"These bitter Hillary supporters just won't quit." etc.

Are you sure that any of the people posting these ludicrous claims are actually Democrats at all, let alone Hillary supporters?

The Republicans have used dirty tricks just like this non-stop since the 60s.

Don't get snippy. Assume you're being used. Just say, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but a vote for McCain is a vote of approval for the Bush administration, and a statement of support for the war."

truly one of the great imagines of hammer attacks in the history of comics... poor Steve, life hasn't been so good to him!

Keep it up, Berkeley, I'm enjoying this strip more and more.

Six years. Jesus. I had lost track. I'm sure she didn't.

Does she have an organization we can contribute to (perhaps even put a donation link in the main story)?

A poster wondered how this could happen?

I (male) have been scrupulous with birth control - most of the time - but at least three times in my recollection when a condom got broken or dislodged during use. We were lucky, nothing happened. One of these partners had been medically advised never to attempt to get pregnant, there would definitely have been an abortion.

Lots of women use some variation of the rhythm method. An awful lot of them get away with it forever, but as you know it's not a foolproof method for everyone.

A friend of mine was told by her doctor she couldn't get pregnant in the first month after giving birth. Wrong! Though that didn't lead to an abortion.

And yes, as you are implying, people are irresponsible, they get drunk, they have make-up sex after a fight, they get told lies, etc. etc.

There are a million reasons for an abortion from critical to trivial. Don't judge in general.

Mr. Gingrich says. "Our culture favors driving long distances in powerful vehicles and the car as a social expression."

"Suddenly a wave washes over the three of you and one child is swept out of your arms before you can do anything about it. You KNOW this means death for her. What do you do?"

Wait, is this before or after we have to torture the Arabs to find the atom bomb hidden in Los Angeles?

The telecom is a small issue on most people's roadmaps; and the people who really care about it are the people who were against it. Sure, the Right would try to make capital if he'd voted against it but guess what? They're going to do that anyway.

The point is that people all over the country are sick of the Republicans. They'd vote for Daffie Duck over Mr. Bush. The main thing that Mr. Obama had going for his is that he wasn't a Republican, that he had strong beliefs that differentiated him.

When Mr. Obama does shit like this, it's a dead loss for him. Not one "conservative" is going to vote for him (I don't know if you have noticed, but Mr. Obama is in fact African-American?), no matter whether he rolls over and dies for FISA or not.

What people admire isn't "compromise" and "middle of the road". It's confidence, a bold statement of principles, something to hope for.

The Republicans have been incredibly successful in winning votes, despite a performance that would have to improve by an order of magnitude to even reach the level of "dismal". They have not done this by "compromising" with the Democrats, but by sticking to their principles, no matter how objectively stupid and faulty the results were.

Your story should be rephrased: "You're driving home from Wal-Mart, and suddenly you realize you might not have enough gas to make it. Panicking, you take your first born child and leave her by the side of the road."

I made the mistake of actually believing Mr. Obama was a principled man, a progressive man, someone who might change things for the better. In the last few weeks since he won the nomination, he's gone out of his way to show us that this is not the case.

In the USA, you don't win by convincing people to cross sides. People here aren't that smart, they don't "think" about issues or change parties: they generally stay with their "team" to the end. The way you win is by activating your supporters to turn out to vote for you.

These moves towards the far right aren't going to gain Obama one supporter and they have certainly alienated a lot of people like me. People aren't going to send him money, they're going to send less money, and in the end they're going to stay home.

...and Mr. Obama will give a stirring speech essentially approving it, where he talks about "healing" and "moving forward".

:-(

I've read pretty well everything he wrote. Met him once. A huge loss.

...where should one invest one's money in order to preserve it if we are due for an economic meltdown?

Foreign paper? Bonds denominated in... the won? The Australian dollar? The forint?? (On the theory that undervalued currencies have nowhere to go...)

Commodity futures? But that's at best a hedge, it doesn't actually do anything with your capital.

Is there a green, disaster-oriented hedge fund somewhere?

I do agree with your first half, but law, like software, rots over time, as it becomes increasingly distant from the original environment it was conceived in.

What is needed is a strong but flexible body of law, a minimal but stringent code of ethics that guides lawmakers, and good thinking skills on the part of the populace.

The trouble with the United States today is that the great majority of the lawmakers are mad in the strict literal dictionary sense: they are delusional and they are a danger to themselves and others - and the 2004 election shows that a large number of the people share this madness.