I am a progressive and I also think far lefties are distorting Obama's position on FISA.

I guess that's the new argument. Myself, not such a leftie, let alone "far leftie". Prior to the insanity of the neocons and religious right influence, I would have been a moderate Republican, and used to vote that way.

I was worried that Hillary was comfortable with the unwarranted power that Bush was accumulating, now it seems Obama is comfortable with that idea, too. It's fun when you get to unilaterally decide what's right and wrong, what's justifiable, what's not. I see this as easily abused by the "good" guys as well as those I would never trust.

It should have sent chills down anyone's spine when the Republican Senator said that anyone should just do what the government tells you to do unquestioningly, whether it's legal or not. I don't want to live in his version of America.

Even if President Obama won't abuse this, there is no guarantee that the President after him won't be worse than Bush.

The Constitution is amazingly well done and was designed to protect our rights. To casually throw one of these protections away because of fear of terrorists (Repubs) or political expediency (Dems) is disturbing.

I will not pretend to applaud this decision and am kind of appalled at those that do.

No kidding. Jesus.

Again now I see why so many conservatives just went along with all the BS being promoted from the White House. They didn't want to make their team look bad, it was all about appearing to be unified, that's what mattered most. It worked amazingly well for a time, but now it's hurt them, it's ruined their "brand".

I don't think emulating them is good in the long term though unfortunately that appears to be what's happening.

I liked this essay, it made me rethink my initial ideas about what happened.

I'm pro-choice. That also means supporting a girl or woman's right to keep her baby. That's not the same as promoting teenage pregnancy...any more than providing protection against cervical cancer promotes teenage sexuality.

If what these girls said is true, they want to be there for each other in their time of need, I get that. I wish they didn't need to make that choice, but it's done.

It sounds like the author had resources that helped her. Still, she had options and chose to keep her baby and tried to move on.

Being a young, single mother is not an ideal. It's something to be avoided if possible. But when it happens, the world does not have to end. You can still safely abort in many places, you can give the child up for adoption, or you can try to make it work.

On the topic of the nurse, I have no idea whether to trust her over the girls or not. I give her views some credence but she might have strong views that color her opinions.

Who needs a 4th ammendment when we have Barak?

That's what so freaky. A President Obama is temporary, 8 years at most. Who will be next?

What if it's Tony Perkins? Rick Santelli? Rudy Guiliani? George P. Bush (handsome, half Hispanic version Bush)? Insert your favorite boogeyman here, we may not even know their name, Repubs weren't worried about Obama in the year 2000, were they? The right should get this, too...they have there own boogeymen.

Okay, I meant Rick Santorum....I'm watching CNBC and I quite like Rick Santelli. I hope he's not anyone's boogeyman, he seems like a really good guy.

Yep, he's still got my vote, the other option is a guarantee of disaster. I'm not on board for another preemptive war in the Middle East.

But I was getting excited. I was going to volunteer even knowing that he was more right leaning than I preferred (fake most liberal label of the RW notwithstanding).

I notice that McCain is trying to energize his base, too bad the Dem's never think this is necessary.

I also think it's very dangerous to expect every politician to never be allowed to change his or her mind on a given topic.

Fair enough, but did he change his mind? Hmm. Is he now pro choice for others facing his dilemma?

if the consumer price index were to be computed now in the same way as it was in 1980 we would be having double digit inflation right now.

We would also be looking at double digit unemployment.

I have to say, most people I know that feel very strongly about banning handguns (and more) are from large cities. Even many Republicans in large cities favor some of the bans. My conservative New Yorker boss cannot understand my views to the contrary, especially since he thinks I'm almost a commie.

I think it's because much of my family lives in the country. They've always had guns. All their neighbors have guns, too. Practically everyone I know that has livestock of any kind has a gun to ward off/kill predators.

My husband's family introduced him to hunting when he was 6. Yep, he had a gun. He hasn't hunted as an adult but the concept does not freak him out, it was the way he was raised.

Now, if I lived in an apartment downtown and a neighbor had guns out ready to "protect" himself, it would probably worry the hell out of me. The setting does change the perception.

Like others pointed out, Michael Moore pointed out that other countries that are more heavily armed do not have the same problem with gun violence.