I lived in Long Beach California for 15 years, and moved in part due to the number of car alarms that continually pierced the night, every night. I recall one particularly obnoxious example that didn't shut off, despite an ordinance that required them to reset after 3 minutes. After listening to 10 minutes of such wailing, I took a pair of wire cutters, slid under the car and cut the wire to the horn, then cut a 6-inch section out of the wire so it couldn't simply be reattached. There were about five or six people who watched this exercise, and they all applauded when I came out from under the car. The owner, of course, never showed. I still detest car alarms, and think anyone who buys one is a fool. They're far more likely to prompt some justifiable retaliation than they are to prevent theft. Ban 'em.

How can this man claim the Iraq war was the biggest intelligence failure in his term? The biggest intelligence failure in his career was 9/11, which was preceded by an avalanche of intelligence he and his tragically incompetent "National Security Adviser," Condi Rice, chose to ignore. Who can forget her famously stupid, "who could have ever predicted this would happen?" comment? (Uh, CIA? FBI? Hollywood?!!) Bush and his team utterly refuse to recognize that 9/11 was preventable, and he will NEVER admit that a Gore presidency--which would have kept people like Al Qaeda expert Richard Clarke in place--likely would have stopped it.

This man is a master at self-deception and delusion, and likely the shallowest person ever to claim that office. I genuinely feel that he really cannot see his own mistakes. Throughout his life Bush has surrounded himself with sycophants whose incompetence is outstripped only by their partisan arrogance. We paid the price.

I hate to say it, but this is Obama's lack of experience, burning through like an ember through a Kleenex.

He doesn't have the horsepower to twist arms in the Senate, and get blockhead Democrats (aka Blue Dogs) like Max Baucus in line (LBJ, where are you now that we need you?). He also should have known that letting Congress adjourn for vacation without a vote would be the death knell. It gave the bloviating right-wing knuckleheads the entire month of August to spread their lies about the healthcare system, and turn the country against "socialized" medicine and Obama-care. It was an enormous mistake, and blew the best chance for healthcare reform in more than a decade.

Hillary would have known better.

Jim Miller

Tucson