First of all NyGrrrll, if you jump on the letter writer too much it makes you look Republican, not Independent.

The letter writer is not shrill. She was describing her reactions to candidates she finds abhorrent. Palin is a woman who thinks even rape victims should be denied an abortion, a woman who is anti-environment, pro-war, and who takes pleasure in being snarky (the community organizer slam is being repeated again and again). So to say she is abhorrent is not shrill, it's an accurate assessment of a shrill woman. Identifying a characteristic in someone does not transfer that characteristic to the observer. Hitler was insane, we are not insane for saying so.

As to Cary he is sounding like the down-trodden democrats we have all become. One of the posters said it's time Democrats stopped bringing playdoh to a gun fight. I thought that was an excellent summary of the problem, but I wanted to add to that.

I am an academician and I know first hand, that the name of this game is to be non-confrontational. We live and die by our ability to raise ourselves up over our emotions, and to act rationally, with professionalism, with "class." And so we assuage our fury at outrageous behavior on the other side by saying, "Let them wallow in the mud, at least I don't have to go through life being that person."

But it's beyond that now. My best friend in the whole world is a rabid republican. We have managed to keep politics out of all conversations because we know it leads to fights and bad feelings. After the last episode, where she started sending me those anti-Obama emails that were full of lies, I told her to stop it, and that I was offended at the ignorance and stupidity of doing that. Rather than leaving it alone, she came back at me for days, taunting me, picking a fight. She WANTED to get ugly. She WANTED to wallow in the mud.

I have come to think the republicans in our country are that pathologically insecure group of people who can find satisfaction in their own lives only by destroying opponents, only by dumping on "the other." We, those dumped on for years now, have to accept the fact that unless we challenge people who are this way, we are going to continue to be stepped on. We have got to argue, fight, and deride. We have got to be as ruthless and cut-throat as the republicans have been. If we fail in that, we are not allowed to then attack Democrats in office who seem weak---we after all give them permission to be weak by not acting on our own, at the smallest levels. It is time Democrats said "Enough!" It is time we called on the public to recognize cynical disrespectful acts like McCain's in choosing that shrill excuse for a running mate. IT is time we said, "Enough! Treat us with respect! We deserve that.

Cary disappointed me in writing his response to this letter writer. He was being mealy-mouthed. He sounded already defeated.

I remain one of those people who is convinced that the war in Iraq was all about making it easy for oil companies to do business in the middle east. When Bush says "We're spreading democracy" what he really means is we're facilitating corporate takeovers.

That being said, Cary's remarks are completely silly, namely:

"You allude to the current popularity of "resource wars." As far as resources go, invading Canada does make sense. I hear the beer is quite good -- not that I, personally, would be interested in the beer. But I do like fish. And were the U.S. to invade Canada, you can be sure there would be no clear timetable for withdrawal. We would, at the very least, want to finish eating"

Canada does in fact sell us more of our oil than any of the OPEC nations. We use domestic resources for about 40% of our consumption, the remaining 60% comes from Canada, Venezuela, OPEC and a variety of other countries. We do not have a good history when it comes to oil. I would be very worried if I were Canadian. Our record doesn't speak well for us.

I am working my butt off to get Obama elected. It's the only chance for survival we have. And Canada, you all can thank me later.

I was struck by the suffering in a cubicle with a cruel boss (or something like that), having truths that go unpublished. How many of those categories I seem to fit in!

Maybe THAT is what this election is all about. Minimizing our categories of misery. Minimizing the world's categories of misery. Either vote for more alienation and more war and more humanistic deprivation, or vote for enlightenment, and peace and unification.

Thanks Cary. I hope you'll send your letter to other places as well. Send it especially to Obama.