It is essential that the taxes be raised for the rich and it is unconscionable that the middle class and poorer members of our nation and society be forced to bear the largest burden in regard to taxation.

The article rightly points out that the cost of living for the middle class is soaring- in fact, it is rising so sharply that the middle class members of our society are barely able to maintain their lifestyles, which are by no means lavish.

Rising health care costs, as well as an increase in the cost of living and the complete stagnation of wage increases are terrifying things for most Americans to deal with. The wealthy obviously have no concern about health care costs or mortgage woes, but the majority of Americans are not so lucky.

What kind of nation expects the majority of the costs to be paid by those least able to afford it? The middle and lower classes are not comprised of people with disposable income. $500 or $1000 is a huge amount of money to a working individual, to a CEO or a Hedge Fund Manager, this is barely a drop in the bucket.

Unfortunately, we've allowed the dialogue and the formation of tax laws to be dictated by the wealthy, who have no concept at all what it means to be working class, let alone any compunction about saddling the middle and working classes with the majority of the tax burden.

It needs to change- immediately. Our current tax system- and the mentality of "I've got mine (and most of yours), to hell with everyone else." - must change. If it does not, the United States will become a third world nation where a bloated 1% control the majority of the wealth and the rest of us are left starving and fighting over the scraps.

Innocent Iraqi civilians are massacred - including a family with a young child who were all killed by these trigger happy thugs.

Are these Blackwater cretins going to be punished? Will they ever be brought to justice under the law? Under this administration? Yeah, right.

Even if they are tried or brought in for hearings it will be among a jury of their peers- people corrupted by this administration's ideology, or people growing crapulent at the same trough.

It breaks my heart when I think of what happened. I grow sick when I think of the child burned to his mother's body after the car they were in exploded after it was shot at by these Blackwater animals.

I'm sickened to think that these bloodthirsty amimals were acting as agents of our nation. And I'm revolted in knowing that- due to the imcompitence and corruption of our government and laws- they will get off scot free.

The idea that people bounce around this highly unlikely scenario as justification for torture is repellant and better, ridiculous. I've never heard of any scenario where a catastrophe was prevented at the zero hour because we tortured someone. It doesn't happen.

These waterboarding and torture advocates need to realize this. 24 is a fictional show. Jack Bauer is a fictional character. Goldfinger's bomb isn't going to be stopped with only 007 seconds to spare.

Get it?

trying to control and filter everything through fear.

Lets face it, we've allowed the terrorists to control how we act and think. Or, at least, we've allowed our perceptions of terrorists and terrorism to control the way that we conduct ourselves as a nation both at home and abroad. And the results fill me with anger and shame.

Politicians might do well to listen to the sentiments of Move On and Code Pink, being that they are increasingly representing the opinions of the majority of Americans.

What exactly is so awful about socialized (i.e. government run) medicine?

The fact that you can't make massive profits off of it?

I've compared, I've contrasted. And I've decided that the majority of the government health plans offer better coverage than private health plans, whether it be the systems in place in Europe, or the Medicaid system here in the U.S. In Europe, citizens are covered. Here in America we have 40+ million people with no health insurance because we privatized it.

We have politicians who are direct beneficiaries of excellent, government-run health care who bitch and moan about the possibility of extending similar coverage to the rest of us. Why are they so vehemently opposed to this? I wonder if it has anything to do with those fat checks from the insurance lobby and Big Pharma...

First, great article and very informative! I'm going on a music hunt as soon as I get off work. :)

For Serai 1, I’m going to play devil’s advocate (and for the record I adore The Beatles and I also think Bach can be incadescent). There is so much artwork out there now that people certainly have their pick as to what they enjoy. But enjoyment alone is not qualitative. Kitschy hotel room art can not stand up to Picasso or Vermeer, just as Danielle Steel would never be considered literature on the level of Hemingway or Faulker, even though many people may enjoy reading her.

The point being, that any work of art that lasts has a certain quality and endurance that outstrips most things that are produced simply for enjoyment.

As far as Neimon said, I agree. I think it’s time for a return to beauty in all art forms- but a natural, genuine beauty and not the superficial glossy crap that’s being passed off as beauty in today’s culture.

when he said,

"Most classical music stations only play the same sixty pieces of music."