T. Martin, you're right. It would be ideal if Muslims stood up to this kind of nonsense. However, you need to see the situation realistically. My first thought when I saw the video of that kid chuckling about eating his salad, was, "I wonder if that guy is dead yet?" I expect if he and others were to stand out in the main square in Baghdad and cast the extremists as ridiculous, their life expectancy would be extremely short.

You know, when Bush stole the 2000 election, I thought to myself, "Well, there's not much difference between Democrats and Repubulicans these days. Plus, while this country tended to deviate from our constitutional roots during the Clinton Administration, chances are Bush would pull us further and ultimately invite a much-needed backlash. And finally, Bush is clearly an idiot, something that will ultimately only hurt the GOP."

Well, on my first point about the difference between D's and R's, I was quite wrong. Turns out, the D's only stand for Totalitarianism Lite, whereas the GOP brings the real thing (or tries, anyway).

During the dark days of 2002, 2003 and 2004, I forgot all those other things I'd thought back in 2000. My only thought was "Please, let this country survive this mad man." That's still my thought. But now there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and some of those things I predicted as we entered the tunnel look like they might come true.

Ultimately, we may look back and thank Bush for having been such a disastrous president, that he woke up the American Idiot.

There is nothing, nor can there be anything, illegal about dismissing them.

Nice try, Bill, but you'll have to do better. There is a strong implication of obstruction of justice, indicated by who was fired and when. Protecting Republicans and persecuting Dems (for fraudulent election rigging charges) seems to have been the motivation. And, let's not forget, we've got a precedent for this. BushCo fired the US attorney of Guam the day after he began an indictment against a crony of Jack Abramoff.

As for 'obstructing justice' and protecting same-party, this is exactly the kind of charges one would expect the Democrats to make in this hyper-political time between 2006 and 2008.

Yeah, too bad the Dems don't have something truly serious on which to spend $70 million in taxpayer money investigating, like the stain on a blue dress, eh?

as in 'scooter libby'. Poor guy's career is ruined because he stumbled on memory questions.

Bill, a jury of his peers soundly rejected the notion that Libby's problem was one of memory. But here we've got you wheeling out this utterly refuted myth. Tell us, Bill, what do you know about this case that the jury doesn't? Please be specific.

To me, this is approaching real political persucution, when we haul people before the 'courts' (ie, Congress - Waxman), and end up jailing them for memory problems.

But of course, back in 1998 you felt very differently, didn't you? Hypocrite.

Sure, it gives her publicity and all that. Helps her sell books.

On the other hand, it explains to the casual observer what the terms are of our current political debate. This isn't about conservatism versus liberalism. It's about ruthless military authoritarian dictatorship versus freedom. Ann is loudly championing the former, and it's important for people to see that.

Sure, she'll sell books to the 30% of Americans who want a dictatorship, and she'll do quite well. But because 70% do not want that, history will inevitably assign her to the dung heap. But for that to happen, it's crucial that everyone understand the debate.

And of course I've gotten lots of angry diatribes as well from people who are angry, don't believe the data, think that it's untrue, that I have some kind of sinister agenda. I've gotten vile e-mails, hate mails, threats, that kind of stuff as well. So that's not been pleasant, of course.

Now, who do you suppose would be so adverse to reality, and have such a vile way of communicating it?

I live in California, where abortion will never be banned. As far as what they do in South Dakota and Kansas, I'm losing my ability to care. Those places really should be foreign countries, where they can ban abortion, mandate prayer in schools, burn witches at the stake, and whatever else.

Ohio Dr. Martin Ruddock said that more than one-half of his partial-birth abortions involve normal fetuses. (David Brown, "Late Term Abortions," Washington Post, September 17, 1996, p. Z12.)

Okay, let's accept that statistic for the sake of argument. This means that, in half the cases, this new ruling will prevent mothers from receiving the medical treatment that they require. Can someone explain how that is a good thing?

David, I don't think Bush is going to cut Gonzales loose for the exact reasons you state: the confirmation of the next attorney general is going to be a blood sport. I think is a video were released on YouTube showing Gonzales in a kiddie porn orgy, Bush would still rather stand by him than subject himself to another confirmation hearing with a democratic congress and his lack of political support.