Thanks for adding something so unfunny, so insipid and so lacking of any redeeming comic quality that a speech by Dubya seems profound by comparison.

Caroline Kennedy would make a great US Senator from New York. She is intelligent, articulate, well-educated and carries some damned fine political genes. Andrew Cuomo is also a worthy successor to Hillary Clinton and is a scion of that family. Carolyn Maloney has a strong case for being picked, as well; she has earned high marks for the work she has done.

I would choose Caroline Kennedy, though, based on several factors, including her ancestry. No doubt, seeing JFK and Jackie's daughter in the US Senate would complete a picture many of us wanted to see occur with John-John. Caroline is a fine woman in her own right and would be an excellent choice.

However, dissing her simply because of her lineage or whining about "dynasty and entitlement", as if that were insufficient to succeed, is simply wrong. She is asking for the job until the special election in 2010; at that point, she can be elected by her constituents for a six-year term based on performance.

I say give her the chance to represent New York state...

Back to your grill, burger boy; those Big Macs aren't going to turn themselves.

A "resurgence" for the out-of-favor Republican Party? Unless they can broaden their appeal, their outreach, their philosophy and their extremely narrow worldview, in a word, "no".

They continue to (a) blame the moderates within their own party for losing the White House, House and Senate, (b) prate that the only way to better days is to become even more conservative and (c) be the party of angry, white, male-centric, anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-gay, anti-diversity and anti-science thugs.

As a Democrat, I look forward to a Republican party that continues to beat down and belittle those who do not share their skin color, far-right religion and xenophobic outlook; it shows their collective ignorance and arrogance that will ensure their downward spiral in the eyes of the American voter and the world at large.

Is anyone really surprised at the treatment/mistreatment of Charles Graner? He's obviously being kept incommunicado by his detainers until Dubya and his coterie and clique of war criminals is out of the building. All one has to do is to remember that old adage about sh*t running downhill to understand why he is the designated fall-guy.

Under a just resolution of the horrors of Abu Ghraib, et al, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the conspiritors would be before a military tribunal or a civilian court at The Hague being tried on war crimes. THAT ain't gonna happen, however, so look for Charles Graner to remain right where he is...until after Bush's term expires. (Bush may commute his sentence as he's going out the door, but, he probably will not exonerate him.)

I'm sure that in the future, Charles Graner, and others, will write tell-all books enumerating the number and names of their superiors who not only encouraged their incivility but required it. Hopefully, justice will prevail...eventually.

Think about it: the "piously religious" among us continue to have an eerie and unsettling compulsion to zero in on anything sexual...ANYTHING!: Homosexuality, masturbation, pre-marital sexual relations, abortion, pornography, et al.

What a sad life they must lead looking down their collective noses at the rest of us. Their obsession with s-e-x is the reason I call 'em "Crotch Christians"; their motto is "If its between the navel and the knee, its bad for you and me." And, that uber-snide anti-anything-sexual group "Focus On The Family"? They should be renamed "Focus On The Fanny".

Remember that right-wing groups have always needed a scapegoat upon whom to lay blame and to further their own power: Hitler used the Jews, the Republicans used Communists and skinheads used and continue to use blacks. With the demise of the Soviet Union, the general recognition that anti-Semitism and racism are wrong, the pogroms against gays are the only "acceptable" group upon whom to heap hate without fear of retribution.

However, the times are a-changin', boys and girls. The scumbags who hide behind religion to mask their base and vile discrimination are being outed and castigated. Other measures of a stronger nature may stop it once and for all. Hey...look what happened when the Black Panthers, Weather Underground and others stopped taking crap from "the man"; the general populace took them seriously. Sometimes outrageous problems require outrageous solutions.

I'm just sayin'...

As a former Hillary supporter, I was won over to Obama's side and positions by his thoughtful and superbly nuanced ideas, hopes and plans for America. In this troubled time, his choices of various players from the Clinton Administration, along with newer choices, makes me even more confident that a President Obama will be an activist President, albeit a restrained one. That seems to be a good thing, imho.

Universal healthcare, the end to don't-ask-don't tell, freedom to mention ALL aspects of family planning in our worldwide outreach, stemcell research, no drilling in ANWR and many more are within the realm of possibilities/probabilities. However, governing from the center is smart, reasonable and will certainly bring more voters into the Democratic camp.

I'm willing to give the man...who was not my 1st choice for the job, but, was the man for whom I voted...the time and the backing he needs to accomplish the Herculean tasks confronting him. I have faith in him to have an agenda and a timeline that will make us Progressives happy...even if it takes his entire first term to accomplish.