The misrepresentation of this screed is perfectly represented by the title. Anyone who's watched Gore's documentary and can classify it as "sobbing" has a very dim connection to reality. It's a wake-up call, even a call to arms. And yes, Eliot did make those comments about reality; whether Jung said something similar is not clear. But here's something Jung did say: "We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses." This article isn't just oppressive, it's claustrophobic, issuing from the same echo chamber that has dominated our politics, our culture, and our media for six long, degrading years.

I have read dozens of books about the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution and McCain is ignorant or a liar or quite possibly both. The Founding Fathers founded this country based on Enlightenment principles drawn from French and British theorists and writers. Unlike Bush, they would never have said their favorite philosopher was Jesus; they were immersed in ideas in profound opposition to the religious establishments of their period. And they were anything but church-goers in their private lives. Our very history itself has been hijacked and pimped by the Christian Right and its minions, one of whom McCain is desperately trying to become.

Tourism is already a multi-billion dollar industry in Michigan which has 3,000 miles of coast line, amazing state parks, terrific boating, and has been a tourist destination for people all over the Midwest since the 19th century. I don't see how it can be boosted enough to pull the state out of its hole.

I moved to Michigan from NYC in 1981 to do graduate work at MSU, fell in love with the glorious scenery across both peninsulas, fell in love with my partner of 23 years, came to love the proximity to Canada and Chicago. I arrived when the Big Three were in a big slide and everybody has been saying "Diversify" every year since then, no matter whether the Governor is Republican or Democratic. Nothing changes. Why do I stay? I love my home, love everything that still obtains about living here, and continue to discover beauties--like the Victorian lumber towns of Manistee and Ludington. This is also where I became a successful author. Eighteen books along, I can't imagine writing my next book anywhere else, and my novel The German Money (http://www.levraphael.com/sg.html) was partly a paean to the beauties of this state.

I agree with whoever below said that the story is really about Dana P's annoyance and denial. Check out the news item via the link: she says the phonetic spellings were in there for the translators. Now, that's offensive. If a UN translator adept in half a dozen languages can't pronounce names of countries or leaders, that translator should be fired. But the story is even sillier than that, since, since if you were translating into another language you'd be likely to pronounce the name as it would be in that language, not in the originating language.

What was the whole point of putting benchmarks in funding legislation anyway? What where they supposed to prove? They set impossible goals which the administration will continue to finesse, while Congress, which made a huge deal about them, will ignore their not having been met. Does anything change? Just the casualty figures going up and America's reputation, sinking further down.

Here are some MN legal experts on the possibilities for Craig:

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_240183727.html

--unless you're pliable, so to speak. Straight men not looking for tearoom sex are unlikely to be drawn into its web no matter what a cop does. If Craig mentioned entrapment and solicitation, then he clearly was speaking with a guilty conscience and trying to put the blame elsewhere.

I do, however, not understand the left hand under the stall. Why not his right hand?

I do feel sorry for him, even here in my part of the liberal left. People like Craig, boiling over with desires they have been taught to feel are unnatural and sinful, are cornered. They seek an ideology and party that they feel will help keep their own libido in check, but the oppressive nature of the system they seek shelter in, well, it invariably heightens their conflict instead of suppressing or erasing it. So they act out in dangerous, career-threatening ways. And a reaction formation makes them inveigh against gays in every way possible. Gay marriage is indeed a threat to these people's traditional marriage, because it represents the road not taken: seductive, terrifying.

However, it is offensive nonsense for people to spread the blame, as someone did here, to "the liberal left who rather than accept him, cackle at him with an evil laughter so unpleasant the Germans have yet to come up with a name for it."

Sorry, schadenfreude perfectly fits the bill. And labeling those who delight in seeing a rank hypocrite exposed in his lies "evil" is just ridiculous. Evil? We have verged into Ann Coulter name-calling here. Accept him? As what? A homo-bashing politico? Thank him for his bigotry? Is anyone suggesting a love-in, with gays and lesbians following him around and strewing flowers in his path, chanting and radiating love? For what? What has he done that would earn him acceptance? He has been an enemy of gay rights in this country. Had he come out, shared the agony of his life, that would have been completely different.

She's a sloppy journalist and her work isn't worth reading. Daily Howler did a spot-on analysis of her Fred Thompson coverage in which she claimed FT was "mobbed" at the Iowa State Fair. Impartial investigation showed that in comparison to Thompson's crowd of 100 (excluding 50 reporters who should not count), other candidates got crowds 3-5 times as large, but weren't described as being "mobbed."