Laurel, you seem to be missing a fundamental of comment threads. They are self-organizing and self-selective. People with a grudge or an ax to grind take the energy to comment. They do not represent the majority of readers - commenters tend to cluster at the extremes, not that there aren't many thoughtful comments.

They are millions of Americans who are quietly agnostic and respectful of the spritual choices made by their neighbors. It is just perplexing and frightening to us when our more religious fellow citizens take their organizational expertise and authoritarianism to a new level that threatens the individual freedoms we cherish.

I have had a few Morman friends and acquaintences and found them all pleasant. I nonetheless view their religious beliefs ludicrous. It is regrettable that people feel the need to bash a whole faith, but it's part of the comment game. You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

Wear a collar.

While inexplicably still prevalent, bumper stickers with their prominant "W" were frequently accompanied by others proclaiming "Support the President" and "Pray for the President." Seeing these literally made me ill and fearful of the worse for our republic. (Those additional stickers have all been removed, imagine that.)

The example of Moore/Kutcher remarks made me cringe too. There is no place for that sentiment from either side.

Those of you who swarm here at every new posting by Garrison only to malign him personally are really pathetic. Your impotent wailing of GK's mistakes and failings should be reserved for some introspection and then action with respect to "your" elected leaders - use this misdirected energy to fix the system according to your beliefs.

For those of you who are just mean spirited, well... it would be nice if you found another place to be pathetically vile.

I find a lot of truth, wisdom, and wonder in some of his musings, but GK's articles aren't the center of my world. If I disagree with his opinion on something (everyone has one) I pass it over and move on to something else new.

Personal attacks on Garrison don't affect him, but they do reflect the status of the soul that writes them.

Again, his observations are just that - some find them helpful; if you don't, move along.

It doesn't take a genius to read the speech so highly quoted in the press to realize that Sotomayor was referring to her cultural background being an asset to understanding and adjudicating cases involving gender and race.

Stinky, even you can get this. She wasn't comparing her intellect to a white man's. She made a factual statement about how one's life experiences may provide insight that others, without that experience, might lack.

As a retired Army officer, I feel fully justified in saying that my judgement on military culture and affairs is likely better than that of someone who hasn't served. Not racist.

I'm sorry but when I heard cougar all I could think of was Will Farrell in "Talladega Nights" as Ricky Bobby.

Next he'll be all on us like a spider monkey.

Simple remove 75-80% of the tax cuts and pass the bill. Repay their cynicism with reality. If it doesn't work, the American people have a choice to make in two years. Simple as that.

The American people elected a Democratic House and Senate to do the nation's business not that of Republican leaders.

If Republican Senators want to fillibuster, make them actually fillibuster. After they have, drop Senate rule allowing fillibusters and accept the consequences. It's what they threatened to do in the past. Do it.

IMHO, it boils down to this - convincing America, that despite occasional gaffs, that all the good stuff and good judgement is up in that protein processor of his. Given a little time and redirecting energy from his mouth, he can come up with the facts and judgement appropriate to the task.

Palin doesn't have the knowledge to make good judgements and seems intellectually incurious. Given an appropriate amount of time, she still is unlikely to come up with the information, calibrated against experience, needed to resolve an issue.

Xanthro and many others in this thread, seem to have made a cottage industry about excusing the behavior of Sarah Palin and demonizing anyone who opposes her election.

We are looking for insight into her demeanor, judgement, knowledge, and temperment. What's out there isn't very promising in trying to build a positive picture of her.

Intellectually, there isn't much there - undistinguished student taking 6 years to finish (did she?).

As for the punk who is pushing the Ayers crap, whoa. We haven't finished deciding whether or not the Clintons killed Vince Foster or the Bush administration orchestrated the 9/11 attacks!

If you are the type of voter who wants a Christian theocracy in the US, Palin is your girl. If you want a government that takes away a woman's right to her medical destiny/privacy, she's also the gal for that (castrating "undesireables" should be on the table).

Dealing with Putin, Chavez, and a general rise in anti-Americanism in the world, she's.... well not so much.

It's obvious that there are those on the right that have made Obama's race a factor. I haven't seen any smoking gun that John McCain has, and considering what I've learned about his character over the decades, he probably wouldn't.

It would have diffused the whole issue if Obama had made clear that the "they" he referred to were some opponents on the right - an obviously true statement - not John McCain himself.

I don't believe that McCain is a racist, but his campaign staff has walked too close to this issue in its references to 60's and 70's radicals with whom Obama and many of us have been, via several degrees of separation, associated.