Our corporate owned government and ma$$ media have done a deliberately superb job of taming and subduing the masses of us "sheeple". They do it with scripted, coreographed, yet subtle and nuanced cultivation techniques, by carefully keeping us in the dark and feeding us shit. And it works tremendously well.

Happy New Year Mr. Greenwald. Thank you for shining some light upon us. Good night and good luck. Mikedog

No need for pitchforks in the streets. Just encourage the masses of THE PEOPLE to cast their vote on the new unofficial election day, April 15th. That should do it. Good night and good luck Glenn.

Now that the entire media is saturated with Karl Rove, what new diabolical screwing of us are Cheney/Rove trying to obscure? They are, after all, masters of deception, distraction and smokescreening. Whatever it is, you can be sure that they will do their best to make sure nobody notices until it's too late.

As I understand it, and I'm no expert, many of the current foreclosures are as investments as second homes/rentals. People assumed the annual rise in equity of the housing boom would more than offset the ARM rate hikes. Their expected profits, of course, did not materialize. Some are selling for less than the mortgage, while others are being foreclosed and auctioned. The rental value of the investment did not cover the ARM rate hikes coupled with the lack of increased equity.

One or two of these sales at reduced prices will drop the property values of the whole neighborhood, inducing a snowball effect. I am curious what percentage of these foreclosures is on owner occupied properties, and what percentage is investment properties.

I have been reading that the bulk of these foreclosures are by people, owner occupied, with poor credit and/or with inadequate income, who just weren't paying attention or doing the math. And of some lenders who ignored these criteria for the higher interests rates. Were they expecting automatic equity increases too?

I refinanced my home early this year at a good rate, but was pleasantly surprised that the lender's appraisal was 30% higher than what I thought was market value. Makes me wonder what is going on here.

Just like the Muslim suicide bombers who will claim their 72 virgins in heaven, certain "Christians" believe that they will be forgiven their sins and granted their eternal reward merely by expressing their faith and asking God for forgiveness. And they are quite certain about this.

Believing in this indisputable belief makes it OK to do anything unchristian you like as long as you make amends and express faith on your deathbed, if fate allows you the time and opportunity to make these "sincere " declarations. Knowing you are "saved" can/does justify extreme, illogical, and licentious behavior. We are witnessing this with President Bush.

Bush may be authentic to his beliefs, but is certainly not an authentic Christian, nor are his blind followers. I tend to believe that he uses his professed religious characteristics for power and profit. Or, probably more correctly, his handlers write the script and he just reads the que cards. But if he is one of these "true believers" then he knows he is saved in any case and can therefore do what he god-damned well pleases. And he apparently is doing just that.

I am speaking as a recovering Catholic in the Jesuit tradition, and as a daily drinker of alcohol in the Irish tradition. I'm not sure how pertinent all of this discussion about alcoholism is; I don't belive that an addiction controls your basic morality. Bush is severely and dangerously lacking in any basic morality. This is a sad commentary on the collective intelligence of we the people of these United States.