Nevertheless, I'm terrified. Recently I read a story by an American, writing for the Times of London, titled "Fascist America, in 10 easy steps." One of the steps is to set up a surveillance system, ranging from having neighbors spy on and report each other, to the now-available hi-tech satellite surveillance systems. And I do not trust our government, especially not under the current administration.

As it happened, on the very day Karl announced his retirement, I read the lead stories in he Sept. Atlantic, which had been delivered a few days earlier, all focused on Rove. The lead story, by Joshua Green, was titled "The Rove Presidency," an excellent analysis of why Rove was so successful at "winning" two elections for Shrub, while so unsuccessful at creating a "permanent Republican majority."

Rove's vision of Republican control forever included no images of how to relate to Democratic members of Congress, and no way to reach out to average citizens.

I'm so glad he's gone, although his official absence from the White House probably won't mean much.

My ex-husband became an addict to meth (for the second time) when he and I were married. I tried it a few times, and it scared me so much I quit after a few times. I'm so glad I did.

Several years ago, a close friend became addicted to crack. She managed to let it go, and I'm so glad. What an awful drug!

It's possible the cougher has another medical problem, not yet mentioned. Several years ago, I developed a terrible cough that kept me awake at nights. Every few minutes, I had to cough.

Then, one day, when I received a form from my insurance company about a medication I was taking, I actually read what they sent me. It said that one of the side effects of taking this medication was a persistent cough.

A quick search on the Internet revealed that some Israeli doctors had performed a study that showed that taking 100 mg. of aspirin a day cured the cough. I went right out and bought a bottle of 100 mg. aspirin tablets and took one. Within 20 minutes, I was no longer coughing. I started taking one aspirin a day.

The next time I saw my doctor, I told her about my experience. She immediately changed my prescription to a different kind of drug, so I no longer have the cough.

I am surprised that this comic strip was banned anywhere. It appeared intact yesterday in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a notoriously right-wing paper.

but this doesn't seem like news to me. Even though it's been years since I had a Secret clearance, I never believed any of Bush's claims about Saddam's WMD. Based on what I've read in the open literature, and through a group of writer friends who are very well-connected, I never thought Saddam Hussein presented any threat to the U.S. I never believed that Iraq had anything to do with the attacks of September 11.

I opposed this invasion before it started, and I knew this administration had no plans for what to do when it inevitably won the invasion, resulting in occupation.

And so, now we sit, mired in stupidity. Somewhere, I read that a law prohibits the U.S. from participating in a civil war, but I can't find the source.

Seldom, if ever, do I actually laugh at an Opus cartoon. But this one got me laughing out loud. Thanks, Berkeley.

Robert Draper's concept of charm is so unlike my own. To me, someone who has no curiosity, and refuses to admit mistakes has no charms.

And as for Bush's supposed intelligence... Like so many others commenting here, I totally disagree. I don't believe he earned his college degrees. I don't believe he ever wrote a paper for a class by himself. Why should I believe it? Everything he says is a lie.

How many times does somebody have to lie to you before you quit believing anything he says? Bush long ago reached that point for me.

And the idea that future historians might consider Bush to have done something great... That's beyond stupid.

"If you wanted to continue past next spring, next summer, you have to extend tours to 18 months or send people back [to Iraq] before they've had a year home ... [The administration has] said they won't do that." As so many others have commented, Bush lies every time he opens his mouth.

And you, Snake, so you think we should just keep on wasting lives and treasure in that snake pit?

It's true that our nation was attacked, but not by anybody from Iraq. If we had put the 150,000 troops into Afghanistan instead of Iraq, we might've had a chance of capturing bin Laden. Instead, Bush and his henchman, Cheney, decided we had to invade Iraq, with little planning, and now we're stuck there, occupying it.

For reasons I don't understand, this administration refuses to use the word "occupation," when that is exactly what we're doing.

That's my question. If he knew his daughter was lesbian, how could he have opposed gay marriage in the first place? Oh, well, I guess he's like Cheney in that respect. Or maybe his daughter just came out to him?

Anyway, I'm glad he did have the courage to announce publicly, on-camera that he has changed his mind on the issue of gay marriage.

I simply cannot understand those who say gay marriage would damage the institution of marriage. Would any hetero couples be forced to end their marriage and find a gay partner? Ridiculous!

This video was so stupid, I can't even see how it could be considered funny, regardless of the topic.