There is a difference between Muslim fundamentalists and evangelicals. Evangelicals are generally peaceful, productive, and well-entrenched members of American society. Muslim fundamentalists are generally bomb throwing, hate-spewing, outcasts who spend more time and energy coming up with reasons to destroy the west than assimilating into it.

The evangelicals want Jesus to come back and save the world. Even if we assume they're crazy, you don't have to worry about them blowing up your school or synagogue or airplane. Yes, there are militant people in all sects and religious groups. But in general, our Christian friends are just that, friends. Our Muslim neighbors, whether they live in London or outside Detroit, keep saying that they want us all to die horribly or convert. I say we take them at their word and call a spade a spade.

I'm getting sick and tired of wheeze bags in academia trying to indict people just because they profess a belief in G-d. I prefer to let people's words and actions speak for themselves.

Wow, Joan, I can almost taste the sour grapes you must be eating right now. Your piece drips condescension all the way, from beginning to end. It's gratifying to learn Sen. Biden's presence on the Obama ticket is to insulate Obama from charges that he hasn't a clue about world affairs. You've admitted that in your piece, and I'm happy you did. By doing so, you've helped McCain take an important plank out from under Obama. Obama is now playing the role of Bush-neophyte, someone who turns to his trusted old dog for advice when he lacks any context for the decisions he needs to make at 3AM.

I hope McCain re-runs that 3AM phone call ad with a new byline. It's no longer a question of who picks up the phone at 3AM. Joe Biden will be the one in the ad reaching for it. Thank you for conceding the point, match, and race.

Those VP debates are going to be so much fun. Biden will go off at the mouth for 10 minutes, saying nothing substantive, and getting lost in all that loquaciousness of his. Meanwhile, the former sports reporter standing next to him, will look the audience in the eye and articulate the same thought in simple, short, and memorable terms. That's what she was trained to do. It's going to be so much fun watching Joe rip into a mother of 5 and have her just smile.

Oh and please seek therapy for your Hillary Clinton fixation. As she said, the race was not about her. If Gov. Palin lives out Hillary's dream, I hope you'll be cheering alongside the rest of us feminists.

Gov. Palin is a brilliant move for McCain. She is just the right medicine for him. She has a son headed to Iraq, she's female, she's successful and beloved in her home state, she's attractive, she's a reformer, she's outspoken and articulate, she's a former small business owner and current soccer mom, and the list goes on and on. Just the scene of 65-year old Blowhard Biden debating 44 year old Palin will be fun. And the best part of all of it is that Obama can't go after McCain for fielding a candidate with no foreign policy credentials. To do so would be to admit that he (Obama) needs a VP with such credentials to compensate for his own lack of experience. McCain will make the argument that we don't need another 4 years of a neophyte at the helm with a puppet-master pulling his strings. Gov. Palin will learn what she doesn't know now, while the guy in charge does the job that we will have elected him to do. Obama will be constantly looking to Biden as his sage.

I have a dream. And in that dream I see a war hero and a soccer mom beating the snot out of a charismatic naif and his balding, old dog.

The TV ratings of the convention on the broadcast networks are dreadful. They're down 1 million viewers to about 12 million. The ratings for the cable networks alone are around 10 million. Given that 19.1 million votes were cast in the Democratic primaries and about 22 million viewers are watching the convention, I have to wonder, How many of those TV viewers didn't vote in the nominating contests? I'm willing to bet, without a shred of evidence, that the answer is a few million. The implications of this are fairly profound: With all the hooplah surrounding the convention and its characters, nobody new is watching. If Obama's numbers don't go very much, we'll have our answer. It will also mean that these polls are completely worthless. If Obama is still at the break-even point after his convention, it's over.

McCain is going to announce his running-mate on Friday, which means he gets to take care of the convention while his running-mate deals with Joltin' Joe for the next week.

I like Sen. Biden. I really do. However, Obama just lost the election. He picked someone with perennial foot in mouth disease who has stated publicly that Obama isn't ready and that John McCain is a great man. To backtrack on those comments will make him look like a two-faced fool.

This was the conventional pick. And it was a mistake. The Republicans are going to have a field day with this one. The only thing saving Joe Biden will be the last shreds of collegiality in the senate keeping his colleagues at bay.