We've all been talking about this. Obama, though he's head, shoulders, and even waist above McCain, is somewhat to the right of Richard Nixon on pretty well all his policies.

On the other hand, we can't allow the country to get back under the control of the ultra-Right again.

My theory is that, assuming we win, we have to act aggressively after the election. First, we need to consolidate our gains in the hearts and minds of the people by aggressively working to fix a lot of the problems - I really think some nice high-profile trials of criminally negligent businessmen and downright evil politicians will do well, the country will have someone to unite and hate, and for a change it will be actual malefactors.

Next is massive outreach. We need to reach people and reveal the issues to them. I think the number one thing we should be hitting at, over and over again, is the military-industrial complex. Point out the massive waste over and over; point out how the corruption of the system wastes the "tremendous work our military men and women are doing"; point out that having the largest military organization in history forces us to have to use it and results in endless, losing wars that only profit a fraction of a tenth of a percent of the public.

Point out how wretched our infrastructure is, how terrible the medical system, the educational system, and then say, "We could fix all of this if we stopped spending most of our money on the military."

There will almost certainly have to be some sort of WPA-like project. Millions of people will suddenly be without jobs, either because of the final collapse of the US if we've done nothing, or because of the collapse of the military-industrial complex if we've succeeded against all odds.

You know, I laughed a lot at the first Lucky Ducky... I never thought you'd be able to keep escalating so effectively!

Huge kudos....

My father, hardly an idealist, pointed out to me that "Dear Abby gets it right every time" because she only has three pieces of advice:

1. don't sweat the small stuff.

2. stand up for yourself.

3. get professional help.

And really, what other help can you give in a letter?

You're bang on with this advice. Whether the brother has Asperger's or not, there's something wrong with him. "Get professional help."

And thank you so much for reiterating that "Commander-in-Chief" is not what the President is, except in a very limited way.

It makes me feel sick in the same way that it does you, and more. It makes me think of Asian dictatorships and banana republics.

If there's a Hall of Liberal Saints, you have a prominent niche there.

Great article - exactly right. Seeing all this misery and then helping a hurt animal might be a little precious - but when it looks like your old pet?!? It's simply impossible not to.

If you travel to the right places and keep your eyes open, you can learn a lot, and sometimes the truth will get forced on you anyway - but, if you're really interested in finding out the truth and have a questioning mind, these days you really can find out an awful lot from the Internet.

Travel isn't the universal solvent for ignorance - most people are simply not interested in the truth, probably because they suspect what it really is like and want to preserve plausible deniability.

"Who cares ... [if Cindy McCain] was caught stealing drugs from her nonprofit organization to feed her addiction to painkillers,"

Well, actually I do and a lot of other people do. The United States is in an endless hugely destructive war against its own people, over 1% of whom languish in jail. And the most common sort of victim is an African-American man who simply consensually sold someone else marijuana, a drug with far less harm potential than almost any other drug taken for pleasure.

We absolutely know for sure that if Mrs. Obama had a drug conviction on her record, a victimless crime, her family would not be on the national stage. Why does Mrs. McCain get a pass when she stole the drugs she illegally consumed from a charity?

Well, you're probably right, though it pains me to admit it.

It's true - Cindy McCain is not running for office; and the primary issue above all should be the competence and the ethicality of the candidate, not whom he or she happens to be sleeping with. (The *primary* issue - were Mrs. McCain a criminal right now, I think it would be reasonable to bring it up...)

When it comes down to it, I just don't like either of the McCains. But that really shouldn't be at issue.

...and now we know that Mr Breathed isn't actually too physically sick to go on, just sick of it all, we can have some hope that he'll restart in a few years if things improve.

But I'm still laughing at this last one.

Every time someone says, "I'm voting for the nigger," the word loses some of its punch.

"I support the nigger President, that nigger certainly understands foreign policy." "The other guy's good, but he's no nigger!"

If we keep this up we're going to have white kids saying, "I want to be a nigger when I grow up."

Frankly, people can say what they please as long as they vote for the nigger.

I'm pretty skeptical but she makes a great impression as thoughtful, compassionate and well-educated.

BTW, zaftig is not a pejorative term - the literal translation is "juicy".

Actually, many of us who have read your hostile, poorly-written screeds on this site have wanted you to do that very thing.

If you hate everything here so much, why not go elsewhere?