But then torture and such real sins emerged. And these people, maybe, are beginning to recognize the difference between typical political folderol and actual crimes.

Maybe for a while in the USA, we had a chance for national concensus and true American nationality, but now, no. I cannot find any common ground with the torture/dungeon/invasion people. I can talk to them, maybe buy them a beer, tell them jokes, but they will not listen to me on any important topic, and I cannot credit them.

Younger Americans may be able to live outside politics. My nieces and nephews and their kids probably believe our political concerns are out of date and uncool. Probably, that is the USA's only hope.

Hot time in the old town tonight. Lonewolf howls and Patrick howls back.

As long as we are off topic, Hey Patrick! Most of us like you a lot. Is there any way you might post your flight schedule, so that some of us might fly with you?

If we knew your flights, if we were going your way, we just might book you. (?!)

When female sailors will not give in sexually to their superior officers, the officers often accuse them of being lesbians. And the superiors' superiors often agree. Who wouldn't want to have sex with a US Navy officer??? Lesbians! QED

tunnels.

The Romans' national game was swordfighting (versus baseball). It is extremely interesting to have two big books come out in 2009 about girl gladiators. When I started reading this review, I thought, "Oh, yeah. I have read about this book..."

But no. The book I read about was the other book (mentioned by a previous poster). Wow. I will read both.

Lovely, hairy, natural, sexy little girl creatures who were cute enough to get away without ever shaving anywhere... They are grown up now, but you still can find them in Ann Arbor, Berkeley, maybe a few other places.

It's not some far-out plot or political maneuver. And...

The US dollar's value versus the Euro, Pound, Yen, and Canadian dollar went way down during W. Bush's second term, and then came back. We wrote about it back then. And...

This has nothing to do with the Reserve Currency situation. The Great and Powerful Timbuk has spoken.

Americans want simple wisdom. Even if it ain't wise. And they want it in a NASCAR accent, not this-here fancy talk.

Have anything to do with it?

The USA possibly have been the "greatest" country in the world at some time. But the mythical parts of that story: USA greatest ever in world history, USA will endure forever, and so on...

These ideas are more important in current politics than any actual facts. Please learn about the Athenians' disastrous expedition to Syracuse during the Peloponesian War. Athena let them down.

Mid-1990s, I played in a wonderful band, The Prodigals. We were better than REM, but older, never famous. Anyway...

We had gigs at the Countyline Bar in Shepherd, Michigan. A pilot owned that bar, but he never could fly because he always was drunk. That's why he bought the bar, probably. I actually knew this fellow before I played in his bar, because he had locked his girlfriend in a storage unit at a storage place I managed as my dayjob. Anyway...

One night in the bar, long after closing time (2am in Mich.), that bar-owner/ex-pilot told me, "I am from a broken home. I cry when I see the Simpsons, and what a wonderful family they are, compared with my family..." And he broke down in tears.

Yikes! I had been playing all night (note that musicians play when they work), so that I was nowhere near as drunk as this weepy Simpsons guy, so that I did not laugh at him. It is hard for me to take the Simpsons seriously.

And, REM are good, but they seemed humorless showoffs, even at their best.

In a Neocon Economic Disaster, make stimulus. In a Caveman Republican Era, don't cave in.

Stand up to the Torturing Republican Fundamentalists, or they will torture us. Obama already has compromised too much. If you can't beat them, ridicule them and expose them.

Many (most?) states, counties and cities stopped hiring and started laying off years ago. Most of the people who still work there work hard, and do good work. When I worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it was public service. I took low pay, and so did everybody I worked with.

Todd Palin just resigned from his oil production job in Alaska. He worked for BP, a foreign oil company. Did the Drill-Baby-Drill domestic oil production ding-dongs ever notice?

Poster J-Z misses the point even more than Rep. Bachmann. Other countries use dollars voluntarily, because the US dollar is the best option for international trade. But we cannot tell any of them what to do.

Eventually, if ignorant Ms. Bachmann and the Republicans continue to kill our economy, then other countries may find some better currency to use for international trade.

It isn't am us versus you thing.

...should have good health care! And so should everybody else!

It's amazing how these clever HTWW posters disagree with the pundits and politicians. The recession is not over. Life in the USA still is getting worse.

A layoff is coming to beautiful Your Area. Get humble.

America the scrofulous. America the scrawny. America the obese. Conservatives, Republicans and Idiots insist on bad health care. We're Number 224! We're Number 224! (Pant, pant... I can't keep shouting because I'm sick and weak, because I have no health care... Gak! Now I'm dying, but pay no attention... If I deserved to live, I would be rich... Goodbye!)