These comments from the man who has already "dismissed" a request by the Congress of the United States to explain his actions while in the employ of the President? Hard to believe that people listen to him, and pay him to deliver speeches like this. I imagine that he did not address the NRA out of the goodness of his heart. Six figures? How American -- contempt of Congress.

About 4 years ago I had breakfast with the brother-in-law of one of my best friends—both Dutch. Let’s call him Peter was the Chief Technology Officer for one of the largest privately owned enterprises in the Netherlands, a company whose name almost every American over 21 would recognize. And he was having a hell of time getting the company up and running with the basic applications that a modern company demands. Of course all the financial information was digitized, that was a requirement of the EU, but internal communication was hopelessly slow and cumbersome; each of the companies far flung enterprises maintained their own internal IT departments; important decisions delayed; the competition was gaining market share. “Why?” I asked. “The Mr. X, the president, won’t even do his own email,” Peter answered. “It is impossible for him to grasp the importance of the technology.”

I just did some quick internet research. I could not find the name of the Chief Executive in question in the annual report. Sales which had been flat until 2004 are now up 12.6%. According to the new CEO’s statement, this increase was due to a decision to centralize the company’s IT functions. Want to lay bets that the new CEO answers his own email? Case closed.

Oh, I hear that McCain's wife's family enterprises do make money, and she helps John with the internet. No surprise there. But isn't that so cute?

I can only speak for myself, but when I realized that nearly every newspaper in the country had "systematically suppressed anti-war viewpoints in its news pages and loudly amplified pro-Bush and pro-war views," I canceled my subscriptions and began to rely on the internet as my source of information. The day? Right after Colin Powell's United Nations' "presentation," I started to read Le Monde.

In France, the role of the public intellectual is taken somewhat more seriously than in US. Just the fact the Jean Paul Satre was sought after and discussed by an electorate in the midst of the public conversation that accompanies any election shows that the French as culture value thinking and those who are trained to think clearly. Our three networks—well 4 or 5 if you count Fox and CNN—the news “shows” employ million dollar talking heads who have about as much sense as Sarah Palin, although most might know that Africa is a continent and not a country. When was the last time that you heard a coherent sentence from Billy Crystal, or anything more than foul tempered sputtering from Pat Buchanan or John McLaughlin? I find it amazing how many people take their opinions these “representatives of various points of view” seriously. The summary of predictions above is a real public service. Shut off your TV, read, and make up your own mind. No matter what you decide, it will be far more serviceable than anything reported in the article.

It worked for one idiot and has become part of the strategy of manipulation: repeat a lie enough times and it becomes the truth. Toss a phrase like "the self-correcting power of free markets" into a string of otherwise unintelligible sentences derived from Ayn Rand -- hey, that will only cost you a few hundred billion for your gullibility. Oh, I forgot, you not going to hit with a smaller paycheck to begin the payback. You make your money just saying stuff.

The last sentence of Madden's piece: "And, of course, they [the voters] responded even better in November." You mean that polling the response last night showed even stronger support for Obama than his election margin of victory: "And, of course, they responded even better than in November."

Without the "than," then we [the readers] are left wondering if you are indicating that Obama's approval rating is actually down, and if so, how can that be "of course," given what Madden has to say?

In 1989 Gore Vidal published "The Smithsonian," which is really the adult version of "Night at the Museum." The past presidents of the United States, pretty much the whole gang, come to life when the museum closes and discuss the state of the Union. It is set just before the beginning of WW II. There is a lot to talk about. I recall that Grover Cleveland's second wife and child bride, Frankie, plays a major role, which is probably why the story was never bought by one of the major studios and they opted for a kid's version. Hey Gore, if you read this and decide to sue, remember where you got the idea.