I have wondered for a very long time why Chris Matthews gives Pat Buchanan a platform from which to spew his BS. I could understand it if Buchanan were a frequent guest on Fox News, but not on MSNBC, and especially not on Chris Matthews show. I was relieved to see Tucker Carlson depart MSNBC, and would also love to see Morning Joe depart as well. The crackpots on the right have CNN and Fox and all those right wing radio shows. It seems to me that there has never, until recently, been any liberal media in America. And since, thanks to Ronald Reagan, deregulation on a massive scale has allowed one entity, like Rupert Murdock, to own vast swaths of "news" sources and turn them all into for- profit ventures, so it's all become entertainment and "news" now needs to make a buck for someone. News shows used to be exempt from the laws of corporate greed. Not so anymore. So, since a row is now more entertaining than straight reportage, we get Pat Buchanan spewing racism, homophobia, and anti-choice rhetoric every evening as "balance." It seems it's no longer possible to get straight news and opinion from the moderate to liberal side of the aisle without some crackpot spewing a counter to moderation.

What a side show this has been. Who cares when Pelosi knew what? Those briefings were classified, she could not discuss what was briefed. She was not Speaker of the House then and the country was hysterical and being scared silly every day by one manufactured terrorist plot or another. Pelosi did not order torture. Pelosi did not support the invasion of Iraq. There was a rather large Republican majority in both the House and Senate. This is a side show to keep us from pursuing the real culprit, namely Dick Cheney and the rest of his posse. And the press and talking heads are fanning the flames under Pelosi's chair. Why is the press colluding with the Republicans to deflect attention from the man who lived in his bunker pouring over all the minutia of CIA material but is now on every channel proudly admitting to his torture program? What is wrong with this picture? It's the fault of the press. It is so outrageous to say our press has a liberal bias. It does not. Any liberal in the MSM is always bending over back wards to get both sides of the story so as to never be blamed for any bias. The only place this doesn't happen is in the blogs and on any of Rupert Murdock's media outlets. I have never seen prominent liberals on O'Riely countering the opposing view. But Pat Buchannon is everywhere on the left giving right wing talking points.

I keep thinking that the thoughtful Obama is biding his time. That Cheney is making the case for prosecuting from top to bottom by flapping his gums all over the airwaves. I think there will eventually be a special prosecutor to go after the lawyers, judges, and on up the line. We know that torture is against our law and international law. We can not regain our reputation as a civilized nation if we are unwilling to prosecute those who designed the program, wrote the legal papers that gave it cover and prosecute every single torturer top to bottom. The precedent was set in the prosecutions of the "few bad apples" at Abu Ghraib. One of those bad apples is still serving time. So, let Cheney flap his gums. I have a feeling his poll numbers are still going down. And let him say Rush is the voice of the Republican party. All this is to the good. Hell, let him be the NRA spokesman for gun safety.

Thank god Jon Stewart is back from his vacation just in time to satirize the satirists. If we lose our collective sense of humor, we're lost. Now I think I'll have a glass of sherry and a cigarette, if only I could find my cigarette holder. Thank you darlings for giving us a little context, and a reminder to keep laughing as Rome burns, and the brown shirts guard the neighborhoods. Curfew won't bother me--I became a recluse when Bush "won" his second term. Cheers.

I've been there for years. I'm a disabled woman in her sixties, living on Disability Social Security. My actual budget is $720, a month. Oh yes, I am eligible for Medicare parts A B and D (whatever happened to C?) but my medical costs are astronomical and I must pay the thirty percent that Medicare does not cover. What about Medicaid you might ask? I have a couple of friends who work in hospitals--they say you get much worse care on Medicaid. So I hang on by my fingernails and hope for the best. I own a house which has no mortgage. Lucky me. But I can't afford the property taxes. I can't afford to fix anything. I own a twenty two year old Jetta. If it still ran it would still be getting better gas milage than most cars made and on the road today. But I can't afford the repairs necessary to keep it running, and I couldn't afford the gas to go anywhere, great gas milage or not. Lemons are now a thing of the past. At 89 cents a piece, they are a luxury. I will miss them in my iced tea. But beans make up the bulk of my diet. Yeah for beans. I only wish there were a Mexican food store walking distance from my house.