Mafia probably has more honorable business practices - at least we know what they stand for.

Believers are a dangerous lot. They prefer dogma over intelligence. Skeptics ask questions and are not so easily led. These people tend to be "progressive" and are usually more open to new ideas and methods.

Conservatives take great comfort from the Old Testament wheras liberals find hope in the New Testament. I fear a conservative carrying a Bible. So much damage and suffering has resulted from rigid thinkers believing that the various punishments laid out in that book are truly the word of God.

Conservatives complain that schools are staffed heavily with "liberals" but they are missing the point. Liberals are not sought after by schools. Rather, it is the liberals that persue careers in teaching.

Obviously a mix of progressive and conservative thinking is healthy but too many idealogues create an atmosphere that allows one-track thinking to dominate over common sense and critical thought.

H.L. Mencken famously said: "I thank God I was not born a Republican". That statement is understood by most liberals to mean that conservatives are programmed and rigid and very resistant to new thoughts and ideas.

we should ensure that, never again, will we allow conservatives to dominate our government or our foreign policies.

If eight+ years of Bush and Cheney and Republican Congresses have taught us anything it is that it is possible to thoroughly divide a country by picking hot-button issues as major planks in a political platform, while ignoring the cancer growing in our financial industry.

Sarah Palin expressed this as she parroted the Republican right-wingers and media blowhards and discredited McCain's promise to unite the country.

Adolph Hitler used this as the point of his spear and his ability to rouse huge crowds into screaming for war.

American religious leaders and politicians have used fear to promote segregation, denial of civil liberties, and to restrict the rights of women to choose what happens to their bodies.

All this comes from the authoritarian mindset favored by conservatives.

Amendment 48 — also known as the Personhood Amendment — lost by a 3-to-1 margin Tuesday.

"We weren't expecting that margin," said Lauren Varner, spokeswoman for the "No on 48" campaign. "We're excited we were able to reach and represent women all over the state of Colorado."

The measure, if passed, would have guaranteed constitutional protections to "any human being from the moment of conception."

Our lax gun laws allow guns to flow freely into Mexico and other countries. Our ridiculous laws criminalizing drug use promote crime and do NOTHING to stem the use of illegal drugs. Our Republican anti-abortion culture promotes the sanctity of the unborn while supporting a useless war in Iraq.

If we don't fit the definition of lunacy, nothing does.

And she is SUCH a wonderful example of the Republican mindset.

Never mind that drug related law enforcement and incarceration have not reduced the use of drugs in the USA one iota.

Isn't it true that roughly the same percentage of the population use drugs in countries where drug use is legal and properly controlled as compared to the US? Our wasteful drug wars produce no results except to provide employment in law enforcement, the courts, and in prisons.