I wonder; when someone writes a letter to an advice columnist, how often is it the case that the LW is seeking a reflective philosophical dialog that may lead to a change in perspective and subsequent personal growth? Or is it more likely that they really want a stern, motherly voice with a kind admonishion and firm, unequivocal direction?

I prefer the first, but I'm never in the majority.

Really good work, Cary.

Maybe we need a new Constitutional Amendment.

We would pay more attention to state government if the state governments had more relevance. And trying to make The United States into a single, homogeneous social entity is a fool's errand.

I suppose everyone wants their pet social issues to be Federally enforced. It's a maximum rush, this power of Federal social law. It's not just a political tool of distraction, it's socially destabilizing and dangerously divisive.

How much worse would it be if we let states legalize and outlaw what they wanted to, and kept the Feds out of it?

We would have to start paying more attention to the state we're living in, that's not all bad. I'm sure everyone knows we all need to pay more attention to our immediate surroundings.

So, are we The United States? or are we going to be just 'America'?

They're useless for anything except killing masses of people.

It this what America is all about? Maybe it is, ever since we dumping smallpox infested blankets on the natives.

Excuse me, I have to go to my government job working on a bomb to destroy all life on earth. You can never be too safe.

1. Prolifers vote for wars.

2. Wars kill mothers and babies.

3 Million in Vietnam

Half a Million in Iraq.

( the list goes on.... )

3. All the dead babies, and dead mothers that won't have babies that might have been, and those babies never growing up to be mothers, never having babies of their own.

Help Kill Babies: Oppose Abortion and Vote Republican!

He was a Prisoner!

"None of us really know if McCain lied."

About all of his POW experiences, and that's the great thing about his story...no one can never really know if it's true.

McCain has the freedom to make up damn near any story he likes.

Just go to Hell. You know the way.

I'm just thankful I don't have to wade in the muddy putrid waters of mainstream media to get hipped on the daily Republican smears.

Our trolls bring a little sample and spread it in the letters section.

Liberally.

I've never liked Joe Biden, he's always seemed like a shill for corporate America, which made sense as Delaware is the rich man's favorite state in which to incorporate.

( Guess where most major American corporations are chartered. Delaware really bends over for them. )

But as it's clear that a trust-busting president-for-the-people is a fantasy in this age of corporate infotainment, I suppose it's better to have any Democrat then yet another crazy-ass, war mongering Republican.

Biden hasn't been afraid to offend. Let's hope he keeps on doing it, but don't be surprised if he becomes uncharacteristically quiet and meek.

Salon *has* become more mushy mainstream; it's lamentable. The clear and un-"balanced" writing of 1998 is no more,( Greenwald excepted. And the not-so-regulars like Juan Cole.. )

But it still beats the MSM nonsense, and it's still more readable then most leftier places.

( Digby being one notable exception )

For seeing T.V. programming for what it is, and then writing about it as such.

The T.V. viewer isn't the customer.

The T.V. viewer is the *product*

Yes.

Duh.

Voting for someone you can relate to, someone who "seems" like you is the best way to waste your vote.

Marketing science has reached the point where a pig with lipstick can be made to seem like Marilyn Monroe.

The same marketers who flatter us into thinking that choosing a brands of toothpaste is an expression of freedom have gotten us to think that choosing a candidate is a personal expression of morality.

First, buy a large media conglomerate.

"U.S. carriers are immensely worse than their international counterparts,"

Perhaps, but which has greater profits and higher CEO salaries?

Sarah Palin is *not* "hot."

Her hips are boxy, her waist not well shaped, and her breasts are average.

Her googley eyes aren't sexy, they're just weird.

It's no surprise she didn't win the contest. She's not that sexy.

And I'm surprised at how Politically Correct and ... sensitive Republicans are.

I almost expect them to start crying.

Are Republicans so ugly, fat and insecure they actually find Palin top-shelf sexy? Or is it that they imagine her that way because her looks are her only asset, and they have to convince themselves how clever they are, so they go on about how "hot" she is because she's so clearly not.

I dunno.

The twisted Republican mind; a challenge to unravel.

Did John McCain risk his life to save his comrades? Did he singlehandedly defeat a platoon of NVA? Just what did John McCain do that makes everyone, liberal or conservative, bestow upon him the mighty honorific "War Hero?"

Air Force pilots are an arrogant bunch. They feel and act superior to the other branches ( not to mention non-military civilians ). But flying an airplane and dropping bombs is safer and more comfortable then being a foot soldier. So I would expect an Air Force "War Hero" to meet a higher standard.

What amazing and exceptional thing did McCain do?

Good article. Quite right.

And listen to Cary; he's bringing you a deeper perspective then the nags and scolds can even imagine.

Good points Tennis, especially about parts of oneself never going away and showing up like the Ghost of Christmas Past.

What a delicate and sensitive man John McCain must be, to be so wounded by fully warranted criticism.

Let us all respect the fragile psyches of Republicans, the poor dears.