I always enjoy reading what you've written, Mr. Blumenthal. I find your essays trenchant and insightful. You are courageous in a time of profound need. Thank you.

Someday, maybe a long time from now, maybe as soon next year, John Yoo WILL be prosecuted; either here or in the International Court system. I, for one, will be waiting. We, and the Iraqis who have been slaughtered for their proximity to their own maniacs, will all be waiting. I hope it is not long from now, and that there will still be a USA by then.

I too have recently realized that this whole neo-con nightmare does come down to Equality. Are we equal to eachother, or must we bow to a paradigm of dualism? Binary opposition has always been a place from which to start, but to stay in this need for safety that cannot see farther than that is deadly for our species and for our earth. If there is an elite, which there clearly is, then the rest of us are schmucks for the sacrificing, one group at a time, each according to our percieved defects by those in power.

Really what the Bushbots are are attempting to abrogate is our equality as citizens. That it comes down to this tragically simple question, one which many of us if not most thought was left behind in the many dark ages of our history as a species, is ugly, but at least we know where we're at now. More of us every day.

you do resonate, big time. Bless you and Coulter and Greenwald and so many dedicated people, the internet, we all just want to know the truth as we can sort it. Chomsky made the point that Americans were more effectively propagandized then the Soviets. In the seventies. Just look how smooth that road was up to here. The internet is the birth place of deviation; the empowering of an individual through dialog and choice. Citizens who question and care, no matter how they judge it. There's definitely art in all this.

Glenn Greenwald posts regularly and frequently here at Salon, and does so clearly, insightfully and piercingly about the Neo-cons and the corporate media. The content of his writing and the commentary on his articles are some of the best reading on the internet, and certainly so in the general, bound and gagged, political discourse in the USA. In these strange and horrific times, he stands out in his courageous and exacting lucidity.

Glenn, thank you so much for your passion and integrity. We need you to do just what you are doing. May you thrive, and may we all take heed. (And, may you sell lots and lots of books.... ;)

These ARE the bullies of childhood who never could grasp their own limitations.

America suffers from Toxic Masculinity; too much testosterone and not enough mature brain cells to apply masculinity to it's rational place of thoughtful, studied honourable discourse. I've thought now for decades that America never recovered from it's idealization of it's Wild West roots in the fifties and sixties. In truth it took some time before the rule of law was established in the colonization of the US and it is that time period that those short on mature masculinity seem to get fascinated by and stuck on. I mean, really, what is the difference between these unfortunately plump, pasty republican candidates and the little boys with plastic guns and shiny tin stars who wanted to play cowboys and indians and had to argue about who would get to be the sheriff? Check out those old westerns. A true man, like John Wayne, never negotiated, knew better than the law and always had the nice girls pining for them. I think the 28% resent having to grow up, believe in exceptionalism and most damagingly, have a deep, inarticulate sense of entitlement that the rest of the world is now paying for, as well as the majority of Americans. Therefore they will always see themselves as victims, will always be attracted to the macho strutting of those who know how to play them, and will refuse to take responsibily for their disastrous stupidity/immaturity. These people are toddlers who haven't made it past the what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine stage who are drawn to whatever rationale will allow them to claim self-rightousness and vent their resentment at those who've moved on and grown up and won't let them get away with the violence they crave.

As I've noted before, and no doubt others have as well, it's also interesting how the Fascists seem to need this hyper-masculinity ideal, almost to the point of gay aesthetics - nazi black leather, cowboy masculinty - without the sense of playfulness and honesty about their neediness.

Your words brought to mind my own thoughts regarding the making of mortal enemies for the USA. I wonder (seriously) whether there isn't something to the intention of Bush/Cheney co. about the desire to create a need for the corporations they serve re:doing the opposite to what they need to do to limit terrorist volunteers. Either they're deeply, profoundly stupid (certainly a premise relatively well borne out) or they're insuring a need for the armaments industries sake and for the 'need' for hawkish, belligerent governance from a population still driven by fear. Too far fetched? I genuinely believe these people are capable of anything. Anything at all, ss long as they can get away with it.

Obviously, I hope I'm paranoid.........